Books that Mark a Turning Point

By Elaine L Orr

Books that are part of a series, especially a long one, may simply be individual components of a set of characters and their action, or books may end aspects of a series and lead to others. 

In my Family History Mystery Series, which has five books, in the first three only the main character, Digger, knows that her Uncle Benjamin's ghost arrived soon after his burial. If her contact with him were only in her residence it could have stayed that way. But he was often with her, which could be comical if she was trying to communicate with him in front of others. But that's a difficult set of scenarios to maintain.

In book three, Mountain Rails of Old, his presence becomes known to her boyfriend, who had begun to think she was keeping something from him. Boy, was she. Even now, after five books and a long short story, no one else can see or talk to him. But having someone else know about him changed a great deal about how Digger could approach her world -- and the long-ago mysteries she works to solve.

In the fourteen-book Jolie Gentil series, the first six books have her reestablishing her life in Ocean Alley and resuming friendships, especially with Scoobie. My plan was to have him be killed at the beginning of book three and that book would have been titled Justice for Scoobie. Since he had become the favorite character, that really wasn't an option. And I liked him.

A relationship evolved from friends to romance to marriage. Book ten is titled The Unexpected Resolution and they are married on New Year's Eve. It also marks the beginning of major changes in their lives. Scoobie learns a great deal about his past and a new character, an unknown much younger brother, represents a major shift. I see this as the beginning of the second chapter of their lives.

Jolie continues to solve mysteries but with more family members in her life she has to be more responsible. This led to another character becoming if not a partner at least a valuable friend in crime solving. I can't claim to always think three books ahead, but I had a local newspaper reporter lose his job and spend a couple of years training to be a Private Eye. That would make him an assistant as needed -- though he certainly wouldn't have thought of himself that way.

I found I liked having a character whose business it was to untangle mysteries and eventually George garnered his own series, the Shore Shenanigans Series. Jolie will continue with a 15th book and George will have some involvement, but George will be the predominant character in his series with Jolie and Scoobie occasionally playing supporting roles.

With a new year approaching and a lot of writing ahead, I am grateful to have published for the past fifteen years. I'm even more grateful that I still like it.

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To learn more about Elaine's writing, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Learning to Spot AI in the Writing World and Beyond

 By Elaine L. Orr

I think one of the byproducts of generative artificial intelligence is mistrust. If I get an email from someone I don't know I'm immediately suspicious. It's especially true for book marketing outreach.

At least twice a day I get a friendly email from someone telling me how great one of my books is and how much they can do to propel it to a bestseller list. It can be any book not just new ones. However I had long short story issued in mid December and that has been a popular target.

Though the language isn't always identical the concepts are. Basically I've written something brilliant and they want to help me make money. And maybe pay them a little bit to do it. In checking with author friends it seems we are all getting deluged with these emails.

I do regular chuckles about some of the reels on Facebook. I must have looked at short videos about babies in the past, though I don't remember looking at any besides family. In any event, they now pop up regularly on my Facebook feed and I find it easy to tell which ones are fake. The kids are too cute and the pets they are interacting with are too perfect.

Every day I get one that shows a toddler reacting to having a new infant in the house. The toddler is too articulate for their age, their speech too precise. A lot of three-year-olds are talkative but they don't form all the words perfectly. The toddler in the reel is always furious that there's a new baby. The giveaway is all the adults do is laugh. Any legitimate mom or dad would be interacting with the toddler not merely laughing at them.

I've also been asking ChatGPT to write very short stories similar to those I write. I name titles of my books that they can use as samples. It's impressive in the sense that they write a few thousand words in less than ten seconds. 

However, each thing they write is full of metaphors. I can't stand overuse of metaphors because I think it detracts from the story. If you're telling a reader that someone's eyes are almost as turquoise as the Caribbean Sea, immediately they're thinking of the time they went to the Bahamas rather than the character in your story.

The real giveaway is that while there is a series of actions and a character may solve a small mystery, there's no cohesion among the character, their actions, and steps necessary to actually solve a crime. In some ways it reminds me of some of the Hercule Poirot stories. He gives you detailed information on how he solved a crime but there's no way a reader was given enough information to do it with him. 

Before you say it's pretty haughty of to make such a statement, go read a couple of the stories. Of course the setting, the crimes themselves, the characters, and the humor make Agatha Christie's stories far better! I carry a thin book of Poirot and Miss Marple stories so I always have something to read in a doctor's office.

I would like ChatGPT to compile a list of 2026 writers conferences in the Midwest. I'll let you know if it's a good list.

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To learn more about Elaine's writing, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Never Forget, but Forge Ahead

By Elaine L. Orr

Note: I started this post on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a life changing event for my family and the nation. If you want to read something jolly, go to prior posts on my blog. Or whatever I write after this one.

Humans tend to remember tragedies. At age twelve (and forever after), I could tell you where I was standing when we heard that President Kennedy was shot in 1963. 

I remember exactly what I was doing when the 1986 Challenger disaster occurred. I worked for the Government Accountability Office and was giving a presentation to some international visitors in the one conference room that had a television set, possibly the only one in the building. People would walk by and wave or stick their head in for a second. I realized afterwards they wanted to turn on that TV.

I expect that everyone who was older than ten on September 11th 2001, remembers that a group of Saudi men flew two airplanes into the Twin Towers and another into the Pentagon. Thanks to the brave action of some passengers, the one that was headed towards Washington DC office buildings didn't make it. As an aside I was in between the White House and the Capitol and we had no idea where to go. We didn't want to go to the subway because it seemed like that might be easy for somebody to blow up.

My mother talked many times about where she was December 7th. She had moved to Washington DC a year or so previously from Kansas, to find a job. She worked at what is now called the Office of Personnel Management and moved around government agencies evaluating their personnel functions. On that day, she was sitting in the old Griffith Stadium watching the former Washington Redskins because someone from her office had given her a ticket. 

She wondered why the game announcers started calling for different senior military officers. Eventually, there were enough interruptions that she sensed that something had to be wrong. Today, we would wonder why she had to sense it; she could look at her phone to know that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. We expect information immediately.

Mother did what everyone did during times of war; she volunteered. One of the things she did was go to what is now called Joint Base Andrews one night a week with a group of other women. They were assigned binoculars and stood on the roofs of buildings watching for enemy planes. They didn't go to bed those nights but they thought that was a simple sacrifice.

The free world pulled together back then and the alliances the United States formed afterwards have seen us through the years. When people criticize NATO, they don't remember that the only time that NATO activated what is called Article 5 (joint military support) was when the United States wanted to Capture Osama bin Laden and destroy his network. Our friends stood with us.

I am as patriotic as my parents (my father was in the Army Air Corps in Africa and Europe) but I don't want to support the undeclared wars that we seem to insert ourselves into. As my dad said during Vietnam, you always support the troops but you don't have to support the president. (As proud as he was of his service in World War II and two nephews who served in Vietnam, he thought political leaders were sending tens of thousands of young people to their deaths for a war that was none of our business.)

When I see us bomb boats that are likely carrying drugs rather than trying to interdict them or I watch the federal government (in its internal war against immigrants) grab non-criminals off the streets without warrants, I cringe. The latter is especially difficult because Congress was so close to a workable immigration policy and Candidate Trump thwarted it so he could run on the issue. I half expected him to actually have a plan to develop immigration policy, but that was stupid of me.

I'm musing about all of this because it feels so bad that our country is becoming wrong about how it treats people on so many levels. And now there is what appears to be true consideration of attacking another country. We say it's because the war on drugs has become literal. But we've also stopped federal funding for many health services and research. It truly helps to provide treatment for those who've become addicted. You know, cut off demand as well as supply.

And now, because he thinks a convicted criminal was treated 'unfairly,'  President Trump has pardoned one of the most heinous drug smugglers ever convicted. Forget the massive amounts of evidence the Department of Justice amassed against the former Honduran president and the fact that he was legitimately sentenced to 540 months in prison.

American Exceptionalism?

How do we get past this? When will we again become part of the world order that promotes peace? And I'm not talking about an absence of war. I'm talking about the United States working to build a better world. 

In abolishing the U.S. Agency for International Development, we've made it clear that we don't want even constructive interactions with those who need assistance in other nations. Plus, our president calls many of these nations shithole countries and most politicians yawn, so our nation clearly doesn't care.

It seems that charity in the broadest sense is something that some people only want to provide to American citizens. Oh wait, we've taken away a lot of food and medical assistance for people who need it in our country.

I probably shouldn't be surprised. We talk about American exceptionalism, but people fought hard to maintain slavery when we were founded and then fought a war to keep it. Millions of Americans spent the next hundred years trying to make sure Black Americans didn't have equal rights to vote, get an education, work, secure decent health care... 

We put Japanese American citizens in camps during World War II, though we did let some young men out to fight for the very country that was imprisoning their families. Funny, but we did not try to round up all people who had roots in Saudi Arabia after 9/11. Not that I would have wanted that, and I recognize it was not that country's government that attacked us, just a bunch of their citizens.

We started earlier than the things referenced above. When colonists landed in what is now the United States, there were 600 Native American tribes with huge settlements and trade routes throughout the US, Mexico, and  Canada. Settlers and the government murdered most of them because 'we' wanted 'their' land and said we were trying to convert indigenous people to Christianity. And we had gunpowder, so we could. 

There are millions of good people in the U.S, but Trump did win a second election after we fully knew his character, so I guess I should not have expected us to be better. I do what I can help us return to the values we used to cherish. Small donations, some volunteer work, and participation in a few protests marches. It's good to see millions of people turning out to defend our values. Maybe I'm writing this because I continue to hope for a path that will make people matter more than money.

Thank You, President Eisenhower

I also feel I should offer a belated thanks to former President Dwight D Eisenhower, who warned our nation against the military industrial complex This AI definition puts it all together.

The "military-industrial complex" refers to the powerful, intertwined relationship between a nation's military establishment, defense contractors, and political leadership, a term coined by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address, warning of its potential to foster excessive spending, influence policy for profit, and threaten democratic values by diverting resources from societal needs. Eisenhower, a former five-star general, cautioned Americans to remain vigilant against this symbiotic alliance, formed during the Cold War, to ensure defense spending served true security, not just industry's interests, highlighting the need for balance between military strength and civic priorities.

For years it seemed like jargon to me, but I eventually understood that the United States private sector makes a lot of money by making bombs so people in other countries can kill each other. After the 'bomb factories' of World War II (essential to defeating Hitler and the Japanese emperor), industrialists didn't want to end that income stream. US arms revenue was $334 billion in 2024 and the US supplies 40% of global arms sales.

Imagine if, over time, that capital was redirected from defense to civilian sectors like transportation infrastructure, education, nutrition research, and energy diversification. 

Can We Reboot?

The toughest part is we have to want to. Now, instead of melding ideas we live in silos of like-minded people, sometimes completely avoiding those who are not 'like us.' We ignore rights and resources taken away from those who are different. For the record, I don't listen to MSNBC or FOX News because both have a point of view. I don't believe echo chambers are part of the solution.

Many Americans may feel economic stresses but most still have a place to live and food to eat. True, millions aren't doing well. People will lose jobs over the next decade and be ill-prepared to take jobs in a changing economy. However, desire for change that comes from economic factors is largely self-serving. We can do better.

We need to come together to profess values of tolerance, mutual respect, and kindness so we can elect people who propagate policies to grow from those intrinsic beliefs. Those policies can enhance prosperity. If you think I'm naive, what do you suggest? Please, please don't say you don't care.

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To learn more about Elaine's writing, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Writing a Christmas Story for an Established Series

By Elaine L. Orr

Sometimes, an idea comes to you and it doesn't matter what else is on your plate, you have to run with it.

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking about my family history mystery series, which takes place in the mountains of Western Maryland. I'm developing an idea for a 6th book, but I missed the characters right now.

Slowly, the idea for a Christ story began to take shape. Like all good stories, mystery or not, there had to be something that needed to be resolved. Hiccups in personal relationships are always an option but I wanted something that more directly related to aspects of history in Maryland. So I did both.

I also needed a hook that tied the story to the past, The link became a broken Christmas ornament that would be a symbol for other things that needed to heal. 

Most of my characters are White, but a few key characters are Black because I always want to remember the importance of African American history in the Western Maryland mountains. In Broken Ornaments Healing Holidays, the discovered ornament came from a long-burned-out factory in the town of Maple Grove. But it is the discovery of a body in the ruins back in 1948 that provides insight into how differently Black and White citizens interact now than they did then.

The story is designed to be pleasing holiday fiction, but it does provide a perspective on something serious. So, as Digger and Marty explore where their relationship will go, they and others also hunt for the family of an unidentified man who died decades ago.

Writing a story that is in a series but is not part of the continuing flow of the series was more of a challenge than I thought it would be. With a full-length book, you can insert information about past character actions and enlighten readers about what's going on right now. In a 17,000-word story there isn't a lot of room for background. I tried to find the mix between letting readers know about ongoing characters without dumping a lot of information not directly related to this story.

Readers can decide if I achieved that.

Links to all retail sites.

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

The Makings of a Good Book Festival

 By Elaine L. Orr

Last weekend's Peoria Bookfest was one of the best I've attended over the past fifteen years. Organizer Stacy Hardin owns the Book Rack in Peoria and her well established links to the business community were evident. 

Here are some of the things that contributed to the experience.

Diverse vendors. Thousands of people won't attend a local author books show in a medium-sized city unless a super famous author is signing -- not common. There were dozens of book authors but also crafters, culinary firms, and a few nonprofits. All of those people told their customers and patrons to attend the November 14, 2025 event.

Admission fees. What?! Admission fees imply there is value to participating. The fact that the Book Rack Literacy Project -- a community outreach program to provide free books for thousands of teachers and students per year -- benefitted from the event made the entry fee a worthwhile one, even if attendees weren't shopping for books.

Special benefits for early visitors (who paid a larger entry fee). Stacy promised 300 people at opening and she delivered. There was a long line to get in! People received cloth goodie bags (which also would publicize the event afterwards).

Sponsors from the community. Some contributed to the goodie bags and others secured booths to promote their businesses -- and likely things I couldn't see from behind the scenes.

Lots of publicity. The event was promoted as "one unforgettable celebration of books and community!" with 115 vendors. Facebook and Instagram had regular updates and local media had ads and mentions.

A strong business connection. The Peoria Book Rack (which Stacy bought in 2016) is a well established business that attracts book lovers every day.

This was the second Bookfest (the first in 2019, before COVID) and the next one will be November 14, 2026. If you want to participate, email Stacy for info at peoriabookrack@gmail.com. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures from 2025.

Can't resist showing my books (Elaine L. Orr) first. It also gives an idea of how packed the Bookfest was. My five series did fit on the table.

"Look, It's My Book" gives new books to thousands of young readers each year.

Allison R. Ihnken and her mix of period romances and children's books.

J. Lawson, author of Peculiar Lessons, with her mix of books and crafts.

Skye Malone, author of very popular teen and young adult books.

Evan Clouse and his mix of paranormal fantasy, horror, and more.

D. Williams, author of the Eternal Love Series.

Teresa Higus, another cozy author

Finally, the question all authors ask after a book event: "Did you make money?" Yes. Candidly, I didn't expect to do as well, because there were so many authors. I usually do better at craft shows and bazaars. Here, I sold books.

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Things that Stick With You

By Elaine L. Orr 

Many times I've seen an image or heard a story and thought, "I'm going to put that in a book." Here are a few:

• Back in the day, a neighborhood teenager liked to do target practice by shooting through the O in a Stop sign. I think a BB gun, as it was a suburban neighborhood. Eventually there would be three or four holes, so he'd unscrew the sign, move it to another corner, and transfer the 'clean' sign to his street.
• When my mom finally had to enter a nursing home after a series of strokes and MS, we made the move as cheerful as possible. As I left the first day, I said, "Mom, I'm so sorry all you can move is one arm/hand and your head." She said, "It's a lot compared to none."
• Just before the Christmas holidays when I was in college, a group of young women made a large 'Peace on Earth' sign to hang (at night) on the ROTC building. I can still see it flapping in the breeze.

May you have as many funny or poignant memories.

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Choosing a Novel's Setting

By Elaine L. Orr

Sometimes an idea comes for a character or the starting point for a book, but I can't really start writing without knowing the setting. I have to see it to write it, right?

I prefer smaller town settings, in part because a sleuth can know a variety of people well. In a city, people  know their corner, so to speak, but it isn't possible to be familiar with the mayor and most business owners or know which are truly the best restaurants or best places to buy groceries. There are too many options.

I like to create characters who have a command of their environment. That can be in a beach town, midwestern community, or mountain town. While the settings are in my imagination, they model real places.

River's Edge, the Iowa town in the series of the same name, is drawn from several towns along the Des Moines River in Van Buren County, Iowa. The photo is of a boat ramp in Farmington. Those towns were too small to let character Melanie Perkins find enough crimes to solve, but the sense of community is the same.

Though set at the Jersey shore, Ocean Alley is a combination of several beach towns in Maryland and Delaware. As a teenager, I watched cotton candy being spun on the boardwalk and visited countless souvenir shops looking for the perfect conch shell. 

Some things I consider when developing a new setting are:

• Can I imagine myself walking through a town or along a trail in the woods?
• Can the town grow with a mystery series? 
• Will I enjoy learning more about the kind of place so I can create the fictional place?
• Are there enough opportunities for a sleuth to not only thrive but find problems to solve?

Right now I'm working on a new series that I wanted to be near water, but where? Suddenly I did a true forehead slap. Why haven't I set anything along the Chesapeake Bay? I owned a cottage there for five years! It's underway. I can taste the crabcakes.

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Engaging with Local Readers

By Elaine L. Orr

After moving several times over a ten-year period, I found myself living in places where I knew no readers. I miss having a lot of friends who celebrate new books with me. I do meet new readers in new towns' local libraries, where I hang out to write and find audiobooks to read. 

What to do? These ideas may sound simple, but they require willingness to always put yourself out there.

1) Tell everyone you meet that you write books. It may not be the first thing you say in a grocery line, but anytime you talk to someone for more than a couple of minutes, work it into the conversation. 

2) Business cards are good, but I find simple bookmarks are better. I have one for each series -- just the name of the series, a few covers, and my website address. I keep them in my wallet and glove box. I think seeing sample covers is more memorable than the text of a business card.

3) Visit every bookstore within 20 to 50 miles, and leave bookmarks -- also a card for the manager. I never ask them to stock my books, but let them know they can be ordered through Ingram, and ask if they would mind if I let people know the store would be willing to order a book on request.

4) Make friends with librarians, and donate a book or two. I donate large print books, because they will almost always put those in their collections. This also gets your book in the Online Public Access Catalog. This may be for the library, but it's more often part of a library consortium, so lots of readers can find your book if they are searching by a category.

5) Watch for craft fairs during the holiday season. I sell a surprising number of cozy mysteries this way, but it's also better than paid marketing -- IMHO. People stop to chat. I say a sentence or two about what I write but never imply people should buy a book.

6) Don't stop visiting bookstores or libraries just because you've lived in a place for a while.

I plan to keep adding to this list. It's easy to get complacent, so part of what I'm doing here is lighting a fire under my writing chair. :) 

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

A Good Resource for Writing Back Cover Copy

By Elaine L Orr

I am recovering from a shoulder replacement, which I know will help me in the long run. In the short run it makes me want to bop my head against the wall. But I don't think that would help the shoulder.

In the meantime, I thought I would refer you to an excellent article on writing the back cover blurb for your book. This is always a tough task for me because I feel as if there is so much to say and so little space in which to say it.

Lois Winston always has a succinct way of providing information. In this case she is writing on George Cramer's blog, but you'll also want to go to her own site, which is referenced below the article.

https://gdcramer.com/2025/09/18/lois-winston-3/

Her five steps for thinking through the blurb are practical and to the point.

Here is to a day of successful writing!

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Avoiding He-Said and She-Said

By Elaine L. Orr

It goes without saying (but I will) that authors want readers to know who is doing the talking in their books. There are ways to do that well and ways to distract your reader from your story by doing it clumsily.

A couple of points.

1) If you have to ascribe conversation to a character, consider doing it by beginning the segment with action, then have the character speak. For example:

I didn’t smile. “Those aren’t ready yet. How about a pumpkin muffin? You can pay me tomorrow.” 

From the kitchen, Linda called, “Always a pleasure for a good customer.”

2) The similar option to avoid is using action and also specifying who said something. 

Mr Hawthorne," I said, taking a hammer from the toolbox, "it's time to find that box of nails."

3) It is often appropriate to simply say he said or she asked. I use this at  least a couple times in each chapter when writing in first person. I asked, I said.  The key is not to do this many times a page. Or designate the speaker by name, just not every time.

4) Clarity is key, of course. When two people converse, a reader can follow who said what for a number of lines of dialogue -- as long as each person's dialogue begins a new paragraph.

5) When more than two people converse, it's important to ascribe almost every person's speech -- within reason. If one character asks another a question and they answer, it's generally clear who replied.

6) My personal pet peeve is authors who try to convey emotion when designating the character talking. This usually involves adverbs, the bane of good writing.

"It's time to go to the parade," Jan said, gleefully.

"Funerals always make me cry," I said sorrowfully.

Remember the adage, show don't tell. Jan can turn a somersault to show her glee.

By the way, when it's your book, do what you want. Just keep the reader in mind.

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Copyright and Learning to Write in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

By Elaine L. Orr

Every author I know has wondered how AI will affect the publishing world and how our work could be used without our permission. Note I said 'used,' not republished.

We've heard about artificial intelligence (AI) for years. What has changed is the more recent advent of generative AI that creates text (books, in our case), images, videos, or music. It trains by 'reading' our work. 

I recently joined the Copyright Alliance, which has many resources on the broader topic as well as excellent materials and videos on AI and its impact on authorship. It's free, always a good thing. I've learned a lot.

What Does ChatGPT do With My Writing?

ChatGPT has learned well from analyzing my work. I asked it: Can you write something in the style of Elaine Orr's Jolie Gentil cozy mysteries?

ChatGPT said: Got it — you’d like something in the style of Elaine Orr’s Jolie Gentil cozy mysteries. Those books usually feature:

• A small-town setting (Ocean Alley on the Jersey Shore).

• A smart, witty amateur sleuth (Jolie, an appraiser and reporter).

• A circle of friends and community members who add humor, warmth, and sometimes conflict.

• A mystery that’s light on gore, with clues tucked into daily life.

• Plenty of banter, food, and small-town gossip.

I can create a fresh cozy mystery concept (not copying Orr, but inspired by the tone and structure). Here’s a short sample opening that could grow into a series:

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Sample Cozy Mystery Opening (in the style of Jolie Gentil books)

Chapter One – Baking to Death

The ChatGPT sample went on with a brief chapter 1. Not bad, though I stay away from things such as cupcakes and other baking -- they're somewhat overused, and I'm a lousy cook.

I asked ChatGPT a couple of other questions about how it would develop characters or story lines, and was shocked not just at the decent responses but the speed. Scary good.

All of this was free, but after a couple more questions, I reached the end of the free...speculation, for lack of a better word.

What Does ChatGPT tell you about what it's doing?

Note some of the phrasing in the the above. It said, "Got it — you’d like something in the style of Elaine Orr’s Jolie Gentil cozy mysteries.?" The italics were theirs, I suppose somehow saying they aren't directly ripping off my work? And I suppose they aren't.

Can You Use ChatGPT to learn about writing?

The system (I don't know the neutral reference for an AI program!) also develops outlines, character sketches, clues, character arcs and more. If you were a novice writer, you could tell it to write a mystery about (for example) "a couple in a mountain town who discover buried treasure and are pursued by the people who buried it."

In fact, I just told it that. This was the response:

Here’s a short mystery story draft based on your idea:

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The Treasure in Ashwood

The mountain town of Ashwood was the kind of place where snow muffled sound, and secrets lay deeper than the pine roots. Emma and Daniel, a young couple fresh from the city, thought they were starting over when they bought the old Miller cabin. They hadn’t counted on what they’d find buried beneath the sagging porch.

It was Daniel who uncovered it first—a rusted tin box, sealed tight with wire. Inside, wrapped in oilcloth, lay stacks of old bills and a small velvet pouch filled with raw gemstones that shimmered even in the weak afternoon light. Neither spoke for a long moment. The silence between them wasn’t awe—it was fear. Someone had buried this. And someone might come looking.

That night, the wind howled across the ridges, and Emma swore she saw headlights lingering too long on the road below. By morning, muddy bootprints trailed near the cabin, leading back toward the tree line.

They decided to keep the treasure hidden, but word in Ashwood spread quicker than frost. At the diner, an old logger leaned across the counter and muttered, “Best bury back what ain’t yours. Folks around here remember where they left things.”

Soon, strangers began to appear—two men in heavy coats, asking questions, their eyes too sharp, their smiles too thin. Emma recognized one of them from an old photo in the town archives: a man declared dead twenty years ago in a mine collapse.

The couple realized the treasure wasn’t forgotten loot—it was blood money, hidden away by men who had never really left. Now they were being hunted, not just for the cash, but for knowing a secret meant to stay buried.

And in Ashwood, the mountains kept their own kind of justice.

---

Would you like me to expand this into a full-length short story (3–5k words) with detailed scenes, dialogue, and a twist ending, or keep it more like a tight novella-style mystery outline you can build on?

Yikes!

Then you could pick either option they provide or just exit. It took ChatGPT about five seconds to write this short piece.

I note you can learn from ChatGPT because you could tell it to develop the novella-style outline and see how it does it. 

People use generative AI for many things, but it still shocked me that it could write a story and do it so fast. 

If you've used it, feel free to comment. 

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Writing Across Sub-Genres -- is it worth the time?

By Elaine L. Orr

I have created two series that are essentially cozies but do not feature an amateur sleuth. One is the Logland series, set in central Illinois, a small college town. The sleuth is a police chief named Elizabeth Friedman. She and her all male crew are very serious about their work but not worried about what's around every corner the way police in more urban areas have to be.

I started the project as a stand-alone and wanted to write something really funny. Among the early scenes is a call to a fraternity house that is rowdy and has a goat that munches its way through the dining room. I like the mystery and, as I tend to do, really enjoyed the characters and didn't want to let go of them.

There are two more books, Final Cycle and Final Operation. I think Final Cycle is one of the best books I've ever written. But I understand now that I can't really market the books well as police procedurals or as cozy mysteries. Readers want one or the other. The books get good reviews they just don't sell a lot. 

So, undeterred by marketing evidence, I introduced a new series last week. It's the Shore Shenanigans series, set in the same Jersey Shore town as my Jolie Gentil series. The former is a pure cozy series, albeit with a real estate appraiser as the sleuth and a bit more involvement in the town's business community than you might see in some other cozies.

The sleuth in the Shore Shenanigans series is George Winters, formerly a reporter for the local paper and now a private investigator. I actually thought it through over a couple of years and had him get fired from the paper, work with an insurance company as an investigator so he would qualify to be a PI, and then get his PI license. It's rare that I plan that far in advance.

George will find mysteries to solve among the guests at Mayor Madge's Cozy Corner B&B, as he does in the first book, Fired Up and Feisty. It features senior citizen high school alumni who seemed to have some scores to settle among themselves.

The crimes will matter as well as the people who are killed and the potential suspects. However, they can't be gruesome stories and the sleuth needs to interact with other people. I like Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries, and many others of that era, but the PIs spend a lot of time in their own heads. Readers don't necessarily look for that these days. 

Other characters from the Jolie series will appear from time to time, but won't feature in the crime solving. Those characters have well established roles in the town, and the link between the two series will create good synergy. Or so I think.

Not to compare myself to Louise Penny at all, but the Inspector Gamache books also have a cozy element by featuring the town of Three Pines and its residents. You would be hard pressed to find more quirky characters. But as a police inspector, he clearly handles more violent crimes than I intend to write about.

I would be interested in what readers and other writers think about using someone other than an amateur sleuth as the key figure in a cozy series. You are welcome to throw tomatoes, but if you have any ideas on how to make it work (and let readers know that), it would be even better.

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Showing Grief and Continuing the Story

By Elaine L. Orr

Compelling stories lead readers to grieve. In the sixth Harry Potter book, Dumbledore fell from a parapet. Who would survive that? But it was a magical story. I held out hope. Then Harry entered the headmaster's office and there was Dumbledore, in a picture frame, just like all the other dead headmasters. I sobbed for a couple of seconds. 

Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes made me feel sad, but it infuriated my mother-in-law. She finished it because I recommended it, but she hated the deaths of Angela McCourt's young children, especially the twins. She told me never to recommend a book like that again!

But what about characters themselves? Catcher in the Rye initially seems to be a story of extreme detachment from life and an adolescent's sarcastic view of the world. It is that, but the basis for nearly all of Holden Caufield's feelings and actions stem from his brother Allie's death -- though Holden himself doesn't truly grasp this. 

In the Potter series, Severus Snape carries one of the most extreme burdens of grief in modern fiction. It's only near the end of the series that his unrequited love for Harry's late mother is shown to be the tragedy of his life. As a reader thinks back through the series, it's clear that his near-hatred for Harry (the son of the man who won Lillie's love and a child who dares to have her green eyes) is rooted in grief.

How does a perhaps less deft author portray grief well? As any student would say, grief needs to be shown, not told. There are obvious indications: people sob at a funeral or throw themselves over a closed coffin.

But how can a character indicate his or her grief after people have gone back to their daily routines? Their grief may be so extreme that they don't, but it's the less obvious expressions of sorrow that build a real-life story. The woman who eats less and loses weight is almost a cliche. What about the one who signs up for every fitness class she can find so she's exhausted at night and able to sleep? The reader may spot the symptom before the character.

Grieving people can lose interest in activities that they always liked, become forgetful, stuff their faces as opposed to reduce their appetite, and go over spoken (or unspoken) conversations obsessively. 

The symptom I'd like to write better is what I think of as the clarity of death. When a family member or colleague dies, suddenly we know what's important and what's not. We want all the unimportant stuff to just go away -- phone calls to return, houses to clean, or that committee report that is suddenly too stupid to write.

As you might infer, the clearest symptom of 'death clarity' is impatience. A character might be able to hide some feelings of annoyance, but the writer needs to figure out whether to display them in daily irritation or an explosion of temper. Or both.

Ruthanne Reid's article in The Write Practice Blog, "Show Don't Tell: How to Write the Five Stages of Grief" offers a comprehensive picture of subtle and very direct expressions of sorrow -- immediate and long-term. 

As a mystery writer, I want the story to go forward and don't usually spend enough time on the sorrow of family and friends who've lost someone. It's a key component of making the reader care about the crime and the need to solve it. If it's not clear why someone should care about the victim's death, then all the reader has to do is flip to the end to see who done it.

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Blogging versus Online Content Strategy

By Elaine L. Orr

Some months I don't feel like posting, but I don't want to let go of a blog I started at the end of 2011. When I'm in a 'why do I do this mood,' I look to other bloggers for enrichment. 

Inevitably, Jane Friedman's name and content pop up every time. This time, her updated post on "How to Start Blogging" appeared. She notes a blog may not help too much to promote an author's work, so it's important to be sure it's something you want to do.

Consistency is key. Why would people read your blog (which is now often termed simply content) if they can't rely on you doing it regularly? The second year I did the Irish Roots Author Blog, I had 54 posts. Fifty-four! Most were short and many were direct promotions of my books or sales. I don't use the blog for such direct marketing now. Hopefully, mentioning my work in the context of a post's topic does bring readers.

My numbers fell off. In 2016, there were sixteen posts. I did have a hip replacement and knee surgery that year, but surgeries aren't a good reason not to blog. It was more that I had to squeeze the writing itself into less time because writing does not compete well with opioids. Maybe for some people...

I finally settled on trying to do thirty posts a year. I don't always make it, but the goal is helpful. If nothing else, I may publish three posts near the end of the month -- like this month.

What I balance (in my mind) now is whether to post only about writing. Can't do it at the moment; I get too angry at what's going on in the United States. If I don't let some of my opinions out in the blog they may come out in less appropriate places. Like when I want to yell at someone in a store who doesn't believe in equality. (T-shirts are a giveaway.) I like the concept of treating people fairly. 

I just hit more than 20,000 views in the last month, so perhaps controversy is a good policy in terms of readership. 

The index to The Irish Roots Author Blog has five categories -- reading, writing, publishing, marketing, and musings. The latter are my favorite posts. Blogs can be what we want them to be.

Start one.

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Why Do Readers Like Some Books More than Others?

By Elaine L. Orr

To be clear, I have no idea why readers like some books more than others. 

I like the kind of mysteries I write, and I like to read those others write. But I've been surprised that books I think will grab attention (and sell well) may move off the shelves slowly, while one I thought would draw fewer readers is very popular.

When I moved to Illinois I decided to write a book set in central Illinois, and did not intend to make it a series. I've never laughed so much when writing as when drafting Tip a Hat to Murder. I liked the characters so much it became the first book in the three-book Logland series. And the only one to have more than 100 reviews. I think the second book, Final Cycle, is one of the best of the forty or so mysteries I've written.

Reviews are good, but the series is not a true cozy series. The primary sleuth is a small town, female police chief and I describe the series a 'police procedurals with a cozy feel.' I suppose that tells readers the books aren't as gritty as other police procedurals, so readers who like those books don't pick up the series. Conversely, people who read my amateur sleuth mysteries aren't looking to read about a professional crime solver. 

There is a goat in a fraternity house dining room early on in the first book, and that's a bit off topic for me, too. So is t he occasional swearing (mild words). 

The message I get is don't try to mix sub-genres. Readers can't focus as easily -- in my opinion. While I wanted to write something with a sleuth who had a reason to investigate crimes. the books' structure also means there is no other profession or hobby to focus on. My family history series draws readers with that interest, my Jersey shore real estate appraiser gets in all kinds of trouble when she goes into uninhabited houses. And she's really involved with the local business community. A police chief is sort of always on duty.

However, I still laugh when I think of future books, so I plan to add to the series. To attract more future readers I put the three-book series in a box set on Kindle Unlimited. People have a chance to get acquainted with the books an I can occasionally offer the box set free. There's always more to learn about what to write.

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Reading to Soothe the Soul

By Elaine L. Orr

I was fortunate to be introduced to books very young and to have been around adults who enjoyed books. Reading is the best stepping stone to a writing career, and there was a library in walking distance. I doubt it was 600 square feet, but it was heaven.

When a friend recently entered an Alzheimer's care facility I noted the activity calendar showed people read books to residents so I asked to join the reading team. It's a fascinating opportunity. People from a wide variety of careers (physicians, teachers, book publishers, homemakers) have very little comprehension of what's going on around them, but they like to be read to.

I choose books for very young children, and started with Billy Goats Gruff. My only criteria is that the books have to tell a story rather than just amuse. Attention spans are very short. 

Every now and then something in a book will click a memory in a resident. Last week, a story mentioned (only in passing) collecting syrup from maple trees. Suddenly a man I'd never heard speak raised his head and described the process to tap a tree, hang a bucket to collect sap, and use the sap for syrup. Then he ducked his head and grew quiet again.

I pick relatively short books with good illustrations and walk around the room to show the pictures. The natural ham in me tries to act out character voices.

The library in Chatham, Illinois has a large selection of used books and children's books are usually fifty cents or a dollar. I decided to buy the books in case a resident wants to keep one. Occasionally they do.

Sometimes I'll take a second book that's a jumping off point for conversation. One about truck stops let us talk about taking vacations when cars traveled on two lane roads rather than interstates. Mostly I mention things they might have seen and get some appreciative nods. The key thing is never to ask the residents if they remember something. Some folks can perceive that they used to know more than they now do, and it would be frustrating to ask what they can recall.

Today it's almost 100 degrees in central Illinois, so I took The Snow Monster by Jodi Dee -- a story about a little girl who likes to eat snow and mistakenly made a wish about eating all of it! We can then talk about blizzards and making snowmen as children.

It may sound as if I'm doing something noble. I'm not. As with most forms of volunteering, I get a lot more out of reading than the residents do by listening.

If you're interested in doing something similar, check with a memory care facility. The one I go to likes to have readers in the hours before lunch and dinner, because the residents are waiting to eat and it makes the time go faster. You'll get more than you give.

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Projection Is More Than an Old-Fashioned Machine

By Elaine L. Orr

I sometimes teach in a middle or high school, and I laugh to myself at how differently kids speak to a teacher in a classroom than they speak to each other.   Answering a question in class, some of them talk almost in a whisper.  You ask them to speak up and they do raise their voices, but nowhere near as loud as they could. You have only to stand in the cafeteria to realize they know how to get people to listen to them.

It may sound obvious, but part of making your voice heard is to project well. I am often in groups, at meetings or fun activities or church.  I admit to a hearing deficit, but if that were the only issue then it would be difficult to hear everyone. In fact some people come through loud and clear.

People who cannot be easily heard at all or who don't come through clearly are doing one of several things. They:

1. Speak in a conversational tone, as you would at the dinner table.

2.  Start a sentence or thought in a strong voice, but as they get to the end of their point, they drop their voice or speak quickly.

3.   Don't finish some of their sentences. It's natural for your brain to move from topic to topic. But if you're speaking to someone, you need to finish a thought.

4. Don't open their mouth as fully as they could. If you're muttering to yourself or talking to someone sitting next to you, you don't necessarily enunciate well. Part of that is rushing through sentences without fully forming the words.

5. Talk too fast. When you listen to a bunch of  kids giving presentations at school, they talk twice as fast as adults or even faster than they usually would talk to other kids. They want to be done. Adults do this too.

Some things to keep in mind would be jotting notes before you start to talk in a meeting or when talking to any group. That's when you are nervous and most likely to talk quickly or drop your voice at the end of sentences.

Put a small pebble or dried bean under your tongue and try to speak clearly. It isn't easy, and of course you have to make sure not to swallow the pebble. The speed at which you talk when something is under your tongue is probably close to the speed you should speak in many settings.

If you are told that you don't speak clearly, record yourself and play it back. Many people are surprised that they sound higher in the recording. Don't pay too much attention to that. Listen to the pacing and how each word sounds. If you don't like what you hear, watch a couple of newscasts and listen to how the announcers enunciate every word even when they are speaking in a conversational tone. That's your goal for just about anything other than a casual conversation with friends.

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Remembering their Sacrifices on Memorial Day

 By Elaine L. Orr

I often think about how an entire generation rose and sacrificed to defend freedom and save the world from fascism. My father (Miles D. Orr) and his brothers William Tom and Harold James were among the brave, but ALL of their siblings (total of nine) played important roles, as did their spouses. 

Miles was a friendly guy, but he did not have even one close friend. He loved to go to Missouri each spring and play golf with his brother and brother-in-law (Curtis Jackson) and rarely missed high school reunion weekend in Mount Vernon, MO -- held on Memorial Day weekend, if I remember correctly. He NEVER talked about his war experiences except to say things like the Red Cross had good donuts.

Not long before he died, he wanted to talk about "the War" so he spoke to one of my brothers. My brother had to swear he would not repeat what he was told because the experiences were so awful Miles did not want the rest of his family to know what he endured. My brother repeated one thing -- Miles had sworn never to have a friend again, because he watched so many friends die awful deaths. Essentially, he wouldn't bear the pain of loss if he didn't get close to anyone outside of his family. 

Not long before he died in 1994 I pulled together some of his poems so he could see them in a booklet. I later published them and his letters to his sister (Marguerite Orr Harlowe) in Portrait through Poetry. Probably 20 times a year I'm thankful she saved them, and that my cousin Barbara found them and shared them after her mom died. 

Military men and women could not talk about what they did or where they were, and correspondence was censored -- appropriately. Among their topics, besides family, were books. She would send Miles books and he would share them with fellow Army Air Corps members. They'd share opinions. Books.  

I try to remember to make Portrait Through Poetry free for Memorial Day, but forgot. So, it'll be free from May 27 to 31. It's amazing that Miles could write happy poems. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004T5   

Never Forget.

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Looking for Balance or Writing Without a Muse

By Elaine L. Orr

I've been less interested in writing the last few months -- something that has never happened. I had successful cancer surgery in 2024 and serious neck surgery in early 2025, so I explained (to myself) the recuperations affected my writing drive.

To be honest with myself, medical issues are not the problem. I am in a major funk over not simply the election of Donald Trump but the people around him who want to shred democracy. Without one iota of introspection or analysis of government programs, they have slashed the ability of governments at all levels to meet the needs of citizens. I think the result will be vastly reduced services and many functions pushed to state budgets. And reduced food programs, cuts in cancer research, slashed health care, etc.

The president is not sure everyone needs due process (guaranteed by the 5th and 14th amendments), which is meant to ensure fairness and protect people from arbitrary government actions. A senior aide is talking about why it would be okay to get rid of the right of habeus corpus, which is the right of a person in custody to be brought before a judge to determine if their confinement is lawful. 

Immigration as the Focus for Denying Rights

Trump and his ilk have created an enemy (immigrants) around which they hope to gather enough anger to support their actions. It's a common action of authoritarian leaders. Who would question the need to expel violent criminals who entered the U.S. unlawfully? Almost no one.

So what's the problem? Nearly all immigrants (legal or otherwise) are looking for freedom and the chance for a better life for their families. They do the jobs Americans are unwilling to do. Have you ever seen a list of the prisons or mental health institutions that "released their criminal residents" to come to the U.S.? There's no evidence of that. Facts matter.

Multiple Congresses have tackled immigration problems (and there are many), and the 2024 legislation would have been a major step in controlling it. (President Trump didn't want it passed, as he wanted to run on the issue. Shameful. Republicans dropped support after having taken the lead on the legislation.)

Ronald Reagan tried. The Immigration Reform and Control Act he signed in 1986 authorized amnesty for 3 million people, with the proviso that U.S. companies would be penalized in the future for hiring undocumented people. President Reagan, and others, believed that if it was difficult for immigrants to work they would not come. 

The U.S. didn't limit immigration (except for health reasons) until after World War I. Immigration quotas based on nationality were made permanent in 1924 and abolished in 1965. While they don't exist now, most of the one million green cards go to relatives of U.S. citizens.

If you don't know the story of your family beyond grandparents. check out the U.S. census for their occupations and income levels. If you don't want to pay a genealogy site, go to your library; they'll have a subscription to Ancestry.com or another site. Same with the free Family Search Centers, sponsored by the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Some are affiliated with public libraries.

My own ancestors are all White. Most came from Ireland, none from what Mr. Trump calls the "s**thole countries. Or the African nation of Lesotho, which he maintains no one has heard of.

While one grandmother was born after her parents immigrated to the U.S., most came in the 18th and early 19th centuries. I keep wondering what ending birthright citizenship means for succeeding generations.

I Have Digressed...

I need to figure out how to balance the importance of resisting authoritarianism and cruelty with maintaining the ability to write.

In 2018 (when children were being taken from their parents) I wrote In the Shadow of Light, the fictional story of Corazon and Pico who were separated from their mother at the U.S. border.

This time, I'll revise The Art of Deliberate Distraction, nonfiction written as a panacea to constant worry. It needs to offer constructive suggestions for dealing with the overwhelming frustration and grief of the dismantling of democracy. How can people constructively distract themselves and possibly contribute to hope?

But I do need to continue to write traditional (cozy) mysteries. Besides being my bread and butter, they are their own distraction for people. They also have characters who work to make their world a better place. Good reading for the current time.

When I talk to unpublished authors, I always say they can't wait for a muse. They need to put their tailbones in chairs and work on some semblance of a schedule. Even if it's an hour a week. I need to stop waiting to feel better about the world and just write.

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