Inside the Mind - Richard R Becker

As a child, I was always a storyteller. I used to invent elaborate backstories for my stuffed animals, army men, and whatever toys were lying around. Art was another way I expressed myself, drawing scenes from the worlds I’d created in my head. I dabbled with poetry and the occasional short story in high school, but I didn’t fully commit my storytelling with words until college. I transferred schools intending to combine art and psychology as a path into advertising. Ironically, the program I chose routed advertising through the journalism school, where they introduced me to an entirely new medium for telling stories — words that would become advertisements, articles, commercials, documentaries, or whatever else was needed.

Born on Monday is a small-town literary thriller that digs deep into how the choices we make — and the ones we don’t — can trap us in cycles of sameness or set us free. The story follows four estranged friends from the same fading town. After high school, some escape to bigger cities and brighter futures, but small towns have a way of pulling people back… and the problems they thought they left behind have a habit of following them home. We see this through three main characters: Billy Stevens, a quarry worker haunted by loss, who suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a brutal crime; Jessica Michaud, who returns to care for her ailing mother only to be stalked by a vengeful ex; and journalist Andrea Kearney, who starts uncovering corruption in a powerful local dynasty as violence in the town escalates. Fans of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn or Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell will feel right at home in this atmospheric, character-driven drama with a fresh voice. I’m thrilled that it debuted as the #1 New Release in Psychological Thrillers on Amazon, won first place for Thriller/Suspense at the Fall 2025 BookFest Awards, and took second place in The Incipere Awards.

I lean heavily on personal experience. I draw from the people I’ve known, the small-town or big city dynamics where I’ve lived, and my own emotional history to write honest, grounded prose about human beings. But I also play the “what if” game. What if this person I knew had a completely different temperament, or carried a different wound, or made one terrible choice earlier in life? These questions let me build characters who feel unique to the specific challenges they face in my stories, rather than falling into archetypes or clichés. My characters are always richly layered. They have their own goals, desires, and secrets that exist outside the main plot. It these goals that can either drive them forward or become the very things that trap them when faced with the plot. It is this internal friction where the real drama lives.

Ideally, Mondays are my favorite days as they are 100 percent dedicated to writing fiction. For the rest of the week, I usually start the morning with a short workout, breakfast, and then dive into fiction for a few solid hours. If I’m on a tight commercial deadline, I’ll shift to that project instead. By early afternoon, I switch gears to the business side — answering emails, handling operations, promoting earlier books, or tackling whatever task is most urgent. It’s a mix of creative flow and practical hustle, but I love the balance. It’s challenging, sometimes exhausting, yet I genuinely wouldn’t have it any other way.

For me, the most rewarding part of being an indie author has always been meeting readers in person, especially during national book tours. I’ve collected so many beautiful moments: two teens who immediately fell in love with the book and sent their father back to buy every other title I had; a reader who handed me both the new book and the well-worn copy she’d already finished so I could sign them both; and one woman so moved by the story that she recorded a short video right there in the store, passionately explaining why she never wanted it to end. These kinds of encounters are priceless. They’re not why I write, but they’ve become my favorite part of this journey, knowing that I've connected to someone through words and stories.

The biggest challenge I’ve ever faced as a writer and in life hit me last August. I was in the middle of medical testing to figure out why I’d been having unexplained leg pain. Just two hours after an MRI, I tripped at home and put all my weight on that leg. My femur snapped. The pain was indescribable. In the hospital, surgeons inserted a nail from my hip to my knee to hold the bone together. That’s when we learned the break had been caused by cancer — and that the cancer wasn’t limited to my leg. Suddenly, I was fighting to keep doing everything I’d been doing before, except now I was also juggling daily rehab and ongoing medical treatments. Last year, the battle forced me to cancel an entire national book tour and pull back from almost all personal events. It was heartbreaking. But there’s good news on the horizon. I’ve started booking festivals and signings again for the end of this year and into next. I’m still here, still writing, and more determined than ever.

Many people are surprised to hear that my main writing tools are incredibly simple: Apple Pages and sometimes Apple Notes. That’s really it. I usually create each chapter as its own separate document, then stitch them all together into one master draft when I’m ready for editing and layout. I love how organic and distraction-free it feels. It's always just me and the words on a clean page. When it comes to designing covers or marketing materials, I’ll sometimes bring in Adobe Photoshop for the heavier lifting, but I try to keep the actual writing process as straightforward as possible. I use the same technique for writing commercial work too. Simple it better.

Every author has to find their own path. So, there’s no single “right” way. For me, the breakthrough came from writing one short story a week for fifty weeks, which became my first anthology, 50 States. A year later, I applied the same discipline to my first novel, writing one chapter every week until it was finished. My best advice is simple. Figure out what works for you, then block out consistent time and protect it. Write the best draft you possibly can, and then be ready to spend even more time editing, refining, and proofreading. Keep the process as simple and organic as possible. Books don’t get written by thinking about writing or plugging into the latest program. They get written by showing up, doing the work, and baring your soul.

With more than 35 years working in advertising and marketing, I thought I’d have an advantage. But, book promotion in today’s market is still a unique challenge. It forces you to operate on both the macro and micro scale at the same time. On the macro side, you’re lining up reviews, ARC readers, paid advertising, interviews, and everything else that can deliver maximum exposure for minimal cost. On the micro side, you have to build grassroots connections by personally reaching out to bookstore owners and managers so you can meet readers one-on-one at signings and events. It’s truly a two-pronged approach. You need broad marketing strategies combined with building genuine relationships. Both are essential. And this is also why it’s been especially challenging for me lately. I have not been able to get out there in person as much as I used to so even more has to be done online, all the time.

While I’ve been busy promoting Born on Monday, I’m already deep into writing my next novel. It’s a government conspiracy bio-thriller with strong science fiction and metaphysical elements. The story unfolds through an ensemble cast of very different characters who are all thrust into situations where they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Readers looking for a preview can check out my short story “Dead Ends” in the 50 States anthology. It was one of the most discussed stories by reviewers, and the new novel is a full-length extension of that world. What excites me most is the way it blends high-stakes tension with deeper questions about being suddenly awakened from our everyday lives, the justification of unchecked authority, and what we’re truly willing to trust and believe. It’s a bigger, more complex book than anything I’ve written before, and I can’t wait to share it.

My books are available wherever books are sold. The best starting point is my author website at byrichardrbecker.com. There you can learn about all my titles, order signed copies directly from me, and find convenient links to major retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million. I’ve also curated a list of dozens of independent and brick-and-mortar bookstores currently carrying signed copies. I’m active on most major social networks, so feel free to follow me on your favorite platform for updates. You can also subscribe to my newsletter, which occasionally includes unpublished short stories and giveaways. I’d love to connect with readers however and whenever they feel most comfortable.