I have been reading a lot of fiction police thrillers and often wonder how much research the authors put into it to make it sound real, because to me, everything that takes place is extremely detailed. From the actual crime (which usually takes place at the beginning of the book), to the police work involved in locating the culprit, to the legalese in the courtroom, and the chit-chat amongst everybody, it feels that that I am sitting right next to that person.
Sometimes, I just can stop reading as I have to know what happens next!
Sometimes, I do find myself going backwards in the books when I read a name, and forget who or what they are.
Sometimes, I do find the violence a bit too much. I almost quit reading the Michael Bennett series by James Patterson because he is a cop with the NYPD. I was like, enough with the terrorists and bombings.
Besides the Facebook groups I belong to and where I share my thoughts on these books, I don’t have anywhere I else I can rant or talk to. At work, we have a book club (I am of the co-admins on it), and I enjoy communicating with my teammates about books. We have met a few times through teams and I feel that I take it over as I am super excited to share my thoughts on books. Somebody asked about leadership books, and my brain went to overdrive and I mentioned a book I recently read about George Raveling, a college basketball coach, who wrote business and leadership and how it relates closely to being a coach.
My wife reads more than I do, but our tastes are complete opposite, and I know when I tell her what I am reading or what is happening, she listens, but I know she is probably not listening! My son doesn’t care, unless I am reading what he likes and right now, that is Percy Jackson. We did read the FunJungle series by Stuart Gibbs, and he has a new one coming out this month. Percy is a bit much for me, but I did enjoy all the FunJungle books.
Maybe I should host a monthly zoom book meeting for me and others who feel the same way I do or find one that suits me. On paper, that sounds great, but I actually prefer writing to talking. After I share my thoughts on the Facebook groups, I enjoy reading the positive communication from everybody and although, I don’t reply to every comment, I do my best to like every comment. Let me rephrase, if the comment is negative, which sometimes that happens, I ignore it and don’t like it. Come on, and be nice.
I also love all the recommendations on the Facebook groups. I mean, I never would’ve known about Jon Sandford and his Lucas Davenport series. A few days ago, I went through the comments from one my recent posts and added more to my Want to Read list on Goodreads.
It’s also funny, that fiction police thrillers aren’t my preferred genre (memoirs are my favorite). I stumbled into them and it all started after I read James Patterson’s memoir. Alex Cross was my first. I then dived into all the Michael Bennett books, and just finished all the Women’s Murder Club books by James Patterson and all the Jesse Stone books, Spenser books, and Sunny Randall books by Robert B Parker and others after Parker passed away. With Parker’s books, they take place in the same realm of life, so the characters are common throughout all the books.
So, now, after all these words, which has been my favorite? Well, I really enjoyed the Spenser books. He is a former cop and now a Private Investigator. His partner in not crime is a man named Hawk! Together, they have a lot of fun doing good and bad things.
I have watched the Robert Ullrich and Joe Mantegna Spenser movies, and even Mark Wahlberg as Spenser on Netflix. I have watched some of the television series with Robert Ullrich. I know there are Hawk television shows, and I would like to watch those one day. I didn’t like Joe Mantegna as Spenser, but Ullrich and Wahlberg easily pull it off.
Ask me next year, and I may say Lucas Davenport is my favorite series!
See, writing for me, just comes easy for me. If you want to read about how I got started writing, continue on. If not, thanks for letting me rant about books. I am already drafting a Reflections On…Books (book #2) about who influenced my love of books.
I was a high school football statistician for the Texas Sports Radio Network (TSRN) from 1997 to 2014 and for Thursday Night Lights (TNL) from 2009 to 2015. I also was the statistician for UTSA football in 2012. TSRN broadcasted games on the radio, the internet, and on their app and TNL broadcasted games on television, the internet, and their app.
In July of 2011, I jumped on the internet BLOG bandwagon and immediately, I came up with the name of thestatmanspeaks.com. It tells you who I am; THE STATMAN. Then it tells you what I do; SPEAKS. But the speaks part means, I speak in words not audio.
I shared my thoughts on the games I worked, posted photos, and of course there were stats, stats, and more stats. I would often compare my stats to the official newspaper stats, and I was always very close to them!
I watermarked all the photos I used, and it made me happy when my photos would get shared by the players as they liked seeing themselves in action. To this day, I still see my pictures being shared online.
I took renovation photos of Alamo Stadium, a football stadium and the adjoining Alamo Convocation Center, a gymnasium in 2013 and 2014. Those photos appeared in a book, on television several times, the school district’s athletic website, and I was featured in a television interview with the local ABC station. I also took renovation photos of the press-box at Lehnhoff Stadium in 2015 and the new Northside Independent School District gymnasium in 2016.
In March of 2015, my wife asked me if I liked being a statistician or a writer better. Without any hesitation from me, I replied I liked writing better.
So, I retired from the Texas Sports Radio Network in 2015 and Thursday Night Lights in in 2016 and became a freelance writer and photographer. The last game I covered as a writer was in 2017. I did make a one game special comeback as a statistician in 2019.
When Nina (my wife) and I announced to the world on October 31, 2015, that we were pregnant (she was, I just helped a little bit), I started writing about it on www.thedadspeaks.com.
In 2023, I started sharing book reviews on www.bookmarkdad.com.
In 2025, I backed up everything from thestatmanspeaks.com and bookmarkdad.com, and allowed the domain names to expire. I exported all the content from bookmarkdad.com to www.thedadspeaks.com. For, thestatmanspeaks.com content, I exported all the content as well, but they are all in draft mode.
I don’t have a journalism degree, but I do have a BBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and an MBA from Western Governors University.
I have self-published three Amazon e-books, and am proud of that accomplishment. I sold a few copies and even got some reviews.
It’s funny, because words, topics, and ideas hit me at awkward times. I could be in the bathroom, driving somewhere, walking around the house, reading a book, eating dinner, taking a shower, or getting ready for sleepy time.
Do I get writers block? Of course, I do! How do I remedy it? I will either bounce ideas off my wife, take a break, or do something else.
I write because I can. I write because I like it. I write because it makes me feel good. I write because I like to express myself in words rather than by my voice. I write because it keeps me out of trouble. I write about topics that I am knowledgeable on and topics that mean something to me. Most importantly, I write for you.
My writing style is unique, and it captures my personality. I don’t get embarrassed, and I have a crazy sense of humor.
