{"id":680,"date":"2018-02-19T13:59:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T13:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5379.temp.domains\/~pjmaclay\/when-inspiration-strikes-openbook-blog\/"},"modified":"2019-03-26T02:27:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T02:27:34","slug":"when-inspiration-strikes-openbook-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"When Inspiration Strikes #OpenBook Blog Hop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/box5379.temp.domains\/~pjmaclay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/bloghop5.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"480\" data-original-width=\"960\" height=\"160\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/box5379.temp.domains\/~pjmaclay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/bloghop5.jpg?resize=320%2C160\" width=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>\nI readily admit that I rely on inspiration when I&#8217;m writing my stories. It&#8217;s not 100%, sometimes I do have a basic premise in mind. But it&#8217;s those times that my characters like best to throw me for a loop.<\/p>\n<p>Take this scene from The Baron&#8217;s Cufflinks:<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"western\" style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<i>By<br \/>\nthe time the library closed, I decided I needed a totally different<br \/>\napproach. I found no mention of Annabelle in the newspaper&#8217;s<br \/>\narchives, but the address of her office was prominently displayed on<br \/>\nher social media page. If she showed up for work in the morning, I&#8217;d<br \/>\nfollow her around. I was willing to bet she went to the same place<br \/>\nfor lunch every day, and maybe the same spot after work. I&#8217;d make a<br \/>\nfollow-up trip to those same places after she left and talk to the<br \/>\nemployees.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Still<br \/>\nmapping out my plans for the morning\u2014where would I park? Did I need<br \/>\nto buy a pair of binoculars first?\u2014I pulled into the parking lot of<br \/>\nthe bar I&#8217;d chosen for a drink. Just one, to get the lay of the land.<br \/>\nIt looked like the kind of place where cheaters would go. A little on<br \/>\nthe trashy side, but not taken over by meth-heads. A place where a<br \/>\nprivate eye might hang out to catch a straying spouse in the act.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i><\/p>\n<p><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;And<br \/>\nthere, holding court at the bar, was the last person I expected to<br \/>\nsee.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i><\/p>\n<p><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Jake.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/box5379.temp.domains\/~pjmaclay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/baron_cufflinks9-8-17.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1000\" data-original-width=\"666\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/box5379.temp.domains\/~pjmaclay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/baron_cufflinks9-8-17.jpg?resize=213%2C320\" width=\"213\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">If you&#8217;ve read the Oak Grove Mysteries, you know Jake has had a major influence in Harmony&#8217;s (the main character) life, for bad or for good. He was featured <\/span>prominently<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">&nbsp;in the second book, Her Ladyship&#8217;s Ring. So most of you <\/span>probably<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">&nbsp;weren&#8217;t surprised when he showed up in this scene.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">But I was. See, I was trying to write Jake out of this book, and maybe out of Harmony&#8217;s life. I&#8217;d sent him off to Chicago at the beginning of the book. So what was&nbsp; he doing in West Virginia? (I&#8221;m not going to answer that question. You&#8217;ll have to read the book to find out, if you don&#8217;t already know.)&nbsp; <\/span>Someone<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">&nbsp;totally different was supposed to be at that bar. Until I got to the moment of Harmony seeing Jake, I thought it would be that other person.&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">That scene changed the entire course of the book. Instead of being written out, Jake practically took over the story. I didn&#8217;t plan for it to happen. Yet I know the book turned out better for the change.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">For those of you who have read the series, would you be upset if I wrote Jake out of the next book? (Or tried to, anyway.) Let me know in the comments.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\nNow let&#8217;s head over and find out about when inspiration struck the other authors.<\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<span style=\"font-family: inherit;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\nFeb. 19, 2018 &#8211; Tell us a story about a time when a piece of inspiration hit you. We\u2019ve all had them.<\/p>\n<p>Rules:<br \/>\n1. Link your blog to this hop.<br \/>\n2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.<br \/>\n3. Promise to visit\/leave a comment on all participants&#8217; blogs.<br \/>\n4. Tweet\/or share each person&#8217;s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.<br \/>\n5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.<\/p>\n<p>WordPress:<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.inlinkz.com\/new\/view.php?id=765753\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.inlinkz.com\/img\/wp\/wpImg.png?w=920&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border: 0px;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Custom Blog:<\/p>\n<div class=\"InLinkzContainer\" id=\"765753\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.inlinkz.com\/new\/view.php?id=765753\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"click to view in an external page.\">An InLinkz Link-up<\/a><\/div>\n<p>\nAn InLinkz Link-up<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/CWUsGk\" rel=\"nofollow\">get the InLinkz code<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I readily admit that I rely on inspiration when I&#8217;m writing my stories. It&#8217;s not 100%, sometimes I do have a basic premise in mind. But it&#8217;s those times that my characters like best to throw me for a loop. Take this scene from The Baron&#8217;s Cufflinks: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;By&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/?p=680\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paJdTo-aY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}