About Alan
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My most recent book is REDEEMING JUSTICE with Jarrett Adams (Convergent, Sept 14, 2021). I've also written BULLEIT PROOF with Tom Bulleit (Wiley, April 7, 2020), LOVE THY NEIGHBOR: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America with Ayaz Virji (Convergent Books, June 11, 2019), PLAYING GOD: The Evolution of a Modern Surgeon with Dr. Anthony Youn (Post Hill Press, September 17, 2019), HANG TIME: My Life in Basketball with NBA legend Elgin Baylor (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 10, 2018) , and 13 DAYS IN FERGUSON with Captain Ron Johnson who was the head of security during the unrest in Ferguson (Tyndale, August 7, 2018).
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My other books are WARRIOR with former Marine platoon commander Theresa Larson (HarperOne, a division of Harper Collins, 2016), THE HANDOFF with JT the Brick (Center Street/Hachette Book Group, 2013), I'M NOT GONNA LIE: And Other Lies You Tell When You Turn 50 with George Lopez (Celebra/Penguin, 2013), RAIDERS! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press, 2012), IN STITCHES with Dr. Anthony Youn (Gallery Books, 2011), BARACK LIKE ME: The Chocolate Covered Truth with David Alan Grier (Touchstone - Simon & Schuster, 2009), CANCER ON $5 A DAY* *chemo not included with Robert Schimmel (Da Capo Press, 2008), JUST A GUY: Notes from a Blue Collar Life with Bill Engvall (St. Martin's Press, 2007), THE KINDERGARTEN WARS: The Battle to Get into America's Best Private Schools (Warner Books, 2006), THE HOLY THIEF: A Con Man's Journey from Darkness to Light with Rabbi Mark Borovitz (Morrow, 2004), TEN ON SUNDAY: The Secret Life of Men (Atria Books, 2003), SPORTS TALK: A Journey Inside the World of Sports Talk Radio (Pocket, 2001), and INSIDE THE MEAT GRINDER (St. Martin's Press, 1999).
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I started writing in the second grade. After school the neighborhood kids would gather on the back stoop outside my house in Western Massachusetts and I would tell them stories I made up on the spot -- westerns, mysteries, crazy comedies, you name it. The kids must've liked the stories because they kept coming back, day after day, to hear more.
In the fifth grade, I wrote a novel, a Hardy Boys-type detective story set in outer space. I read it aloud to my mother over several afternoons while she baked pies. Being my mother, she loved every word and encouraged me to "write something more real." |
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In the seventh grade I wrote my first magazine article, a detailed account of my one and only, failed and humiliating ski lesson. Full of high hope, I submitted the story to Reader's Digest. Two weeks later the article was returned with a note from an editor urging me to "keep trying." That personal rejection slip fueled me through the writing of dozens of personal essays and short stories. By the time I finished college, I had accumulated enough rejection slips to wallpaper a house.
Finally, when I was in graduate school at the University of Michigan, I made my first sale, to Detroit Magazine. It was a spoof of an American Express ad touting "Detroit's Finest Restaurants." I had sent the piece off to Detroit along with a self-addressed stamped envelope but had never heard from them. One Sunday morning, while sipping coffee and leafing through the newspaper, I came upon my article, printed in the magazine, peppered with half-a-dozen hilarious drawings! What a rush! I instantly felt as if a warm electrical current was shooting through me. I read the article over and over. Everything I wrote was there, all of it, unedited and illustrated, and open to the public. |
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The feeling was magical; I didn't want it to end. My wife and I were about to begin studying for our doctorates at the University of Minnesota. We were supposed to go to Minneapolis over spring break to find an apartment. Instead, I came to Los Angeles to check out the screenwriting scene. I never left.
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Within a year, I began a non-stop, twenty-five year television run, writing sitcoms such as "Mork and Mindy," "Angie," "Family Matters," "Step by Step, "The Nanny," and "Married With Children." I wrote TV movies, several you may have seen, and feature films, which no one will ever see.
It was great, it was lucrative, but somewhere along the line I lost that rush. I desperately wanted it back. I had continued to write an occasional magazine article but it wasn't enough. I longed to return to my first love, writing prose, seeing my words in print, fulltime. In 1999, I took the plunge and I began writing books. I've never looked back. In fact, I savor every moment and every writing day is a new adventure. So scroll through my website, check out the books, read an excerpt, listen to my podcast interview, and contact me. I'd love to hear from you. |
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