Meet Colin Holmes | Author – Thunder Road

We had the good fortune of connecting with Colin Holmes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Colin, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Thunder Road is my first published novel. Most people believe that coming up with the idea and writing the 85,000-word book is the hard part. Once I finished the novel, the selling part of writing began, starting with trying to sign with a literary agent. Most publishers only want to work with an agent who has vetted the author’s work and finding that representation can be a real challenge. In my case, I never found an agent who wanted to handle a story as unique as Thunder Road. The book is a homage to my adoptive hometown of Fort Worth – it opens with a western spin then moves to a traditional noir detective story with a science fiction twist. The many agents I spoke with never knew quite how to pitch that. Fortunately, I found an editor directly who loved the story and the characters. But we still went through months of edits, rewriting and polishing.
Finally, it went off to become a book and more work began to find the audience and market the novel. That meant building a website, starting a blog and a complete revamp of social media. All to backstop media interviews, book reviewer conversations, book tours, blog tours, and more. Writing a book like Thunder Road was a wonderful, long, involved process, but typing “The End” is just the tip of the iceberg.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I began my career as an advertising creative, first as a graphic designer and then later writing copy. I’ve written hundreds of commercials but was doing a pro bono project for an orphanage and found myself saying “someone should write this as a movie.” My next thought was that if I could write a 60-second TV spot, how hard could another 119 minutes be? Turns out it’s really hard, but it got me hooked on screenwriting and narrative fiction. I put myself through the Writer’s Program at UCLA and learned the basics of the craft and then just wrote. And rewrote. And then rewrote the rewrites. Eventually, that work led to getting the script sold. But movies are a difficult thing to make happen if you live in Fort Worth and not LA. That one script became a feature film, but the producer brought in a more seasoned writer for rewrites and the shooting script. I actually got fired off my own movie.
I’d been working on some short stories along with scripts and a few screenwriters I knew told me they were experimenting with novels. They found it much more liberating than screenplays because novelists have ultimate control over the finished story. I had the perfect launching pad – Thunder Road was a screenplay – but it was a complicated plot with more storylines than a movie could take, and I had no contacts to make it a streaming or TV series. So I recast it as a 70-page outline for a novel and began rewriting. I believe the version that sold was rewrite number eleven.
Along this journey, I’ve learned that writing is a craft and a learnable skill. It takes some talent, but mostly it’s the stubborn time at the keyboard and the diligence to keep going after rejection. I still learn something from every rewrite. But the main thing I’ve learned is to just keep writing.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ah, welcome to Fort Worth. There are the traditional old haunts that everyone has to visit – You need a sunny afternoon of margaritas and enchies on the patio at Joe T. Garcia’s, a stroll through the Stockyards for the cattle drive, capped off by a night at Billy Bobs, just to cross those off your list. That takes care of the requisite Chamber of Commerce bits. The new spots on Mule Alley in the Stockyards are cool – if my friend has an expense account, 97 West at the Hotel Drover is a dinner and drinks stop. And just down the block, Second Rodeo’s mashup of live music, beer garden, trailer park and microbrewery is a solid stopover. Do a flight or two. I’m always up for old-school country music and it’s usually on stage at the institution that is the White Elephant Saloon.
We’ll cruise through Sundance Square for the bison ribeye at Reata and a set or two at the Scat Jazz Lounge for some eclectic jazz and a really fine Manhattan. Maybe an after-dinner cigar at Silver Leaf.
You can’t do Fort Worth without the museum scene, but my fav is the Sid Richardson on Main Street. It’s an intimate space with incredible western art from Remington and Russell. But it’s a destination place outside of the museum district.
I’m a fan of a good hole-in-the-wall joint, so one evening would find us at Margie’s Italian on Camp Bowie West – they’ve been cooking pasta for the last 50 years and while the ownership and staff change, the vibe never does.
Fort Worth is famous for two things – BBQ and Mexican food. We are doing lunch at Cardona’s tortilla factory. It’s taken a tough hit during the pandemic, but the food is still great. At the very top of Jacksboro Highway – Thunder Road – generations of the family at Arizola’s have been dishing up tacos and enchiladas. I’m a regular.
As a serious sports fan and a barbeque guy, one trip would have to take us to Arlington and Texas Live. Hopefully, there’s a baseball game at Globe Life Field, but if not, we’re hitting Lockhart Smokehouse for brisket and ribs. My other choice for barbeque is just south of Fort Worth in Cresson. Inside the Sunoco gas station by the Motorsports Ranch racetrack is BBQ On The Brazos and some of the best ’que around. But since it’s Fort Worth and we’re talking barbeque – I’ve got to take my friend to Heim BBQ because they’re redefining ’que in Cowtown and their signature burnt ends are life-changing.
That puts us on Magnolia and the Southside – a quick pub crawl down South Main – Nickel City, the Bearded Lady, and a block over to HopFusion Brewery. We’d check and see if there’s a band at Shipping and Receiving. If we need a little break we’ll drop by one of my favorite bookstores – Leaves Books and Tea Shop on Saint Louis Street.
To end the tour, we’d head for Clearfork, but without crushing a platinum card, there’s bocci at Pinstripes, a large pie at Grimaldi’s Pizza and gelato at Amaroni’s. We can stroll among the Ferraris on a Chevy budget.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Helga Schier the Editorial Director at CamCat Publishing.

Helga has an incredible passion for a good story. It comes through in everything she does and brings to the editorial process. She’s from Germany, but has a Ph.D in English and brings detailed insight to help make a story like Thunder Road become a great book. It also helps that she’s just an all-around great person.

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