Anyone that has ever had to sit and write a paper for school or a report for work knows the angst a writer has with each new sentence or a completed project. Tragically, writer's like myself have to have great courage and take a risk with our works. This writing stuff is hard work. And frightening can't begin to describe the feeling I have every time I write. Why? You ask?

Imagine you are starting a new career. It's your first day. You arrive at the office to start your new job and no one is there except you. No one is available to teach you anything about your work. There's no supervisor, no mentor. Nothing. Just you.

You are tasked with knowing and remembering all of the spelling and grammar rules. In your mind, you must create a magical world of intrigue and create every little nuance of all of your characters, create their entire world and make darn sure you did the research on all the little details you didn't know anything about. You literally have to paint a 300 page picture with words. You must figure out every little detail because, if you get it wrong, you lose your job forever...  

That's what a novelist faces every time they put a word on a page. Make a mistake and no agent wants you and no publisher will print you. Talk about a tough audience. And then there are the fans.

I have found the courage to paint such a picture and need some help from what may be my readers some day.

I have about half of the novel completed and I have released 23 chapters with the premise that readers will take the time to read my work and offer suggestions, critique the work or even say they didn't like it and why they didn't like it. My book is titled Tropical Freeze for the meantime and probably will have another title change once a publisher looks at it.

FYI, Tropical Freeze is a police procedural in the vein of Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone series. I've also thrown in a lot of Tony Hillerman and Clive Cussler. 

So why announce it here? Because the story takes place in a fictional town I've created in Lake Tahoe, California and the residents are created from my memories of Coronado residents and local businesses I grew up with in town. I also lived in Lake Tahoe for many years so it made sense to combine the two locations for my fictional world.

At some point in future novels, my protagonist will take his annual vacation in Coronado visiting relatives and friends. He will also be solving cases when his services are needed by the local PD. A grand hotel, a mansion by the beach, a yacht at the yacht club, some type of military involvement with NCIS etc all will be explored. First, this novel must pass the rigor of scrutiny and release (kind of like catch and release but not as fun).

If you would like to read the excerpt, visit www.michaelatencio.com and click on the book cover. The PDF will open as soon as it downloads. I hope you like my work as much as I have creating it. Drop me a line. Thanks