Bull Durham’s book “Seven Broken Souls” hit the Bestseller list last week, and frankly anyone who has read this absolutely riveting book knew it was coming. Durham who is the youngest of seven children was physically, emotionally, and verbally abused at the hands of his parents. When he was just seventeen years old, he headed out on his own with only a contact case and $20 to his name. He educated himself, battled addiction, and become a rising star in his field, but lost his job when he turned whistleblower. “Seven Broken Souls” is his story, one of struggle, success, loss and recovery. This book is a must read for anyone looking for a raw yet inspiring story. We were thrilled when we had a chance to talk with this talented writer to learn more about him, and his work.
Every book has a story about its creation, what’s the story behind “Seven Broken Souls?”
I needed my voice to be heard, and I wanted others to learn from my pain and to have to suffer in silence. After being in recovery you learn that once you share you hurts, habits and hang-ups with others you decrease your pain in half. The more I shared my story the easier it became and the more I could process how I needed to live with my new world order. I needed to share my knowledge with my frailly, but unbeknownst to me they didn’t care about getting healthy.
What would you say to someone reading your book that is going through a similar struggle?
If you are struggling find a person you can talk to as there is comfort in sharing if nothing else to get it out. Find a person or a program where there are trained staff to help you like a therapist or recovery program. Stop masking your issues with alcohol or drugs. There are many resources out there to help yourself, but you have to make the first move. This is also a process and it won’t be solved in one meeting or on your first attempt. The sooner you being facing your problems the sooner you’ll be looking at them in the rear view mirror.
What are some of your favorite authors, and why do you love to read their books?
From Good to Great Jim Collins and Jack Welch Winning are two business books I enjoyed. They shared their philosophies and how that correlated with their business decisions. I have never been a huge reader, but once I get interested in something it’s hard to put it down, I just want to keep learning.
If you could go back in time and actually speak with your younger self, what would you tell him?
That he is a good person, he isn’t ugly, nor stupid and he will make much more than just “something” of his life he will make an impact. I would tell him that he should start using the knowledge that was given to him early on in life. Don’t abuse alcohol as I have immediate family members that are alcoholics and I have been through significant trauma and alcohol only allows me to compartmentalize that pain. Work on processing the past as soon as possible, this will give you the best chances for success in finding out who you are and people you should have in your life.
Your fans are no doubt waiting to find out if you have another book in the works – so do you?
I had yet another professional editing done on Seven Broken Souls and I don’t think there will be another version of it, but if my book does well I have a few siblings I would like to engage to see if they would like to write their version of growing up. I also would like to make my book into a movie and I’m looking at screenwriters to gather some preliminary data.
For more information about Bull Durham and “Seven Broken Souls” head over to Amazon.
