A former student athlete and Tarleton State University alumnus who identifies himself only as “Troy” has lived a bucket-list life, From leaving a small town from central Texas to running track for Tarleton, to becoming a sports agent representing athletes from over 20 countries and traveling the world, to music management and helping small town bands become big city famous, to ultimately chasing his dream of being a writer. His published novel “The Money Island” is now heading on a straight line to being produced on the big screen.

“The Money Island” is a non-traditional type of story where you can’t put your finger on the ending; it’s unpredictable. Troy said that he is a movie-lover, but can’t go out and watch movies as often as he’d like. With the movies he has watched, however, Troy said he could usually predict the plot within 10 minutes or always guess the next move of a character.

Troy wanted to write something that was unlike the typical and ordinary stories where there were “definite truths” such as the hero winning, good guy gets girl, best friend dies, villain is defeated, etc., and according to reviews, “The Money Island” delivers.

During the JTAC News interview with Troy, he frequently repeated his motto: “Chase your dreams.”

“You excel by not accepting the status-quo,” Troy said. “Limitation’ is just a word in the dictionary.”

Troy was recruited to run track for Tarleton, where he competed in the 1600m and 5000m runs. He made All-Conference and set a Tarleton record. Although a Texan broke Troy’s record years later, it was a hefty accomplishment.

“Tarleton is a jewel,” Troy said. “People only realize this when they’ve been there for such a long time then leave. They miss it.”

Troy had 4 majors during his time at Tarleton, referring to his indecision as “Major of the Month”. His majors included engineering, english, physical education and business.

“It depended how I was feeling that day,” he joked.

“Tarleton gave me another avenue of not only a learning environment, but a learning experience,” Troy added. “Everyone has a dream… People are programmed to be a diamond in one area, but a chunk of coal in another.” He said he would rather be a “big pea in a pod rather than one of many peas in a pod.”

Standing out in pursuit of a passion says more than just going with the flow, according to Troy, and he said he hopes students will take the road less.

Troy has two more books in the making, and “The Money Island” is currently being optioned for a screenplay. For more on Troy and his premiere novel, visit themoneyisland.com.