Super Sleuth
On the day that Richard J. Tracey was born, his mother told him that the nurses in the hospital kidded her about his name. They assumed he would grow up being called Dick Tracey, reminding people of the famous comic strip detective of the same name. That’s what happened, and Tracey says that people still kid him. I admit I wondered about it myself, but that’s how I found out about this interesting tidbit of information associated with this published author who lives in Pooler.
But as Tracey was growing up, he had no intention of becoming a private detective, nor did he think he would someday write a novel, but he did enjoy reading mysteries. His penchant for mysteries began when he was a member of a book club. He began reading the Ed McBain series of police novels, which he says was a book club selection. “It got me hooked,” he said. “and now I’m a mystery and adventure reader and movie buff!” Some of his favorite authors are: John Grisham, Pat Cornwall and James Patterson, and currently he’s reading and enjoying Patterson’s novel Double Cross.
He started thinking about writing a novel in 1986 while he was in the service, and one of his jobs was writing procedure policies. That may seem like a far cry from writing a novel, but a foundation was laid, and while reading mysteries, he does remember thinking to himself, “I could do this,” -but he didn’t.
After all, he had all the excuses not to write. He had a full-time job, a family to spend time with, and probably a plethora of other excuses that most of us use as reasons for not accomplishing a hidden desire in our lives. But that all changed in 1990 when his mother died. “She was my inspiration,” he told me. “When she died I questioned my own mortality. I didn’t want to be someone who says, ‘I want to fly a plane, or I want to write a book,’ and never do it. If you never take a chance you never have success.”
Inspiration prompted Tracey to write a book, and this time he did it. Actually, over the years he’s written eight books, and just recently he’s gotten the first one published. He named it The Fairfield Murders, and you guessed it –it’s a mystery.
“I dreamed the first book,” he told me. That’s right, he saw his first book while he was sleeping as though it was a movie. At the time he was working eight to five, and like most of us had little spare time to spend working on personal aspirations, but Tracey said, “I was spurred by my dream.” He made time to write, and the rest is history.
One month after The Fairfield Murders was completed, Tracey began writing his second book in The Fairfield Murders series. It’s called Frozen Stiff, and then came the third, The Evil Side of Good. In less than ten years, he’s written eight novels. That’s quite a feat, but to Tracey, writing is the easy part – getting published is another matter.
“My wife, Gloria, is my biggest support person,” said Tracey. “She believed I could write a novel because of the technical writing that I do, and we knew it would be a long shot.” But the hard copy of his novel, The Fairfield Murders, published by SterlingHouse, makes it a reality, but that reality didn’t come easily.
The Fairfield Murders was published in the fall of 2008. It won honorable mention at New England and San Francisco book festivals. Tracey has copies of emails sent from readers of his novel, telling him how much they enjoyed reading his book, and asking when his next one will be on the shelf. With all this applause for this writer’s first published novel, how long would you imagine it took to get it published? Would you believe it took about 16 years? Well, that’s the truth. If you think a writer has to have tenacity to actually write a novel, it looks like the process of getting it published takes even more.
Tracey didn’t begin the process of trying to get his first book published until a couple of years after it was completed. He started the process by sending his manuscript to several publishers. Only two replied, but one of those wrote a letter to Tracey and explained that he needed to get an agent, and also gave him tips on how to get one. Tracey followed these guidelines, found an agent, and signed a contract, but that was just the beginning. It looks like the hardest part of the process might be the waiting.
He waited for that call from his agent telling him that his book would soon be printed, but that call didn’t come. He called his agent asking for updates, but was told that the agent would call him if there was any interest in his book. He waited some more. He waited for five years, and at the end of each year, he signed another contract for another year. “He (the agent) did not do anything,” said Tracey, and he began searching for another one.
He sent his manuscript to the Barbara Bauer Literary Agency. She liked it and a contract was signed. This time he was much happier with his choice. Barbara Bauer stayed in contact with him, and “She was very easy to talk to,” said Tracey. He became optimistic that his novel would be published, but once again, he waited. Once again years passed, but his waiting game was about to be over.
“I was with Barbara Bauer for ten to eleven years,” he said, “and I was driving down the interstate in April of 2007 when I got a call from her telling me good news - SterlingHouse Publisher was interested in my book, and she wanted to set up a time for a conference call with them.
“How did I feel when I got the call? After so many years of failure and rejections, my heart dropped,” said Tracey. “I did not know what to say, but I knew I had to sell myself during that conference call. You have to demonstrate a marketing plan. The fact that I was working on a series was a plus. I already had three and was working on a fourth.”
His sales pitch was successful. The conference call was in April of 2007, his book was printed in August of 2008, and his first book was published in the fall of 2008. “Everything is timed,” said Tracey, and I guess it might be added that patience is a virtue.
Writing seven more books while he waited for his first one to be published kept Tracey busy. Perhaps that’s what made the waiting endurable, for it seems he never stops thinking about his books. “I always carry a notebook in my pocket,” he tells me. “It’s filled with ideas which I use to generate thoughts when I begin writing. When I come home in the evening I do computer stuff until 8:00, that’s when the television shows start.
“I don’t have a writing schedule, and I don’t believe in writer’s block,” he says. “I only write when the thoughts come to me.”
An open upstairs room is where he writes. His computer sits on a modest card table, and a wide screen TV sits in the corner, and it’s often on when he’s writing. “When writing I have to have noise,” he said, “otherwise I’m distracted. I’ll hear a noise outside and I’ll run to the window.”
“Before writing a novel, I know the beginning and the end,” he said, but that notebook he keeps in his pocket becomes fuel for the rest. He’s jotted down clues and of bits of information that might help him solve a mystery he’s working on. “When deciding on what clues to use, I have to tie the victim and the clues together,” he says, “and I ask, ‘What would be the most logical thing?’”
What’s the hardest part about writing for Tracey? “Naming the characters,” he said. “The main character in The Fairfield Mysteries is Charles Racer. I picked that name because it was catchy, and because “Racer” could be used by itself.”
When Tracey finishes a novel, he explains that he gets help with the final editing process. “I give copies of my manuscript to some of my “really good friends,” and I give them a red pen. I ask them to mark any errors they might find, like if I kill somebody off and they appear again later in the novel, and I ask them to ‘Be honest.’”
Tracey is a prolific writer. Of the eight novels he’s written, four are mysteries in The Fairfield Murders series, and the other four are stand alones. On occasion he’s stepped out of the mystery genre. One of his novels is a drama, and another is what he calls his ex-file story, which he explains simply: “It has a strange story line.”
Tracey’s mother was his inspiration, but Tracey can be an inspiration to anyone who has said: “Someday I want to fly a plane,” or “Someday I want to write a book,” or any other such thing that seems to be just a dream.
“Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.” Author unknown.
For more information about Richard Tracey:
On the internet type in:
Richard J. Tracey, author
To view a trailer about his book go to:
www.youtube.com
The Fairfield Murders
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