Michael E. Cafferky writes contemporary and historical fiction, exploring family relationships and Christians in society. He is also the author of scores of peer-reviewed articles, conference presentations and nonfiction books including two peer-reviewed university textbooks: Management: A Faith-based Perspective (Pearson Education, 2012) and Business Ethics in Biblical Perspective: A Comprehensive Introduction (InterVarsity Press, 2015). Prior to his teaching career, he served as a pastor and for twenty years as a healthcare manager. Since retirement, Michael remade himself, completing requirements for the MFA degree in creative writing in fiction at Lindenwood University, submitting the Thesis in August, 2025.
Visit Michael Cafferky online
On The Brink
To save his career, he must risk it all—including his marriage. Gabriel Oliver has everything he’s ever wanted—a successful career, a loving wife, a position of influence. But when a life-threatening illness forces him to look inward, Gabriel realizes he’s been living his Christian faith in name only. He returns to work committed to be an ambassador for Christ in his workplace, but instead sparks tension, alienates his colleagues, and puts a strain on his marriage. Should he keep quiet and protect all he holds dear, or stand up for his beliefs and risk everything? Join Gabriel as he discovers what being a believer in an unbelieving world truly means.
- ISBN: B0FHHNYJWZ
- Publisher: Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.
Michael Cafferky Interview 2025
When did you feel called to become an author?
The idea of “calling” was elusive to me for many years and for a few decades, I neve associated the idea of calling with my writing endeavors. During my senior year in a small New England college, our major professor stated, “If you want to learn how to think, write.” I knew right then I needed to do some writing, though I didn’t have grand dreams of becoming an author. I knew my thinking was not very clear. Writing for publication occurred a few years later. I’ve never thought of myself as being “called” to write. I just knew I wanted to learn how because it was so challenging to think with clarity.
What did you learn while writing this book?
Oh, my. I’ve learned so much. Here are a few things:
· Every writer is different. Every reader is different.
· Writing is an emotional roller coaster.
· Some writers seem to crank out one or two works of fiction every year. Not me. It takes years for a good story to develop in a way that story should be told.
· Starting a new story always seems like I’m starting over, learning again how to write.
· Writing is both other centered and self-centered. I must constantly think about the impact of the words and the reading experience on a reader. At the same time, I need to guard my time spent creating story ideas.
· It is normal to feel inadequate as a writer. For years I carried around an imposter syndrome on my shoulders. It dogged me. In March, 2024, I finally lost that burden when I realized how common it is for writers to struggle with the first part of every well-told tale. Yet, each new project seems to be mountain too high to ascend.
· I learned to write what I have now and not be concerned about using up too much, saving something for another project later. Using up what is present now, frees space for more ideas to come later.
· I’ve learned to celebrate and look for the chaos of creativity. The ups and downs of the creative process are much less intimidating to me now since this holds the promise of interesting ideas to come.
· Nothing I write is sacred. No single word or sentence or paragraph or scene is so good that it must be allowed to escape the delete key.
· Crafting fiction is, for me, an iterative process going back and forth between plot design and characterization.
· Researching a story both helps and hurts. It helps because it tends toward plausible reality. It hurts because the research itself can become a security blanket, a place to run and hide behind when the writing gets difficult.
· I’ve learned that the writing life and the crafting process is filled with unresolvable tensions and paradoxes. For example, writers create things and then attempt to perfect that defy becoming perfect. One challenge is to craft art that not only satisfies me personally but also resonates with others. Another challenge is that as a writer, I need to hone my writing skills to produce predictable outcomes (not in terms of plot), but offer it to a market that has built-in unpredictability.
· I desire to create fascinating stories that are hard to put down. To do this, I need to continually see myself as part of a larger community, an experience bigger than myself.
· Critique of what other writers produce is just as important for learning as is writing.
· I’ve learned from writing to be a better reader and to value reading far more than before.
· Learning the craft of writing never ends. There is no specific point of mastery to which a student of the fine art attains, signaling they don’t need to learn more to assure a satisfying outcome when creating art. For each new project the struggle with craft elements continues anew, surprising me with the craft questions that come up.
What is the toughest part of writing in your genre?
I can’t speak on behalf of the genre in general, but I can say that by far, the toughest part of writing any story comes at the beginning when I have a story idea, but quickly get lost in the fog and muck of it all, wallowing around between character and plot ideas, wondering what the character is like and where the basic story concept will go, given who the major character needs to be for the story to be plausible and engaging. This process can take months to develop. It’s an iterative process, back and forth, around the bushes, trying to catch the elusive “thing” called a compelling story. Once I can articulate the story concept or Premise, the next toughest part is determining where the story needs to end and at what point in the journey of the major character the story should begin. Only when I have some clear ideas about these two anchors can I start writing Chapter 1
If you could have coffee with an author, dead or alive, whose work you admire, who would that be? What would you ask him or her?
I would love to talk with William Faulkner regarding his love of sprawling sentences mixed in the rhythm of shorter sentences.
What’s your go-to drink while writing?
Water. I don’t drink alcohol, coffee, or tea in any form. (It’s a taste bud thing and I don’t want to ingest anything into my body that could impair myself.)
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
(A) Experiment with crafting fiction at slightly younger age.
(B) Writing a good story is difficult even for seasoned writers. Jump in and go for it. Don’t lose heart. Persist.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I like to make things from scratch - I like to bake bread, rolls, pies, and pastries. I enjoy traveling.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Another novel by Donna Tartt, another story by Michael Connelly.
What can we look forward to next?
If On the Brink does well, I need to offer a sequel and for this, I’ve created a story concept for the major character. In addition, I have two historical fiction manuscripts that have been written, needing to be workshopped and revised. I also have a contemporary fiction manuscript I’ve written that needs to be workshopped and improved to make it a better reading experiences. On the drawing board, I have two historical fiction story concepts that need to be developed for telling.
The idea of “calling” was elusive to me for many years and for a few decades, I neve associated the idea of calling with my writing endeavors. During my senior year in a small New England college, our major professor stated, “If you want to learn how to think, write.” I knew right then I needed to do some writing, though I didn’t have grand dreams of becoming an author. I knew my thinking was not very clear. Writing for publication occurred a few years later. I’ve never thought of myself as being “called” to write. I just knew I wanted to learn how because it was so challenging to think with clarity.
What did you learn while writing this book?
Oh, my. I’ve learned so much. Here are a few things:
· Every writer is different. Every reader is different.
· Writing is an emotional roller coaster.
· Some writers seem to crank out one or two works of fiction every year. Not me. It takes years for a good story to develop in a way that story should be told.
· Starting a new story always seems like I’m starting over, learning again how to write.
· Writing is both other centered and self-centered. I must constantly think about the impact of the words and the reading experience on a reader. At the same time, I need to guard my time spent creating story ideas.
· It is normal to feel inadequate as a writer. For years I carried around an imposter syndrome on my shoulders. It dogged me. In March, 2024, I finally lost that burden when I realized how common it is for writers to struggle with the first part of every well-told tale. Yet, each new project seems to be mountain too high to ascend.
· I learned to write what I have now and not be concerned about using up too much, saving something for another project later. Using up what is present now, frees space for more ideas to come later.
· I’ve learned to celebrate and look for the chaos of creativity. The ups and downs of the creative process are much less intimidating to me now since this holds the promise of interesting ideas to come.
· Nothing I write is sacred. No single word or sentence or paragraph or scene is so good that it must be allowed to escape the delete key.
· Crafting fiction is, for me, an iterative process going back and forth between plot design and characterization.
· Researching a story both helps and hurts. It helps because it tends toward plausible reality. It hurts because the research itself can become a security blanket, a place to run and hide behind when the writing gets difficult.
· I’ve learned that the writing life and the crafting process is filled with unresolvable tensions and paradoxes. For example, writers create things and then attempt to perfect that defy becoming perfect. One challenge is to craft art that not only satisfies me personally but also resonates with others. Another challenge is that as a writer, I need to hone my writing skills to produce predictable outcomes (not in terms of plot), but offer it to a market that has built-in unpredictability.
· I desire to create fascinating stories that are hard to put down. To do this, I need to continually see myself as part of a larger community, an experience bigger than myself.
· Critique of what other writers produce is just as important for learning as is writing.
· I’ve learned from writing to be a better reader and to value reading far more than before.
· Learning the craft of writing never ends. There is no specific point of mastery to which a student of the fine art attains, signaling they don’t need to learn more to assure a satisfying outcome when creating art. For each new project the struggle with craft elements continues anew, surprising me with the craft questions that come up.
What is the toughest part of writing in your genre?
I can’t speak on behalf of the genre in general, but I can say that by far, the toughest part of writing any story comes at the beginning when I have a story idea, but quickly get lost in the fog and muck of it all, wallowing around between character and plot ideas, wondering what the character is like and where the basic story concept will go, given who the major character needs to be for the story to be plausible and engaging. This process can take months to develop. It’s an iterative process, back and forth, around the bushes, trying to catch the elusive “thing” called a compelling story. Once I can articulate the story concept or Premise, the next toughest part is determining where the story needs to end and at what point in the journey of the major character the story should begin. Only when I have some clear ideas about these two anchors can I start writing Chapter 1
If you could have coffee with an author, dead or alive, whose work you admire, who would that be? What would you ask him or her?
I would love to talk with William Faulkner regarding his love of sprawling sentences mixed in the rhythm of shorter sentences.
What’s your go-to drink while writing?
Water. I don’t drink alcohol, coffee, or tea in any form. (It’s a taste bud thing and I don’t want to ingest anything into my body that could impair myself.)
If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
(A) Experiment with crafting fiction at slightly younger age.
(B) Writing a good story is difficult even for seasoned writers. Jump in and go for it. Don’t lose heart. Persist.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
I like to make things from scratch - I like to bake bread, rolls, pies, and pastries. I enjoy traveling.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Another novel by Donna Tartt, another story by Michael Connelly.
What can we look forward to next?
If On the Brink does well, I need to offer a sequel and for this, I’ve created a story concept for the major character. In addition, I have two historical fiction manuscripts that have been written, needing to be workshopped and revised. I also have a contemporary fiction manuscript I’ve written that needs to be workshopped and improved to make it a better reading experiences. On the drawing board, I have two historical fiction story concepts that need to be developed for telling.
For more great interviews, visit our Author Interview Archives.