Wandering The Rolling Hills #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

June 23, 2025

Chat with readers about a childhood event that still sticks out in your mind,

Something you’d like to go through again.

I have a lot of warm memories of my childhood. Being one of nine children, it may not have been typical, but it helped shape who I am. To pick one event that sticks out doesn’t seem possible. Should I chat about sledding on a car hood in the neighbors’ cow pasture? Or swimming in a deep spot in a creek? Helping on an archeology dig as part of a summer program? Spending hours wandering the woods and fields that surrounded our home?

How about the summer I went on an overnight trip to practice wilderness survival skills? That may have been the summer after my sophomore year in high school. It was part of a summer school program which was an enrichment opportunity, not a requirement for grades.

The trip was the culmination of a several-week course, in which we learned the basics about local flora and fauna. Since I’d been involved with the Girl Scouts for years, I already had a solid base of knowledge, but wanted to expand on it from a different perspective.

We were a small group, maybe a dozen kids, and two teachers.

I was one of only three girls. (No, I never fit in the standard teen-girl mold.) We met at the school, with our backpacks or bedrolls, and took a school bus to a lake about an hour away. The adventure was “survival light” in that we didn’t have to find our own water and some basic food was provided.

The afternoon was spent fishing for sunfish at the lake, which would become our supper. With the help a a park ranger, we gutted and filleted our catch. At the campsite, a short hike away, there was an abundance of trees with edible leaves (think sassafras) and wild carrots. (We didn’t have to haul in pots and other cooking implements.) We collected our own firewood, and slept on the ground. There was no rain, thank heavens. (I was already experienced in starting fires, so I left the fun to others.)

I don’t remember what we did for breakfast, probably a typical egg-in-a-hole. (Basically French Toast with an egg in the middle.)Then, we cleaned up after ourselves, and hiked to a different spot to be picked up by the bus.

As I wrote this, I wondered what my parents thought about it.

They were brave, letting me find my own way on an unusual path. Did they regret it when I hopped on a Greyhound bus a few years later to go to a college in Wyoming, sight unseen? It’s probably a good thing they didn’t know about it when my husband and I took our three-day old baby camping in a wilderness area.

What about the other authors on this hop? What childhood event are they sharing? You can find out by following the links below. (Most post Monday morning.)

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

June 23, 2025

Chat with readers about a childhood event that still sticks out in your mind, something you’d like to go through again.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Remodeling #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

June 16, 2025

Hypothetical: Someone will pay to redecorate your living room. what would you like it to look like?

Thanks, but no thanks.

My living room doesn’t need much, other than a lighter color paint on the walls. (Maybe even just one wall.) It already has two matching deep brown recliners you can sink into, a matching sofa, a coffee table with a faux marble top that looks straight out of a Victorian room (and a matching side table) a curio cabinet, a full-height bookshelf, and a gas fireplace. It’s a room that wraps around you and welcomes you in when you enter through the front door. The house is an old Victorian era house (but not Victorian style—it looks more like an old farmhouse) and the room matches the house’s personality.

Now, my kitchen is a different matter, and I’d welcome a full remodel.

It’s smaller than I expected from the pictures. The first thing it needs is more square footage, and that requires an addition. It also needs new cabinets, sticking with a natural wood (I’m guessing these are over fifty years old) and new flooring. The laminate was installed badly, and it can’t stand up to the amount of foot traffic it gets. (The flooring is on my to-do list.) A large family were the previous owners, and I can’t imagine cooking for a family that size in the current space.

I want the room to be big enough to have space for a small kitchen table. I’d prefer to not sit at the dining room table to eat every meal. Seriously, I don’t think anyone who does any real cooking would get along with the room.

The color of the walls needs changed, too. They are currently a millennial gray-blue and I’d prefer something bright and airy. A pale blue could work. A shade of yellow might look okay, but I’d need to ponder my choices. The appliances should be replaced, but I doubt I’d be able to find any with the personality and reliability of what is there already.

I have no clue how much this would cost. (The addition alone would likely be an arm and a leg.) But unless I get rich off my next release, it won’t happen.

One thing I should note: I have no experience as an interior designer. I’d be leaning on others for help.

What about the other authors? What are they remodeling? Find out by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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 June 16, 2025

Hypothetical: Someone will pay to redecorate your living room. what would you like it to look like?

Unpacking Plots Of T.V. Shows #Openbook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

June 9, 2025

Do you find it is harder to not unpack a plot in a movie, predicting what will happen, now that you write your own stories?

I no longer watch TV.

Well, not on a regular basis. And I don’t follow any shows. I gave it up years ago, when I was working full time and taking college courses in the evening. There was no time to keep track of television programs. Besides, I hated commercials. I spent more time picking them apart than paying attention to what they were selling, irritating the heck out of my husband.

Back them I was critiquing their use of devices like the obvious minority representation. There had to be an African American, a Hispanic, and a woman. Or twisting a stereotypical representation of a woman to a man. So, instead of a dumb housewife, you had a clueless guy. Don’t forget the nerdy, glasses-wearing, blond kid with a bad haircut.

Of course, that bled into critiquing the shows themselves for similar infractions.

And man, there were a lot of them. Which led to critiquing for plot holes. (this was before I started writing my own fiction. Great training, eh?) When I began to analyze the first few minutes to figure out how the story would end, it destroyed the experience. The last show I sat through was when Longmire was still on a “regular” channel, not Netflix. And I only stuck with it because I’d enjoyed the books. (I read the first ones before the show started.) Still, I’d pick at the changes that had been made to the stories to make them fit television.

Shoot, I’ve found myself judging the performance of weather forecasters.

Especially on overdone storm predictions. I realize they are working for the ratings, but seriously, not every storm needs to be seen as an end of the world event.

But I do the same thing to many books I read. (Especially romances.) I once had someone complain they didn’t know who the villain was in a book I wrote by the end of the first chapter. I took that as a win rather than the criticism it was meant to be.

What do I do instead? I’d love to claim that I spend the time reading, but no, I spend too much time in front of a computer screen. Writing, on social media, sometimes mindlessly scrolling through various sites. It’s a bad habit and too easy to fall into.

How about other authors? Do they attempt to decipher the plots of T.V. shows while  they are watching them? Check out their posts by following the below links.

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

June 9, 2025

Do you find it is harder to not unpack a plot in a movie, predicting what will happen, now that you write your own stories?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Books That Impacted Me #IWSG

  By IWSG

Purpose: To share and encourage.

Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds

 
The awesome co-hosts for the June 4 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and Jean Davis!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

June 4 question – What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

Confession: I was one of those kids that devoured books. I often read one a day, if not more. I read everything I could get my hands on. Biographies, histories, fiction of all sorts. I’m sure I was reading above my age level, sometimes without the knowledge of my parents. (I read James Michener’s Hawaii the summer after eighth grade.) Our attic was filled with old books, and I read every one, including old encyclopedias.
 
But my favorite was the Nancy Drew series. They were my go-to for Christmas and birthday gifts. I gave away my collection when I went to college. In recent years, I bought several of the yellow-covered versions, but when I re-read them, I was dismayed at the level of racism the books included. They still maintain a place on my bookshelf, but I haven’t attempted to add to my small collection.
 
 
 
But they have influenced my writing. Harmony Duprie, the protagonist of my first mystery series, was partially inspired by Nancy Drew. (Without the racism, of course. In fact, I tried to subtly tackle the issue.) But the books taught me a lot about creating characters and plot.
 
As a young adult, I discovered the worlds of fantasy, starting with the Lord of the Rings. I haven’t tried writing in that genre, not feeling up to it, but I continue to enjoy it. Still, the strong women that exist in those books play a role in the female characters I love to write.
 
To find out what books influenced other writers, check into some of the other posts in this hop. There’s a long list below.
 
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
 
 

My Favorite Summer Plans #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

June 2, 2025

What are your favorite summer plans?

In childhood, summer meant long walks on the backroads of Pennsylvania,

And thru the fields and forests. Bicycling. Hours of reading and doing crafts. Fishing in the “crick” down past the neighbor’s pasture.

For many of my adult years, it meant trips to the mountains. The Big Horns. The Beartooths. The Never Summer Range. Or maybe walks on the Oregon Coast beaches with my children, where the hills tumbled down to the ocean. There were also the years when the West Coast got switched to the East Coast, and the walks were on the long, sandy beaches of Florida and the Atlantic.

Since I retired, my summer plans have changed. I spend my time in my yard, tending to whatever flowers and other plants I’ve managed to keep away from the local white-tailed deer. I no longer have to go to the mountains, since I am living among the rolling hills of the northern Appalachians. I’m there. Or maybe I will repaint my front steps. (Yes, they are purple.) Mornings, I can birdwatch from my little deck. Of course, I have a list of normal chores to take care of.

Then there are the weekends.

And a whole range of festivals and similar events. (You can check the front page of this website to see the current list. https://www.pjmaclayne.com/  ) This year, I’m trying something new. Our borough has a community yard sale the first weekend of June that brings in lots of people, and I’m going to attempt to sell my books this year. It’s free, so worth the try. I’m also adding a few new events to my repertoire. (Waterford and Lancaster.)

So, those are my plans. And somewhere in there I have a short story I need to finish. (I’ve restarted it three times now. Each version has been an improvement.)

How about the others who are  posting on this hop? What are their plans? Find out by following the  links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

June 2, 2025

What are your favorite summer plans?

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It’s A Kick In The Pants #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 26, 2025

What are your triggers for writing? (For instance, what gets you hyped or starts the story in your head).

What chills your drive to write?

Let’s start with the easy one. What chills my drive to write? There are two main ones: stress and lack of privacy. Stress can come from a variety of sources, but financial is the primary one. (Isn’t that true for many of us?) You’d think writing would be a way to relieve stress, but that doesn’t work for me.

Then there’s the lack of privacy. My writing space is now in a public area of our house. There’s frequent foot traffic passing by. Even if I’m deep in writing, I can be interrupted frequently. Not just when I’m writing, either. I could just be surfing the net or listening to music and I’ll get a tap on the shoulder. I frequently feel as if someone is watching me. Plus, there’s too much noise. My headphones cancel out a lot, but not all of it. It makes it hard to concentrate. (I think I have a harder time concentrating in general these days.)

What gets me hyped? 

I didn’t use to need to get hyped to write. It was a constant state of being. Give me ten minutes and a piece of paper and pen, and I’d be spitting out words. But I’ve slowed down. It might be that I’m trying to work on too many stories at once. (I’m working on three.) I used to work on one at a time, so my concentration is scattered. Or it’s all the outside pressures I’m dealing with. Or maybe I’m worried no one cares about my writing.

But a good idea will spark my urge to write every time. I’m currently working on my third version of a short story, and the more I work with the main character, the plot keeps shifting into something new and better. Or maybe a twist will pop into my head as I crawl into bed after a writing session, as my character tells me what I’ve missed. (His name is Amos Headley. Love that name.)

Anyway, the longing to write is still with me constantly, even if I don’t get to it. (Which makes me feel guilty. Which, in itself, is a deterrent to writing. Vicious cycle.)

What triggers the other authors on this hop? Find out by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.

May 26, 2025

What are your triggers for writing? (For instance, what gets you hyped or starts the story in your head).
What chills your drive to write?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

We’re Living In The Future #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 19, 2025

Which sci-fi invention would you like to see made real?

We’re living in the future.

A few years back, I had a few episodes of vertigo, and my doctor was trying to find the cause. They referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist, and I went through a battery of standard tests. As we were discussing the preliminary results, I mentioned the injury I’d received as a teen when I’d had a bicycle accident. The technician asked if I’d had an MRI back then to examine potential damage to my inner ear. I laughed and reminded him MRIs didn’t exist back then. He blinked, cocked his head, and quietly said “oh” before moving on to the next test.

I’ve also been involved with personal computers since the early days. In the early days, there was upper and lower memory, accessed through DOS commands. That was before gigabyte hard drives were a thing. Now, we have access to storage thousands of times larger that we hold in the palms of our hands.

How about phones? When I was a child, party lines were a thing. Yes, you could pick up the phone attached to the wall or sitting on a desk and listen to your neighbor’s conversation (if they were talking to someone,) and you had to wait your turn. And long-distance calls cost an arm and leg. Now, land lines are almost a novelty.

Speaking of phones, cell phones didn’t exist back then. And the first ones were strictly phones. Now, we hold more computing power in the phone stuck in our back pocket than the first computers that sat on our desks.

But what does the future hold?

What hasn’t happened? How about teleportation? In these days, when our lives often take us far from friends and families, how much easier would it be if we could get from place to place in a matter of seconds? It sounds good, but I wouldn’t want to be one of the early users. From what I understand of the technology, it sounds risky. Not one I want to be a part of.

How about interstellar travel? That sounds like fun. I’d love to see far-off planets. But I’m old, and I don’t believe I’ll see it happen. That’s okay, because there are plenty of places on Mother Earth that I haven’t seen yet.

But if I could choose which sci-fi inventions would happen, it would be in the medical field. Cures for cancer. Diabetes. Alzheimers and so many more. Heck, throw better vision correction and a cure for the common cold in there. Medical care for free, of course. I’ve seen too many people who live in pain every day. I’d like to see an end to that.

So, we’ve come a long way since I was a youngster, but there’s a long way to go. 

What invention in sci-fi would you like to see become reality? Tell me in the comments. And to find out what the other authors that take part in this hop hope for, check out the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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May 19, 2025

Which sci-fi invention would you like to see made real?

 

What Word Do You Despise? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 12, 2025

We’ve talked about our favorite words. Is there a word you despise?

One you refuse to use in your writing?

Finding my favorite words was easy. But one I despise? Not so much. There are many ugly words in the English language. Some sound rough, while the meaning behind others is hurtful. I won’t list them here, because many people are offended just reading them. 

That doesn’t mean I won’t use those words. But they rarely come up in my writing. 

You want an example? How about racism? The word isn’t hard on the ears, but the philosophy behind it is against my beliefs.

Then there are words that are used to denigrate women. You know them. I don’t need to spell them out. I have used them in my stories, but sparingly. The words carry a punch, but if overused, become meaningless. Which may be a good thing, but defeats the reason I include them.

So, I haven’t run into a word that is off-limits. Besides, eliminating the word doesn’t put an end to the ideology it represents. Words are tools for writers, and we need to keep all of them available for our use.

Check out if any of our authors do have words they won’t use by following the links below.

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May 12, 2025

We’ve talked about our favorite words. Is there a word you despise? One you refuse to use in your writing?

 

Falling In Love Again & Again #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 5, 2025

Which of your characters do you have the biggest crush on?

I fall in love with most of my characters.

Even several of the villains. (Or maybe they never crossed the line from being a bad guy to a true villain.) But a few stand out.

If you’ve followed me for long, you know about how much I love Harmony Duprie, my ex-librarian turned internet researcher, turned female sleuth. I’ve mentioned more than once how I’d love to spend a quiet summer’s day with her, sitting on her steps, drinking ice tea, and swapping stories. But while she’d be a good friend, she’s not my crush. Even Eli, her good-looking retired Army Ranger boyfriend, now tech company owner, doesn’t qualify as my main crush. (In fact, I often worried about not giving him the attention he deserved.)

Neither Dot nor Gavin from Wolves’ Pawn qualifies either. As they were the main characters in the first book I released, you’d think they’d have a special place in my heart, and they do. But not as crushes. They were made for each other, and I was an outsider from day one.

But a very secondary character stuck with me. 

Lori Grenville only appeared in two or three chapters of Wolves’ Pawn. She was sassy and unafraid of authorities in any form. She was also averse to recognition, preferring to work behind the scenes. But she wormed her way into my brain.

It wasn’t until four years later that Lori demanded her own book. Of course, the story went a different direction than I’d planned. And as I wrote it, I developed a crush on her. She may have been the runt of the litter, but had developed the skills and attitude to stand up to the biggest opponents. (And allies.) She was a master of manipulation, but used the tactic sparingly. I’ve always loved the underdog, and if you looked up underdog in the dictionary, you’d find her picture next to the definition. And I absolutely love her. But …

You know he’s going to make an appearance.

Jake Hennessey, He always shows up. Jake is my gentleman, sometimes down-on-his-luck, jewel thief. He’s very much the bad boy with a heart of gold and an interesting set of ethics who I kept trying to write out of the Harmony Duprie stories, unsuccessfully.

But what makes him my top crush is how much he loved Harmony. He loved her enough to let her go, right into the arms of his cousin, who would be better able to take care of her. This, despite the fact that he’d sacrificed his own future to protect hers. She’d never known. No one, beside me and him, knew. (Well, and maybe any of you that read all the Harmony and Jake books.) How could I not have a crush on him?

Do you have a book crush? Share in the comments. And to find out which characters our other authors have a crush on, follow the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

May 5, 2025

Which of your characters do you have the biggest crush on?

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Headed to the Fair #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

April 28, 2025

In the US and other countries, many areas are gearing up for festivals and fairs.

Do you have a favorite? Any specific part that you don’t want to miss? (exhibits, food, rides, animals, people watching?)

Now that winter is over, it’s not just spring, it’s close enough to imagine summer. That means it’s time for festivals and fairs. And for me to line up events to sell books.

My joy in riding roller coasters and other rides, (which started in my teens) faded away as my equilibrium worsened because of an inner ear injury. Now, I am relegated to vender booths, activities, and games. I’m mostly satisfied with being one of those venders.

I have plenty of events to choose from. Many old towns celebrate their history in some fashion. There are county fairs and even a balloon launch in a nearby town. One town has an apple festival in the fall. I have to choose which will have the kind of audience that will want to buy my books.

That means I don’t get to participate in the activities.

Sure, I might be close enough to listen to bands or watch face painters at work, but I’m mostly stuck at my booth. I’ll talk to nearby venders and check out their offerings, but since I’m a one-person operation, I can’t wander off too far.

So, I have to be content with people-watching when I’m not talking to a passerby about my books. Those two ladies running the hand-made jewelry stand—do they spend their nights together designing new items or is theirs strictly a business arrangement? And the gentleman with the eye-catching display of colorful clothing—is he longing for the winter when he can stay in one place for more than a few days?

I’m trying a couple of new events this year, so we’ll see how things go. (You can see my schedule on the front page.) 

What part of festivals and fairs is your favorite? let me know in the comments. And to find out what the others on this hop enjoy, follow the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe!

April 28, 2025

In the US and other countries, many areas are gearing up for festivals and fairs. Do you have a favorite? Any specific part that you don’t want to miss? (exhibits, food, rides, animals, people watching?)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter