#62 | Harker Jones | Until September

Author Harker Jones on growing up in a Michigan town with no traffic light and writing the best-selling love story Until September. Harker Jones grew up on a dirt road in Michigan in a town so small it doesn't to this day have a traffic light. Now a Los Angeles denizen, he has written the #1 best-selling love story "Until September," which has sold more than 4,000 copies worldwide, a Top 7 finalist in the American Writing Awards, a finalist in the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards and a winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards. To learn more about Harker: https://harkerjonesla.com Chapters 0:00 Welcome Harker Jones 2:30 Growing up in Michigan 5:05 Theatre in high school 7:37 Telecommunications and writing 10:09 Turning criticism into something positive 12:41 Life is what inspires you 15:11 Write it down 17:41 A dirt road by a lake 20:15 Building low in earthquake country 22:46 Uncertainty after sport 25:16 Everyone here is making something 27:48 Writing magazine features 30:23 Hotter summers in LA 32:55 Less glamorous than people think 35:32 Behind the scenes of an adult magazine 38:05 Technology follows that industry 40:42 Freelancing and screenplays 43:14 LA's supportive creative scene 45:46 Working in fandoms 48:21 Crowd-sensitive since Covid 50:55 Small theatres, big theatres 53:26 Could he do this anywhere else? 55:56 Driving across the heartland 58:31 Ryan's speaking tour across America 1:01:03 Staying power 1:03:37 Making friends as an adult 1:06:14 Putting your work out there 1:08:49 Crazy LA stories 1:11:25 Clawing to the middle of the ladder 1:13:58 Before Sunrise at 30 1:16:29 Focus after the gym 1:19:04 Downtown LA after dark 1:21:42 West Hollywood and Silver Lake 1:24:12 A comedy set in a church 1:26:48 From novel to screenplay and back 1:29:21 Novels as the source 1:31:52 Winning a contest to produce a short 1:34:28 Being in the room 1:37:03 Canadian entertainers 1:39:36 Paying your dues 1:42:07 A writer can fix anything 1:44:43 Literary agents and film rights 1:47:16 How things get made 1:49:46 Googling himself 1:52:19 Wrapping up The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world. Follow the Podcast X: https://x.com/RyanPylePodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpylepodcast Follow Ryan Pyle YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ryanjpyle Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryanpyle X: https://x.com/RyanPyle Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpyle https://www.ryanpyle.com