Bringing Life To Characters: Episode 47 with Gregory N. Whitis

My next guest is author Gregory N. Whitis. Gregory was born in Gainesville, Florida, raised in Dubuque, Iowa, graduated from Iowa State University, and earned a Master's in Aquaculture at Auburn University. After marrying Karen Schimek, they resided briefly in central Iowa. Raising fish north of the Mason-Dixon line soon lost its glamor. He landed a job as a farm manager on Alabama's largest catfish farm. His church friend and writing mentor, Aileen K. Henderson, suggested that he should write novels about catfish farming. He cranked out Blue Green and Nighthope. At the age of forty-four, he suffered a midlife crisis, proudly graduating fourth in his class at the Tuscaloosa Law Enforcement Academy. He served ten years as a Hale County deputy sheriff. He's run in eighteen half-marathons, three triathlons, and two Warrior Dashes. His doctor still says he's too fat. Most of his writing epiphanies sprout between bouts of boredom while running. Now retired after thirty-three years with Auburn, he spends his non-writing time turning his pine acreage into OCD Park, violating every forestry management guideline in the book. He says his chainsaws won't run properly in eighty percent humidity. The old refrigerator in the garage still frosts the Leinenkugels. His fan club has an open invitation to drop in for a cold one. Critics are escorted to the Dewberry patch. The chiggers are free.