We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Driver. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think it takes a willingness to never quit. Setbacks will always come at every stage of your journey, but it’s how you respond to them that determines the outcome of your story. And at the same time, you have to celebrate your wins, no matter how big or small they might be to other people they are still YOUR wins. I can remember feeling discouraged after I published my first book because it felt like I had no sales and no one who wanted to read my work or cared about what I had to say. The process to publishing had been chock full of delays: my first cover artist backed out on me, the person I had asked to edit my work abandoned the project, and a whole slew of other problems. Finally, everything had come together and I was able to publish and I’ll never forget the euphoria of holding my own finished book in my hand. It was a feeling I’ll never forget. If I had let those problems I’d encountered stop me or discouraged me, I would have abandoned my dream. I say all that to say, no matter how hard it gets, never quit on your goal or your dream.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m an author and a poet. I’m the author of the King of the Block Trilogy. If you’re into shows like Snowfall or The Wire, or movies like American Gangster, or stories about redemption, love, and a sprinkle of action then you should definitely check those books out. Book 1, King of the Block, and Book 2, Rafe’s Return are currently available everywhere you buy books online. I’m working on Book 3 (I’ve been procrastinating like crazy, don’t tell anybody) and I’m looking to release it in February 2025.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

At the outset of this journey, I was an inexperienced author who simply wanted to put his voice out there and be heard. As I’ve grown and learned on this journey I’ve found my goals continuously shifting and growing right along with me. My current goal right now is to learn as much as I can about the craft of writing. I don’t want to become formulaic or pigeonhole myself into only writing in one genre I want to be a well-versed writer and have an arsenal of writing skills at my disposal. I was taught that the best way to approach life is with the mindset of a student, so I try to soak up as much as I can from my peers and from those who have been writers long before me.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A hard lesson for me to unlearn was that you can’t expect everybody to be as excited as you, and when they aren’t you have to be excited and proud of yourself. A lot of the time when we accomplish something, we call our loved ones and we want them to celebrate with us and support us and be as over the moon about what we’ve done and it can be a crushing blow when they aren’t. When I first published my book, I took a copy over to a good friend of mine. I was excited and couldn’t wait for him to see it and be as hyped about it as I was. All he could offer me was an “Oh wow, that’s cool”, and it absolutely killed all the hype and excitement I had. Here I was, sharing an accomplishment with a good friend and he couldn’t say more than “That’s cool”. And what became clear to me in that moment was that I couldn’t rely on validation from anyone else. I had accomplished something important to me and I celebrated myself. Don’t be afraid to celebrate yourself and be loud and proud about yourself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikedriverauthor/
• Twitter: https://x.com/mikegdriver

Image Credits

Character Artwork: Gregory Diggs @gregdiggs_comics on Instagram
Book Covers and King of the Block Trilogy Logo: Designed by Laura Shinn
http://laurashinn.yolasite.com