JP McLean

An Unexpected Windfall

April 2, 2014 By JPMcLean 2 Comments

We recently took a road trip to Naramata to visit friends and join in a birthday celebration. The trip had been planned for weeks, so the details were well organized: ferry schedules consulted, route mapped out, and hotels booked. So imagine my surprise when an unexpected windfall cropped up.

On the day of the trip, I dropped a note on Facebook and Twitter to let folks know I’d be away then packed up my computer thinking I might sneak in some writing time. Lynn, our intrepid house and pet minder, arrived and we were soon on the road with the Cave Master at the wheel.

Shortly after we boarded the ninety-minute ferry to Horseshoe Bay

I went up to the passenger deck, took a quick tour of the gift shop, visited the loo, and grabbed a tea. Then I headed back down to the car deck, settled into the passenger sea,t and pulled my computer into my lap.

My desktop lit the screen and I hesitated. My fingers hovered uncertainly over the keyboard. I’m not accustomed to going directly to Word and calling up my WIP. It’s ridiculous how happy that made me, and for the first time in eons, I just wrote.

With no Internet, there was no pit stop at Facebook or Twitter. No need to answer emails or catch up on reading blogs. As an added bonus, there were no weeds to taunt me, no meals to cook, no dust bunnies playing hide and seek . . . I didn’t even have to drive. With nothing else I had to do and nowhere else I had to be, I was free to simply write.

The No-Internet Windfall

The unexpected windfall came in the form of an “ah ha” moment—the rare kind that makes you stop and take note. Guilt-free writing time is what I strive for each day. It’s why I take care of my email, Facebook and Twitter first; I thought I’d been clearing out the head space I needed to write. But writing on the ferry made me realize my routine wasn’t working.

It also made me realize this “guilt” I feel is entirely of my own making. It has become an anchor and I need to cut the line! I’m going to work on changing my mindset to make my writing time guilt-free. I’m sure it’s easier said than done, but I’m motivated now. I’m so much happier and more productive when guilt isn’t riding on my shoulder.

Molly Gets Her Groom On

March 12, 2014 By JPMcLean 6 Comments

Molly Gets her Groom On

What do I do besides make up lies I call fiction?

One of the things I’ve gotten very good at since I started writing is prioritizing…also known around here as putting things off. I’d delegate, but for some reason that rarely works for me.

Take grooming the dog, for example. Molly was due for a clip at Christmas, but with all the company and cooking and such, well, I figured another week or two wouldn’t hurt. She got a brush and a bath and we made it through Christmas.

After Christmas we had more visitors and then I had to make a trip out of town. Those excuses worked wonders for a few more weeks. Then conveniently, the Cave Master himself had to go out of town. I managed to weasel another two weeks out of that one. Last month’s snowfall granted me another reprieve, despite the rolling eyeballs when I explained that it was just too cold for a clip.

But eventually, even I couldn’t ignore the whispers of, “You can’t see a thing, can you girl,” and the oft-repeated, “aren’t you a shaggy dog.”

So the ever-so-patient Good Golly Miss Molly Dalai Lama got her groom on.

Whether you’re prioritizing, procrastinating, or one of the lucky ones delegating, be sure to spend some of your new free time reading. You can order Secret Sky with one simple click here. Your adventure awaits… (And if ebooks aren’t for you, click the Bookstore tab for other purchase options, or just click the covers below:

Spring Fever Melt-down

February 24, 2014 By JPMcLean 9 Comments

Each year around this time, I suffer Spring Fever melt-down. It starts when the snowdrops and aconites break through the cold winter soil to show their bright, sunny faces, and quickly ramps up with the return of the robins.

The fever hit hard last week and drew me outside in shirtsleeves to turn soil, yank weeds and cut down a sea of dead stalks that should have been composted months ago. When the fever’s in full stride, it’s easy to push away thoughts of unwritten chapters and hunker down over a garden fork.

With fresh dirt under my fingernails, I felt a renewed commitment to get my neglected gardens back in shape, but that first day’s work had my back reminding me to take it easy.

The weather cooled, my fever subsided and a few days later I’m in town with a friend, running errands. She suggests a stop at the nursery.

Why not, I think? I’ll just have a wee look-see.

But the moment I walk through the doors, the fever sets in. I inhale the heady scent of forced blooms and my pupils dilate. A garden centre in February is like a crack house to the bloom-starved, flower-addicted gardener.

I wander wide-eyed up and down the aisles touching lush foliage and cooing. Before I know it, I’ve gathered an armful of the little darlings and I make a break for the till.

Later on, safely home, I set my drugs…err…flowers out on the lawn to admire, and contemplate where I’ll plant them. They’ll be fine left outside, I reason, after all, the crocuses are already blooming.

I should know by now that a trip to the garden centre this early in the year never ends well.

For now, the hot flash of spring fever is under control, snuffed out under a blanket of winter snow. But it’ll be back. It always comes back!

If you’re snowed in today, why not curl up with a good book and escape the cold. You can order Secret Sky for Kindle with one simple click here. Go on…your adventure awaits. And if ebooks aren’t your preference, click on the Bookstore tab, or the covers below for more options.

Does Fiction Require Research?

February 18, 2014 By JPMcLean 8 Comments

Does fiction require research? You wouldn’t think a fiction writer would have much to research—after all, we can just make it up as we go. Right? Well, not with my fiction.

My characters are your colleagues and neighbours. They read the same newspaper as you and borrow the salt from your table in the cafeteria. I’ve anchored the stories in the here and now because my fiction has an element of fantasy and I think it’s easier to believe the impossible bits if those bits are set in familiar and realistic settings.

That requires research.

The research isn’t always extensive and it is rarely elusive, but it’s something I do continuously. In a typical day, I’ll look up things like, Pacific Northwest ocean temperatures in May; bridge clearance heights on False Creek; symptoms of hypothermia; and sunrise and sunset times in Southern California in September.

None of it’s rocket science, but each detail adds to the believability of the whole. For example, I don’t want to describe a flight in the dark when it would have been daylight, or have a character suffer hypothermia when the water temperatures would have been warm enough to bathe.

When you get it right

One of my greatest compliments came from someone who thought I must have spent a lot of time in an area where I’d set a scene. They knew the area well and thought I’d described it perfectly. In fact, I’d never been there, but I’d researched the hell out of it. I combed detailed street maps, contour maps, and a store-by-store layout of the streets. I Google Earthed it (yes, that’s a new verb—see what you can do when you write fiction!) and studied traffic cams until I knew the terrain.

My research isn’t perfect and I don’t use everything I learn, but it’s always interesting. Like the time I needed to know more about whips and found myself in a BDSM site looking at spanking skirts. Not kidding—you can buy those. That was an education!

So my fiction isn’t entirely made up. Some of the details are strikingly real. My job is to make it so believable that you’ll question the impossibility of the Gift and get swept up in the story. And isn’t that whole point of a good story? A great escape, even if it’s only between pages.

And if you’re curious about the details I researched for Secret Sky, you can pick it up for just $2.99 from Kindle with one click right here. And if kindle or eBooks aren’t your preference, click on the bookstore tab for other purchase options (or just click on the covers below).