Goodreads asked Bill Mathis:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Bill Mathis Face Your Fears came about when two separate short story ideas jelled with my increasing awareness of disabled LGBTQ persons. The story of Nate started when I worked at a camp for disabled children right after college. A boy, 13, with cerebral palsy was a camper who accidentally kicked his urinal at a baseball game. He was a real character and totally dependent on people for is entire care. That was a story I wanted to tell, but didn't know what else. In the meantime the story of a farmer's kid from a big family who looked different from the rest came to my mind. Then I discovered (and highly recommend) books, poems and anthologies by Raymond Luczak who writes of disability and being gay. Things clicked and the story came together quickly. I worked with a writing coach, Kathie Giorgio of All Writers, who told me I wrote like a drunk author and to get rid of all the back stories in the first draft and focus on Nate and Jude and not their ancestors :-). It took 1 & 1/2 years to write. The publisher took 10 months.

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