After graduating from CVCC with his Associates Degree, Jeremy moved with his wife to Crimora, Virginia to attend James Madison University in Harrisonburg. He majored in Computer Science with a minor in mathematics. He finished his BS degree in December of 2008 and has been working for a small custom software company called Immerge Technologies (http://www.immergetech.com) creating websites and custom desktop applications.
During the transition from CVCC to JMU, he self-published his first novel called “The Pygmalion Effect”, a science-fiction story set in a dystopian future that follows three protagonists as they fight against the system to achieve liberation for the enslaved lower class. The first three chapters are available here: http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=374563, and purchase information is here: http://www.lulu.com/content/374563.
Soon after starting JMU, Jeremy started work on his second novel, currently called “The Lucid Dreamer”, but it will most likely undergo a title change by publication. It follows the story of a college student named Nikolai. Nikolai lives in the near future when American patriotism has been turned into a religion. This new pseudo-religion, called The Church of Patriotism, influences the government in all its decisions involving the raging wars between the Patriot-Christian West and the Muslim Middle East. Nikolai, an avid lucid-dreamer, soon discovers his ability to walk into other peoples’ dreams. This discovery brings him much more attention than he bargained for. Jeremy hopes to have his new novel finished and published by the end of the year.
Jeremy’s main advice for writers is to obtain as much guidance/inspiration as possible from your favorite authors. His first book was heavily revised after going through Orson Scott Card’s (author of “Ender’s Game”) entire website, consisting of nearly a hundred writer workshop articles written by OSC, and taking all the pointers and advice. Changes ranged from small things like not giving your main characters names that sound alike to larger errors like writing a prologue-esque explanation of your entire setting in the first few pages (show, don’t tell as the writers say).
Another large help is writer forums. Find a forum of writers who write the same genre or the same field of writing you are interested in and connect. Peers that are in the same field can offer very helpful critiques and advice, especially those who have had success publishing.