Unveiling Cold Trail with author Taylor Moore

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (00:00.59)
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Hello and welcome to the 201st episode of the Thriller Zone. I'm your host David Temple. And if you're wondering why I'm sporting this dandy cap, coal ranch, coal ranch, Texas makes you kind of think of someone like Taylor Moore, doesn't it? Huh? Cold Trail is the book. Taylor Moore is the author and we are so excited to have him here. So please put your hands together, kick back and relax. Or if you're driving, pay attention to the road, 10 and two.

Either way, it's Taylor Moore on the Thriller Zone right now. Well, ladies and gentlemen, here in season seven, I am so excited once again to welcome my friend Taylor Moore. Howdy-doo, Taylor. Hey, it's great to be back, man. I missed you. I missed you. You know, we were talking, I guess it was Ricochet was our last chit chat. And now look at this little bad boy. Yeah. Cold trail. We're going to get into this. I always say this. We're going to get into it.

I have lots to talk about I have some inside scoop. I want to share with my listeners, and You know, you just delivered once again big surprise there glad to hear it. I want to start off though before we get to coltrail how was voucher con this year there in nash vegas?

BoucherCon was fantastic. It's always a good time. I got to see a lot of good friends, got to see some good panels, got to be on a panel. It's always fun. I love BoucherCon. I usually try to go to Thriller Fest, at least one or the other. I missed Thriller Fest this year, so I made BoucherCon. But BoucherCon's the fun conference. know, Thriller Fest is work. You when I get there, I'm doing meetings, I'm doing all these things. And BoucherCon is the one where everybody hangs out at the bar and just like catches up. And so now I had a blast. That's cool. know, Chris Harding, our...

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (01:55.935)
Every time we go to these conferences, we always say the same thing. You know, the real action takes place at the bar. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely true. That's a true statement. How's Diana Bennett and it's Maddie. believe it is. Yeah. How's the summer been for everybody? Summer's been great. Kids are back at school. Poor Bennett. If you hear coughing in the background, he, a poor guy got sick and so he's home today. He's going to miss his first tennis tournament.

So he's a little disappointed about that, but everybody's doing great, man. Family's great. I'm doing great. The summer was nice. We went to Disney World. We did, we kind of relaxed a little bit, but now we're back in the groove of school. Since you brought that up, let's take 30 seconds and drill down on the Disney World land adventure, because I did Disneyland, Anaheim, with my two grandkids. You got, you got to save up.

You got to save up financially and you got to save up on energy reserves because that that'll wear you out. So Disney World. Yeah, we went to the Florida the Florida one and it's it's a beating in pretty much every every way shape or form. But the thing is and we'd heard so many horror stories. So, yeah, financially, you know, we saved up. We we were kind of prepared, although we tried to do you we try to in places where you can say we tried to save. So we did do that.

The physical beating of just the crowds, the heat, everything that you hear about. The funny thing is we had so over prepared ourselves for that, that all of those things happened. was a beating, but because we had made it so worse in our heads and we told the kids, like, it's gonna be the Batan Death March every day and you're gonna be, I mean, this is gonna be miserable. You're gonna be falling out and we're gonna have a bayonet pushing you along.

prepared themselves for the worst and so we pleasantly surprised. So yes, it did rain. Yes, it was hot. And yes, the crowds were bad, but it was nowhere near that we, you know, what we had sort of built up on our minds. So when it was all said and done, we came away from Disney World depressed when we got home, we were ready to go back again. It was that much fun. I said to anybody who is like kind of put it off like we had for those reasons.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (04:14.733)
Again, just say about be prepared for that and then just prepare yourself for the worst and whenever you experience not as bad as you make it, it's actually pretty wonderful. Yeah, I would say I would if you were to ask me three best pieces of advice. Number one, wear comfortable shoes, the most comfortable shoes you got. Number two, hydrate, take water with you wherever you can.

And number three, I'm a big fan of snacks, little power bars, et cetera, because you burn some calories, Taylor. the three things you said would be my top three things to tell people. if you can do all those things, because the snacks, yeah, you I'm not a big snack guy, but you need a man. It is sort of the baton death mark. You are sort of trudging along and you need all that energy. And sometimes the way it works and, they have the app now where you kind of register for rides. I know a lot of people.

Sure. I'm familiar with that, but that's how you do it now. So you might see, you might be like, okay, we need to do this now. That means we're going to be eating lunch an hour and a half from now, but we're all starving. It's noon. So you get your power bars out and just do it and you go and you got your water and you're, you're, you're okay. You're in good shape. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big fan of the, this is not an endorsement. Big fan of the cliff bars. Yeah. Very natural. Keep you going. All right, let's get to it because I know you're a busy guy. Coltrale. Now,

I hope this is not talking out of school. And if it is, hold up your hand and I will edit it out. But a mutual friend of ours and a very good friend of yours and a very, a new close friend of mine, Ryan Steck said, is it true that you guys, that you both were fighting, not fighting for the same book title, but that maybe you had it first and he, was thinking about his next book to be Cold Trail. Is any truth to that?

I think he mentioned that one time. We talked here and there and I think he had mentioned that was on the list. for authors will tell you, I remember the first book that I ever had, my first editor said, I want you to give me 30, I think 25 to 30 potential titles. So there are so many working titles, depending on your editor, that that might go. Now I'll tell you this, that happened with Don Bentley when he came out with this Tom Clancy

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (06:40.619)
What was it wasn't flashback it was gosh. Do you see any that there was one one weapons graders up on my show that's not weapons. It was one of the other ones and I'm just blanking on the name that I had it and I sent it to Don the other day because they had sent me the book with that title on it and I'm can't believe I'm blanking on one of it is it'll come to me but.

But I sent that to him the other day because I just found it on my phone and when Don came out with his a few months before I sent it my editor and he's like, no, we got to change it. So those things happen, know, we just, yeah, that's just one of those things. There's only so many titles, only so many catchy things, particularly for these like military thrillers. And yeah, I'm glad I got Coltrill before Ryan. Ryan is such a solid dude. mean, besides being Mr. Real Book Spy, he's just, he's one of the funniest.

most loving guys I've ever met. I have so much fun hanging out with him. Yeah, absolutely. And a prolific writer too. Yeah, no doubt. Let's just run down just a couple of quick things. I'm not going to read them, but you got a who's who on the back of your book singing the praises of Garrett Cole's series. mean, Jack Carr, he says packs a punch. Andrews and Wilson, a masterpiece. Nelson DeMille.

He gives readers an inside glimpse into a world of covert operations that few novelists can match. to read the whole thing. Nick Petrie, our mutual pal, thrilling tell a family and global brinkmanship set on the high plains of West Texas. That's a nice phrase. Mark Cameron, the real deal, says you. Mark Graney, I don't know who Mark Graney is. I've heard about him.

I think he's writing romance. Anyway, he goes high octane action as well as genuine Texas lore and we finish up with Brad Taylor. I love the fact that Brad says it's a riveting thriller with a family in crisis at the core. It's my kind of book. Yeah, having those endorsements is just amazing, particularly from that, those, the caliber of writers there. Nilsson DeMille you mentioned, Nilsson was a hero for me, you know, growing up as a kid reading, reading his books. And so to have an endorsement on your book.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (08:51.391)
You just, you know, it's just next level cool. The Charm School, the way that happened was kind of interesting. I was doing an interview with Barbara Peters, the Poison Pin, and she asked, you know, what kind of did it for, who was the author, what was the book? And I said, hands down, Nilsson DeMille, The Charm School. I said, that's my all time favorite book. And so she said, well, Nilsson's coming out here. Why don't you come interview him? And so she invited me out to come interview him in Scottsdale. I did, and we got to go out and have dinner and get to know Nilsson. And he is just a class act.

The coolest guy, most humble guy you'll ever meet. so it was an honor to meet him, but it's an honor to have his name on my books too. You know, a couple things there to unpack. When you run across a childhood hero and the guy or gal ends up being cool and approachable and kind and gracious, I will do backflips for you. And I'm so gracious, so grateful for that because we got to be careful sometimes. I'm going to go on a soapbox here for

10 seconds. Remember where you came from. We're all in this together. can all, know, high tides lift all boats or something like that. So I love hearing stuff like that, Taylor. Well, it's kind of funny because we talk about it as with other author friends is be careful when you meet your heroes thing. And so when you meet one that doesn't let you down, it's pretty special. Yeah, because I've met a few that have let me down.

Me too. Me too. They make for great stories, but but yeah, you walk away pretty deflated and well I made plenty of notes because you know when i'm reading this thing I get I get up into it and I have to stop and make all my notes in the back and Had so much fun with this book. So I want to drill down to it I want to jump into garret cole want to see what's next coltrill now I have to say before I let you tell me what the book is about You have done it again

That's a good thing. You have well you brought just the right mixture of the big West some of that special intelligence of the CIA that we love and that has taught you so many things enough of danger to satisfy all those thriller writers Plus and I love this you get an added little dash of romance or shall I say love story and

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (11:09.045)
You know when you do that when you when you make all the mechanics happen and then you infiltrate a little bit of love story I'm like dude. I am all in Well good always worry. I always feel like there should be a little more love story, but my wife will tell you that's that's not my forte So I kind of I can do that's about it What's in the book is about as good as I can do so i'm glad it was enough to to really you know that it hit the mark for you well, it's so interesting because

And as you know, I'm reading between two and three books a week. So I can't remember all of the books I read. However, when I got to the end of this, and this is no spoiler alert, I'll be very careful. But when I got to the end of this, I'm like, that's right. So-and-so happened right there in ricochet. That was the perfect tee up to what happened here. So if you are like I, and love the little twist of love story in your action thriller, then you're going to be so.

So so so pleased. Yeah, I think readers of the you know fans of the series are gonna like this book because it It's it comes there's some resolution and to some things that have built up over over three books And then of course leaves a little bit more matter of fact, let's do this. Let's take a short break when we come back We'll talk about what Garrett Cole has been up to with Taylor Moore and his book cold trail right here on the thriller zone Stay with us

And we are back on the thriller zone. I'm your host David temple. This handsome gentleman is taylor more in the book. We're talking about his cold trail Garrett cole is up to it again Yeah, david, this is a I think again for for fans of the series or you know, course anyone new coming in I think this is going to be a particular fun one. So know each book takes place about nine months after the next one and so you you kind of go through this like

You know a few days in each book and then it leads up to something new so so each book is a standalone but For those that have been reading and always try not to give too much away Garrett has found himself in a bit of financial Difficulty some good things some happen have happened some bad things have happened but that financial difficulty that kind of builds up to the story has led him up to where he's now working in the the energy industry and Things are going pretty well

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (13:30.605)
Although he owes a pretty big debt and there's a situation that comes along that could potentially set up his family, the ranch, everybody for life. And so that's kind how the book lays out. as anybody who's read in the other books, know, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And it's no different in Cold Trail because as soon as things are looking pretty good and things are going well, boom, you know, we get an explosion and I won't give too much away there.

But something that looks like an accident happens near the ranch. Some people are hurt, including some good friends of his. basically that sends him on the hunt. That sends him on the trail of looking for what exactly happened here. Although some people think it's an accident, others suspect foul play. And there ends up getting some different strange bedfellows that come together along the way in this story where...

Everybody is casting blame. Everybody has sort of an iron in the fire and it's up to Garrett as usual to sort of parse through it all, get through all the rhetoric, the craziness and actually get down to like what crime took place, who is at the heart of this and to basically shut it down. So we followed Garrett on another High Plains adventure. And as usual, like we talked about before,

It's not just the story of him sort of tracking the bad guy. There's family involved, there's the kids, there's a love interest, there's all these things that are sort of going on simultaneously. And there's an interesting backstory that starts with book one and it plays out overseas in this book. Usually I keep everything pretty local, but there's a story from starting with book one that had to be resolved.

And so we pick up this story overseas and it's not through Garrett's eyes, but it's through a character Kim Manning that everybody knows and readers really love and you're going to see it through her eyes. And so there's a lot of stuff in this book for people that like action adventure. It's got all that, but it's also got the heart too. And it's got for people that have read the books, you know, their backstories, you know, their struggles, you know, the things that have dogged them throughout the series. And there's going to be some resolution. There's going to be more heartbreak. There's going to be sadness.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (15:47.513)
But there's going to be some resolution on all of these issues. And so I think this is this was a fun book to write because I finally got to sort of put that cherry on top. What I love about this book and you said that with heart when you can and it goes back to the romance. But when you can give me a story with heart, real fandom comes from characters. If you ask me, it's it's you know, anybody can have a gun and shoot people and blow things up and have car wrecks and blah, blah, blah.

But when you can have that kind of adventure and you still have woven a wonderful piece of heart through the story, that's when all eight cylinders or 12 or 10 or whichever, how many in your vehicle, you got them all firing. That's one of the things I love about your work. And on top of that, and I'm going to show up here in a second, is the fact that each one of your books, I could pick it up, read it, all good. Pick up the next one, read it all good. However, if you do tend to stay with Taylor, then you're going to find out, they do kind of link together like a loose little chain.

Yeah, that's the funny thing and it's all by design, know? And that was the heart of the stories that, you know, that part of it was something that I really, before I even wrote Downrange, you I did my research and I would read these books. Like you said, there's a lot of good books out and they're fun to read. I ended up kind of coming away not remembering them because I didn't care that much about the characters. It was a fun story, but I didn't care.

And so I wanted people to really have a vested interest to really love these characters and want to see it through. Again, by design, there's that part, there's that inner turmoil, that struggle, those things, that emotional part of the characters. Really every character, you're going to follow it in some form or fashion and they're going to develop, they're going to grow in every book. So a character that may start out bad may end up being good or good to bad or whatever.

But I wanted people to see that sort of full spectrum of who these people are. what do I tell people? It's almost like Easter eggs. In each book, I usually pick a character that I may mention the name once. And you may think, okay, that person sort of came and went. Well, they may be a major character in the next book or the next book and the next book. So there's a major, there's a character I mentioned one time in Downrange and by book four, that guy's a major character. So.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (18:00.856)
To me, it's fun to sort of plant that out and sort of build it out. So again, you can read each book, you can pick them up. And I've had people read the third one, then go back to the first one and no harm, no foul. They're like, okay, that's how this person came to be here, that kind of a thing. But people that really have started from the beginning love the fact that you get to see the characters grow. Folks who know you well know you're a former CIA intelligence officer. And I found myself asking that,

Like what what do you suppose one thing that Taylor misses from those days because you have gone from a pretty intense wide broad field of Work and then you go into a single solitary quiet world of writing and So I was I found myself asking I'm like, what do you think Taylor? Misses most during those days of the CIA and conversely, what do you not miss?

I think the things that I really miss the most are, you know, what I really miss is knowing what's really going on. When you're, when you worked in Intel, you you look at a global event and you know, for us now, we just, all we get is the news and the news is basically worthless. I hate to say it, but I mean, it's just a, it's one person's perspective that usually isn't correct. And when I see a news article, I go, you're missing this part, you're missing this part. What about this? Why didn't you ask this?

And when you're in the intel world, you have to ask those questions because there's going to be a principal, there's going to be a general, there's going to be somebody that's not going to let you just get away with telling part of the story or telling it in a certain way. You have to tell it with accuracy. And you do a lot of analysis too, if you're on the analysis side, but your analysis has to be sound. can't sort of wish a story into existence or wish a...

a reasoning behind something into existence because that's what you believe. If you try to do that in the intel world, you're going to be burned. Nobody's going to trust you. So you have to be as accurate as you can be. So for me, I really miss getting to know, you know, knowing what's happening in the world without sort of a, you know, I like seeing the raw intel, if you will, and making my own

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (20:21.227)
Yeah, there you go. want taylor is saying I want the raw intel I want the inside scoop It's so funny. You should say that because as we watch the news every day my wife and our big news fans We we watch it and then we go How much of what we're hearing right here is? real truth How much of it is nuanced with? partial truth

how much of it is just influenced by opinion and how much of it is just, well, not really quite on the mark at all. So you made me, you're echoing a sentiment. Yeah, think lean on the side of not accurate at all. hate to say that, but you know, again, there's just so many things when I see a news story, sometimes I've gotten to where I hardly read the news anymore. I'll just try to do an overview because it's so.

You just wouldn't get away with what they get away with in the Intel world. Because somebody would be right there going, well, what about this? Well, what's your source? Well, you just have one source that sounds like it's a biased source. then how do you know it's true? You know what mean? There's people there, and you've to have the, sir or ma'am, this is why we think this is the case. We don't know. We have about a 50-50 opinion. There's all that nuance, and you put that into the.

What the assessment or, again, sometimes it's just, if you're doing a straight up report, it's just the raw Intel. So, you know, you can take that source for what it's worth, but some of it's pretty good depending on what source you use. Some of it's really good. Yeah. I would imagine, and it made me think of this, and I know this is an old reference and a lot of my audience may not follow this, but if you're a big fan of really good writing and great films and superb craftsmanship and acting,

then you would know All the President's Men. And it's a film that my wife and I have seen probably, probably conservatively about 30 times since we've been together in seven, eight years. when you were saying this, a scene flashed back to my mind in All the President's Men. They're going, yeah, okay, Bradley's saying, okay, well, you got that point, but where's your source? Well, we, it's, you know, it's, we've got the source. Well, do you have a source and then a source?

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (22:42.445)
Well, no, but we got this. Well, then you don't have enough source. You can't just say, well, this guy says you got to have this guy, this gal, this guy and this guy. Yeah. And that I think we've kind of dropped the ball on that true blue information that we need to have to confirm multiple points. Well, it's even worse than that if you think about it, because now you hear about an unidentified source or anonymous source. And it doesn't mean that the source isn't real. But come on, right? Like.

Anybody can just say anything. mean, you know, so it's and and I get that there's sometimes there's a whistleblower situation But I feel like in the old days they used to take that very seriously now I think it's just you know, somebody's out at the bar They hear some gossip and they're like running, know front page or I guess they don't do front page anymore But online it goes and and this is I think that's terrible. I think it's terrible What part of Texas are you in the Texas Panhandle, Amarillo?

So up in the high plains, yeah. How much of that hearty outdoor atmosphere do you share with Garrett? So in other words, do you enjoy the great outdoors and the weather changes and hunting season and all that as much as Garrett said that it's a real reflection of one another? Yeah, so I grew up on a farm and ranch, know, kind of like Garrett, although I grew up more in central Texas. So it was a whole different, you know, setting and all that. But that's that's what I grew up. I grew up outdoors every day and

I grew up working on a farm, on tractors, grew up riding horses, working cattle, doing all those things that Garrett would have done, working in the hay fields and all those things. So yeah, I grew up with that. Now, that got a little bit different as I got older because, of course, working at Intel, that was its own thing. But coming up here, when I got out of Intel, was working in the oil and gas business as a landman.

And just saw Taylor Sheridan has a new series called Land Man. I don't know if you've seen the trailer for this, but it looks amazing. It's Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore and all these great, you know, John Amm. I think it's going to be fantastic. And it's all going to be set in West Texas. so I actually sent it to my the trailer to my editor. said, this is basically Coltrill. I mean, this is if I could make a trailer for my book, this would be it.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (24:54.389)
So really fun. So when I was doing that, I was again back outdoors. I on these big ranches. I was out in the blizzards. I was out in the sun and the heat and the wind and the you name it. And I was out there and in a little bit more of a dangerous atmosphere. So I actually missed that because now again, I'm back in my office. You know, you can see here I am. is my world. I'm either riding here or riding in a coffee shop somewhere. And so it's not as wild and crazy and wild and wooly as Garrett's world. But yeah, I do I do love that. I do miss that a little.

Well, folks, two things. I want to say this real quick. We were talking in the green room before we came on about how good this young man looks. we were talking and I said, I'm much older than you. And he goes, no, it's no possible way. And then I share my number. And he's like, wow. And we're talking about how good we look. And I'm like, for a guy who grew up outdoors in the sun and the harsh elements, you look dang handsome, Mr. Moore. Can I just say that?

If you tell my dermatologist that as he's burning off, you know, skin cancers and everything, that might go a long way for me. So he, he's a little mad at me for all the damage I've done, but, thank you. appreciate it. Yeah. And speaking of your writing space, there's a little feature I like to, I'm going to bring back called show us your writing space. So if you wouldn't mind taking a couple of seconds, because I'm one those geeks that likes to just see where the sausage is made. So.

Yeah, give me a little time. Yeah, you don't have to get all you have to unwrap everything and unhook all the wires, but just kind of give me a little peek of what. there's not a lot to see. I've got to I've got to tell you, it's nothing that fancy, but you see behind me and every every good author has his books back there. And some of these are just some of my favorite books. Some of them are sources that I use. If you see some I'm doing up here on the very top next to the cowboy hat and the cowboy on his horse.

Those are all signed editions and and so like my what I guess probably my most prized possession is I have a first edition first printing sign of Lonesome Dove signed by Larry McMurtry and That was my all-time favorite book my favorite author So I've got that and all the Berrybender series signed by by McMurtry. So that was that was a gift and that was a gift for my wedding from a close family friend and so

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (27:12.429)
I've got something, a book signed by Lyndon Johnson, President Johnson, and one signed by George Bush. Yeah, so those are some of my prized possessions. But the thing that people find most interesting, I'll kind of just veer you over if that's okay, slowly, is that bulletin board. Can you see it? I know it might be little dark over there. That thing, and you probably can't see much about it, so I'll just veer you right back. People love that. started...

When I started Downrange, it's just sort of an idea board or a... I don't even know what it is. There's things that would hit me. I'd see an image. I'd be like, that looks like Garrett Cole. That looks like the gun he would use. That looks like the horse he would ride. Things like that. Or that would be an actor that would play him in a series. And so I just started putting all that up there just for my own... I don't know, just to sort of activate my mind and my imagination. And then over time, there's things that...

you know, just little sayings that I would write, things that help me like writing is rewriting and gosh, just my patience, I break what is hard, the obstacle is the way, you know, just little things that would help me when times get tough, when you're in the writing process that, you know, get up there and be like, yeah, know, writing is rewriting. So everybody knows there's the, you know, there's the first draft, the second, third, you know, the millionth draft that you get to and people...

That don't do this for a living. don't you don't think about it, but and that's that's that's what we do here So see that's kind of inside baseball stuff that I like because it just gives us an inside peek of your world Everybody thinks that they you know They they put certain people on on a pedestal and then you realize well, we're all sitting in our own little rooms Banging out our own little stories with our inspiration on the wall, and I just find that fun So thank you for doing that for us. You're welcome. Yeah, my pleasure

I think, and there's the question, it's very obvious, but I gotta ask it anyway. As I'm thinking about your wife Diana wanting to send greetings to you and your family, and then I'm reading of course with Lacey and some of that love story we mentioned earlier, is Diana an emphasis or rather inspiration for your character Lacey?

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (29:29.825)
You know, yeah, I think in a lot of ways she is. My wife is a very strong woman, kind of like Lacey, and they have lot of the same attributes. people have asked me that a lot. But I think a lot of the women in my life, from my mom to my sister to my wife, know, everybody is an influence in the characters that you write. that's been one of the greatest.

Compliments that I've had on the books is I've had people tell me you write strong female characters and and I love that It's a huge compliment from Kim to Lacey and if you notice they have each have different skill sets, you know Lacey You know, she's just a country girl, right? I mean she lives in her town does her thing Kim is of course the CIA operations officer So she has that different skill set but they're both strong in their own way and and that's the one thing that I really

I really always appreciate that compliment when I get it. But yeah, I think my wife has been a huge influence and in a lot of ways on the characters. And then, you know, she tells me what she likes and she tells me what she doesn't like even more importantly. so in a way that only a spouse can do. And so, yeah, yeah. As we start to wrap up, I'm going to I'm going to run through. I've got a little litany of questions. It's not quite rapid fire questions like have been known to do. It's just a couple of things that I

I'm curious and I know my writers are probably curious in the very first one real simple. Do you have any rituals when you start writing, you know something that you do every single time it might be You wear a lucky pair of shoes. You wear a cardigan. You have a cup of hot fill in the blank ready. mean anything that kind of Set you in that mood, you know nothing particularly you mentioned this dude. I guess i'll show you what I have on I mean

I'm in Texas, I'm in the high plains, I should have some really cool cowboy boots, right? I've got my Crocs and not only do have Crocs, they have, I mean, they're dirty, I can see, but they have these little charms on them that my kids, they all love that. So the kids for Christmas bought me these Croc charms. And I teach my kids because I've been wearing these Crocs for years, because I'm a dad, right? So I wear something comfortable. Well, Crocs are cool now. Kids are wearing these Crocs.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (31:44.681)
I have convinced them that I made it cool again. I'm the one that brought Crocs back. So I've got my comfortable Crocs on. That's what I wear. That should be a t-shirt. Taylor brought Crocs back. And it's funny because I do have another feature called Show Us Your Shoes. So you did a double whammy first in this episode. Yeah, no, all good. All right. So now let's do this. I want to know your best solution.

For getting out of what I call a writing jam. You'll hear people call it a writer's block. I don't really believe in writer's block per se. I think it's, it's more of a jam than a block. A block kind of feels to me like solid and I can't get through it. Whereas a jam is like, I hit a little speed bump. It just threw me off. Hang on, work through it. Do you have anything, you have a best solution for getting out of those? If you even hit them.

No, I do and it's interesting you mentioned because people out that's one of most common questions you get is like do you get writer's block or what do do? And I said that the same kind of like you I said I don't really believe in writer's block. I mean I can always write something the blocks that I get into is what should I write? Which Avenue should I go? Where should I take it? Now there are days I'll be honest with you. I'm just not feeling it, you know, and and I think every writer will tell you there's some days you just

it's gonna happen in some days that it isn't. I've gotten a little bit better about, I just feel it's not gonna happen, I'm just not in the zone, then I try to go do something else and just make use of my time elsewhere. But I used to just sit there and kind of pout and go, why is this not working? And that's just, it's totally useless. But four books in, I'm kind of like, eh. I think sometimes the bigger block that I get in is what direction I want to go in it, and this current book that I'm writing now.

I was a little bit in a jam, so what I did is I just sent an email to my agent and I said, hey, let's set up a phone call because I can go several ways and whatever way will... It's not just... I wouldn't bother my agent for like a minor deviation or variation, but this is where it will sit in the bookstore, if you know what I mean. This could take it to different parts of a bookstore, so I think this is a major pivot.

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (34:00.663)
So sometimes you just got to seek out advice, you know, talking to friends is a good thing. And then if somebody's sitting there, maybe you're not an author, you're just trying this. You think, I just, I have writer's block. I can't seem to write. Then just write anyway. Write stuff that's bad because somehow there's that brain fingers connection. If you just start writing, things will start popping up and I think you'll be surprised of what comes out. And even I do that sometimes I go, I don't really know what to do.

And I just started a chapter and go, I didn't, I didn't see that coming. and, this guy's he's going to go there, you know, that kind of thing. And, so anyhow, that's, that's what I would suggest. If I'm really feel shut down, I'll just get up and go change my environment. I'll go for a walk around the neighborhood. I'll run over to the beach and just walk a real quick couple of miles. Because once that wind and sea is around me, it just allows me to go, okay.

Relax, dude, you're just, you're just freezing up about something. Let it go. And when I come back, boom, I'm right back into it. Was there something you always feared when you were just starting out in those writer that maybe now you look back and go, well, that was nothing. You know, yeah, there actually is, doing these things. sort of feared, you know, yeah, I mean, I'm not a person that I don't mind being on stage. don't mind public speaking. It's not that it was just, I think it was something very new to me.

And so, but I got the best advice and I hope he doesn't mind me telling it, but was Mike Madden. I don't know if you remember Mike Madden, he writes for the Custler series and used to write for the Tom Clancy. And one of the things that Mike told me, he said, you you're gonna do these things, you're gonna do these interviews and you're gonna think, I've got to get everything out about the book and tell everybody about it get these great hooks. He said, just be likable, just be a person that people want to hang out with.

And that took a lot of pressure off because I did. think I was at that point where I got this limited time. I just got to tell everybody about everything. And that generally comes up in conversation. But for the most part, he said, just kind of just be yourself and just hang and just have a good time. And when I decided I'm just going to have a good time, then these things became a lot of fun for me. You know what? I could not have said it better. And I've always felt like I can kind of pride myself on the fact that when you get on my podcast,

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (36:24.939)
I just want you to have fun. want you to relax and just have fun. do silly shit. Sometimes we do really important stuff. It gets serious. It gets silly. you know, having done radio for 25 years, you had to be able to think really fast on your feet, be able to absorb a lot of information. But at the end of the day,

you're just meeting somebody new and you just want to say, hey, Taylor, let's just hang out, get caught up. That's why I like to start off the show with getting caught up and it just kind of ease into it. So I think that's great advice. All right, two more things for a get you, let you get back to writing, which is your number one job.

I want to know if you could go back in time, I love this, you're to go back to your 12 year old self sitting on a riverbank somewhere fishing or maybe out hunting with your dad or riding a horse or whatever. If you could go back to that 12 year old self and say, hey, this is what you should know. This is what I know now. What would you tell them? I think it would be, don't take life too seriously. think, you know, I think we all, I mean, and to this day I do it. And this morning I was telling myself, don't take things so seriously.

Just enjoy it, just enjoy the fun because I think even doing what I'm doing now professionally as a writer, it's kind of a dream. But even now there's the drudgery part of it. I think to myself, why? Why is it drudgery? I mean, I don't know. you know, like I've got to go here, I got to go there, I got to do these different like media events or book events or whatever. And not that I mind doing it, but you know, I have young kids and so that it's just one more thing. But I thought...

you know, sometimes you just got to remind yourself, don't take it too serious. Just show up, just have fun, just look at it as an adventure. You're off doing something else and everything will take care of itself somehow. I think that's the problem. You know, when we're younger, you're like, I got to do this. I got to, you know, make these grades. I got to do this. You're always building, but you're never enjoying the moment when you're there. I mean, you are, but I think there were times if I could go back, I'd say,

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (38:33.421)
Don't be so serious. Just enjoy the moment. And so that would, that'd be the advice I'd give. And I'm giving it to myself now. Taylor, enjoy the moment. Yeah. And that is so good. And as I was telling a very good friend of mine, on the podcast recently, and I won't belabor this point, but you checked in on me, so I appreciate it. But you know, was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. This time had an operation of gone through radiation hormone therapy, all this stuff. And,

What I learned in this past year is that, you know, life is short, it's fragile. You just gotta keep pushing and you start thinking differently when you have the C word involved in your life. You think about just what's important now. What's the most important? And to me, it's family, know, wife and family and my, all of my family. And then, you know, connecting with people like you and just enjoying the ride and just, you know, having fun.

You know, and it's funny you say that because I've thought to myself, like, well, I've thought like, what if you had cancer? Your whole perspective would change. And but I don't want to get cancer. I don't want it to have to change my perspective because we already know it. Right. It's just we know that. But but I'm sure it does. I'm sure that's one of those things that happens. And it just it still is that moment where you're going, yeah, I do appreciate the little thing just being here. And I think everybody struggles with a little bit, I'm sure.

Some people don't, yeah, just being present, being in the moment and just enjoying where you are. Yeah, it has spawned for me a non-fiction book so that I can share my story. But yeah, you realize that time is precious. All right, as we wrap, you know as well as I do, we always finish the show with the best writing advice. What's that best piece of writing advice from Taylor Moore?

I think it's tell me if this is the one that I said because I give multiple pieces of advice but I usually say if you want to be a published author start and finish a book and I told someone people say well I want to you know I'm writing what should I do and I said I said whether or not you want to publish this book it doesn't matter start and finish a book so get to the end if you get to the end of that book and you go man this is the worst piece of garbage the world has ever seen throw in the trash that's okay you started and finished something so many people

The Thriller Zone with David Temple (40:50.707)
start books but never finish it and that's really where it all comes together. mean that's really, that's proving your mettle right there. If you can like actually bring everything together in a meaningful way, even if you bring it together and it's not in a meaningful way, just do it, put that aside and then start again because there's something mental about not just starting all these books but never finishing. If you can finish that book and then move on, it'll be a huge thing. And I tell people this too, but I always do this caveat and I say,

If writing is just some sort of catharsis, if you just enjoy it, it's just fun for you, you don't care if you ever get published, you don't care if you ever pass it on to your kids or whatever. If this is just fun, write a million books and never finish them, if that's just for fun. But if you really think, I want to do this, I want to be a published author, whether it's Indie Press or Big Publisher or just something that you can just put out for your kids, start and finish a book.

So good. So good. Well, and with this we wrap folks. If you want to know more, if you want to get a copy of Cold Trail, which you know you will if you're a Garrett Cole fan like I am, you're going to go to TaylorMoreBooks.com, which we're going to show on the screen. Taylor, dude, as always, it is always a genuine pleasure. You bring such a ray of light to the show. I'm not blowing smoke up your skirt. I mean, you're just, you're a good guy. You're positive.

uplifting. You're a big supporter of the writing community and they all love you. And I, as always, wish you huge success and thank you for joining us. Well, I appreciate you having me on. I look forward to next year.