P.J. MacLayne

I’m pleased to welcome Jennifer Lowery and her new release Worth The Risk. And now, here’s Jennifer.

Hello peeps, Jennifer here to rock your military romance socks off! My new release, Worth the Risk, Book #3 in my Wolff Securities Series, is available now for pre-order—Woot! It will release March 20th so get your orders in now! If you haven’t read the first two books, no worries, these are standalone as well as part of a series—although I do hope you’ll read them all 😉 The Wolff brothers are a tight-lipped bunch but I managed to get them talking long enough to write their books, lol, so the more support the better!

A friend and author asked me why the hero of this book had me falling in love with him. A great question and one I am happy to answer here for all of you. Kell Wolff, the hero of Worth the Risk, was one of the most forth-coming Wolff brothers, even if he didn’t say much, lol. I knew from day one he was running—literally—from his past and the woman who tore his heart out. He was a fun mix of thrill-seeker and loyal, the one you wanted watching your six. He had kind of a warped sense of humor his brothers don’t care for, but Kell gets a kick out of needling them. He was kind of dark, but not in a tall, dark and brooding way. More, haunted. And I’m a sucker for the strong, silent types. He did manage to surprise me at the end of the book—sorry, no spoilers here—and I was so touched I fell for him all over again. I enjoyed watching Kell come to life and I hope you do, too!

If you’d like to read Kell’s story, click on this link: Amazon
If you would like to read the first two books, Maximum Risk and Not Without Risk please go to my website HERE for purchase links.
P.S. The first book in the series, Maximum Risk, is on sale for .99 cents for a limited time!

Blurb:

How much is too much? We know repetition is important to remember things. That’s why we see the same commercials over and over again. But, how much is too much? What’s your favorite ad and what’s your least favorite ad. (Can be television, radio, billboards.)

Those of you who have read my blog with any regularity know that I don’t watch TV.  The number of ads and the way they repeat them over and over and over is one of the reasons I stopped. Seeing the same bad commercial three times within an hour was enough to drive me away from watching a show. And eventually, TV in general.

That doesn’t mean I don’t catch an occasional ad or two when I wander into the room when my hubby is watching the news. Or just flipping through channels. As a result, I have a few ads that are among my least favorite.

The first ones that come to mind are the Progressive insurance ads. The first one or two featuring Flo were okay, but she is just as annoying as all get out. (I’m trying to keep my words clean.) And she gets worse with every new commercial. I have to wonder how effective the character is in selling insurance. I think she’s outlived her usefulness. The Geico ads are at least slightly better. The gecko isn’t near as annoying. (Although I liked the older version of him better.)

The whole category of ads for the medicine of the week ranks a close second on my least favorite list. Have you ever really listened to the list of potential side effects? They are often worse than the condition they are fixing! What really gets me is the commercials say “And don’t take medicine X if you are allergic to medicine X.” Well, no duh! I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV, but I could tell you that. And we wonder why our prescriptions cost so much, but that’s a topic for another blog post.

I can’t tell you my favorite ad. I don’t have one. Heck, usually I make a point of watching the best of the Super Bowl ads, and I didn’t do that  this year. I’m going to date myself and tell you about one I remember from way back. Anyone remember the Budweiser frogs? (I’m not endorsing the company here. Shh, don’t tell anyone, but I don’t like their beer.) But that string of commercials was tongue-in-cheek enough to make them interesting. For those of you who are too young to remember, here’s the first one. Simple but effective.

Now let’s hop on over (see what I did there?) to the other author’s pages and see what they have to say.

March 19, 2018 – How much is too much? We know repetition is important to remember things. That’s why we see the same commercials over and over again. But, how much is too much? What’s your favorite ad and what’s your least favorite ad. (Can be television, radio, billboards.)

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

How much is too much? We know repetition is important to remember things. That’s why we see the same commercials over and over again. But, how much is too much? What’s your favorite ad and what’s your least favorite ad. (Can be television, radio, billboards.)

Those of you who have read my blog with any regularity know that I don’t watch TV.  The number of ads and the way they repeat them over and over and over is one of the reasons I stopped. Seeing the same bad commercial three times within an hour was enough to drive me away from watching a show. And eventually, TV in general.

That doesn’t mean I don’t catch an occasional ad or two when I wander into the room when my hubby is watching the news. Or just flipping through channels. As a result, I have a few ads that are among my least favorite.

The first ones that come to mind are the Progressive insurance ads. The first one or two featuring Flo were okay, but she is just as annoying as all get out. (I’m trying to keep my words clean.) And she gets worse with every new commercial. I have to wonder how effective the character is in selling insurance. I think she’s outlived her usefulness. The Geico ads are at least slightly better. The gecko isn’t near as annoying. (Although I liked the older version of him better.)

The whole category of ads for the medicine of the week ranks a close second on my least favorite list. Have you ever really listened to the list of potential side effects? They are often worse than the condition they are fixing! What really gets me is the commercials say “And don’t take medicine X if you are allergic to medicine X.” Well, no duh! I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV, but I could tell you that. And we wonder why our prescriptions cost so much, but that’s a topic for another blog post.

I can’t tell you my favorite ad. I don’t have one. Heck, usually I make a point of watching the best of the Super Bowl ads, and I didn’t do that  this year. I’m going to date myself and tell you about one I remember from way back. Anyone remember the Budweiser frogs? (I’m not endorsing the company here. Shh, don’t tell anyone, but I don’t like their beer.) But that string of commercials was tongue-in-cheek enough to make them interesting. For those of you who are too young to remember, here’s the first one. Simple but effective.

Now let’s hop on over (see what I did there?) to the other author’s pages and see what they have to say.

March 19, 2018 – How much is too much? We know repetition is important to remember things. That’s why we see the same commercials over and over again. But, how much is too much? What’s your favorite ad and what’s your least favorite ad. (Can be television, radio, billboards.)

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

Surprise! We do not live in a perfect world. This world is filled with the less-than-wonderful or totally broken. Things that don’t fit together well and opportunities that don’t work out the way we planned. Screws fall out all the time.

But advertisers would like you to believe that if you use their product, birds will sing, the sun will shine brightly and all the world will be a glorious place. The pillows on your bed will all be fluffed just right and your mother-in-law won’t see a speck of dust when she visits.The shirt you pull out of your closet won’t have a solitary wrinkle and will still smell summer-fresh.

But it doesn’t work that way. And does anyone believe those commercials any more? They are full of smoke and mirrors and parlor tricks. Follow the yellow brick road and don’t look at the man behind the curtain. So why do advertisers keep shoving them down our throats?

The standards for beauty have changed throughout the years. In ancient Greece, unibrows were desired. In the 1800’s in France, a slight double-chin was a mark of beauty. In the 1960’s, the “look” was unisex and skinny, with Twiggy being the standard. No curves allowed.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m an advertiser’s nightmare. I can’t remember the last time I bought something based on an ad. But I know that young people are more susceptible to the images that surround them. I’m that crazy lady that will tell young teens that they don’t need to go on a diet when I  overhear them talking about it in the grocery store. Or that the jeans they wear don’t need to cost some extravagant amount of money to look nice.

Besides, I’m not perfect. Not by a long shot. And you know what? I think if I saw someone “real” in a commercial, I might actually stop and watch it. Someone who’s hair didn’t fall neatly back into place after the wind caught it. Someone who’s bra strap slipped off their shoulder when they weren’t paying attention. Or they accidentally wore mismatched socks.

Because I don’t want to know what the clothes will look like on a perfect body, I want to know what they will look like on me, with all my bulges. I don’t care what your food looks like under camera, I want to know how it actually tastes.

The world’s an imperfect place and we should celebrate all those loose screws.

Let’s check in with how the other authors feel.

March 12, 2018 – In years gone by, clothing stores, makeup manufacturers and the like have only used models with those perfect bodies and skin to show us their products. How do you feel about this? Would you like to see “real” people in ads?

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

Surprise! We do not live in a perfect world. This world is filled with the less-than-wonderful or totally broken. Things that don’t fit together well and opportunities that don’t work out the way we planned. Screws fall out all the time.

But advertisers would like you to believe that if you use their product, birds will sing, the sun will shine brightly and all the world will be a glorious place. The pillows on your bed will all be fluffed just right and your mother-in-law won’t see a speck of dust when she visits.The shirt you pull out of your closet won’t have a solitary wrinkle and will still smell summer-fresh.

But it doesn’t work that way. And does anyone believe those commercials any more? They are full of smoke and mirrors and parlor tricks. Follow the yellow brick road and don’t look at the man behind the curtain. So why do advertisers keep shoving them down our throats?

The standards for beauty have changed throughout the years. In ancient Greece, unibrows were desired. In the 1800’s in France, a slight double-chin was a mark of beauty. In the 1960’s, the “look” was unisex and skinny, with Twiggy being the standard. No curves allowed.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m an advertiser’s nightmare. I can’t remember the last time I bought something based on an ad. But I know that young people are more susceptible to the images that surround them. I’m that crazy lady that will tell young teens that they don’t need to go on a diet when I  overhear them talking about it in the grocery store. Or that the jeans they wear don’t need to cost some extravagant amount of money to look nice.

Besides, I’m not perfect. Not by a long shot. And you know what? I think if I saw someone “real” in a commercial, I might actually stop and watch it. Someone who’s hair didn’t fall neatly back into place after the wind caught it. Someone who’s bra strap slipped off their shoulder when they weren’t paying attention. Or they accidentally wore mismatched socks.

Because I don’t want to know what the clothes will look like on a perfect body, I want to know what they will look like on me, with all my bulges. I don’t care what your food looks like under camera, I want to know how it actually tastes.

The world’s an imperfect place and we should celebrate all those loose screws.

Let’s check in with how the other authors feel.

March 12, 2018 – In years gone by, clothing stores, makeup manufacturers and the like have only used models with those perfect bodies and skin to show us their products. How do you feel about this? Would you like to see “real” people in ads?

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

Between work, family, and writing, sometimes the space in my head gets really crowded. It can be hard to stay focused on any one project. Especially right now, as I’m in between two stories. I’m working with beta readers and editing Wolves’ Gambit, and I’ve started the next book in the Oak Grove Mystery series. (No title yet. I’m not even done with the first chapter and Harmony, the main character, has already let me know the story isn’t going to be what I planned.)

So I’m having a hard time focusing. But there are a few things I do to help fix that.

Staying up later at night and writing after everyone else has gone to bed. helps After I’ve done my social media check-ins I can concentrate on my words.

I’m one of those people who works better with music in my ears. Not so much that it helps me concentrate, but it works to shut out other distractions and keeps me focused. I may not actively listen to the words, especially if the songs are old favorites, but the general flow of the music is more important. Tonight’s choice is Carly Simon.

I also have a slide show of my favorite mountain photos as my desktop background. So when I pull myself away from whatever document I’m working on, I have something beautiful to stare at, even in the middle of the night.

One distraction I haven’t eliminated is the mess on my desk. I use it for everything. Writing, bill paying, internet surfing, even occasionally work. And it’s a disaster area. I really need to take a couple of hours and find places to put all the “stuff.” Organization isn’t exactly my strong point! (And no, I won’t show you a picture of it. At least it isn’t as bad as the drawing below!)

Well, while I contemplate what stack of papers I can eliminate, I might as well head over to find out how the other authors organize their writing. If you have any ideas to help me out, please leave them in the comments.

March 5, 2018 – It’s been a while since we shared anything about our writing spaces and processes. What’s one or two things you must have in order to sit down and write productively?

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

InLinkz | view linkup
Create link-ups, link parties and blog hops. Run challenges and increase your loyal followers with the LinkUp tool. Monetize your creative blog with the Project Manager.
INLINKZ.COM

Between work, family, and writing, sometimes the space in my head gets really crowded. It can be hard to stay focused on any one project. Especially right now, as I’m in between two stories. I’m working with beta readers and editing Wolves’ Gambit, and I’ve started the next book in the Oak Grove Mystery series. (No title yet. I’m not even done with the first chapter and Harmony, the main character, has already let me know the story isn’t going to be what I planned.)

So I’m having a hard time focusing. But there are a few things I do to help fix that.

Staying up later at night and writing after everyone else has gone to bed. helps After I’ve done my social media check-ins I can concentrate on my words.

I’m one of those people who works better with music in my ears. Not so much that it helps me concentrate, but it works to shut out other distractions and keeps me focused. I may not actively listen to the words, especially if the songs are old favorites, but the general flow of the music is more important. Tonight’s choice is Carly Simon.

I also have a slide show of my favorite mountain photos as my desktop background. So when I pull myself away from whatever document I’m working on, I have something beautiful to stare at, even in the middle of the night.

One distraction I haven’t eliminated is the mess on my desk. I use it for everything. Writing, bill paying, internet surfing, even occasionally work. And it’s a disaster area. I really need to take a couple of hours and find places to put all the “stuff.” Organization isn’t exactly my strong point! (And no, I won’t show you a picture of it. At least it isn’t as bad as the drawing below!)

Well, while I contemplate what stack of papers I can eliminate, I might as well head over to find out how the other authors organize their writing. If you have any ideas to help me out, please leave them in the comments.

March 5, 2018 – It’s been a while since we shared anything about our writing spaces and processes. What’s one or two things you must have in order to sit down and write productively?

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

InLinkz | view linkup
Create link-ups, link parties and blog hops. Run challenges and increase your loyal followers with the LinkUp tool. Monetize your creative blog with the Project Manager.
INLINKZ.COM

I had no idea what to expect when I signed up with my first in-person sales event. It was the ComicCon of 2016, the first one to be held in Cheyenne, and no one knew what to expect. Luckily, my cover artist is an experienced con-goer, and she gave me lots of tips. (Waves. Hi, K.M.!)


And I’ll admit I overdid it. A banner, business cards, and postcards, as well as a game with prizes. Everyone was a winner. (At least they got a piece of candy!) Did it help me sell books? Hard to say. I broke even on the booth, and had publicity materials for the next couple of years.

But I did sell books. In my mind, enough to make me feel successful. Enough to make me decide to to more book sales.

How did I do it? I used the game to get people to come to my table. If the kids came and played, the parents tagged along and that gave me the opportunity to talk to them. Some of them picked up my books and took a look at them. A few of those bought one or more of the books. But I think the biggest selling factor was the smile I had plastered on my face, and the fact that I wasn’t afraid to talk to the strangers wandering the sales floor.

What would I have done different? I didn’t ask folks to sign up for my newsletter (non-existent at that time!) Now, I take along a notebook and ask if they wouldn’t mind getting my occasional newsletter.

Now, there aren’t many (or none at all!) literary conferences locally,  so I looked other places for opportunities A smaller con in a nearby town. A Christmas craft sale. A steampunk-themed fund raiser. A book signing at a local bookstore.

You’ll notice that none of those is an author-reader event in it’s purest form. I haven’t done one of those-yet. I’ve signed up to participate in Wild Deadwood Reads in June.

There’s a part of me that wonders if I know what I’ve gotten myself into. It’s not like I have a huge fan base that will rush to Deadwood to meet me in person. I have nightmares about sitting all alone at my table, watching authors sell book after book while I sell nothing.

I’m prepping myself to believe that the event is really about getting to know other authors and exchanging ideas and having a lot of fun doing it. But I’ll pack up my books, my banners, my business card and postcards, and plaster on my best smile, because deep in my heart, I know I’m going to try to meet new readers.

By the way, I’ll have a new book to introduce! Wolves’ Gambit should be available by then. So if you are in the Deadwood, SD area June 9th. come buy and say hi and pick up a signed copy.

Now,I’m off to see if I can find out if I’m missing anything from the other authors.

Feb. 26, 2018 – Do you attend Author/Reader Events? What do you offer on your tables and how do you interact with readers?

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

InLinkz | view linkup

I had no idea what to expect when I signed up with my first in-person sales event. It was the ComicCon of 2016, the first one to be held in Cheyenne, and no one knew what to expect. Luckily, my cover artist is an experienced con-goer, and she gave me lots of tips. (Waves. Hi, K.M.!)

And I’ll admit I overdid it. A banner, business cards, and postcards, as well as a game with prizes. Everyone was a winner. (At least they got a piece of candy!) Did it help me sell books? Hard to say. I broke even on the booth, and had publicity materials for the next couple of years.

But I did sell books. In my mind, enough to make me feel successful. Enough to make me decide to to more book sales.

How did I do it? I used the game to get people to come to my table. If the kids came and played, the parents tagged along and that gave me the opportunity to talk to them. Some of them picked up my books and took a look at them. A few of those bought one or more of the books. But I think the biggest selling factor was the smile I had plastered on my face, and the fact that I wasn’t afraid to talk to the strangers wandering the sales floor.

What would I have done different? I didn’t ask folks to sign up for my newsletter (non-existent at that time!) Now, I take along a notebook and ask if they wouldn’t mind getting my occasional newsletter.

Now, there aren’t many (or none at all!) literary conferences locally,  so I looked other places for opportunities A smaller con in a nearby town. A Christmas craft sale. A steampunk-themed fund raiser. A book signing at a local bookstore.

You’ll notice that none of those is an author-reader event in it’s purest form. I haven’t done one of those-yet. I’ve signed up to participate in Wild Deadwood Reads in June.

There’s a part of me that wonders if I know what I’ve gotten myself into. It’s not like I have a huge fan base that will rush to Deadwood to meet me in person. I have nightmares about sitting all alone at my table, watching authors sell book after book while I sell nothing.

I’m prepping myself to believe that the event is really about getting to know other authors and exchanging ideas and having a lot of fun doing it. But I’ll pack up my books, my banners, my business card and postcards, and plaster on my best smile, because deep in my heart, I know I’m going to try to meet new readers.

By the way, I’ll have a new book to introduce! Wolves’ Gambit should be available by then. So if you are in the Deadwood, SD area June 9th. come buy and say hi and pick up a signed copy.

Now,I’m off to see if I can find out if I’m missing anything from the other authors.

Feb. 26, 2018 – Do you attend Author/Reader Events? What do you offer on your tables and how do you interact with readers?

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.

WordPress:

Custom Blog:

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

InLinkz | view linkup

According to Wellington he was “a rough foul-mouthed devil as ever lived.”
Hardly a recommendation, although Wellington added that he found him capable. Picton’s cruelty when Governor of Trinidad saw him put on trial for torture. Although convicted, the conviction was later overturned. 
He fought in the Peninsula War then became a member of parliament. When war broke out again, he headed for Waterloo. He arrived, but his luggage didn’t. He rode into battle in a top hat. 
That must have made people look twice. It probably marked him as a target, too. 
Welsh folklore says that his top hat was shot off by a cannonball moments before his death. 
Sadly, he was the most senior officer killed in the conflict. Although, some historians think he was so hated by his own troops that one of them shot him.  


Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher