Writing Goals for 2016
I belong to a number of writers groups and a common thread right now is setting writing goals for 2016. For me, this is a particularly valuable process. I've found in my life that where I set goals, I strive to meet them and where I don't, well... I don't. To...
Life of a Miner
As a writer, I have an interest in experimenting with different ways to deliver stories. 'Life of a Miner' is one of those experiments. Over the next several months, I'll write this story one chapter at a time and deliver it via email before and...
War Council Chapter – Missing Text
In each of the manuscripts we've delivered, there have been grammatical errors. It's not for lack of work on our part, it's just part of what you sign up for when you produce a work with a hundred thousand or so words. What is unusual is when we actually drop a few...
A Matter of Honor – Released
December 3rd, 2015 A Matter of Honor will be generally available on Amazon. Instead of giving you more marketing text about how much fun this is going to be, I'm including the start of Chapter 2. Yeah, you read that right. I'm not giving you Chapter 1 because it gives...
Privateer Tales – 99 cent sale
On the eve of the release of the much anticipated A Matter of Honor, we're giving away Rookie Privateer and Parley and reducing Fool Me Once to 99 cents. You read that right, for 99 cents you can get started on the highly successful Privateer Tales series. Privateer...
Rookie Privateer Audio Book Auditions
I need your help! I'm working on a project to record an audio production of Rookie Privateer for Audible, iTunes and Amazon. Below, there's a poll where you can click on my favorites (we had 25 actors audition for this work). Please click on the links and listen to...
A Matter of Honor
It's an exciting time around here as we prepare to release 'A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales #9). I skipped writing a short story between novels and jumped right to the good stuff, that is 'A Matter of Honor' is a full length novel and should be available well...
Out of the Tank – Liam’s perspective
When I originally started writing Out of the Tank, I'd thought it was a story about how Liam felt about how Tabby's recovery from the events of Smuggler's Dilemma. As I was writing it, I realized that I'd much rather write it from Tabby's perspective. The following is...
Amazon’s Amazing Quality Control
I discovered something very cool about Amazon kindle books yesterday. There's a feature where a reader can report a word that is incorrectly used or mis-spelled. One of the hardest things about quality control is finding where I've used a homonym (sounds the same,...
Busy Summer as a Science Fiction Writer
In the future, when I look back at the Summer of 2015, I know I'll remember it as a whirlwind. On top of releasing Out of the Tank and Buccaneers, my only daughter was married, my youngest son was also married and my eldest son's wife gave birth to my first grandson....
Out of the Tank nearing release
The drought is over and we're finally getting to the fun part where we announce our new books. Privateer Tales #7, is Out of the Tank. And who do you think that copper haired beauty is standing in the medical bay? You'll have to read the book it to be sure, but I'm...
Rookie Privateer Free
In a blatant attempt to bribe new readers into jumping on the Privateer Tales bandwagon, I've decided to drop the price on Rookie Privateer to free. We're preparing to release books 7 and 8 (Out of the Tank and Buccaneers respectively) and I believe it's time to take...
Pirate Grounded!
If you've been reading my blog, you were probably were aware that Parley, third book in the Privateer Tales series was pirated on the Google Play bookstore. Some enterprising person with a poor moral set decided to represent...
Buccaneers Preview
The next novel in the Privateer Tales series is Buccaneers. I'd hotlink the Amazon URL but we're several weeks from releasing the book at the time of this writing. When I'm working through a novel, I often ask my artist friends to help me by creating original art that...
Pirates Attack.. No Really.
My entire professional life has been dedicated to creating digital goods. First with computer software and more recently with digital books. One of the big questions has always been - how to protect that intellectual property. What you might not know is copyright is...
Why write?
Why write? It's a question I get from time to time and the answer I gives generally depends on the mood I'm in. If I were to be completely honest, I'd admit that I'm not completely sure why I write. Like most of life's important questions, a simple, one-sentence...
Cutpurse – Released to Amazon
It's been a busy spring and I'm excited to announce the second new book of 2015. Cutpurse is a novella set in the Tipperary Solar System and introduces readers to the the planet Grünholz. I often get the question as to why I write these smaller stories instead of just...
Rookie Privateer New Cover
Can you believe it's almost been a year since we released Rookie Privateer? The amazing response has pushed me onward and boy do I have new stories to tell. March has been a busy month. We've released Smuggler's Dilemma, Cutpurse was sent to beta readers and now a new...
It’s a long way to Tipperary
Click on the picture to zoom in. In the stories Cutpurse and Buccaneers I've introduced a new solar system Tipperary. I asked a friend of mine, Roberto Gabriel Garcia, to help me with a visualization of this system and it came out great. Tipperary, is a...
Privateer Tales – After Red Houzi
I'm having a wonderful spring weekend writing and responding to reader comments. It's so much fun to hear from people who are reading Smuggler's Dilemma for the first time. I've always known there were people in the world who enjoy my style of science fiction and love...
Smuggler’s Dilemma – Released
We're Done! Smuggler's Dilemma has been released to Amazon and can be ordered on Amazon. Follow this link - get on amazon to order your copy now. I've had a number of questions about why I create pre-orders instead of releasing directly to the public. As a publisher...
Smuggler’s Dilemma – Home Stretch
The work on Smuggler's Dilemma is coming to a close and release can't be far behind. I've yet to set a date for release, primarily because I have a contingent promotion I'll be doing with Rookie Privateer. The business of independent book writing is tricky and I have...
Smuggler’s Dilemma – Writing Complete
What does it mean to be done writing? In some sense, it means the really hard work begins. It's time to get the editors involved and we'll start tearing the story apart. Each of my editors have a different process. My sister, Diane from nammynools.com and author of...
First Year Lessons Learned – Part 2
In the first post in this two part series I talked about some of the lessons I've learned in the first year as an independent writer. The four lessons I've boiled it down to are: Writing is the easy part Control your own destiny Manage your time wisely Don’t read...