Author Guest Post With Alan McDermott

Alan McDermott has kindly agreed to guest post here about his work, and share his inspiration for becoming a writer in honor of his newest release, Gray Justice.

 About The Author:

Alan is a software developer from the south of England, is married and has twin daughters who have just completed their first year at school.   When he isn’t creating clinical applications for the National Health Service he is spending time with his family.  In his spare time, Alan wishes he had more spare time...

Find Alan McDermott on the Web:
  Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

 Guest Post:

What inspired me to become a writer?  Two things, really: Alana and Melissa, my twin daughters.  When I was young I had no desire to marry and settle down, I just wanted to live for the day.  I didn’t see the point of putting money aside for a rainy day or to provide for my future, so I just spent my wages as soon as I got them.  Looking back, I realise I was foolish, but as the man who sat on a nail will testify, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Even when I got married, I still thought that the future would look after itself, but when the girls came along, everything changed.  I suddenly had this huge responsibility and I wanted to make sure that my daughters had everything they needed.  I grew up on council estates in the north of England, and money was tight to say the least.  While my friends got the latest toys for Christmas, I had to make do with what my parents could afford, which wasn’t all that much.  Times were hard, and every penny counted.  I wanted to ensure that my girls had everything they needed, and that was going to cost money.

I started my own business in 2008 and wrote a training manual for those who wanted to learn the basics of programming.  I envisaged selling hundreds of courses a year, but in fact I sold just a handful in two years.    I then tried creating websites to generate an income, but no matter how good the idea, I couldn’t drive people to visit them.  I was beginning to believe that I would always be working for someone else, dancing to their tune, when a colleague at work mentioned that she was trying to write a book for children.  I gave her a copy of a short story I’d written 20 years earlier and she loved it, saying I had to get it published.  At first I ignored her, but I did a search and found Smashwords, which would let me publish the book for the whole world to see.  Once I’d updated the story and uploaded it, I sat back waiting for the money to roll in.  It was a long wait.

Recidivist sold exactly zero copies, but I had the bug.  At bedtime I would read the girls a story, but one day I decided to make one up, a tale about a magical creature called the Jambalian, which was purple, had three legs and slept upside down on walls or hanging from a tree.  When it was Mummy’s turn to read, they wanted more of the Jambalian, so I wrote a couple of stories for my wife to read to them.  While I was doing that, I thought about writing a full blown novel – something more substantial than the five-thousand word short story I had on Smashwords. 

It was while watching a cop show that I saw a car thief drive like a maniac through busy streets for twenty minutes with no regard for road users or pedestrians.  He was eventually caught, and despite having around 40 previous convictions, he was given a community order.  I saw that as no deterrent whatsoever, and the idea for Gray Justice was born.

It took a year to write, but not because I didn’t have the motivation: I simply didn’t have the time.  I would wake up at 4.30 in the morning and get a few words in each day, and try to pick it up once the girls had gone to bed (a regimen I still maintain).  It isn’t easy, and my social life has almost completely vanished, but when I look at my daughters as they like sleep like angels, I know it is all worth it.  I’m not making millions, but this month we are able to afford our first family holiday, and my vision of the future looks a lot better than it did two years ago.

  Gray Justice:

Title: Gray Justice

Author:Alan McDermott

Publication Date: July 8, 2011

Gray Justice is the fast-paced debut thriller from Alan McDermott. It tells the story of Tom Gray, an ex-soldier running a successful business until his world falls apart. His young son is killed by a joy rider and his wife, overcome with grief, takes her own life months later. When his son’s killer walks free from court, Gray decides that the current justice system needs an overhaul, and kidnaps five serial offenders. Parading them on the internet, he lets the people of Britain decide if they should live or die, and the government are powerless to stop him. Gray believes he has the perfect plan, right down to the last detail, but one man travels four thousand miles to prove him wrong in an explosive climax.

Find Gray Justice Online:  

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Facebook

 

Happy reading until next time!