Born in Redwood City, California, to adoptive parents living in Wyoming near the mountains, adjacent to the Wind River Reservation. His biological father is a Scots-Irish American and an English-Scottish American mother; all these DNA and environmental details contribute to his story and writing. Wempen is most recognized as an addiction and life experience writer, though he says, “I am interested in whole-person healing and expanding life adventures, not just sobriety.”

He enlisted in the Army National Guard as a “tanker” while attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney, earning an undergraduate degree in business. After university, he explored several chapters in his work: recruiting to consulting, management, sales, and finally finding career inspiration in healthcare.

Wempen lives with his lovely wife in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he writes, explores connection and the world through books, food, and travel.

His newest book, Sober Is Better: a Note to Self, is a personal effort to give voice to recovery from alcoholism and grow beyond a beautiful sober lifestyle into his own life. Wempen is working on a non-fiction work about substance use and mental health to be released in 2023. His first novel, a fictional story about something interesting, will see the light of day in 2024