My Writing Project

Last year, I started on the path to becoming a published author. Putting words together to tell a story came naturally to me. It was selling that story that I had no experience doing. Three manuscripts later, still no publishing deal, but a lot of good feedback has come my way.

My first manuscript became the basis for a series of stories following the life of John Smith, a Marine Corps veteran. I had grown tired of military veteran always being portrayed as troubled, conflicted men who couldn't adapt to civilian life and suffered from PTSD. Also, from my own experience, Hollywood has convinced the public that Marines are all elite, Special Ops super-grunts who know three hundred ways to kill someone. So, like me, John Smith was a POG (Personnel Other than Grunt) in the Marine Corps Air Wing. He had a nine-to-five job he did, then he went home. Despite his admission of being a POG, a situation arose where he had to become the kind of badass that everyone thought he was supposed to be.

In Favor For a Favor, John travels from his home in Arizona to visit his friend Jason in North Carolina. While out drinking at a bar, he successfully defends himself against three attackers, putting all three of them in the emergency room. Security footage of the fight is seen by the owner of the bar, a small-time crime boss named Jeff Davis. Jeff Davis has invested enough of his dirty money into legitimate business ventures to be able to get out of the criminal world forever. The only problem is, he has partners who have no interest in legitimate business, and they could drag him down with them if they ever got caught. After calling in a favor, Jeff Davis finds out everything he needs to know about John and arranges a face-to-face meeting. Finding the name of Stephanie Sweeney, a girl John chased for most of his twenties, he threatens to kill her if John doesn't eliminate the four partners, and do it quietly. Knowing it won't help his chances with Stephanie, but not wanting her to suffer because of him, John reluctantly accepts the job. Being an Air Wing POG, he has never killed anybody before. John is forced to rely on his quick thinking and imagination to accomplish the mission without getting himself or anyone he cares about caught or killed.

The events of Favor For a Favor lead John to be hired by Reflex Engineering, a firm specializing in investigations and retrieval operations. The story of his first undercover job for Reflex Engineering is told in The Erie Incident, where he is sent to a small town in Northern Ohio to uncover the players in a synthetic morphine distribution ring. The investigation is a baptism by fire, with John being thrown into the job with no formal training and only a very loosely-stated objective. Also, for the first time, he has a girlfriend back home to worry about. Making up the process as he goes along, he has to piece together the framework of the organization from the junkie customers, all the way up to the kingpin.

Favor For a Favor and The Erie Incident are the first two books in The POG Series. I have the plot points for the next three to follow after them, and the general idea of where I want the next five after that to go. With the architecture for an open-ended series in place, I turned my attention to a Sci-Fi series, limited to three books. I have written the first manuscript, The Ondellus Determination, and have a general idea of what the other two should be.

The Ondellus Determination is told from the point of view of Commander Lokewa, Son of Krexel the Pathfinder. He is a Patrol Team Leader in the Meron Prime Orbital Defense Force. On a routine patrol of the orbital territory of the third moon of his planet, his team encounters an unknown vessel approaching. It turns out to be an escape pod from a Meronian research ship, and it is carrying information regarding the new species of sentient life that the crew had discovered. Upon rescuing the scientists aboard the pod, Lokewa is assigned to protect them and study the new species. A twist of events leaves both scientists dead, and Lokewa becomes the leading authority on the now species. It falls to him to present the species to the Ruling Council at the Determination Trial. He must decide whether to present them in a favorable light to convince the Council to initiate First Contact, or to present them as a potential threat that the Council should dismiss.

With three manuscripts to pitch, I would have thought I would have a publishing deal by now, but so far, no dice. Every rejection letter so far has included a nudge in the right direction, though, so hopefully I will have something to show for my efforts. In the meantime, writing awaits.