What happens when a 25-year CNN veteran, a former White House correspondent who interviewed both Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, a decorated thriller novelist, and a grief-through-writing advocate all walk into the same conversation? You get John DeDakis — and one of the most unexpectedly profound episodes of this entire season.

John is the creator of the acclaimed Lark Chadwick mystery suspense series, a six-novel run with his latest, Enemies Domestic, taking the grand prize at the Chanticleer International Book Awards. He's also a highly sought-after writing coach, manuscript editor, and workshop leader — but none of that is the real story. The real story is how a shy, self-described "scaredy-cat" kid from La Crosse, Wisconsin became someone who has spent his life excavating the human condition — one story, one question, one grief at a time.

In this episode, Rich and John go deep — not just on craft, but on what it means to be a man who listens, feels, and heals.

In this conversation:
~Growing up in La Crosse — a stable, love-anchored childhood and why John says he was "born on second base"
~How the Vietnam War, the draft, and a campus radio station at the University of Wisconsin set his entire trajectory
~Enlisting to avoid the draft — and landing in Germany where his very first interview was with Alfred Hitchcock
~ 25 years at CNN and what it really felt like inside The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
~ Why journalism was the perfect fit for a man who didn't want to pick a side — and why that matters more now than ever
~ The origin of Lark Chadwick — a 20-something female protagonist written by a man, and what writing her revealed about gender, safety, and emotional intelligence
~ What men get wrong about women — in relationships, in the room, and in conversation
~ The powerful truth that "women are always playing defense" — and why every man needs to sit with that
~ Grief as a creative catalyst — from witnessing a fatal car-train collision at age nine, to his sister's suicide, to losing his son to a heroin overdose
~ Why writing is not just craft — it's catharsis, and how mining your pain produces your most authentic work
~ The memoir — Plot Twists: A Memoir on Writing and Living — coming later in 2026

Connect with John:
Website: https://johndedakis.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-dedakis-4b09a34
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dedakisjohn
FB: https://www.facebook.com/john.dedakis

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