Mark West is the author of “Grace, Blisters, and Other Things I Didn’t Ask For: One Man’s Journey from Breakdown to Less Broken”. He often wonders why these bios are always written in the third person. 

His memoir follows his walk across Spain after the collapse of a marriage gone emotionally toxic. But more than miles and blisters, it’s about the detours of the heart, the ridiculousness of modern life, and the unlikely ways healing sneaks in when everything feels lost. Picture a middle-aged man sprawled in life’s gutter, still craning his neck to admire the stars—and occasionally muttering about the price of a cappuccino at Starbucks.

An excerpt from Grace, Blisters… was featured in The Best of Wanderlust Anthology. Mark has also penned children’s tales (Althea and the BIG Idea, Milo and Pete), two screenplays currently haunting a shelf at Universal (Throb and the Love Muscle, Undercover Mother), and the occasional essay in his local paper. He lives in Southern California within eye-rolling distance of his teenage daughter—who technically loves him, just not out loud—and is grateful for the friends who keep him laughing, and, more impressively, still reply to his texts.

Personal note-How did we build a society where you can get same-day delivery on toilet paper but not on human kindness?”

THANKS

Please feel free to contact me at mark@markwestwriter.com if you have any questions, suggestions, or recipes for pizza dough (I’ve never been able to get the consistency right). Thanks for staying awake long enough to get to the end of this bio.  

-Mark