I used to blog back in the day & had a lot of fun with it. Made a lot of friends as well. This is my first attempt at getting back into it - a whole new set up. So I'll plan on posting about my books, writing in general, pirates, ghosts, shapeshifters & lost treasure, sailing ships, haunted St Augustine, & maybe some baseball & grandkid stuff.
It (writing) started in my garage - had my laptop out there - was thinking about my grandson Jack, we had moved from Pennsylvania to Florida & he lived in Pa (still does) so I was missing him (still do). I tapped out "Jack spent summers with his grandparents in St Augustine." (Daydreaming at that point.) I ended up writing a story about how he came to visit - which morphed into a "chapter" then another & another & several months later I had the first draft - and made countless changes, even with plot & characters. 3/4 of the way through I decided it would be cool if he was the descendant of a pirate - a real pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. So I rewrote the whole dang thing & had a blast doing it. BAD LATITUDE did so well, & I had so much fun, that I started writing another Jack Rackham book - & then another. I'll post about them (& my Augie series & current WIP) in the future.
This is the back of the book copy for my first book, which still does remarkably well.
The seaside town of St. Augustine is haunted.
Everyone knows that.
For fifteen-year-old Jack Rackham, a descendant of the notorious pirate
Calico Jack, it was supposed to be a relaxing summer of great surfing, exploring
the Ancient City and adventures on his very own boat, Bad Latitude. His
discovery of a three hundred-year-old diary changed all of that.
When the secrets of the old book are unraveled, Jack enlists the help
of his best friend Kai, and together, they begin the dangerous search for
the hidden fortune buried beneath the abandoned burial grounds of
Rattlesnake Island. Digging under the light of the full moon, the boys are
unaware that a terrifying menace waits in the darkness, determined to
prevent their escape. Supernatural guardians of the island are clawing and
dragging their way through the snake-infested marsh grass, surrounding
the pair, working to create a deadly ambush, while offshore lurks a
mysterious ship, shrouded in an eerie green fog, flying the flag of the
long dead Calico Jack Rackham.
Before daybreak, Jack and Kai will face a desperate struggle for
survival, ultimately choosing between unimaginable wealth and
friendship. Will they put their own lives on the line to save one another
from the evil that stalks their every move, or will the promise of great
riches lead to tragedy and despair?
