She Was Gone Before I Knew It Was Goodbye


Summer 2020. I didn’t realize it was the last visit.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day.

I didn’t post. I didn’t share. I sat with it.

My heart is heavier as two mothers of loved ones recently passed away. Both women were kind to me and my family. Our prayers of God’s peace go out to their families during this time of grief.

There are some years where the day lands differently — not louder, just deeper. This was one of them.

My mom passed away in late October 2020.

The last time I saw her in person was that summer. I wrote about it in my memoir, What Was Meant for Harm, in a chapter simply titled The Loss:

“The last time I visited with my mother in person was in the summer of 2020. We talked about her retirement in three years. We discussed her relationships with her parents, and how her soul personality developed. We reflected on relationships with my father and the stepfathers that had affected our journeys. We cried when we laughed at our own ridiculousness. We cried when we grieved for each other’s pains and losses. Her wrinkles showed a life lived with love.

I didn’t know it then, but that summer conversation would become one of the most important memories of my life. It felt like a final moment of understanding and reconciliation before the world grew even more chaotic.”

If your mom is still here, call her. Tell her the thing you’ve been meaning to say.

If she’s not — you already know. You carry it the same way I do. Especially on days like yesterday.

What Was Meant for Harm is available now on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. Chapter 5 is the one I wrote for her.

📖 Get the book → Amazon


— Quinn

TODAY is the day. It’s officially here.

What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth is now available in ebook and print editions.

It’s my honest account of navigating media chaos, personal grief, and spiritual reckoning — and finding that God uses every season for the good of those who love Him. It covers everything from Iraq to the Texas Hill Country, from mainstream media to independent creators, from loss to renewal, from searching to surrender.

If you’ve walked any part of this road with me, if you believe in what I’m doing — please share. You can grab your copy on Amazon, or visit quinnsnextstep.com.

Thank you. ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

Now Available

“… The world locked down, burned, argued, censored, and unraveled. And in the middle of that chaos, I lost people I loved, questioned the path I was on, and found myself being drawn back to the only foundation that doesn’t shift.”

— excerpt from What Was Meant for Harm

Official release tomorrow. Pre-order at quinnsnextstep.com. ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

The Firm Foundation

“Creation was the one place where the noise didn’t drown out the purpose. But what was that purpose? Why did I keep showing up?”

— excerpt from What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth

TWO days until release. Pre-order at quinnsnextstep.com ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

The Purpose of Creation

“… That summer conversation would become one of the most important memories of my life. It felt like a final moment of understanding and reconciliation before the world grew even more chaotic.”

— excerpt from What Was Meant for Harm

THREE days until release. Pre-order at quinnsnextstep.com ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

Calm Before the Storm

“It felt like every institution was being exposed at once. Hollywood, politics, media, and the rules of public judgment were changing overnight…”

— excerpt from What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth

FOUR days until release. Pre-order at quinnsnextstep.com ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

The Shift

“At twenty-nine, sitting outside the MEPS station in Phoenix in front of a Burger King, I prayed a desperate prayer. ‘God, if I do this, my life is in Your hands.’…”

— excerpt from What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth

FIVE days until release. Pre-order at quinnsnextstep.com ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

The Military-to-Media Journey

“If you’ve ever felt disoriented by the world around you…

if you’ve ever watched institutions crumble and wondered what to trust…

if you’ve ever walked through loss and found your faith sharpened in the process…

then this story is for you.”

— excerpt from What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth

SIX days until release. Pre-order at quinnsnextstep.com ♠

#WhatWasMeantForHarm #Faith #Veteran #Author

Why It Exists & Who It’s For

What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth drops on May 8th.

This book is for anyone who has watched the world fall apart and wondered what God was doing in the midst of it all. It’s my honest account of navigating media chaos, personal loss, and spiritual reckoning… and finding that God uses every season — even the strangest ones — for the good of those who love Him.

Pre-order your ebook or print copy at quinnsnextstep.com/preorder

ONE WEEK. The countdown has officially begun.