Author: P.J. MacLayne

Choosing A Color Scheme #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Oct 7, 2024

Do you favor certain color schemes for your book covers?

This will be a short post because I leave the design choices of my covers to my cover artist, K.M. Guth.

And I lost internet last night after a major thunderstorm blew through our area. Plus she is on vacation and overseas!

Anyway, I am always amazed at what she comes up with for my covers. There is a different scheme for each series.

The Free Wolves series features strong, bright, colors. Since the books feature action, the colors reflect that. And how she finds the perfect images for the cover models amazes me.

She went a totally different direction for the Harmony Duprie stories. Instead of repeating the background, she chose muted colors with subtle background pattens (you have to look closely.)

Then, for the Jake Hennessey books, although they are tied to the Harmony books, she designed covers that were reflective of the main character’s personality.

The cover of my new book, Edwards Investigations, The Rimer Files, hearkens back to the era in which is takes place. (1985-ish) I can’t show it here, but it’s coming soon. Let’s just say she did a marvelous job of picking elements of the story to add to the design.

I know a few of the authors on this hop design their own covers, so I am looking forward to their posts. Check them put by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe!

Oct 7, 2024

Do you favor certain color schemes for your book covers?

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Tales of the Dark #IWSG

  By IWSG
 

It’s the first Wednesday of October, and time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group post.

 
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!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
 
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
 
The awesome co-hosts for the  October 2 posting of the IWSG are Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jacqui Murray, and Natalie Aguirre!
 

October 2 question – Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What’s your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

 
I’m not a big fan of ghost stories. I’ve come close to the edge of the other side a few too many times to be comfortable with them. But the one that has always fascinated me is what I call the wanderer. Others may call him the walking man. The story has variations in many places across the United States, from Pennsylvania to Wyoming to Oregon.
 
But the basis is always the same. The man (well, almost all the stories I’ve heard make it a man, not a woman) seen on the side of the road. Sometimes he’s hitchhiking, many times just walking. He may be a figure of goodness, but most often he’s to be feared, a cautionary tale about not picking up hitchhikers. He’s always ragged, skinny, with wild eyes.
 
He’s been the basis for stories and statues. A solitary man, alone in the night, in the shadows, almost always older. One tale speculates he’s looking for his wife who was killed in a car accident. If you turn to get a second look, he’s gone. Seemingly, only a figment of your imagination.
 
What happens if you stop and talk to him? Offer a ride? The tales differ from place to place. Most often, he simply vanishes.  Or you do, and no one knows what happened.
 
He’s a modern-day ghost story and I’ve never heard what older tale he spawned from. If you know, tell me in the comments. Of course, some tales warn that even talking about him can be a bad omen. Does that extend to writing about him on the internet?
 
To hear more ghostly tales, follow the links below. And, as always, until next time, please stay safe.
 
 
 
 

Telling The Tales, One At A Time #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Sept 30, 2024

A suggestion from Kelly:

My daughter asked: How did you decide that you finally wanted to write your stories?

I’ve told this story before.

Let me clarify before I get started. Kelly is one of the founding members of this hop, and it was her daughter who came up with this topic. Now on to the post.

I started writing poetry back in the dark ages, when music filled the air and everyone wanted to learn to play guitar. My voice wasn’t good enough to become a folk singer, but I wanted to make my words tell stories. I had some luck getting my poetry published and won a few local awards for it.

But as I got older and become involved with the computer field, the words got harder and harder to put together. I spent my spare time playing with math, and numbers took over. I was even running subnet equations (getting computers to talk to each other) in my sleep. There wasn’t room for poetry in my head, and I missed it.

Somewhere along the way, I ran into information about National Novel Writing Month.

I didn’t participate the first year after I heard about it, or the second. But one mid-October day, as I was going for my afternoon walk, and despairing for the words in my head that wouldn’t fashion themselves into a poem, it hit me. Why not write them as a story instead?

And that’s what I did. Come November 1, I grabbed a notepad and in between work duties, I started writing. I didn’t ‘win’ that year. Winning means writing 50,000 words by the end of the month, and I only wrote 49,000. I ran out of time and words.

But I didn’t give up. I rewrote that story several times, including  from different points-of-view. And I got hooked. That story will never see publication, but I learned a lot along the way. 

And I decided that maybe – just maybe – someday I would let the world read a what I’d written. 

Here I am, getting ready to release my twelfth book.

Coming soon – I’m shooting for November 2nd – Edwards Investigations, The Rimer File, will be added to my bookshelf. (My editor/formatter was in the path of the hurricane, so things may change.)  Please sign up for my newsletter to get the first peek at it. (See the link on the right.)

By the way, every now and then I will still write a poem. Maybe once a year, when inspiration strikes. I haven’t tried to publish any of the recent ones. They are more for my satisfaction  than anything else.

How about the other authors on this hop? What made them decide to write their stories? Find out by following the links below. 

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

A suggestion from Kelly: My daughter asked: How did you decide that you finally wanted to write your stories?

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My Favorite Word #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Sept 23, 2024

What’s your favorite word in the English language? Any other language?

What makes it my favorite?

I’m an author! I play with words almost every day. How can I pick only one? I fought with this for several days. Is it based on sound? How much I use it in my life? What it means?

I choose peace. 

It’s not the prettiest word in the English language, but the meaning is what counts. I’m not a big fan of confrontation, although for the right reason or cause, I will make a stand. But if there’s an option to choose peace, I will always choose peace. Well, at least I try.

It’s not always easy. But it’s always worthwhile.

I have a second choice.

No.

In my family, we were taught (by example) to do our best to help others. I’ve also worked a lot of jobs where I was expected to tell people yes, no matter how I felt about it. But at some point in my life, I discovered the joy of being able to say no. It’s a freeing feeling to turn someone down and not have the moment overshadowed by guilty.

It’s a word that must be used with caution. You know, the whole with great power comes great responsibility idea. You don’t want to overuse it, or it loses its impact.

You may think the two words-—peace and no—contradict each other, but I don’t believe so. After all, being able to choose peace means allowing yourself to enjoy it yourself. And sometimes that means saying no to demands,

In the comments, tell me about your favorite word. And then check out the other authors on this hop by following the links.

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Sept 23, 2024

What’s your favorite word in the English language? Any other language?

 

The Best Part of Publicity #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Sept 16, 2024

Many of us are frustrated by publicity. It’s our least favorite part of writing.

But what’s your favorite part?

Sit back and grab your favorite brew. I’m about to treat you to one of my infamous “stretching the meaning of the question” answers.

Most authors will tell you how much we hate doing publicity. It’s hard. Pick your poison. Blogs, Facebook and other social media posts. Paid ads in all shapes and sizes. Many times it feels as if it’s nothing but sheer luck whether a certain campaign works. As you can tell, none of those are my favorite.

Then what is?

This is where I stretch the meaning of publicity.

My favorite form is the festivals and other events where I sell my books. I’ve done five events this summer, lasting anywhere from 5 hours to 3 days. Overall, I sold fifty books. I have three more events scheduled before Christmas and am debating a fourth. I’m about peopled out!

 

This is a sample of my outdoor setup. It doesn’t change much from event to event. With any luck, I don’t have to use the few light tarps I bought in case of rain.

But back to the topic. Why is this my favorite form of publicity? Because of the people I get to meet. I love to watch their faces as they read the blurb on the back of a book. Even if they don’t buy one, it’s good to know they were interested enough to spend a few minutes checking it out. The instant feedback is gratifying.

This year was interesting because it was the second year at several events. Although there were many new faces, it was great to run into returning customers. I had one lady send her son to track me down at one event to buy the book she hadn’t bought previously!

Now, here’s some “hard” publicity.

The second and third rounds of critiques on my work-in-progress are almost finished. (They were happening simultaneously.) Then the manuscript is off to my editor and I’ve got a release date in mind. This story has been a decade in the making, and I’m excited to finally present it to the world. I’m fine-tuning the title, but right now it’s The Edwards Investigations, The Rimer File. To get the first announcement of the release date, and an excerpt, sign up for my newsletter. Check out the right-hand column.)

How about the other authors on this hop? What’s their favorite part of publicity? Check out the links below to find out.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

 

Tracking The Characters #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

September 9, 2024

How do you keep track of your cast of characters?

You don’t want to repeat a name and confuse your readers.

And you don’t want to change their physical characteristics halfway through the story. I learned that early on, when a character started off with light brown hair and somewhere along the way it got darker. So, how do I keep track?

I know an author who covers the walls by her desk with sticky notes. Of course, she’s a plotter, and has everything mapped out before she begins telling the story. When I started writing, I wasn’t in a spot where I could do that, so I never tried. Besides, as a pantser, characters enter the scene when I least expect them.

As I worked on the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie series, I decided it was time to start a series ‘bible,’ listing every character and what they looked like, as well as their relationship to Harmony. And there were a LOT of supporting roles. I abandoned it before finishing, when I decided to end the series with the sixth book. (And set the story away from Oak Grove, where the rest of the series happened.)

I wanted to be more organized as I wrote my current work-in-progress, the Edwards Investigations.

 

Photo by Anna Shvets:

Since it’s semi-historical, it required more research. I wanted to get details right. Thankfully, I’d moved into my own office space when I started the story and could buy a large whiteboard to attach to the wall. As a character revealed themselves to me, I’d add them to the list. I ended up with a list of names on one side and interesting tidbits of information on the other.

But life happened, and I had to move my writing space. I didn’t want to put holes on the walls of the new spot to mount the whiteboard. Guess what happened?

As I edited, I discovered I had used two last names that were very close. Not the same, but too similar for my comfort. Thankfully, with the option of find and replace, it was a simple job to make the needed correction. Then, I bought a small whiteboard that can hang from a thumbtack nearby.

I’m hoping to make The Edwards Investigations a series, so I should start working on a book bible now. A simple spreadsheet will do the trick. Even a word document world work, but a spreadsheet will make it easier to compare characteristics. I don’t want everyone to have brown or blonde hair!

How do other authors keep track of their characters? Just follow the links to their posts to find out.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

September 9, 2024

How do you keep track of your cast of characters?

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Writing Rules That Are Wrong #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
 
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
 
The awesome co-hosts for the September 4 posting of the IWSG are Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando!

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.

 

September 4 question – Since it’s back to school time, let’s talk English class. What’s a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

I’m really lucky. Through grade school and high school, I had excellent teachers who taught a broad curriculum. We were exposed to a wide variety of literature, not only from English and American culture, but from other backgrounds as well. They started from the basics—spelling, grammar, and sentence structure,— and moved into full essays with footnotes and bibliographies. (We used the MLA format.)

The difference was apparent when I got to college. 

The essays I needed to write for the first-year courses were a breeze, compared to the requirements of my high school senior assignments. Not all my classmates felt that way, and I was thankful for my previous classes.

 

Granted, the classes were aimed mostly towards non-fiction and literature. Still, the basics apply to fiction as well. I haven’t had to unlearn anything, but there was still plenty to learn when I started writing my stories.

So, there’s nothing I learned that messed me up. I got a great foundation for future writing. I may be a rarity, but we can find out by checking out some of the other posts on this hop.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

 

Obscure Writing Tools #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

September 2, 2024

What is your most obscure and favorite work supply for writing?

I will admit, this one had me scratching my head.

The tools I use are commonplace. The basics. Pen, paper, computer. Everyday stuff. Nothing exciting there. Even opening a clean notebook isn’t thrilling to most folks.

I could talk about the landscape that inspires and supports me., the hills and back roads of Pennsylvania. I spotted a bear running across the road going to town a few days ago, and have deer wander through my yard occasionally. (Much to the detriment of whatever flowers are in bloom.) But none of those count as tools.

So, I got to thinking harder. I took a walk outside to check my hummingbird feeder and the answer hit me. I use a tool called LibreOffice for my word processing (like Microsoft Office.) It’s free and has many of the same capabilities as the Microsoft product. 

Its development was a combination of the efforts of thousands of people. The list on their web page is amazing and too long to even screen shot and post here. Historically, it branched off a previous program called OpenOffice, which was the effort of even more people. (For those who love computer stuff, it’s open source software.)

As a side note, LibreOffice is more than word processing. It has additional components that mimic the entire Microsoft Office suite. I’ve mentioned it on this blog before, so it might not be as obscure as it used to be.

I’m excited to find out what obscure tools the other authors are using. You can too, by following the links below.

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

 

September 2, 2024

What is your most obscure and favorite work supply for writing?

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Pushing Publish Too Soon #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Aug 19, 2024

Have you ever regretted ‘hitting publish’ on a work realizing you could have done more or tweak something to make it an absolute banger?

It was never an issue in the Dark Ages when I wrote poetry. Back then, publishing meant sending typewritten copies on higher-quality paper by snail mail to magazines or other paper publications. If I was lucky, they’d send the copies back along with the all-too-often rejection slip in the enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope. The advent of home computers and printers made life so much easier.

I’m always excited to get new work out to my readers.

Now, getting it out ‘too soon’ is another question. With my books, they get seen by so many eyes that I’m confident in releasing them. Sure, there are always tweaks that can be made, but once a book has made it all the way through the process, I like to leave it alone. It’s like setting a butterfly free. You wish it love as it flutters away.

I made small changes to The Marquesa’s Necklace after publishing it. A reviewer mentioned a word that was overused. They were right, and the changes were easy. It didn’t change the story at all. That’s the only time I’ve changed the contents of a book after release. (Covers don’t count.)

My blog is different. I normally write it a day before releasing it. I hit the publish button for this hop just before going to bed on Sunday evenings. Then, as I drift off to sleep, I’m thinking of all the minor changes I should have made or things I could have said. If I remember them in the morning, I can easily add them. (If I remember!)

Social Media posts are different playing field.

I often regret my infrequent comments on social media. Not because of the content, but due to the frequent typos I make, that I don’t spot until after I’ve pushed the arrow. Thank heavens for the ability to edit them. But it bothers me knowing other people have seen the errors.

I work hard to keep my actual posts on social media typo-free. I wait longer and triple-check my work before I publish them. If all else fails, I’m able to delete them and start over.

How about the other authors on this hop? Do they ever regret pushing the publish button? Find out by checking out the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

Aug 19, 2024

Have you ever regretted ‘hitting publish’ on a work realizing you could have done more or tweak something to make it an absolute banger?

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What Makes Me Different? #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Aug 12, 2024

Tell us the quirkiest thing about you.

What makes me stand out?

I don’t think of myself as average, despite joking regularly about how generic my looks are. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been approached and asked “Do I know you?” or “Aren’t you so-and-so’s daughter/cousin/friend?” Once I was asked by a random man if I was his ex-wife! I should have kept a scoreboard, because I don’t know how often it happened.

But that’s not quirky on my part. Nor is the fact that I didn’t touch my first computer until I was almost 40, yet I retired as a systems administrator. How about the fact that I’ve lived on both coasts? Interesting but not quirky. (It goes deeper than that. I grew up in Pennsylvania, moved to Wyoming, then to Oregon, next to Florida, back to Wyoming and ending up here in Pennsylvania.)

How about the fact that I’m an author and have published eleven books? Now we’re getting somewhere. Still, there are plenty of other writers. So, we still haven’t hit the target.

But that leads to the fact that I have a ‘trademark’ when I go to books signing events.

It’s a hat I bought years ago in a tourist shop in Estes Park, Colorado. I’ve forgotten to take my hat once, and I felt weird signing books with a bare head. People have started recognizing me by the hat.

But the quirkiest thing about me? Purple steps. I decided the perfect color for the front step of our house is purple. Now, I tell local people when they wonder where I live to look for the house with purple steps. I need to repaint them soon, but that will wait until the grandkids are back in school.

Of course, I didn’t choose the color without consulting Priscilla first. Priscilla is the name of the front half of the house. Harold is the back half. Priscilla was build in the early 1900s, and Harold was built in the 70s. Oh, and the name of the house goddess – the whole house – is Penelope. The land it sits on is Henry. Somedays, it feels as if they are siblings who get along most of the time but have occasional arguments.

So, I’ve developed a few quirks along the way.  How about the other authors on this hop? Find out by checking out the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

Aug 12, 2024

Tell us the quirkiest thing about you…

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