I am sitting in the cabin of Nele Von Kiel at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club making my first entry on this blog. There are a lot worse places to work on a novel.
I finally finished the first Jake Driver novel. Now, I’m preparing to market it. Followers of this blog will eventually be able to learn from what I do right and what I do wrong. I hope that some will comment along the way so that I will do fewer things wrong.
I’m hugely a do-it-yourself person, so it is a great time to become an author. Amazon and Smashwords have opened e-publishing in ways that give new authors a chance to be published, be read and be enjoyed, even as paper publishers are retrenching.
I am a do-it-yourselfer but I have gotten (and accepted) a lot of help so far. NY Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni met with me one-on-one for two hours. My son Peter (a talented writer/director) gave me some timely editorial advice. My cousin Bill Yancey (himself an author) weighed in. NY Times bestselling author Steve Berry hammered home Robert Dugoni’s points during a writer’s workshop. Most of all, my wife Camilla edited the first and subsequent drafts five times.
If you are not reading this blog on the Official Jake Driver website click HERE to visit, see pics, bios etc. Click HERE for a link to my Works-In Process page which includes links to excerpts of the first Jake Driver novel, Old Scores, and a prequel in process, Sons of Mars and Thunder – Book One – The Plebes.
There are a lot of great author sites and blogs out there. During the months of writing, I kept my spirits high by reading and learning from many of these. Of particular note is J. A. Konrath’s. – Pete Grimm
Here is a little bit about Old Scores:Decades of service to his country have left Jake Driver a flawed and scarred man. His seemingly glamorous life, sailing to and from the Caribbean, writing romance novels and performing missions as a federal agent facilitates a destructive emotional isolation.
He gets another chance at love with the beautiful widow Sandy Carlisle. Then she adds their relationship to his long list of failures.
Heartbroken, he sails away and anchors in Beaufort, SC to visit his oldest friend and mentor, former fighter pilot Alex Greene. There a woman who reminds him of Sandy immediately infatuates him, a murder occurs, and Jake reluctantly resumes his role as a federal agent to help bring the perpetrators to justice.
A chance to reconcile with Sandy causes him to juggle both relationships while he battles for his life, and the lives of those he loves, against the violent drug gang Mara Salvatrucha, and a former nemesis.
Set against the historic backdrop of the military and flying communities of the South Carolina Low Country, Old Scores is an action packed thriller with a romantic subplot. It combines fight of brave Paladins to defeat an evil foe with the emotional journeys of its heroes to find and accept love.
