Ron Mitchell"s wide-ranging experiences have provided him with the basic material for Broken Collar, his first novel, which treats the struggles of a young priest in a working-class town. The author draws from his own work as a young man in a steel mill and decades as a supervisor of adult probation officers in the Arizona criminal justice system. He also draws from his service as a Eucharist minister for the Catholic Church and his experience at training boxers and peace officers. The author states, "I know that my journeys, from riding thousands of miles on my Harley-Davidson to traveling untold miles to the far reaches of the world, contribute to my understanding of man"s struggle for redemption." His travel articles, profiles, and essays have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers. He has degrees from Kent State University and the University of Dayton.