Procrastinating My Way into Blog Posts

By Elaine L. Orr

The first full year I had this blog I had 50 entries, though many are what we would today think of as social media posts rather than blogs entries. I went way down a few years later and finally settled on doing three per month. I don't usually get to 36, but I get close. February of this year (after a compression fracture) was the first zero month in years.

As with many things in my life, if I don't set a target, I put things off.  Maybe, as in when I'm writing, I do more research. If you look at the dates of my blog posts, sometimes all three are the last week of the month.

If blogging were an important part of my business mode, for lack of a better term, I'd set a schedule -- every other Saturday or something like that. But my model is writing books, and I have to push myself to do that. I like to write stories and very much dislike deadlines. Without deadlines, though, I'd dilly dally and write (or publish) far fewer books. I also like money, so I set deadlines.

The website, Hacking Your ADHD, has an article on "The Surprising Magic of Setting a Deadline." It goes through why they help and what their impact is in a practical manner. I found it very useful.

I remember a management seminar decades ago in which the instructor asked how many people believed they worked more efficiently as a deadline grew closer. I think we all raised our hands. He said we could work that way all the time if we chose to do so. I suppose I buy that, though I'm not sure I have that energy level at this point.

I believe in deadlines enough to put my books up for preorder on Amazon before I've finish them. Some people would say that's foolish, and for literary fiction it probably would be. For my mysteries -- good books but not as complex as Water for Elephants -- it's doable.

Now, back to The Judge's Last Contest, which has a looming deadline. Wish me luck.

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

Fall and Halloween Themes

By Elaine L. Orr

There's something about the season of fall that has led me to use it as a setting for many books. Given the way I look at the world, you might think it would be spring. I love gardening and like to try new things. 

In the northern hemisphere, fall does bring an end to sweltering temperatures -- and 2026 has brought some sizzing days to central Illinois. You can now leave your house and breathe again without feeling as if you need a shower. And the changing leaves, of course. Despite swirling allergens, I love the colors, especially red maples and mums.

While fall is peaceful in many way, Halloween is jarring. Witches cackle, zombies attack, and pirates roar. Pumpkins are fun to carve but some end up splattered on sidewalks. Still, it's fun, I think because even adults can be whoever they want and act a little crazy.

The book I had the most fun writing was Tip a Hat to Murder, and scenes at a Halloween frat party made me laugh out loud. The Judge's Last Contest, which I'm writing now, features a Halloween parade, but one of the three judges won't be at next year's festivities. Even the first book in the Jolie Gentil series, Appraisal for Murder, has her passing out candy wearing a sheet so a guest at the B&B doesn't know who she is. 

On a practical basis, the fall weather rarely interferes with activities. Though there was that pesky Hurricane Sandy (which I won't refer to as Super Storm Sandy) in the fifth Jolie book, Trouble on the Doorstep. Still, no one gets snowed in for days and flash floods aren't chasing people out of their homes. Though, as I write this, climate change has brought a lot of weather extremes this fall, especially flash flooding in many states. Maybe I should work that into a book...

Whatever your preference for seasons, get out and rake some leaves and plant some bulbs for next spring.

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

Fifteen Years for Jolie Gentil and Friends

By Elaine L. Orr

Sixteen represents coming of age -- beginning early adulthood, learning to drive, getting a later curfew, and for many, that first job. 

For Jolie Gentil and friends at the Jersey Shore, fifteen is the big year. Why? September 25, 2026 will be the 15th anniversary of publication of the first Jolie Gentil book -- Appraisal for Murder. She'd been around for a while. I finished the first version in 2005 and decided to write the second book, Rekindling Motives, and look at the two together. Good thing I did. Both books benefitted from that synergy. Gads, in a sense, she's 21.

The book didn't start with the characters. My friend Barbara lived in Ocean Grove, New Jersey and I spent a weekend with her. I fell in love with the town,  Founded in 1869 as a permanent seaside camp by Methodists, its Victorian architecture has changed little. No honky tonk. 

Having spent a lot of time at Maryland's large, touristy towns (think Ocean City, MD) it would not have occurred to me to set a book there. I love the place, but it wasn't a setting for a small-town mystery. I don't like to use real places as primary cities in my work, so instead of Ocean Grove there is Ocean Alley, called that because it is two miles long and only twelve blocks deep.

Who knew there would be fourteen books, two novellas, and a long short story? Not me. The third book was originally called "Justice for Scoobie" and Jolie would solve the murder of her good friend. He ended up being everyone's favorite character and I liked him, too. Their relationship evolves.

Characters have time to evolve in a long series. I finally decided to leave Jolie, Scoobie and friends in their mid-thirties with four-year old twins. In part it's a great age for all and the twins can be in the story some but don't need to be cared for as much as one-year-olds. Still time for Jolie to get in trouble. The biggest reason was that if Jolie and Scoobie aged more, Aunt Madge would 'age out,' so to speak, and have to be gone. Nope, no way.

I often wondered if Sue Grafton kept Kinsey Milhone in her 30s in the 1980s because she wanted to keep Kinsey's landlord around. The baking 90+ man was, IMHO, a key part of the stories. And I loved his dry humor and perspectives on life.

Now, how to celebrate the anniversary? I'll definitely make all ebooks 99 cents for a time. It'll have to  be for a couple of weeks, because it'll take me ages to change the prices on all those book on all sites!

I need a 'grand prize' for readers. Any ideas?

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