Tag

author

May 27
Love44

Joseph Bronson

By Author, Personal Growth, Podcast, Sports No Comments

Some people play golf for fun. Joseph Bronson turned it into something deeper.

This week on Here’s What We Know, I sit down with the award-winning author, longtime business executive, world traveler, and passionate golfer for a conversation that starts with golf… but doesn’t stay there for long.

Joseph has played 93 of the world’s most iconic golf courses, teed it up with legends like Arnold Palmer, and spent decades chasing mastery in a game that never fully lets you catch it.

And maybe that’s the point.

We talk about competition, discipline, aging, perspective, and why the mental side of golf has so much to teach us about life itself.

There’s a moment in this conversation where we land on something that felt bigger than golf:

Most people aren’t thinking about your mistakes nearly as much as you think they are.

Honestly, that might be one of the healthiest things any of us could remember.

This episode is sponsored by:

(Be sure to tell them Gary sent you!)

In this episode:

  • What it’s like playing Augusta, Pebble Beach, and St. Andrews
  • Why golf is almost entirely a mental game
  • The difference between elite athletes and everyone else
  • What Arnold Palmer was really like off the course
  • Why Joseph walked away from golf for a season
  • How First Tee of Silicon Valley helps shape young people through golf
  • The surprising connection between golf and personal growth

Quotations:

“It’s all mental; you just have to concentrate.” – Joseph Bronson

“Because golf is so much more than just hitting balls and things of that sort.” – Joseph Bronson

“The comfort zone is where all the faults are.” – Joseph Bronson

Bio:

Joseph “Joe” Bronson is a longtime business executive, world traveler, and passionate golfer whose career has taken him across the globe and onto some of the most prestigious golf courses in the world. A member of renowned clubs including Monterey Peninsula Country Club, CordeValle, and Boulder Ridge Golf Club, Joe has played 93 of America’s Top 100 golf courses, along with legendary courses throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

Joe is also the award-winning author of Pardon Me, Golf Chronicles, and Through the Green, three books inspired by the stories, traditions, humor, and human moments that make golf more than just a game. His writing blends personal experience, thoughtful observation, and a deep appreciation for the culture and character of golf.

Guest Contact Info:

Website: https://www.josephbronson.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-bronson/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjosephbronson/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebronsongroup/

May 13
Love43

Teri M Brown

By Author, Personal Growth, Podcast, Relationship No Comments

Sometimes the biggest adventures begin after life falls apart.

This week on Here’s What We Know, our host, Gary Scott Thomas, sits down with author Teri M Brown about surviving emotional abuse, rebuilding self-worth, and riding a tandem bicycle across America with her husband.

Their 3,102-mile journey became more than a cycling trip. It became a story about resilience, relationships, fear, kindness, and discovering what’s possible when you stop letting your past define you.

This conversation is funny, vulnerable, deeply human, and exactly the kind of unexpected story that reminds us how powerful connection can be.

Listen now and discover why Teri says adventure can restore your faith in humanity.

This episode is sponsored by:

(Be sure to tell them Gary sent you!)

In this episode:

  • How Teri rebuilt confidence after emotional abuse
  • What riding across America taught her about resilience
  • Why tandem bicycles are called “divorce machines”
  • What cross-country travel revealed about humanity
  • How adventure changes relationships and identity
  • Why most people are far kinder than the internet makes us believe

Quotations:

“You can’t educate people who don’t want to be educated.” – Teri M Brown

“I stay away from the news because generally, all the news is doing is making everybody hate one another. And the truth is that we don’t hate one another if we will just get out and say hello to people. Generally, people are very nice.” – Teri M Brown

“Don’t quit on a bad day.” – Teri M Brown

“Learn to enjoy the downhills.” – Teri M Brown

Bio:

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M Brown graduated from UNC Greensboro. She began her writing career helping small businesses with content creation and published five nonfiction self-help books dealing with real estate and finance, receiving multiple awards.

In 2017, after winning the First Annual Anita Bloom Ornoff Award for Inspirational Short Story, she began writing fiction in earnest, and published her debut novel in 2022, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, a historical fiction set in Ukraine. Her second novel published in 2023, An Enemy Like Me, takes place during WWII. Her third novel, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap, a generational story about Appalachian healers came out in January 2024. 10 Little Rules for a Double-Butted Adventure (Feb 2025), is an inspirational look at the life lessons she learned riding across the United States on a tandem bicycle. Little Lola and Her Big Dream, is a children’s picture book helping children realize that it is okay to have big dreams even in the face of opposition. Her newest work, Peg, Unhinged (April 2026), is a humorous contemporary women’s fiction looking at menopause.

​Teri is a wife, mother, grandmother, and author who loves word games, reading, bumming on the beach, taking photos, singing in the shower, hunting for bargains, ballroom dancing, playing bridge, and mentoring others.

Guest Contact Info:

Website: https://www.terimbrown.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terimbrown/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeriMBrownAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terimbrown_author

Mar 04
Love21

Shawn Inmon

By Author, Podcast No Comments

What does it really take to build a fictional universe that readers cannot get enough of?

This week on Here’s What We Know, let’s welcome back bestselling author Shawn Inmon, the wildly prolific and deeply thoughtful author behind the Middle Falls series, to explore the discipline behind writing every single day, the emotional depth of the Middle Falls series, and the surprising origin of the Universal Life Center and “the machine” that connects his stories. 

Shawn shares how he writes six to seven books a year, why he never waits for inspiration, and how internal dialogue became the secret weapon behind his most beloved characters.

We’ll dive into redemption arcs, writing action scenes, killing off favorite characters, franchising fiction across continents, and what happens when creativity is fueled by instinct rather than outlines.

If you are a writer, a creative, or simply someone fascinated by how stories shape us, this one is for you.

This episode is sponsored by:

In This Episode:

  • Why he refuses to write multiple projects at once
  • The secret behind writing powerful internal dialogue
  • Killing off characters you love
  • Why action scenes are actually the easy part
  • The origin of the Universal Life Center and “the machine”
  • Expanding Middle Falls beyond America
  • What redemption really means when someone resists it

Quotations:

“I write every day; about two hours every day is all it takes, and that gets me v six or seven books a year.” ~ Shawn Inmon

“A piece of wisdom I always think of is we judge other people by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our motivations.”  ~ Shawn Inmon

“So I’m one of those writers who sees the movie in my head as I’m writing it. So I always say, “I just watch the movie, and then I type up the incident report.”  ~ Shawn Inmon

“I specifically did not want somebody who writes like me. I wanted somebody who writes in their own voice. I wanted to see Middle Falls ideas through a different brain, filtered through a different brain.”  ~ Shawn Inmon

Bio:

Shawn Inmon is a small-town kid who dreamed of being a writer. Today, he is now a full-time author who lives in Tumwater, Washington, USA. He worked several dozen jobs – retail, real estate, traveling with the Unlimited Hydroplanes, crabbing in Alaska, morning disc jockey and station manager, and many others he can’t remember to list. These jobs gave him a wonderful base to write what he knows because he knows a little about a lot.

He achieved his dream of becoming a full-time writer in 2016 and has never looked back. One reviewer called him “The King of Redemption stories.” Shawn says he doesn’t feel like a king of anything, but he does love a good tale of second chances.

He is the author of the ever-growing The Middle Falls Time Travel series, 18 books and counting, and The Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure series. He is also the author of Feels Like the First Time, a bestselling memoir of growing up in a small town in the seventies, falling in love, and messing everything up.

He lives with his high school sweetheart – now wife -Dawn, two happy-go-lucky Chocolate Labs, and a slightly schizo cat named Georgie.

Guest Contact Info:

Website: https://www.shawn-inmon.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShawnInmonWriter/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawninmon/

X: https://twitter.com/ShawnInmon

Jan 14
Love37

Steve Abramson

By Art, Author, Film, Fun, Podcast, TV No Comments

Why do some stories stay with us forever, while others lose their magic?

This week on Here’s What We Know, we welcome screenwriter, author, and game show researcher Steve Abramson for a thoughtful, wide-ranging conversation about storytelling, Hollywood, game shows, and the stories that shape who we are.

Steve shares how a childhood viewing of Star Wars sparked a lifelong love of movies, what it is really like working behind the scenes in television and game shows, and why modern franchises often struggle to recapture the joy and clarity that once made them timeless. We also explore why villains are often more compelling than heroes, how pressure changes performance, and what our favorite stories reveal about our hopes, fears, and curiosity.

This is an honest, curious conversation about creativity, culture, and the simple power of a good story told well. If you love movies, game shows, pop culture, or thoughtful conversations that connect the dots between entertainment and real life, this episode is for you.

This episode is sponsored by:

(Be sure to tell them Gary sent you!)

In this episode:

  • Why stories matter
  • How Star Wars sparked a love for storytelling
  • Learning screenwriting before the internet
  • Sending a screenplay to Hollywood at 15
  • Why movie franchises lose their way
  • What Star Wars got right and where it went wrong
  • Why villains are more interesting than heroes
  • The reality of writing for television today
  • Behind the scenes of game shows
  • Why game shows are harder than they look
  • Knowing the answer vs performing under pressure
  • How pressure changes creativity
  • Why the stories we consume shape us
  • Passing curiosity to the next generation
  • Why great stories still matter

Quotations:

”I look at myself as a lawyer. I have to comb through every single question to make sure there are no multiple answers and that it’s worded correctly. Even one word out of place could change the whole meaning of it.” ~ Steve Abramson

“It changed the way I looked at every question from that point forward. You have to look at every angle and see if there’s a loophole anywhere.” ~ Steve Abramson

Bio:

Steve Abramson is a screenwriter, author, and television writer whose creative journey began at fifteen when he wrote his first screenplay and even managed to get someone at Amblin Entertainment to read it. After formally studying Film and Television at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Steve broke into professional television writing with credits including In a Heartbeat for the Disney Channel, story pitching for Star Trek, and writing for Survivor: Cook Islands. His career spans television pilots, network pitching, and extensive work on game shows, including Temptation, Boom, Million Second Quiz, and Funny You Should Ask. Alongside years in post production, Steve continues to create across media through projects like KnowItAllJoe.com and his children’s book The Bear in the Chair.

Guest Contact Info:

Website: https://steveabramson.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knowitalljoe1977/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Knowitalljoe1977

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-abramson-a550204/