Goodreads asked Travis Mewhirter:

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

Travis Mewhirter It's funny, the sources we find our inspiration from. I like to say that my writing is fictionalized non-fiction -- a twisting of reality into a different reality, one that fits my own cheery pleasing. My first book, The Last 18, was inspired when I was sitting on the couch, watching ESPN. I love a great many things in and about life. It's so full of miracles that I find it hard to understand how one could not love life. Sports, and heart-breaking stories, are two of them. ESPN has a remarkable ability to deliver both. In the case of my inspiration for The Last 18, this particular short feature was on a girl, a particularly precocious girl who could play golf like no other teenage girl. A phenom, she was headed for stardom. No doubt. The only thing her mother wanted to do was watch her play professional golf. After that? Didn't matter. Her life was complete. Only, mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis came late. Life, though full of miracles, can also suck sometimes, you know? Now, as I was listening to this story, I couldn't help but be reminded of my own family. My brother Cody and I were both avid golfers. Our mom never missed a match. My brain began to spin. What if I fictionalized this story and made it my own? I knew all the characters, because I had grown up with them. I knew the plot, because it was right in front of me, on the TV screen. I just had to write it.
So I did.

flag