What inspired and started your journey into writing?
Interestingly, I feel like I have always been into writing. I just don't think I ever realized it. I tried to a write a fantasy book about knights and whatever, but only got about two wide-ruled notebook pages in. That was 3rd grade though, so I may not have been ready. In college, I didn't really mind writing papers (which is all I did as a history major), but that was still homework. And whenever I had the chance to write something about BMX, I jumped at it. I think my first real published BMX writing was an article I wrote to accompany Walter Pieringer's photos from his filming of the Milwaukee scene report in 2006. From there, I wrote a bunch more magazine articles. And then 3 years ago I started the site imprimaturBMX.com, which is devoted to long form "political and cultural" writing about BMX. Yet, I suppose the style of writing that is in this book, narrative non-fiction, really came into my life when Matt Coplon asked me to a write a BMX related short story for his book, "Let Me Tell You About The Time." I really enjoyed turning my animated and rambling real life stories into a written work and thought "Hmmm. I should do more of this."
There are a lot of thought-provoking topics and extensively written pieces on imprimaturBMX.com. What's the significance behind the name, and where do you think Imprimatur BMX fits in the online BMX realm?
This is a big one. First of all, imprimatur means "let it be printed" or its more of way of saying, hey, this is worth writing and should be written. The idea behind that was that there are so many moments in a BMXer's life when they are sitting on a street corner, the deck of a ramp, the back seat of a car, out in the woods, or wherever with their homies, and they are having a deep and meaningful conversation about the culture and/or politics of BMX. A conversation, that seems so important and relevant, but then never goes much further than a passionate "hell yeah, I know, right?!" I wanted to create a place where those conversations could live on, grow, and connect with other people. Our media sites and Facebook do allow for some of this, but it was so often hastily done, disorganized or un-searchable, or met with only snide short shit-talking comments. If it wasn't an edit or a quick blow-by-blow piece, it was not well-received. So, when I had some free time a few years back and was fired up by some less-than-awesome responses I saw on the web about some topic or another, I just said to myself: " Hey, I know people that like to talk about this stuff intelligently. I know people who want to work on bettering BMX by discussing and addressing it as a culture deserving of mature attention. AND, I like to write too... I should create a place for that." So I sat down, wrote a big ol' article about the topic that was firing me up and then built a website. I solicited a bunch of people to write for me, and some have, and have been continuing to write, ask for contributors, or even ask other writers to re-host their older pieces on my site. The idea is NOT to have some huge draw to get clicks and make money, but rather to create a place where BMX can be discussed in deeper ways (if people want to) as well as a place that can serve as a repository for stuff written about BMX that goes beyond more basic stuff. A place for meta-BMX writing. A place, that when someone google searches BMX, it shows up and proves the we are not just vloggers or daredevils. Rather, that we are a distinct and rich culture deserving of respect.
How did “All But Invincible” come about, and what gave you the reason to start it?
Like I said earlier, Matt's book really got me thinking. I started imagining what other stories from my life I would like to write down and then that turned into a note in my iPhone. I started asking my friends, "You always tell me to write a book, but which stories are you talking about?" The list began to grow and before long I had over twenty anecdotes that I thought were funny, entertaining, or worth sharing. I was working full time when this was happening though, so I just left it in my notes and thought I would get to it "some day." Then, when I took a break from teaching and was only working part time for Madera, my schedule opened up significantly. Living abroad and with a part-time job left me plenty of time for projects, so one day, I picked one of the most exciting stories and just started writing. A year later, I had a book in my hand.
How did you come up with the name?
The title of the book was one of the hardest parts. I had been writing down recurring themes and key words as I worked. I wanted to make sure that theses stories, spanning over 20 years, actually connected, so I worked hard to find a common theme, weave it throughout, and make it into a cohesive piece. It only seemed natural that one of those main themes be referenced in the title. One of the themes that repeated throughout the book was me haphazardly taking risks and somehow walking away alive or with little to no repercussions. It seemed like I was invincible. The title "All But Invincible" has two meanings, both being reflections on who I am throughout the book. On one hand, it can be taken as "You may not actually be invincible, but you may as well be since you seem to survive all of this crazy shit, over and over again." On the other hand, it can be taken as "You may think you are invincible, but the reality is, you certainly fall short and are simply one lucky son-of-a-bitch."
The illustrations really add a nice touch to the layout; how did that develop?
I knew I wanted the book to have a cool cover. I also knew that I could not do that on my own. I had recently worked with Russell Wadlin on some graphic design for Madera and pitched him the idea of helping me do a simple cover and nothing else. He said he was interested, but only if he could lay out the whole book. I told him I was working on a shoestring budget, but he told me that he he understood, just wanted the experience and had always wanted to lay out a whole book anyway. We began brainstorming via phone and through a ton of emails. We really fed off each other's energy and got more excited than one would expect over things like kerning and margins. Eventually he turned my rough ideas and sample images into an awesome cover and art work for every chapter. In addition, we spent a lot of time discussing the proper fonts, margins, and more. He took to this project as a work of art, just like I did with my words, and I really think it shows in the finished product. Russell really helped bring the book to life and I couldn't be more stoked on working with him. Also, fun fact: the dog on the cover, which is also featured throughout the book, is modeled after both of my actual dogs.
Were there more stories that didn’t make the cut, or did you have it planned out with the amount you wanted to focus on?
The way I started was to just pick a story from the list on my phone and write it out like a stream of consciousness. In the end, a few stories never even got to that point. As other stories jumped off the list and came to life, I realized a few that I had thought about just wouldn't fit the theme. Those never made it past a few words of reference on a list. On the other hand, lots of stuff got cut. Most of the chapters started out twice their final length. Some were cut to make them flow better, some to keep the flow going. I even wrote a whole chapter that is pre-BMX that never made the cut. Though the book is not ALL BMX, it just didn't seem to fit the narrative so I saved it for a different day.
When did the oldest story take place, and the newest?
The book is in chronological order and the context clues are designed to help you figure out which years things happened in, but I can tell you, the first chapter is about 1995 and the last one was about 2015.
What would you say is your personal favorite story?
I really like most of the stories to be honest. The better question would be: which do I like the least. And that would be the more abstract ones. Ones where the story line was slim and I had to dive deeper than just a narrative. All of the stories are deeper than simple narrative, but some ended up needing more added in to make them substantive. I like the way they turned out, but they were my least favorite to write (probably because they were the hardest to write). On the flip side, Smoke Doggs is my favorite story because it still seems so surreal. I cannot believe how it all played out and the ending was just too perfect. As I began finishing the first draft, I had an epiphany about how to tease the ending in the intro and then have a banger ending. It was like this sudden breakthrough where I laughed out loud and thought "Fuck yeah, I know how to make this awesome. This is sick." It was a new feeling while writing, but felt like seeing a spot you had been searching forever and realizing that the trick you were planning on doing was going to work out perfect there.
