From Jamie's desk
New releases, works in progress, and the stories behind the stories.
On of the fun things I get to do as a writer with Amazon is to offer free books. I believe in approaching life with an attitude of gratitude, and I’m grateful for you, my reader. Instead of the airing of grievances, an idea made popular by the fake holiday of Festivus from Seinfield, we should instead […]
Read the storyA year ago, when I started writing in earnest, I read the advice of several successful authors that warned that writing was the easy part of being an independent author. For someone with no released books, this seemed like an oversimplification to me. In my untrained mind, the stories I’d dreamed of writing were the […]
Read the storyOne of the blogs I follow is written by Seth Godin. He posts easy to digest, common and uncommon wisdom. Every once in a while he comes up with a jewel and this one spoke to me. In his blog, Seth posits that often times success in difficult ventures is a matter of sticking with […]
Read the storyVisualization is critical for me while working through a story. At the end of Parley, Sterra’s Gift ran into substantial problems. Without turning this into a spoiler, Liam, Nick and Marny found themselves in need of a new ship for Smuggler’s Dilemma. The ship they end up finding is an old British sloop class spaceship called the […]
Read the storyLesser Prince is a tale about three youths who discover that they are anything but ordinary, and that the universe is much stranger than they could have ever expected. In a significant departure from the Privateer Tales series, Lesser Prince is a fantasy work, complete with elves, dwarves and gnomes. It is also the first […]
Read the storyBig Pete Released, Saturday, October 18th One of the great joys as an author is releasing a new work. Untold hours go into even the smallest works and by the time it makes it to the store, over a dozen people have had their hands in the work, from editing, artwork and beta readers it’s […]
Read the storyI periodically get the question, “when will the next book be available?” First, let me be clear, it’s a flattering question because it shows me that whoever is asking either wants me to read the next book, or is interested in my path as a writer, or hopefully both. I haven’t posted for a while, […]
Read the storyThe short story Big Pete will be the fourth installment in the Privateer Tales series and should be available on Amazon in October, 2014. This story starts well before Rookie Privateer. Big Pete is a Marine Sergeant in the great Amazonian war and just happens to meet his future wife, and Liam’s mother under less […]
Read the storyAs an independent writer and publisher one of the most difficult challenges I’m faced with is how to get the word out about my books. Like most writers, I would prefer to write the books and hand off everything else to someone else. I could lament the reasons why this doesn’t work, but since you’re […]
Read the storyFans of the Privateer Tales series have good reason to be excited. We are getting very close to the release of Parley (Privateer Tales Book 3). One of the fun things that Liam does when setting out on a new voyage is to pick out theme music. Unfortunately for the crew, his taste in music […]
Read the storyAs a self-published, independent writer, there are no shortage of jobs that need to be accomplished to release a book. Some tasks come naturally, like outlining and writing. Then there are some things like editing and cover design that I simply can’t do and am smart enough to ask for help with. Unfortunately there are some […]
Read the storyOne of the joys for me as an author is working with artists. Every new book requires a new piece of artwork to adorn it’s cover. When you really think about it, it’s kind of an odd practice. We put a single picture on the front of a novel. The novel most likely describes hundreds or even […]
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