Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a championship winning race driver and professional qualified international race driver coach. I wrote extensively at school and my teachers would always be entering my scribblings into competitions. They all expected me to keep writing when I left school but once I had a steering wheel in my hands I couldn’t hold a pen at the same time. 30 years later…after traveling the colourful motor racing world I found myself desperately wanting to write again. The result was ‘The Broken Trust.’ I found as when I was a child I could happily escape into my writing but have to be careful to find my way back to reality. I quickly got into writing further tales about retired Formula One race driver Stirling Speed and ‘Who Paid The Price’ easily fell onto the page. Now I am back into the my racing line groove and really enjoying writing the third Stirling Speed instalment.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Who Paid The Price. The world of international motor racing is a rich picking ground for a writer’s inspiration. Death, money, crime, celebrity, glamour, exotic locations and wonderful characters make up this dynamic world so ideas stack up waiting to be released into words. Love it.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write better when I travel. Usually…. my life is airports, hotels and long road trips. Great for thinking and times alone to write. I tend to spend the start of the year in Western Australia and words tumble out. This is a long winded way of saying Covid has not been good for my writing!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I like fast paced punchy stories that move you into the read quickly. Short chapters that can be knocked off when ever work for me. I like descriptive writing where the atmospheres and characters drift out of the page to you. I like to enter a different world quickly.
What are you working on now?
I have been writing some poetry about famous race drivers and have started putting these up on my YouTube channel, Author Stuart Jones. I tend to write these things in the middle of the night! Not sure why. I literally wake up with an Idea and knock them off straight away! Very strange!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am pretty poor at this but looking to learn and embrace. Instagram is easiest for me to maintain. I spend nearly every day in a different place so Instagram is easy for me to keep the content up. I have just set up a new Instagram account @authorstuartjones that I am looking to develop. I am also trying to embrace YouTube.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Love it! If you don’t love it then find a subject that you love or a situation that you love. Do not be a tortured writer. I find I look for opportunities to write because I love it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You be You. A copy is never as good as the original.
What are you reading now?
John Grisham – Camino Winds
The Biography – Niki Lauda
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a lot of mileage to cover with my Stirling Speed series. I want to keep up my race driver poems but a new direction is to write a non-fiction book. I have worked with many a driver that reached the heights of Formula One but never became house hold names. They took the same risks, sacrifices, had huge success in the their stairway to stardom but never shone brightly. I would like to examine what catalyst was missing.