Today I am delighted to do a spotlight on a great author and friend
P.J. MACLAYNE
P.J. MacLayne is a computer geek by
day and a writer by night. She grew up among the rolling hills of Pennsylvania
and uses that as the setting for many of her stories. She currently makes her
home in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.
PLEASE SIT BAK AND ENJOY A GREAT INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR
1. What inspired you to write this
book?
a. The Marquesa's Necklace, Book 1 of
the Oak Grove Mysteries, started as the tail end of a dream. I don’t remember
the beginning of the dream, but the end is the beginning of the book.
Originally Eli, my hero, was a ghost and the book was titled “The Ghost Who
Loved Me,” but my characters wouldn’t stand for it. Eli soon convinced me he
was alive and well. I still think there's a book to be written with the old
title. I just haven't stumbled across the storyline yet.
2. If you had to co-author a book,
who would be your ideal partner and why?
a. This is a tough one. I've had the
opportunity to interact with some great writers on line, but if I was going to
co-write a book I'd like to work with someone face-to-face. So I'm going to
take a leap and Cornelia Amiri. I've had the opportunity to do some critiquing
for her. Although we write in very different styles, I think we could work well
together and balance out each other's skills and faults.
3. Tell me a little bit about
yourself.
a. I just recently became a
grandmother! The little one arrived two months early, but is doing fine. In the
week after he was home, while I was at my daughter's helping out, I was able to
see his personality developing.
I actually have other creative
outlets besides writing- I do needlepoint and embroidery. In fact, I was
embroidering a baby quilt for the grandson and had to set aside my writing and
spend all my time getting the blanket done so it was ready for him when he came
home. It was continuing a tradition because I made one for each of my children
when they were born.
4. What do you do for a living?
a. I had a variety of careers before
I found myself where I am now. In my latest incarnation, I’m a computer geek.
I’ve gone through a variety of computer related jobs, and my current job is
tied to security. And I can’t tell you much more than that—because security,
you know. But the variety of jobs has exposed me to a large range of people,
and I can draw from my varied experiences for my characters.
5. What part of the world do you live
in?
a. I live in the shadow of the Rocky
Mountains. If I had my druthers, I’d find a cabin somewhere in the mountains to
spend most of my time in, but there’s this little thing called a “real job”
that requires me to stay where I am—at least until I win the lottery or one of
my books hits the big time.
6. How long have you been writing?
a. If I told you that you’d know how
old I was, so I’m not telling. Let’s just say I made the switch from poetry to
writing fiction about five years ago, and I’m still having fun. I haven’t run
out of stories I want to tell. In fact, I’m getting ready to release the next book
in the Oak Grove series — probably at the end of April. That book is titled
“Her Ladyship’s Ring.” I need to do some more editing before I share it with
the world.
7. What is your writing process like?
Are you a pantster, a plotter, or somewhere in between?
a. I’m definitely a pantster. I start
off with a general concept, and maybe a subplot, but I let my characters tell
me the story as I’m writing it. Does that make me a transcriptionist instead of
a writer? I do have to nudge my characters sometimes when they aren’t talking
to me. Threaten them with taking the story the way I want it to go if they
don’t start talking to me. That usually solves the problem. I didn't have
that problem with “The Marquesa's Necklace,” in fact, just the opposite. There were
several times the words were coming faster than I could type them out.
8. When and where do you write?
a. I do most of my writing at nights
and on the weekends, although I find myself planning the next couple of
paragraphs in odd moments when I’m at work. Sometimes I even sneak in some
writing at lunch. Just between you and me, if I'm into a really exciting
part of the story, I've been known to scribble notes while I'm taking part in a
boring on-line meeting. Don't tell my boss.
9. What sorts of conditions are most
conducive to productivity?
a. For my best productivity, I need
to be alone and listening to music. I’ve tried sitting with my husband and
working from my laptop while he watches TV, but it’s too distracting. I can do
editing in the same situation, but for writing my first draft, it doesn’t work.
The type of music I listen to depends upon my mood, but classic rock is my
fallback genre.
10. What's your favorite aspect of
being a writer?
a. Writing “The End” at the end of
the story. Even though I know I’ll need to go back and edit the heck out of
what I’ve written, I get a lot of satisfaction from completing that first
draft. And I’m a sucker for a happy ending, so it makes me happy to finally see
my characters happy after all the trouble I’ve put them through. In fact, I’ve
found myself talking to my main characters, assuring them it’s going to get
better as I write them into yet another sticky situation.
11. Your least favorite?
a. Publicity. I’m a private person
and I have a hard time asking people to buy my book. It feels like I’m asking
them for money. And the time I spend on publicity I could be spending writing
the next book! However, I want people to read my books, and that means I have
to put myself out there to get my books in front of potential readers. Even
answering some of the more personal questions in this interview is hard for me.
12. What are the biggest challenges
you face as a writer?
a. Procrastination. I wrote my
earliest books out longhand. Yep, on paper. (Those books are unpublished but
maybe one day I'll revisit them and see what I can do to clean them up.) But
now that I sit in front of a computer and write, it’s far to easy to get
distracted by the internet and put off that next paragraph I know will be tough
to write.
13. Who are some of your favorite
writers and why?
a. There are so many good ones that I
feel guilty naming any. I love Jenna Bennett and her Cutthroat Business
mysteries. They may have, to some degree, inspired me to make a series out of The
Marquesa's Necklace. And I enjoy Terry Odell's book, especially the Blackthorne
mysteries. She's another writer living in the Rocky Mountains, so I feel like I
should support her although we've never met. Then there's L.j. Charles and her
Everly Gray adventures. The scenario that the overall series is based on is so
unique and she does such a good job of surprising the reader throughout the
whole series that you can't help but stay involved. In fact, I need to check
and see if the next book is available yet. And there's so many writers I've had
the pleasure of meeting on-line, and my budget can't stretch far enough to buy
all the books I'd like to check out.
14. What are your favorite books?
a. I love the Dragonrider series by
Anne McCaffrey and The Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey because of their
strong female characters. But I also enjoy the Longmire series by Craig
Johnson. I read his books before the TV series started, and found the
differences between the books and the shows interesting. He's a Wyoming writer
and his books are set in an area near where I use to live.
15. What writing tools do you use, if
any?
a. I use whatever I can get my hands
on. From paper and pen to Office 2013 to LibraOffice. It just depends upon what
I happen to have handy at the moment.
16. How long does it typically take
for you to write your first draft?
a. I've written a first draft in as
little as a month and as long as six months. It all depends upon what else I've
got going on. But I feel as if taking longer on my first draft cuts down on the
revisions I need to make in my later versions.
17. Your final draft?
a. Another five-six months after I've
finished my first draft. I know many writers like to set their books aside for
awhile after completing the first draft, and I've tried that, but it doesn't
work for me. I want to see the story though to completion. I''m frequently
working on more than one book at a time so that makes the time frames longer.
18. Who's your favorite character
from one of your books? Why?
a. Truly, it depends on what book I'm
working on at the moment. In my current book, “Her Ladyship's Ring,” I can't
decide between Harmony and Jake. Harmony the heroine of the Oak Grove series, a
feisty ex-librarian and Jake is her ex-boyfriend who got her into trouble with
the law. He's a rogue with a big heart and a smile to match. But he's not as
innocent as he appears. I love them both, and enjoyed writing their
interactions.
19. If you could have one superpower
what would it be.?
a. Healing. I would love to be able
to relieve people of their pain. Modern medicine has made great strides, but it
can't fix everything.
The Marquesa's Necklace
Harmony Duprie enjoyed her
well-ordered life in the quiet little town of Oak Grove—until her arrest for
drug trafficking. Cleared of all charges, she wants nothing more than to return
to the uneventful lifestyle of a historical researcher she once savored.
But when her beloved old car “George”
is stolen and explodes into a ball of flames, it sets off a series of events
that throws her plans into turmoil. Toss in a police detective that may or may
not be interested in her, an attractive but mysterious stranger on her trail,
and an ex-boyfriend doing time, and Harmony’s life freefalls into a downward
spiral of chaos.
Now she has to use her research
skills to figure out who is behind the sinister incidents plaguing her, and
why. And she better take it seriously, like her life depends upon finding the
right answers.
Because it might.
And here is an excerpt:
Officer Felton left me in the
barely-furnished lobby. It was a place you don’t want to stay in too
long—several hard plastic chairs, a beat-up fake wood end table and a few old
magazines scattered about. It smelled like stale cigarettes, and appeared not
to have been cleaned for weeks. I perched on the edge of a chair and put my
hands between my knees to keep from touching anything. Thankfully, it was only
moments until Detective Thomason appeared. I gave him the once over—brown hair
still cut short—check. Glasses hiding those dark brown eyes—check. His shirt
rumpled and in need of an iron—check. No wedding band in his finger—check. Yep,
nothing had changed.
As I stood, his eyes wandered from my
face down to my shoes. The corners of his lips curled upward, but I wouldn’t
say that he smiled. A smile would have looked odd on his normally grim face.
“If you would come with me, please?”
he said.
He even put the please in there,
unlike our previous encounters. Of course, those times, I had been either in
booking or in one of the interrogation chambers. I know, I know, they’re
interview rooms. Whatever. I followed him through a maze of desks and hallways
and into a small but comfortable office, my heels clicking on the tile floor.
I’d never noticed before what a nice
behind he had. I wondered if it was just the pants he was wearing, or if I’d
just not looked before, having other things on my mind. Like calling a lawyer.
“Have a seat, please,” he said,
indicating an armless office chair—at least its seat was padded. He sat on the
other side of a desk covered with an assortment of files and paperwork, and
picked up a file from the top of the stack.
“Harmony,” he said tentatively.
“Detective Thomason,” He might be
trying to be friendly, but I still hadn’t forgiven him for arresting me.
He cleared his throat, and set the
file back on his desk. “Did you let anyone borrow your car today?” he asked.
“No, my keys are right here.” I
started digging through the contents of my purse.
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said,
after I pulled out my checkbook, a packet of pink tissues, and a paperback with
an almost-naked man on the front cover and piled them on the corner of his
desk. His mouth twitched. “Have you made any new enemies recently, Miss
Duprie?” I guess he got my message about the terms of our relationship.
“Besides a certain insufferable cop?”
Even in the artificial fluorescent light, I saw the red rising in his cheeks. I
could almost hear him counting to ten as I pretended to consider the question.
“I think Larry, the florist, is ticked off that I’m not receiving flowers
anymore. And Bart at the grocery store yelled at me last week when I went
through the ten items or less line with fourteen items. But what does that have
to do with someone stealing and wrecking my car?”
He took a deep breath, held it for a
moment, and exhaled. “Bear with me a moment. Did you go anywhere today?”
I couldn’t figure out where this line
of questioning was going, but I answered anyway. “No, I woke up with a killer
headache, realized it was going to rain, and decided to stay home and work.”
“And when was the last time you saw
your car?”
“This morning. I planned to go to the
library, but it started to storm as I was leaving. Why?”
He swiveled his chair so he was
facing away from me. I fidgeted in my suddenly uncomfortable seat and waited.
He turned back around and leaned forward with his forearms on his desk. “Your
headache may have saved your life. We’ve asked for help from the state police
to verify our theory, but our preliminary investigation and accounts from a few
eyewitnesses indicate your car exploded.” Sitting back and rubbing his
forehead, he added. “A tall man in a brown suit was seen in the vicinity.”
I sputtered. “What do you mean my car
exploded?”
“In a fireball. Burnt to a crisp. If
you had been in the vehicle, you'd be dead.”
HERE IS HOW TO FIND THE BOOK
The Marquesa's Necklace is for sale
at major ebook retailers and is also available in paperback.
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-marquesa-s-necklace
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