Short post. This is an invitation to pop over to Stage32 and have a read of screenplays I’ve put together over the last few years.
Pop some popcorn, swing by here, have a read, leave some comments.
Thanks!
Big Boxing Day Sale
Every single one of my books, until January 15, 2018, are $0.99*.
Nuts, right? How will I pay my bills? How will I be able afford fish food for Nemo? When will I next be able to afford a haircut?
Don’t worry about me. This is for you. The readers. Thousands of my books have been sold to date, but that’s not enough. I want to indoctrinate you all.
Sorry, did I say that out loud?
I meant I want you all to enjoy your new Kindle/iPad with Kindle app/whatever your e-reading tool of choice is. I promise there is action, humour and satisfactory resolutions in all my books. They are also all free of blood diamonds, are low in triglycerides and for the most part organic. They don’t, however, suit a vegan diet. Sorry, not sorry.
So, less than an American buck each. Until the middle of January. Use some of your tax savings and splurge.
- Amazon titles are here.
- iTunes (iBooks) are here.
- Smashwords, here.
- Barnes&Noble (Nook Book) here.
- And Kobo here.
Please enjoy. I realise that it’s Netflix Binging season, but book binging is even better.
*It make take up to 24 hours for all prices to settle at $0.99. If you see a book you like and it’s not there yet, give it time. If you continue to see it not dropping, let me know here.
Mac D, living on NSW’s Central Coast, somewhere north of Gosford and South of Lake Macquarie, running his one-man Private Investigation services out of a small shop upstairs from a TAB. He makes ends meet, barely. He’s a former cop, resigning from the force due to circumstances that may be more fully revealed in a future book.
But for now, there are three to choose from:
In “Mac D: Private Investigator”, Mac Is hired to cover for a Security Guard at the local bank when the young man calls in sick. Before he knows what’s going on, the young man is dead, $4,000,000 is missing from the bank and he’s the prime suspect for both cases.
Not only does he need to solve the robbery and the murder, he needs to do that while keeping a step (or three) ahead of his former colleagues.
Pop by the Mac D page and find links to purchase copies.
Four months after the gripping conclusion of the first Mac D mystery finds Mac suffering in the hot, hot summer heat. In “A Step Too Far”, old friends and enemies show up, and one of his friends is accused of murdering one of his enemies. Falsely accused, of course, or Mac would have nothing to do.
But the deeper he digs, the more he pisses off the wrong people. And those people don’t want him to uncover the truth.
Pop by the “A Step Too Far” page and find links to purchase copies.
It’s winter on the Central Coast. No snow, but lots of cold rainy weather. Not the kind of weather you’d normally associate with Australia.
In “Hunter / Prey” Mac is getting by, barely, with missing persons cases and ad hoc security jobs when the case of his career crosses his desk. The wife of a prominent politician has been kidnapped, and he’s been put on the team tasked to find her. The stakes are high, as is the pay, and Mac is under no illusion about the high risks involved.
The case is progressing well until the shit hits the fan and he ends up in the middle of a war he doesn’t think he can win.
Pop by the “Hunter / Prey” page and find links to purchase copies.
I’ll get to the FREE. Hang on.
First, it’s been awhile, right? Last post was pre-Mueller investigation, I think. I have reasons (not excuses) for my extended absence and those reasons are not at all related to the June 9th Trump Tower meeting.
My 13th book is available for preorder at Amazon and iBooks (and other places, I’m sure). The thirteenth book I’ve put up for your reading pleasure. Lucky thirteen. Damn. But not to worry, I’ve still got some ideas, and I’m pretty sure you’ll see 14 and 15 in the next year.
So what’s this one about? It’s another Aussie PI story, with Mac Durridge getting his arse in a sling again. He never seems to get the easy cases. A prominent politician gets a note that says his wife is kidnapped. It demands a five million dollar ransom. But the politician has come up from the streets and doesn’t like being held to ransom so he hires a crack team to find the kidnappers, retrieve his wife, and dispose of any “refuse”. That team includes Mac.
So Mac rolls up his sleeves, dives in and ends up in more mess than he’s ever been in, racing against the clock to save an innocent from a bunch of really big arseholes..
Pre-order is available from the links above. The book will be delivered to your electronic reader book thingy on December 1st (GMT)
Now to the FREE. Thanks for your patience.
I’ll be honest, the marketing/awareness/publicity part of this writing game is infinitely harder than actually writing a book. I know there is a market for what I write. Those who leave reviews leave, for the most part, good reviews. So my challenge is awareness. I need to get more eyes on my writing.
So I’ve made G’Day LA, Book ‘Em and Matt’s War free on all platforms except Amazon. I really can’t figure out how to make it free with our Amazonian overlords.
Not “free until Christmas” or “free while stocks last”. They’re free. Forever. They are the base stories to three different series. The thought is that introducing readers to my writing with virtually no barrier will open their doors to other things I’ve written (that cost less than a medium coffee).
Pass the word around. Tell all your friends.
Many thanks. Now if you’ll excuse me, Manafort just surrendered and I’m dying to know who’s next. My money is on Flynn.
I’m old(ish) and the knowledge that comes with age (I won’t say wisdom) would – should – be appreciated by youth. Except I remember, vaguely, youth, and my dad was a fucking idiot back then. Not so much now.
So. Sharing seems pointless. Especially since those young’uns who would deign to listen probably don’t need advice. And, reality check time, most advice is a waste of time. Life is largely situationally specific and the things that helped me probably won’t help you. But there is an overriding lesson I wish I’d learned some 40 years ago.
Be you.
Simples, right?
The amount of energy I spent trying to be someone cooler or smarter or sexier (shudder) or whatever than me could heat a small town in the dead of a prairie winter’s night. Wasted energy, because nobody has figured out how to harness teen angst. And, honesty being the currency of today, that teen angst wore well into many decades after those teen times. In fact, the “be you” sensibility, for me, isn’t much more than 10 years old. If that.
I don’t have a lot of confidence that any youth I know will heed this. Fronting a persona that makes you “better” is the default position for most. And it’s so fucking stupid. I still run into people in the office who are trying to be something they’re not. Too much effort. Too much energy wasted on that when you could be using that energy to succeed in whatever you’re doing.
So, youngsters and oldies alike, stop trying so fucking hard. Relax into yourself. Be you. It’s a hell of a lot easier, and we’ll probably like you better for it.
Unless you’re an asshole. Try not to be that.
It’s been over two months since I posted here, ironically about writing every day – or not, so maybe I should put a couple of words down so this site doesn’t atrophy.
And I have been writing.
A screenplay adaptation of the collaborative YA Fantasy “Into Tordon” is close to complete (as complete as any writing is) and ready to send to the world. I’m working on a screenplay adaptation for my second Mac D book, “A Step Too Far”, and writing the first draft of the third Mac D mystery (so far untitled) that is exciting me very much. I’m also mapping out two more Matt Daly thrillers. One is a sequel to “Target: Australia” with Matt and George on their own, no CIA help, abandoned in the Outback, and the other is sort of an origin story – how Matt got to where he is, how he met George, what motivates him to fight terrorists, even though he’s just a telecoms engineer.
So.
Write every day. Assuming “writing” includes sitting on the sofa, watching The Voice with a glass of scotch in your hand.
So write. Now.
Bollocks.
Today I wrote nothing. Other than this post and some work emails and a text to my son checking if he wanted a kebab while I was out. (Of course he did.)
But it could be argued that I was writing, since I’ve spent a goodly portion of my day trying to break the story for number 13, the as yet untitled follow up to “A Step Too Far”. P.I. Mac D is back and he’s got a serious problem. I’m pretty sure. I haven’t quite figured that out yet. He might actually be okay.
I’ve got a broad brush view of the beginning, middle and end of the tale. Have a neat little subplot that will pay off nicely and introduce a new character that will be handy in future books. But I’m still stuck. There are some late Second Act things that aren’t clear to me. And until I get unstuck, the “writing” part of this writing ain’t gonna happen. Instead, I’ll wander around, in a seeming daze, working through tons of scenarios until the right one drops in my lap.
So you don’t have to “write” every day, but by all means, keep working on what you’re working on. Not “writing” is a horrible idea.
A long, long time ago (in writing terms) I modified an existing Scrivener template to the 4-part (three act) story structure I use and left it sit here for free.
It’s still free. (And sometime in the next whenever I’ll post the mini-movie structure and associated template.)
That page [you can find it here] is a popular visit. Thanks for stopping by and I hope it helps you even a little bit.
The thing is, two or three times a week the “right click this link and save the file in a location” is “left clicked” and the visitor (it might have been you!) gets an xml page on their screen that looks something like:
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ standalone=”no”?> <ScrivenerTemplate Version=”1.0″> <Title>Novel(with4Parts)v2.1</Title> <Description>Provides compile settings for creating a 4-part novel Character and location sketch sheets are also included. This template is designed for novels that are broken into parts as well as chapters. A list of questions that should be answered before writing is also included.</Description> <Category>Fiction</Category> <ImageName>TemplateGenericText</ImageName> <ProjectZipData>504b03040a0000000000d5b01b490000000000000000000000000f yada yada yada.
Don’t be that person. It’ll frustrate you and the file won’t do what you want it to do.
Right click, my friends. Right click.
On February 10th, Mac Durridge returns.
About a year ago he appeared, fully formed, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. An ex-Cop (not entirely by choice) he tracks down missing people, runs the odd security job and, once in a reluctant while, gets involved in something big.
Last time, in Mac D: Private Investigator, Mac found himself in the middle of a bank job. Literally in the middle. Framed for killing the bank security guard and being a part of the $4,000,000 robbery, Mac had to evade the law while sorting out exactly what happened.
It’s four (literal) months later now, and Mac is recovering from the damage inflicted on his aging body. Then one of the real antagonists from the bank robbery is killed and a local innocent is framed.
That’s a step too far for Mac, and even if it kills him, he has to make things right.
Preorder now at iTunes and Amazon (here, for Australia and here for Canada) for a Feb 10 release.
And if you haven’t read the original Mac D, it’s currently available at all e-store for $0.99 until Feb 10th.
Pick up the original now and preorder number two.
Now if you’ll excuse me, the plot for number three needs a bit of work.
My son is an avid gym goer. He plays elite level sports and fitness is mandatory element.
He’s not looking forward to the next month. The gyms will be packed with people who decided that, after all of the excesses of the holidays, now is the time to get in shape. They’ll all (or the vast majority of them) be cleared out by February.
That’s the problem with short term resolutions: Unrealistic goals, extremely unrealistic timelines and an almost 100% failure rate.
Which is why I don’t make any. There are piles of abandoned resolutions in my past. They haunt me. On the odd occasion I look over my shoulder at them, they sneer and say something along the lines of “see what you coulda had” and point at abs, or a viable book marketing plan or an alcohol-free life (that one was never going to happen).
You’re only setting yourself up for depressing failure if you don’t plan things out. And if you plan them out, then they’re not resolutions.
Make a three or five-year plan. Make it an achievable goal. Make it something like “I want to feel healthy” or “I want to fit in that suit I bought five years ago, even if it is no longer in style because what it style anyway, but a construct perpetrated by the fashion industry”.
Work backwards from that.
Do you need to buy a gym membership? Buy it. Schedule two or three times a week that fit in your schedule to go. Make it a habit. You don’t have to back squat 100kilos on your first visit. That should take YEARS.
Do you need to eat more fruit? BUY MORE FRUIT. You’ll get tired of throwing it out and after some time you’ll start eating it. (It pays to buy fruit you actually like.)
Cut out sugar. (That’s not a question. Just do it.)
Eat fewer simple carbs (white bread) and more complex carbs (multigrain bread).
Eat less. (A foot-long Sub? Really? Your stomach is happy after six inches – that’s what she said – and the remaining six are just future stomach fat.)
So don’t make it a goal you need to reach in a month. It took years to add that weight and fuck up your lifestyle. It’ll take years to undo the mess. Deal with it.
