Friday, June 26, 2020

Friday P J MacLayne Is visiting and talking about Who She Was Before #MFRWAuthor #Mysteries #Librarian


1. What were you before you became an author? Did this influence your choices as a writer?

I've done a lot of different jobs in my life. I've been a waitress, a librarian, a secretary, an executive for a not-for-profit organization, an information technology specialist and more. But I've always been a writer in one form or another. I started with poetry, wrote articles for a company newsletter, and moved into fiction about eight years ago. Unfortunately, my writing had never supported me financially, so I'm still working a day job.

And yes, I've drawn on all of those experiences for my writing. My characters have worked in many of those same professions. I have no problems with my heroes and heroines being computer programmers or security analysts. Or an ex-librarian, like Harmony, my amateur female sleuth.


2. Are you genre specific or general? I don’t mean major genres but subdivisions or romance, mystery or paranormal.

I have both a mystery series and an urban fantasy/paranormal series, so I have to say general. And while the Harmony Duprie Myteries are more light-hearted, I'm prepping for a much grittier female private investigator series. That may be a year or two away, depending upon how quickly I get the next Harmony story finished. The original story is one I wrote several years ago, but it needs a total rewrite before it ever leaves my computer.

3. What is your latest release?

My latest release is The Samurai's Inro, the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Here's the description:

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.

Harmony Duprie has it made. Or so she thinks.
New job.
New routine.
A quiet life in the quiet little town of Oak Grove.
Oh, and Eli.

But trouble has a long memory and it’s playing a deadly game. 
Friends' cars stolen.
Her apartment ransacked.
The duplicate of a stolen Japanese antique carved box left behind.

Trouble follows wherever she goes, including the parking lot of the police station. Not even the want-to-be bodyguard brought in by Police Chief Sorenson can end the harassment. And all her research leads to dead ends.

Can Harmony identify the face of trouble before she loses and the winner takes her life as the final prize?

Let the games begin.

I love  getting Harmony into trouble and figuring out how to get her back out again. She often surprises me with the answer when I least expect it.


4. What are you working on now?

I'm working on The Ranger's Dogtags, the sixth (and probably last) book in The Harmony Duprie Mysteries. I don't have a description pulled together, but I've taken Harmony out of her comfort zone and her hometown and thrown her simple life into chaos.

5. Does your reading choices influence your choice of a writing career?

 I love reading romances. I'm bad at writing them. But all of my stories have a major romantic subplot and that satisfies my need to make my characters happy. I also read science fiction but can't imagine ever tackling that genre. Truth is, I'll read almost anything but I know my limitations when it comes to writing.

6. Where can we find you?

I can be found here:

Website: http://pjmaclayne.com
Newsletter http://eepurl.com/cL73Cz


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