Mysterious Goings On

Alex is joined from Baltimore by novelist John DeDakis, author of five novels in the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense-thriller series. DeDakis is a former editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." He is also a writing coach, manuscript editor, and writing workshop leader. They discuss broadcast journalism, as well as the difficulties women face in that male-dominated world. They also discuss Lark Chadwick, a character in his novels, an amateur sleuth trying to maintain her journalistic integrity. Alex speaks about his own past behavior and believes that books like DeDakis's can help male readers understand their mistakes with women and grow from them. John has used his own experiences of grief and loss to inform his writing, and he believes that the creative process is largely one of self-discovery. He teaches writing to help people deconstruct the process and encourages them to move toward the pain. He is currently working on his sixth novel, which will explore topics such as a