Since the World Figure Skating Championships ended in Boston a couple of weeks ago, I started to do some market research into the sport. Although the process I took in the early 90s for International Figure Skating is vastly different than in 2025, you still need to ask questions about viewership, streaming, membership, and industry. Suffice it to say I was pleased with the numbers and, yes, I’ve identified a need just as I did when I launched my first venture in the sport thirty years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long!).

While I put together a pitch deck, this venture (if properly funded) would be primarily digital-based with the potential for print down the road. Fortunately, the name I envisaged for this venture was available. With the name reserved, we shall see where this venture goes. To answer the one immediate question, no, for a laundry list of reasons, I will not be trying to secure and resurrect the name of my original venture.  But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last two decades you need to have varied interests and ventures.

In Mind We Trust, the sequel to Justice Is Mind has so far been doing well in the film festival market. Winning Best Screenplay at the Indo Global International Film Festival along with a Finalist position at the Asian Independent Film Festival, I could not be more pleased with the reception the story has received. When I first wrote In Mind We Trust shortly after Justice Is Mind was released, I wasn’t really sure what to do with it. But with mind-reading technologies becoming more of a reality, that was truly the catalyst to introduce this story to the industry.

On the other side of the camera, the world premiere for Stonegate is fast approaching. Filmmaker Dan Groom released this promotional image of me as Father Garrett A. Clayton last week. From his traditional responsibilities as a priest to witnessing a murder to a coverup that impacted him personally and professionally culminating in a revelation that finally broke him, I enjoyed playing this character the most due solely to the mountain of conflicts he had to endure…until he couldn’t.

This week I started another round of edits to the SOS United States manuscript. While I thought I caught the lion’s share of issues in the last round, it’s amazing what you can find when you let a story “sit” for a few months. But while I decide to either pursue traditional or self-publishing, one thing that’s of paramount importance is the design of the book cover. For some time, I’ve had a very specific image in mind for the cover. While I’m not at the point where I need to retain a graphic designer, I did ask ChatGPT, with some very specific instructions and prompts, to give it a try. Well, honestly, this was the exact image and look I had in mind. When the time comes to create the official book cover, this will be the blueprint to either mirror or slightly enhance. And while I didn’t ask ChatGPT for this, it must have read my mind as the ocean liner is a cross between the RMS Queen Mary and SS United States.

This book cover created by ChatGPT is yet again another example of the advantages of AI (artificial intelligence). This is also the primary platform for my research into the new figure skating venture. While AI in itself isn’t the answer to everything, it saves both time and money so both of those commodities can be put to productive use.

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