Episode Summary

In this episode, Reid talks about some of his inspiration for his book Shut Up and Listen and how he managed to write it in smaller chunks of time around his life. He discusses some of his inspirations for the book and his love of sports and hobby gambling. 

 Highlights

• Reid is a big sports fan and hosts a radio show for Colorado Buffalos football.
• He enjoys trips to Vegas for hobby gambling.
• You can usually find a Coke near Reid when writing. 
• Reid prefers some background noise like an old movie or sports. Back to the Future is one of his favorites.
• The pandemic gave Reid some extra time to finish up where he had started.
• Many of Reid’s writing sessions were just a page or two at a time fitting then in where he had time to manage it around his family and other aspects of life.
• To maintain some continuity, Reid would re-read the last few pages that he had written before he started writing the next pages.
• Reid leaned on his sister to help review his first draft to tighten things up.
• Fear by Michael Crichton is Reid’s all-time favorite book.
• He enjoys sports non-fiction and those helped him in writing his book.
• Reid ultimately decided to write the story that he wanted to write and did not worry too much about what people would like.
• The title of the book, Shut up and Listen, was a line that was in the book several times and was something that was said to Reid by a basketball coach earlier in life.
• The book Fourth and Fixed by Reggie Rivers was an influence on Shut up and Listen.
• Creating the back story for the characters was a challenge for Reid.
• Reid’s favorite food is pizza. No pineapple.
• Reid would love to meet Tiger Woods and talk about how he manages his life around all of the attention.