Author: P.J. MacLayne

Dear Diary: Life from Harmony’s POV #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

May 17, 2021

Dear Diary. Write a diary entry or a letter from your character’s point of view. 

When I kept a diary as a pre-teen, it was boring, filled with details of my daily life. What we studied in school, what we had for lunch, who I sat with on the bus. The most exciting thing I did all week was go to my Girl Scout meeting. Perhaps that’s why I can’t imagine any of my characters keeping a diary.

But I could consider The Harmony Duprie Mystery series as Harmony’s diary. With that in mind, what would her first meeting with Eli look like in diary form?

Dear Diary:

Today was story hour at the library. I’ll never confess it to anyone else, but that’s one of the things I miss most about working at the library. I never worked directly with the little ones, but I love seeing their happy little faces. I keep dropping hints, but I don’t know if they’ll ever rehire me, despite the fact that I was innocent. There are a couple old farts on the Board of Directors (cough<Mr. Randall>cough) who still think I was selling drugs. I don’t know if I can wait for them to retire or die to get my job back.

I found the information I’ve been hunting for today, and got a menu from one of Rockefeller’s parties. Everything from oysters on the half-shell to turkey and ham and a variety of desserts. And booze. Lots of booze. And not the cheap stuff, from what I could tell. Rockefeller had money to burn. At least he spent some of it building this library.

My reward was making a trip to the shelves where the library stores historical books about the Victorian area. As I leafed through a book with lots of pictures, I dreamed of living in that era and wearing dresses that floated around me.. Oh, and a big hat with colorful feathers. I’d cling to the arm of my escort, a handsome gentleman with a mustache that curled up at the ends.

I decided to take it back to the table I’d claimed for the day.  That’s when I ran into him. Nice looking guy, but with the palest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.

And when I say I ran into him, I mean literally ran into him. Almost fell down but saved myself my grabbing the closest shelf. Dropped my book in the process. He picked it up, handed it to me, and then walked away without giving me a chance to apologize. Man, how embarrassing.

He isn’t from Oak Grove – I would have recognized him. But the weirdest part?

He smelled like dirt. I don’t mean dirty. I mean how the ground smells when you’re planting seeds and the earth is still damp and it smells fresh? That’s what it reminded me of. I don’t know if it was his aftershave or my imagination.

I need to stop by the package store tomorrow. My order of craft beer from Colorado came in. I’m looking forward to trying the one that’s supposed to taste like summer sunshine.

That’s it for tonight, Dear Diary. I want to go read the book I bought about Queen Elizabeth. I wonder if I could learn to be a mechanic?

******

There you go. An entry from Harmony’s diary. I hope you enjoyed reading it. If so, you might want to read The Marquesa’s Necklace if you haven’t already!  https://www.pjmaclayne.com/?page_id=232

And one personal note before I run off to check out everyone else’s entries for the week – Happy 93rd birthday, Mom!

The rest of you, until next week, please stay safe.

May 17, 2021

Dear Diary. Write a diary entry or a letter from your character’s point of view.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Just Twenty-Six Letters #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 10, 2021

Inspired by a comment on a recent post. Discuss:
It never fails to amaze me that ALL the books ever written are made up of just twenty six letters.

I first saw this statement as a response to a post on another author’s blog hop post, and a small piece of me died. A little more of me shriveled when shortly after, I saw the same statement on Facebook. I had to restrain myself from answering and starting a war on social media. Here, I can express myself.

Now, I understand what the folks who shared the sentiment were trying to say. Language is a marvelous thing. The way we can arrange shaped to have meaning is amazing. Even if the lines and shapes are sometimes incorrect, our minds can translate them to the correct meaning.

But here’s my problem. At its face, the statement is English-centric and ignores the differences between languages. The Russian alphabet has thirty-three letters, the Spanish one has thirty. Then you have Japanese, with different written languages and seventy-one or more characters.  Are they any less important than English when it comes to writing?

But can the English language be used to translate every other language using those 26 letters? The answer is, not really. Take Irish, for example. The word AMAINIRIS (“ARM-AN-ERISH”) means the second day after tomorrow. There isn’t an equivalent word in English. There is overmorrow, but that’s only one day after tomorrow.

Let’s throw in how the same word can have different meanings in different countries. In Nigeria, the word ‘hammers’ is the act of coming into big money. It has nothing to do with power tools.

The point being, words are more than twenty-six letters strung together. Language is words and context and color. Books are more than words.

What do you think? Let’s talk about it in the comments. Don’t forget to check out the other authors on this hop and see what they think. Just check out the links below.

And, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May 10, 2021

Inspired by a comment on a recent post. Discuss:
It never fails to amaze me that ALL the books ever written are made up of just twenty six letters.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

We Surprise the Readers- They Surprise Us! #IWSG

  By Uncategorized

It’s May already, and time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group post.I’ve got to admit, May snuck up on me and I almost missed it!

The May 5th question, if you’d like to answer it, is:  
Has any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn’t expect? If so, did it surprise you?
The awesome co-hosts for the May 5 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine!

I’ve had a few. A cousin I hadn’t talked to for years contacted me through this blog. Dan, if you are still reading my posts, hi!  A reviewer asked for a specific character to be featured in more stories – in fact, they suggested a write a whole series on that character’s adventures – that made me happy! (and I may use that idea, because I love that character, too.)  I made a beta reader and my editor cry over specific parts of my latest story. That’s a huge compliment in my book.

Frankly, the fact that people take time to review my books is a compliment. I appreciate every review I get, even if they aren’t five stars. Of course, the biggest compliment is when I can tell the same person is buying, one by one, all the books in a series. 

That’s it for now. Don’t forget to check out some of the other posts in this hop. And, until next time, please stay safe.

 

Pets and Animals and the Story #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 3, 2021

Do pets (or other animals) play an important part in your books? Tell us about them.

Let’s begin with a philosophical debate. I have a series of shifter books. My main characters are human-to-wolf shifters, but I sprinkle a variety of other shifter forms into my stories as well. (Imagine a rabbit shifter hanging out with the wolves!) My characters are aware of their animal nature when they are in human form and they don’t lose their human nature when they are in animal form. So, I don’t consider them animals.

My shifters also know the impact they have on the animals they interact with. From Wolves’ Gambit: “It’s not like we can take up ranching. Have you ever seen how cattle react to our presence?” and later “Chickens don’t care that we are shifters.” I’ve made jokes about how they can’t have pets. I’m going to exclude the animal side of my shifters from this discussion.

But animals are a natural part of my shifters’ lives. Crows play a minor part but are an important tribute to Dot’s (My female MC)  Native American heritage in Wolves’ Pawn. (Yes, I know birds are technically not animals!) 

A raucous noise broke her meditation, and she opened her eyes to find a large crow sitting in front of her. It cocked its head, uttered a single caw, and flew away. One large black feather drifted down from the sky. Dot picked it up and stuck it into the scarf wrapped around her arm.

In Wolves’ Knight, there’s a scene that explains how my wolves interact with wildlife:

Tasha cautiously lifted her head the same time the wind changed direction. “That’s a beauty, and not another shifter,” she sent as a large white-tailed buck stepped into a patch of sunshine. She counted the points on his rack. Ten. “What’s he doing here?” They hadn’t been quiet before the deer showed up.

Although the pack didn’t depend on the local wildlife for food, hunting was a natural part of their lives, and few large animals were found on pack land anymore. Even rabbits and squirrels were not as plentiful as they were years ago.

“It’s almost hunting season. He probably got chased out of his territory by someone scouting for a good spot for a blind. Are you going to take him down?”

“Does the pack need the food?” Tasha’s other-self licked its lips in anticipation of fresh meat, but the deer was larger than she and Elder Fenner could eat in one sitting.

“No.”

“Well, crap.”

I’ve been considering adding to the Free Wolves’ series. There are so many potential stories. Heck, I could see a whole different series coming out off Wolves’ Gambit. If you’ve read the series, you know Counselor Carlson deserves his own story. What part would animals play? I can’t predict. But I have the feeling they’d be worked into the story somehow.

How do our other authors incorporate animals into the books? Follow the links below to find out!

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

 

May 3, 2021

Do pets (or other animals) play an important part in your books? Tell us about them.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Prologues and Epilogues – Yes or No? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

April 26, 2021

Prologues and Epilogues. Yes or no?

This week’s blog hop question is simple. Are prologues and epilogues good writing? And my answer is a very firm and definite – maybe?

I’ve read prologues that were short and sweet and flowed into the story without a whisper. And I’ve read other ones that rambled on and on, building the entire world before the real story begins. Guess which one I prefer? I even wrote a prologue for Wolves’ Pawn, the first book I published. It’s a page and a half long. That’s it. As you can see, I tried for the first type.

I humbly think it worked. It was a short scene that set up the conflict for the rest of the story. It wasn’t long enough to make a chapter out of, and the way it was written, I couldn’t work it in as backstory. So, I included it even though I understood some people frown at prologues. It’s the only prologue I’ve included in any of my books and I don’t regret it.

Then there are epilogues. I use them frequently to wrap up loose ends and minor plot points. I hate leaving cliffhangers at the end of my books! I started checking, and I have used them in most of my stories. Some are fairly short, a page or two, and some fairly extensive. The one for the Ranger’s Dog Tags was about four pages long, basically a chapter. But the mystery had been wrapped up in the last chapter and I was tidying up the entire series, so I don’t feel bad. It’s what the book and the readers needed.

And that’s what it comes down to. What does the story demand? The writer has to listen to the story and figure it out. Both prologues and epilogues should be used with care, but neither should be avoided entirely. That’s my take, anyway. Let’s find out what the other authors think by following the lings below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

April 26, 2021

Prologues and Epilogues. Yes or no?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Ranger’s Dog Tags is Live!

  By Uncategorized

 

The Ranger’s Dog Tags is finally here!

It isn’t the first time Eli Hennessey has disappeared. Is it the last?

In this, the sixth book of the Harmony Duprie series, Harmony faces her greatest challenge yet. And she has to do it without the normal support from her friends and the Oak Grove Police Department. Join her on her adventure in the search for Eli.

Book Description:

Eli Hennessey has vanished.

His house in Oak Grove is in flames, his cell phone is out of commission, and friends in Florida can’t find him. It’s up to Harmony Duprie to track down her missing lover before her life shatters and his ends.

Harmony’s first discovery: Eli tricked her into signing paperwork putting her in charge of his company. Had he planned his disappearance?

The answers won’t be found in Oak Grove. Harmony hightails it to Florida in search of Eli and the truth.

Here’s a short excerpt:

I’d reached cruising speed when I spotted them. Vanessa saw them, too. On the opposite side of the road. Two black sedans.
“Shit,” she said.
“Who are they?”
She bit her bottom lip.
“So, who am I going to piss off when I remove their tracker?” I asked.
“You won’t find a bug.” Her mouth quirked. “No matter how hard you look.”
The mile markers showed our progress, but my mind was going nowhere. The GPS wasn’t attached to Dolores, or on me. I’d been extra careful with my purse and checking my clothes each morning. Unless Vanessa sneaked into my room when I wasn’t paying attention?
Or…
“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re wired. You’ve been pretending to protect me when what you’re doing is trying to find evidence against me.” A sudden rage engulfed me. “I’ll move out tonight. Unless you plan to arrest me on some bogus charge first. You can keep the rent.”
I adjusted the rearview mirror to get a better long-range view of the cars behind us. She’d betrayed me when I thought we’d had a chance of being real friends. And she’d done it when I needed a friend the most. “Who are you answering to, Special Agent Salters?”

To join Harmony on her quest to find Eli, you can find the ebook at these retailers:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092YTWBX1

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1563561154

B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940162511434

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-ranger-s-dog-tags

Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/3R85NL

 

Welcome to The Ranger’s Dog Tags – Readings From My Books

  By Uncategorized

To help stir up interest in The Ranger’s Dog Tags, I’ve been reading snippets from each of the previous books in the Harmony Duprie series. Unfortunately, the files are too large to post here, so I thought I’d share the links. (sorry, they point to Facebook.) I’ll add new links as I have them.

The Marquesa’s Necklace https://www.facebook.com/100007362439366/videos/2720226481566073

Her Ladyship’s Ring   https://www.facebook.com/100007362439366/videos/2720880144834040

The Baron’s Cufflinks  https://www.facebook.com/100007362439366/videos/2721560298099358

 

Book Descriptions – You Gotta Love ‘Em (Or Not) #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

April 19, 2021

Let’s talk about book descriptions. Do you write yours before or after you write the story?

I’m what is known in the writing world as a pantser. That means I write my stories by the seat of my pants. I may have a beginning and an end in mind. but everything in between is up for grabs. My characters determine what happens – and sometimes they change everything!

As a result, book descriptions have to wait until I’m done writing the story. Then they go through any number of revisions. I’ve never gotten it right on the first try. Truth is, I made a revision to the tagline of my newest book, The Ranger’s Dog Tags, less than a week before I started uploading files to the various ebook stores.

Here’s how it ended up:

Tagline: It isn’t the first time Eli Hennessey has disappeared. Is it the last?

Eli Hennessey has vanished.

His house in Oak Grove is in flames, his cell phone is out of commission, and friends in Florida can’t find him. It’s up to Harmony Duprie to track down her missing lover before her life shatters and his ends.

Harmony’s first discovery: Eli tricked her into signing paperwork putting her in charge of his company. Had he planned his disappearance?

The answers won’t be found in Oak Grove. Harmony hightails it to Florida in search of Eli and the truth.

The Ranger’s Dog Tags, Book 6 of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, is the final book of the series.

It seems so simple now, but I lost sleep over it. (That’s only a slight exaggeration.) There were several nights I brooded over the wording before falling asleep. Once I was mostly satisfied with it, I shared it with fellow writers who told me  what I’d done wrong and helped me revise it again. And again. And then a different bunch of people switched it up yet again. It’s a lot of work.

It’s a good thing I didn’t write the description before I wrote the book. I had plans for Harmony that never made it into the story. Plus, I knew at least one person was going to die. I just didn’t know who. Or how many.

I know other authors who are plotters. They have their entire book outlined before they ever start writing. They could do the descriptions first. I don’t envy them – it’s more fun to ‘discover’ the story along the way, in my humble opinion.

Let’s find out if anyone on this hop writes their descriptions before they write their books. It’s easy. Just follow the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe!

April 19, 2021

Let’s talk about book descriptions. Do you write yours before or after you write the story?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Immortalized as an Action Figure #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

April 12, 2021

They’re making an action figure of you. Describe the toy and accessories. (Do you have a catch phrase? Favorite items, clothes, hair style?)

Nobody wants an action figure of me. Maybe back in the day, when I was living a minimalist lifestyle, growing my own food, cutting wood to burn in our wood stove, and freezing and canning food, but not now. I’m afraid I’m not very active any more. Too much time spent in front of a computer.

My wolf shifters were the obvious choices to fill in for me, but they refused to be part of this post because they don’t want to be outed. Luckily, Harmony Duprie ‘volunteered’ to come to my rescue. She didn’t think she was worthy of an action figure either, but I talked her into it. Her adventures are more what you’d expect from an action character.

She made it easy because the original covers for her stories were cartoon-like. Remember this? This is the original cover for The Marquesa’s Necklace.  Brown hair, always in a bun, little or no makeup. The only thing missing is her thick glasses. She broke down and wore contacts for date night in this picture. Of course, the red dress would be a one time only adventure. More likely she’d be wearing a nice blue blouse, dress slacks, and a pair of black flats. (But we’ll include the dress and necklace as part of her accessories)

Other accessories are easy, too. A stack of books and her laptop bag. There will be two cars sold separately. One is a pale blue Ford Pinto and the other one is a red Jaguar.

And yes, Harmony has a catchphrase. “I don’t believe in coincidence.” It’s not as catchy as “I’ll be back” or “Hasta la vista, Baby,” but it’s perfect for her. (The closest thing I have to a catchphrase is “Supper’s ready!”)

I can see kids getting Harmony into more trouble than she already does, or maybe as their hero as they take pretend adventures of their own. She’d help them outwit the villain and save the day.

How about you? Would you like to gave an action figure of yourself? I’d like to see if the other authors who write on this hop want one of them! Let’s find out by following the links below.

And, until next time, please stay safe!

April 12, 2021

They’re making an action figure of you. Describe the toy and accessories. (Do you have a catch phrase? Favorite items, clothes, hair style?)

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Taking the Risk in Writing: #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
 
Welcome to another month of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. April 7th’s question, if you’d like to answer it, is:  Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?

Thanks to our awesome co-hosts for the April 7 posting of the IWSG! PK Hrezo,Pat Garcia,SE White,Lisa Buie Collard, and Diane Burton!

I’ve taken a lot of risks in my life. Go read the blog post from Monday…I won’t cover them again here. https://www.pjmaclayne.com/?p=6254. But when it comes to my writing, I play it safe. Unless you count the fact that I’m an Indie writer, and that’s a risk in itself. Heck, writing and putting it out there for the world to see is a risk.

My writing style is pretty traditional, and I’m okay with that. I’m writing fiction, (mostly almost-cozy-mysteries) and there’s only so many risks you can take in that genre before you lose your audience. Some folks believe even the use of strong language breaks the rules of that genre.

I prefer to present controversial topics in subtle ways, as part of the story and not the main plot.  I might sneak in a casual reference in support of the legality of marijuana or have a minor LGBTQ character. My female main characters can stand on their own against a male villain. To me, those topics aren’t radical, although I’m well aware that other people feel differently.

One thing I do that almost seems controversial is that although I’m not writing ‘sweet’ stories, I don’t include sex scenes. Many readers these days expect sex scenes, but I don’t feel the need for them in my stories even if they have a romantic subplot. I figure most of my readers know how it’s done, and don’t need the details. Will that ever change? Sure, it could, if the right story came along.

But I doubt my overall writing style will ever change. Topics may, characters may, but I don’t see myself ever being on the cutting edge of a major writing shift. That just isn’t me.

Thanks for stopping by. Don’t forget to take a look at what some of the other Insecure Writers have to say by following the links below. And, until the next time, please stay safe.