Interview with writer Eddie K. Wright

My special guest today is Eddie K. Wright. We’re chatting about his memoir, Voice for the Silent Fathers.

During his virtual book tour, Eddie will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

First time author Eddie K. Wright is a fitness trainer, Yoga instructor, spiritual motivational speaker and an inmate at a federal prison. His personal transformation upon realizing the Universal laws and love of life, supports his conviction in his "Gangster to Guru" book series. The premier release Voice for the Silent Fathers details the struggle and inner conflict with being the parent of a homosexual child in the day, and a known connected gangster at night. Overcoming his "No son of mine" mentality, by realizing the true meaning of unconditional love wasn't easy, but his deep insight, heartfelt honesty, and 'laugh to keep from crying' attitude, makes for a humorous read for anyone touched by this issue which means it's for everyone!

Welcome, Eddie. Please share a little about your current release.

Voice for the Silent Fathers is about the difficult relationship between me and my son. I was a teenage parent with a young son that spoke like a girl, whose favorite color was pink and had a mother who was the epitome of baby mama drama. I was no angel either as my criminal lifestyle is sprinkled throughout the story. This memoir is character driven and will take you on an emotional roller coaster from start to finish.

What inspired you to write this book?

I can claim to be the top leading expert in this field since as of June 2016, when Voice for the Silent Fathers was released, it was and to my understanding currently the first book written by a father of a homosexual son. It's a topic that fathers don't discuss and I know how important the father/son relationship is. I was inspired to let my son know what I was dealing with emotionally, the struggles that I was having to find the right answers to questions I didn't want him to ask since I didn't want a gay son.

Excerpt from Voice for the Silent Fathers:

Introductory Chapter Excerpt:

Was there anything I could do to stop my son’s homosexuality? When did I know my son was gay? What made him that way? I've witnessed the desperation in the eyes of fathers, from all walks of life, who have pulled me aside, away from listening ears wanting to know the answers to these frequently asked questions, agonizing the possibilities that their son might be gay.

Mothers seem to be more liberal about their sons decisions to choose what makes them happy in life and most importantly "who" they share their lives with, but for fathers, nine times out of ten the topic is taboo, especially the fathers who I've met in Federal prison, or on the opposite end of the spectrum working with celebrities in the entertainment business.

I can tell you first hand, I never thought I would write a book and never a book on a topic like this, but life is funny that way. I found myself raising a son at 18 years old, still a kid myself, with a baby boy headed down that taboo highway. I was confused, frustrated, and angry at the world. "Why me?" I often thought in those early days... Why has life thrown me this crazy curve ball?

Back then it wasn't so easy to talk to my friends about my son’s odd behavior, something's you just didn't talk about it. So I struggled alone, doing everything I could to stop the unstoppable.

This book is the "Voice of the Silent Father” for those going through the same thing I went through; and this is my story:

I was raised by my single white mother in the suburbs of Suffolk County, Long Island along with my sister Luvina who's three years older than me. Our African American father played a limited role in our lives, moving back to Rochester New York, when I was two months old.

Visiting with my father a few weeks out of the summer wasn't enough to make a big impact, let me correct that, it wasn't enough to instill the positive impact a young black male needs.

I wanted the type of dad that all of my friends had, taking them to Yankees games, and throwing the football around, but my father never made much of an effort to be interested in my life, which looking back to those early days definitely a contributing factor for me turning to the criminal lifestyle.

I promised myself that I would be the father I needed instead of the father I had. But who would have thought that fatherhood would inflict me with a catastrophe that would have me second guessing that promise.

My son Drew was born September 20th 1990. I don't know if homosexuality is a biological or mental condition. I never thought Drew grew up making a conscious decision to be gay, in the way other kids are making plans to be firemen, police officers, or doctors.

When I would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would tell me all the normal kid choices and never straight out said "Dad, I want to be a gay ballerina dancer!" but as a father with a keen street intuition I sensed something was having a premature influence affecting Drew.

At a very young age he started sucking his teeth and rolling his eye's copying his mother. He would alter his voice to imitate a girlish tone and it would get on my nerves with every word spoken like the gayest stereotype on TV. This was when he was still very young, a toddler and I avoided paying too much attention to these signs for fear of re-reinforcing those flamboyant behaviors.

Around others, especially the women in Drews life, I was depicted as "Mr. Macho"... The bad guy who was "over-reacting" when I addressed and attempted to correct certain mannerisms that couldn't be ignored.

My "Gaydar" was active watching all his behaviors for a "Gayness Alert!" which would make me rush in like the heterosexual swat team to stop whatever he was doing and make it more boyish.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Next, I'm releasing The Evolution of a Gangster Turned Guru, which is a journey of my spiritual transformation over the last 13 years of being in prison.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

At the end of my third year of incarceration, I wrote a letter to a Chaplin, who read that letter to his congregation of over 2,000 people. He then asked me to write his Christmas Eve service. It took about 20 minutes to read and he read that letter over 11 times at different events, with life changes responses.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

One of the blessings of being in prison is that I do have time to write full time. I still have days when I get so busy that I might skip a day or two out of the week. I dedicate from 11:30 until 3:00 Monday thru Friday as my writing time. Other than writing, I spend at least 2 hours working out , an hour meditating and from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, I'm making cheese cakes or pizza's to sell so I can support myself and then call it the day.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

My writing quirk is that I use my bed as my desk and always have a cup of steaming hot black coffee close by.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be and became a gangster. I loved the movies like Scare face and the Godfather as a young teen. My younger childhood years, I loved Robinhood, always rooted for the Indians or the outlaws in cowboy movies. It was a struggle for my single mother, so I guess I really wanted to be rich and I saw the best way for me was to be a gangster.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

My main focus is spiritually self-helping my readers. As much as I tried to attempt to change my son from being gay, I realized that the change had to come from within. That's the solution to all of our difficulties and challenges we face.

Voice for the Silent Fathers will make you laugh out loud, drop a few tears, you'll hare me at times but love me in the end and find that you made a new friend. Thanks again!!

Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Blog | Goodreads | YouTube

Buy link: The book will be FREE through Smashwords during the tour

Thanks for being here today, Eddie!

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