Rusty Young (born 1975) is an Australian-born writer known for his book, Marching Powder, published in 2003, and based on real life experiences in a Bolivian prison. He’s a commerce/law graduate from the University of New South Wales, who has lived most of his life in Sydney, Australia.

In this podcast, we initially get to know a little more about Rusty’s background before we delve a little more into how he went about writing and eventually publishing Marching Powder. We get a glimpse on his knowledge in the Bolivian prison drug trade and capturing the story while in a prison. Finally we also get a sneak peek on what's happening in his upcoming book Colombiano!

Interesting insights on the writing process, and the reality of storytelling in this pod. Listen to this great conversation guys!

• Listen to it on iTunes.
• Listen to it on Stitcher.
• Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing "Save as." 

References:

• Book - Marching Powder

Show Notes:

• Tommy’s tribute. [6:00]
• A little bit of Rusty’s background. [07:50]
• What triggers you in moving into studying Law? [08:55]
• When did you start writing? [10:35]
• Rusty’s source of income. [11:56]
• What brought you on writing Thomas’ story? [13:15]
• What happened to Thomas then? [23:40]
• Interesting story that Rusty did not write in his book. [25:20]
• The writing process. [27:00]
• How do you stay motivated in Colombia? [32:20]
• How did you publish the book? [37:40]
• Rusty explains the types of cocaine. [40:15]
• Rusty shares his experience when he was in prison. [43:55]
• How did people in prison react? [48:25]
• The Marching Powder movie’s cast and staffs. [58:05]
• The Good, Bad and Science. [1:00:15]
• Craziest items that are inappropriate to travel. [1:00:35]
• A man tearing his ears to look like a Parrot. [1:03:25]
• If you could be an animal, what would it be? [1:04:15]
• Who built the Pyramid of Giza? [1:06:25]
• Rusty reasons out why he chooses Colombia above the other. [1:11:55]
• Colombia’s history. [1:17:15]
• The difference between fiction and nonfiction story. [1:21:12]
• Rusty’s experiences on traveling around the world. [1:30:05]
• 6 from 6 [1:37:05]
• Who is your biggest role model? [1:37:35]
• What are the things that you do when you are in downtime? [1:38:25]
• When you invite three people to dinner, who would that be? [1:39:15]
• Where is your favorite travel destination? [1:39:55]
• What is your dream destination? [1:42:25]
• When you are on a desert island, what three things that you would bring? [1:44:05]

Selected Links:

• Marching Powder
• South America
• La Paz
• Ecuador
• Bolivia
• Cocaine
• Thomas McFadden
• Colombia
• San Pedro Prison
• Marijuana
• Crack cocaine
• Cat
• Photographer
• Bribe
• Brad Pitt
• Plan B Entertainment
• Don Cheadle
• Shantaram
• Firearms
• Parrot
• Lion
• Pyramid of Giza
• Graham Hancock
• Central America
• Christopher Columbus
• Peru
• Child soldier
• Drug trafficking
• Pablo Escobar
• Fiction novel
• Kiteboarding
• Boracay, Philippines
• Siclovia
• Nepal
• Macbook Pro