Category: Open Book

I Can’t Be Good At Everything, Right? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Feb. 17, 2025

What has been the hardest format to write in for you?

Feb. 17, 2025

What has been the hardest format to write in for you?

I broke my writing teeth on historical essays.

Sure, they were for school projects. An essay on Molly Pitcher that won an award from the local Daughters of The American Revolution. A young teen’s understanding of the Mafia. Another one about the Gulf of Tonkin.

But until I immersed myself in writing poetry, I didn’t feel like I was writing for myself. I played with many forms, but found my voice in free form. It nurtured me for many years.

Eventually, I found my way into writing fiction. I’ve told that story on my blog before, so I won’t repeat myself now and bore you. My effort to integrate poetry into my stories didn’t go well, but, now and then, I slip in a phrase that “sings.”

But then I decided to try my hand at a short story.

It would be a reader magnet, the pundits degreed, a way to draw new people to my books. So, I wrote a story about the initial meeting of Harmony and Jake. It was supposed to be from Jake’s point of view, but he wouldn’t cooperate, and it ended up being from Harmony’s. Long story short, it didn’t work. (But I ended up using part of that work when I wrote The Fall of Jake Hennessey, which was from Jake’s viewpoint.)

But it wasn’t easy. Short stories were a new format to me. I’ve written several since then, two for collaborative efforts with other authors. (Those collections are no longer available, but the stories are hosted on this website.) What the experience taught me was how hard it is to write short stories.

I’ve never written epic-length books. The longest one I’ve published in The Ranger’s Dog Tags, which is just over 90,000 words. But trying to fit a complete story into 10,000 words has taken me as long to accomplish as finishing a whole book. After all, a short story had all the same elements – setting, plot, characters, conflict, theme. Fitting them all in is tough.

But I’ve committed to another one, this time for an anthology to support K9s for Warriors. I’ve started it, but am putting too much effort and too many into the setting. (I think.) It might work for a full book, but I need to tighten it to fit the short story format. The plot I’ve envisioned needs tightened, too.

At least I’m aware of my weaknesses.

In writing, anyway. Like I can’t write a decent romance, but that’s a different discussion.

What format is the hardest for the other authors on this hop to write? Find out by following the links to their blogs below. (Remember, most links will be posted throughout the day on Mondays.)

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

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Finding New Sources For Research #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Feb 10, 2025

Kelly’s daughter asks: How did you find the facts (that inform your book)?

We’ve talked about research before.

For my recent book, The Rimer File, my normal sources of research didn’t work. The time frame the story was set in was not quite historical, but at the same time, pre-internet. Sure, the songs of from those years are well documented, but it surprised me how much information I tried to discover but couldn’t find.

For example, I wanted to know what color the uniforms of Pittsburgh police were in 1985. I couldn’t find it on-line. It has been suggested I call the police museum, but there doesn’t seem to be one. But if I called the main police station, they might be able to direct me to someone who knew. Instead, I wrote around it. (It was a minor reference and didn’t make a difference to the plot.)

I also put a lot of effort into trying to find a walkthrough of the old Civic Center of Pittsburgh. I found snippets, but none of them covered what I what I was looking for. There is a recording of a walk up the stairs to an upper level, but no peek into the skyboxes, where I was hoping to set a scene. So, I reached out to family who lived in the area, and they reached out to friends. But none of them had ever been to the skyboxes. I ended up ‘fudging’ the background for the scene based on other arenas.. No one has complained. (yet!)

There are other places to dig for information.

There are these things called books with a subset known as encyclopedias. (Do they exist anymore?) They were filled with all kinds of facts. The trouble with them is that they were hard to keep up-to-date. I can’t tell you the last time I opened one, but I used to spend hours browsing the articles in the set we had at home. Then there are also non-fiction books of all sorts.

But especially in the area of firearms, I always end up depending on the internet for basic information and then on knowledgeable people for details. (Guns of various sorts show up in all of my books, and I’m no expert.)

One source of research that isn’t usually considered is personal experience. Writers are often told to write what they know. And I’m old, y’all, and have seen and done lots of things in my life. That information finds its way into my stories.

 

Do any of the authors on this hop have other sources of information? Find out by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

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Feb 10, 2025

Kelly’s daughter asks: How did you find the facts (that inform your book)?

 

 

My Favorite Hot Beverage #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Feb 3, 2025

What’s your favorite hot beverage?

And how do you prepare it?

My beloved mother, when we were young, would occasionally make hot cocoa the old-fashioned way. You know, mixing sugar, cocoa, and milk in a pan on top of the stove. (Although she used powdered milk to make it more economical for a large family.) It was a rare treat, and hot chocolate remains my favorite beverage.

But thanks to modern technology, it’s a lot easier to make now. I simply grab a pre-packaged envelope of mix from the cupboard and go about my merry way. With some slight updates.

First, I will name names. I use the Swiss Miss brand. I haven’t tried another type I like as much.

But I make a slight upgrade. I add a little milk in with the water before I heat the liquids. (Call it two splashes worth of milk.) If I think about it, I might add a dash of cinnamon. The standard mini-marshmallows add nothing special, in my estimation.

I’ve got a runner-up,

that I probably drink more often than hot chocolate. It’s hot tea. Peach tea, to be more exact. No sugar, no milk, just a good quality teabag steeped in hot water for however long I let it sit. It’s a no-calorie, no-fuss, no effort, no guilt treat. Oh, and no caffeine, so I can drink it in the evenings without worrying about it keeping me awake. (Although I sometimes think a little caffeine at supper helps me sleep better. Weird, I know.)

What’s  your favorite hot beverage? Perfect for a snowy day like today? (Or any day, really.) How about the other authors on this hop? You can find out by following the links below.

And, as always, please stay safe until the next time.

Feb 3, 2025

What’s your favorite hot beverage, and how do you prepare it?

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Who Is Your Favorite Artist? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Jan 27, 2025

Who is your favorite artist? (Painting, photo, sculpture…)

You know what’s coming.

At least, if you have hung out with me for very long, you might figure it out. This artist is multi-talented. She practices painting, sculpture, and music, as well as other forms of art. Her followers find inspiration for their photos and poetry in her work. She is known worldwide, but can be found in your neighborhood.

She’s as old as the hills, and as young as a snowflake drifting from the sky.

I’m talking about Mother Earth, of course.

She’s the original.

And the one all other artists borrow from, but she willingly shares. Thanks to digital photography, although I’m an amateur, I have thousands of pictures I’ve taken from all over the US, from many years, stored on various drives. (and copies of copies). Trying to pick just one to share was an impossible task. But here is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

I took this out my back garage door when I lived in Wyoming. (several years ago.) It’s all snow. I don’t know what the science is behind the formation, I just think it’s weird and amazing. If I remember correctly, it was created in an April snowstorm.

These are redwoods. (Not huge ones, as redwoods go.) But I wanted something to contrast with the snow picture.

One more. This one to share some of Mother Earth’s glorious colors.

Oh, if anyone asks about the music part. Have you ever listened to the wind whistling through the trees? Or water rushing down a mountainside stream?

There you have it. Mother Earth is my favorite artist.

How about the other authors on this hop? Follow the links below to find out. (By the way, if you’d like to add your own blog on the topic, use the InLinkz setup.)

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

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Jan 27, 2025

Who is your favorite artist? (Painting, photo, sculpture…)

Learning Something New Every Day #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Jan 20, 2025

What new learning do you have on your list for the upcoming year?

I don’t have any grand plan.

Instead, I’m playing it by ear. I’m never sure what my characters are going to throw at me and what I’m going to need to learn to make it happen. For example, for my current plot point, I need to know the difference between normal makeup, stage makeup, and the makeup people use for costumes and disguises. (And any other kind of makeup that might spring up.) As I don’t wear makeup, it’ll all be new to me.

And that issue came up in the first chapter and a half. Along with the need to know how accurate a handgun is when fired at a specific distance. (And also depends on what kind of ammunition is used.) The characters sprung that on me. So, I have to be prepared for other surprises that might show up.

There’s also my personal life.

This is an old house. It surprises me all the time. According to neighborhood lore, it was built in two sections. And it’s clear when looking at the details. That means when doing repairs and upkeep, I have to deal with two types of issues and resolutions. So, I am forever learning new things about home maintenance. (We actually have two electrical panels in the house. One runs the front of the house, one the back. Keeps life interesting.)

Then there’s the constant battle to grow flowers. The local wildlife isn’t predictable. The flowers they ignored for two years were targets this past summer. I ended up putting a fence up around the apple tree, and putting pots of flowers where they couldn’t be reached. (Put it this way – I have a red geranium I’ve had for over 15 years, and an orange one I just bought. The deer ate the orange one and ignored the red one. Some critter (deer, rabbit, squirrel, who knows?) snapped the electrical wire leading to a solar panel for a small string of lights. I’ll have to try something different this coming spring.

Learning is a constant adventure.

It can happen when you least expect it. It’s a joy and a challenge having my two grandsons living with us. I sometimes help them with homework before my daughter gets home from work. A few of the concepts they are learning surprise me. Have you ever heard of a controlling r in spelling and pronunciation?

So, even without a plan, learning happens. 

How about the other authors on this hop? Do they have plans for specific learning? Find out by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

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Jan 20, 2025

What new learning do you have on your list for the upcoming year?

 

Changing Paths On The Fly #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Jan 13, 2025

How do you deal with a change in ideas halfway through your book?

Or do you save it for a sequel/prequel?

Those of you who have followed me know I am a pantser. That means that I don’t plot the storyline out ahead of time when I write. I start with a premise, and let my characters tell me where the story is going to go. After all, they are the experts.

One of my favorite examples of this is the romance subplot in Wolves’ Knight. I’d planned a sweet little courtship for Tasha, my main character. I’d even started writing the scene where the first kiss between the characters would happen. It was a beautiful setting. Deep in the woods, at the top of a waterfall, late at night, with a full moon overhead. It never made the book, because Tasha started yelling. She wanted nothing to do with the suiter I’d created for her, having other idea about what should happen.

On the other hand, there’s my work in progress. I’d written a great first chapter, putting Annie’s life in danger in the first few paragraphs. But it doesn’t work as Chapter One. I’m hoping to use it later in the book, but we’ll see. The new chapter I wrote is sending the story in a different direction. Shoot, Detective Myers showed up, and I hadn’t planned for him to be part of this story.

 Or maybe the original attempt will end up in a later book in the series. 

It’s a game my characters play.

They let me sweat over my slow to non-existent progress and then hit me with the reason I’m having issues. Often, I go back to what I’d previously written and find out the clues were there, I just didn’t recognize them.

It’s not just the subplots that it happens with. I didn’t realize how fitting the title “Wolves’ Pawn” was until I was three quarters way through the book. I can’t talk too much about that without revealing more than I want to.

So here’s a taste of the next Edwards Investigations book. I don’t even have a title for it yet. But I wonder where this snippet will lead me.

“I’ll ask you the same thing I asked before and didn’t get an answer to.” Annie shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Was he undercover?”

“Not one of ours. I heard about your observations and understand your conclusion, but it’s not true, as far as I can find.” Myers grinned. “But the guys over there think you must be.”

Which at least partly explained the way she’d been treated. Hell, they hadn’t even confiscated her weapon. “Did they drag you here just to deal with me? You’re out of your precinct, Detective.”

So, how do the other authors on this hop handle abrupt changes in their plots? As always, follow the links below to read more great posts and find out.
And, as always, please stay safe until the next time.

Jan 13, 2025

How do you deal with a change in ideas halfway through your book? Or do you save it for a sequel/prequel?

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Best Part Of 2024 #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Jan 6, 2025

What was the best thing that happened to you in 2024? (Writing or otherwise?) The worst?

Easy answers this week. Let’s start with the good.

Let’s start with the best thing that happened this year. I (finally!) released a book that had been in the works for over a decade, off and on. The Edwards Investigation, The Rimer File, was a departure from anything I’d written previously, and took a lot to write. I needed to dig deep to allow myself to explore the dark side of human nature. After writing the light-hearted Harmony Duprie and Jake Hennessey books, the challenge of The Rimer File was an accomplishment that was worth the effort.

It may not have become a best seller, but it brought me immense satisfaction. I feel good enough about it that I’ve started a second book in the series. (The new story doesn’t have a title yet.) I started a new opening chapter, (the first try was all wrong) and Annie, my protagonist, is already dealing with a murder. And the potential plot has changed since I began writing the story. (My characters have a way of telling me what’s really going on.)

It wasn’t the first time Annie had sat on a curb waiting for the cops to interview her, but at least this time, she wasn’t in handcuffs.

Now for the worst thing.

It’s not writing related, and I’ve mentioned it on here before. My beloved mother died at the beginning of 2024. It was expected, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. We were blessed, because she made it to the age of 95.

How about you? What was your best writing moment of 2024? To find out what the other authors on this hop accomplished, follow the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Jan 6, 2025

What was the best thing that happened to you in 2024? (Writing or otherwise?) The worst?

It’s Obligatory – Setting Goals #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Dec 30, 2024

Setting goals for 2025: what are your writerly New Year’s resolutions?

It’s that time of year.

Everyone will tell you so. If you haven’t done it already, you should set your goals for the New Year.

Bah. Humbug.

I hated the whole goal-setting thing even when I was in a paid position. Too often, the team goals were artificial and based on factors outside of our control. Yet, they were used to help determine our pay raises. So, why would I want to set goals for myself?

Sure, the idea makes sense. Goals can create a sense of accomplishment when they are reached. But they also carry the taint of disappointment and worse, self-deprecation if circumstances interfere with them. We all know life happens. And writing can be hard. We don’t need to put obstacles in our own path.

But I have things I plan to do.

I’ve committed to writing a short story for an anthology supporting K9s for Warriors. (service dogs for disabled vets). The second book of the Edwards Investigations is taunting me. (After writing the first chapter I was stumped, but I think I know where I went wrong. I started in the wrong place.) If all goes well, there’s another story in the Free Wolves series that is hanging out at the back of my brain.

I won’t finish all three. (That’s what is called a stretch goal and is doomed to failure.)

If I want to pad my goals, I could include this weekly blog hop post, the critiquing I do for other writers, and my social media involvement. I would include the numbers of festivals and book signings I participate in. (No goals on how many books I will sell. Experience shows it’s impossible to predict.)

So those are my hopes for 2025. Not goals.

How about the other authors on this hop? Do they set goals? Find out by following the links below. (New links will show up mostly on Monday, but could show up all week long.)

And, as always, until next time, please stay safe.

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Dec 30, 2024

Setting goals for 2025: what are your writerly New Year’s resolutions?

It’s the Merriest Time of Year #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Book Hooks, Open Book

Dec 23 2024

What My Characters Would Give (and Get) for the holidays?

It’s that time of year.

We’re doing the hop a little differently this week because of the upcoming holiday. Not all the authors may participate, and the ones that do may cover different topics. But I hope you’ll take the time to visit the other authors. 

I’ve avoided writing holidays into my books. It wasn’t done on purpose, it just happened. I’ve considered trying to craft a Halloween story in my Free Wolves world, but it hasn’t come to life. Yet.

But what about the series I’m currently working on, The Edwards Investigations? What would Annie McGregor and Mike Edwards get for each other? (For those who haven’t read the book, the story is set in the mid-1980s.)

Annie would be easy to buy for. She’s lived a minimal lifestyle since her divorce, aware that her vindictive ex might force her to move again. Since Mike, her boss/mentor, has been there several times, he’s well aware of her lack of “extras.” Things like pillows for her couch or a set of matching glasses. Since they are friends as well as co-workers, he wouldn’t get her anything too personal. 

So what would Mike get Annie for Christmas?

Knowing her fondness for Western books, Mike might buy Annie a collection of Louis L’Amour stories. She has an almost-empty bookcase, so they would be a welcome addition. Plus, it wouldn’t seem critical of the lack of personal touches in her apartment.

It might be tougher for Annie to figure out what to get for Mike. He lives a very private life, and Annie has never been to his place. But he has a Camero that is his pride and joy, and although it’s a very generic gift, getting him a gift certificate to a local car shop would be the perfect gift.

I wish buying gifts was always that easy to figure out!

Here’s wishing that you have a happy holiday or holidays. As always, please stay safe until the next time.

Image by Bianca Van Dijk from Pixabay

Dec 23 2024

What My Characters Would Give (and Get) for the holidays?

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Mind Your Own Business #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Dec 16 2024

If your book had a soundtrack, what would be on it?

The old-term was country-western.

Now they call it country, but the music has changed.

Before I started editing the first chapter of The Rimer Files, I wanted to get in the mood. Since the story was set in the mid 1980s. I knew Annie McGregor, my protagonist, was not a rock-n-roll chick. With the opening scene in The Outlaw, a country-western bar, it made sense to continue that background music throughout the book.

George Strait, Hank Williams, Jr., and Willie Nelson all hold places on the playlist, along with Merle Haggard and Alabama. Not musicians I listen to on a regular basis, but perfect to inspire my writing. I found a playlist on YouTube of a 1985 top ten country music and set it to play in the background as I wrote. Of course, it included the supergroup “The Highwaymen.” With members Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash. (I think I still have one of the LPs in my collection. Willie is the only one still with us.)

There were women singers who made the charts but not my list. Reba McIntyre, The Judds, Dolly Parton. As I mention in my blurb, it was a man’s world—even in the world of country music.

As far as the title of this blog? It was a song originally written in 1949 and sung by Hank Williams. In 1986, Hank Jr. took it back to No. 1. How much more country can you get than that? (Reba sang it with him, but that’s just a side note in the articles I read. It’s a man’s world.)

Check out the soundtracks of other authors by following the links below.  And, as always, until next time, please stay safe.

Dec 16 2024

If your book had a soundtrack, what would be on it?

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