Sunshine and Music Speak to Me by Paty Jager

Sunshine has always been my pick me up. I love the brightness. The light that grows plants, makes you warm, and gives you a feeling of life. 

Flowers grown this summer

Where I grew up the winters are long. Not as long as in Alaska but the cold and snow can come as early as November and not fully leave until May. Growing up I couldn't wait for May and finding the first buttercup. When that happened it was a pretty good chance the sunlight and warmth was there to stay through the summer.  

Buttercup

I wake with the sun. If it's not until 7 am in the winter, that's when I get up. If it rises at 5 am in the summer, that's when I'm up. I love the brightness, the cheerfulness of the golden rays that warm the earth. 

If it is a cloudy or overcast day, I turn on all the lights in the house. I like bright even if it's artificial. My husband would have all the lights off in the house when he watched television. I turn the lights on. I don't like sitting in the dark. It's dreary. Life is too short to be dreary. 

The other thing I do to cheer myself up is turn on music. I love cleaning the house while dancing to 80s pop and any other upbeat music. It's even better when I know the song and can sing along. Up-tempo music is the best way to put me in a good mood. Especially if the sun isn't shining. 

Music can set the tone for my day. Some days I listen to Cher. Some days Abba. Other days it's the Pentatonix. I also listen to Kenny G and various other artists who are popular now. I like any music that has a beat or that is soothing. I don't care for Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, or Hip-hop. Those just make my jaw clench and my head hurt. 

The other music I love is birds chirping or singing as well as the low of cattle and the nicker of a horse. Even the howling of coyotes after dark can make me smile. I don't want to be near them but their calls and songs are part of what makes them who they are. 

Nature sounds are better than music. The gurgling of a stream, the roar of a waterfall, the patter of rain, and the mesmerizing lull of the ocean waves rolling toward the land--all are soothing to me. 

White River Falls

Have you stood in a forest and listened? The leaves rattle. The tree limbs and trunks creak and scrape. The bushes scratch together and rustle. The thump and rustle of animals walking through grass and brush. The animal calls, the rocks sliding. The music of nature is pleasant and mysterious. 

So hearing how I love sunshine and music, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that I love the outdoors. As soon as the weather grows warmer and the ground dries up enough I don't slip on mud or slide on ice, I am out walking every day. Enjoying the sunshine and nature's music. 

You can purchase my audiobook Stolen Butterfly, book 7 in the Gabriel Hawke Novels for $2.99 for a limited time. 

You can find links to my website, Kobo, and Chirp here: https://indieaudiobookdeals.com/

Missing or Murdered

When the local authorities tell State Trooper Gabriel Hawke’s mother to wait 72 hours before reporting a missing Umatilla woman, she calls her son and rallies members of the community to search.

Hawke arrives at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation and learns the single mother of a boy his mom watches would never leave her son. Angered over how the local officials respond to his investigation, Hawke teams up with a security guard at the Indian casino and an FBI agent. Following the leads, they discover the woman was targeted by a human trafficking ring at the Spotted Pony Casino.

   

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 60 novels, 11 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Author’s Guild, Alliance of Independent Authors, and NIWA.

Website: https://www.patyjager.net

Blog: https://writingintothesunset.net/
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Mystery Turned My Writing Around by Paty Jager

I'm beginning to think that time is flashing by at a rate much faster than even five years before. Is the world spinning faster and while the clocks read the same the time is, in fact, moving much faster? 

I can't believe it's June already! Halfway through this year. I'm sort of on track with my goals for the year. I do have 2 books that have been published so far. Now I have to get busy and get two more written and published before the end of the year. My goal is 4 books. Even with a month of no writing while I go on a vacation I've been dreaming about for some timem that will happen in September and October, I plan to keep to my goal. 

This month the theme is starting Anew. I'm not really starting anew, though I did ten years ago when I decided to write mysteries instead of western romance.  I'm so glad I did! I feel it is more my voice and I have gained a much larger and broader readership by switching to writing murder mysteries, or crime fiction as some people call it. 

I spent 2014 writing the first three books in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. The premise of the series and the character came about because of something my brother told me about a bronze statue he was putting the patina on. I used what he told me as part of the murder in Double Duplicity, book 1. Because the plot dealt with the art community, I made my main character a potter or ceramicist as it can also be called. But I wanted her to be a bit more unique. She lives on a mountain where she gathers the clay she cleans and uses in her vases that are sold in art galleries. 

Making her a child of a Native American (Nez Perce) father, who died when she was young, and a Caucasian mother gave me the ability to write her with wanting to learn more about her father's side of the family since her mother had kept her from it and have her learn about her heritage as I discovered things as well. Luckily, I'd met an author before I started this series, who is married to an Arrow Lakes tribal member. They live on the Colville Reservation in Washington state where I have Shandra's paternal relatives living. My friend gave me a tour of the reservation and gave me great insight into the thoughts and feelings of the people who live there. 

The Shandra Higheagle Series ended with 16 books and a novella. I enjoyed writing about Shandra, Ryan, her love interest, and all of her friends and animals. But I decided to end the series before readers said it was going flat. 

Before I ended the series, I started a new series. The Gabriel Hawke Novels are about a Native American (Umatilla and Nez Perce) Fish and Wildlife Oregon State Trooper in Wallowa County, Ore. This means most of the stories are set in NE Oregon with a few set in other states in the Pacific Northwest. Though Hawke did go to Iceland for a Search and Rescue World Conference and was caught up in finding a killer there. ;) I'm still writing this series and the current book, Cougar's Cache, was released on June 1st. Check the bottom of this post to learn more about it. 

I am also writing the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series with Dela Alvaro a disabled veteran who is head of security for my fictional Spotted Pony Casino on the Umatilla Reservation outside of Pendleton. From May 30th to June 12th you can get the audiobook of book 1, Poker Face through Independent Audiobook Deals. Some of your favorite bestselling authors have come together to bring you amazing audiobook deals! Check it out!🎧 The Pinch, book 5 came out in February. It's set in a casino on the Oregon Coast. Dela heads over there to audit the security staff and gets caught up in a kidnapping and murder. 

Starting anew writing mysteries in 2014 was the best thing I could do for myself and my writing career. Like I said before, I have truly found my voice writing mysteries. 

Cougar's Cache

Book 11 in the Gabriel Hawke Novels

This double cold case and current homicide have Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Trooper Gabriel Hawke calling in favors… and exploring a childhood he shoved into the deep recesses of his mind.

While patrolling on the Snake River in Hells Canyon, Gabriel Hawke’s dog digs up a human bone. Hawke is confronted by an aunt he doesn’t remember, and he finds a canister of film when the rest of the remains are excavated. The film shows someone being killed and a rifle pointed at the photographer.

Going through missing person files, Hawke discovers the victims of the decades-old double homicide. A person connected to the original crime is murdered, giving Hawke more leads and multiple suspects.

Attending a local Powwow with his family, Hawke discovers more about his childhood and realizes his suspects have been misleading him.

 Universal buy link:  https://books2read.com/u/bQGkXw

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 56 novels, 10 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

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You Are The Writer of Your Own Story by Paty Jager

When all else fails, talk about something you are excited about. That's what I decided to do when I could only get one paragraph written on the subject this month of Hope. It's not that I don't have hope, I think of it in a different realm than most. 

I don't hope for things to happen. I'm a realist, I guess. I can either work to make my goals- desires expectations (hope) happen, or if it's not me in particular but worldwide events or family or friends, I can think of them, give them support, or find a way to make peace with whatever I can't control in my own mind and heart.  

That is how I feel about hope. It's a pretty word. I like it for a name of a person, a town, a boat, a book. I know it gives people strength when they use hope and faith together. But for me, I wish and dream and work to make it happen.

So now, what I'm excited about. I'm not sure why I'm excited, it makes no sense, but I'm closing in on having published 50 books. I won't hit that nunber this year, 2020, but the year 2021 I will. I've already been working on ideas to make a BIG deal out of it. I'm not sure where, or how just yet, but I'm thinking my publishing anniversary month, will be a month long of sales, events, and fun. 

What are some of your favorite author events you've attended?  I'm collecting information for my 50 Books Party.  I had a lot of fun last year holding a CLUE party in December with other mystery authors. I'm thinking I'll do something like that. And have a special giveaway for my newsletter peeps- Paty's Posse. 

My Gabriel Hawke Novel #7 will be book 50. At this time it is set to be about MMIW - Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. I'm thinking about making the sales from the book go toward that program at the Umatilla Reservation. The one where my fictional character Gabriel Hawke grew up. And where he'll be searching for a young woman who is missing. This is still in the works. I had plans to meet up with members of the Umatilla Reservation in the spring and Covid hit. When things take an upswing and we can get out and mingle again, I'll be contacting people and researching about the group on the reservation. I subscribe to their newspaper and have been reading all the articles on this subject. My goal is to do the organization justice and throw more light on this problem.

Back to the event. I'd welcome any suggestions for naming my event or fun things to do.  

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 47 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

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photo source: Depositphotos

I Never Do Things Easy by Paty Jager

This month at RTG the theme is “Marching to a Different Drummer.” I can tell you about that!

I’ve always been an independent spirit. My mom said when I was a baby, I didn’t like to be held. I’ve always been happy to hang out by myself, which was good considering I had two brothers. One is 18 months older and the other 4 years younger. I spent most of my time either reading, listening to music, painting or working on a craft project, or riding my horse when I wasn’t doing my chores. My younger brother and I did play together and ride horses together when he was older.

I also loved to sit among the ferns under the trees between the river and the ditch not far from the house. Here I would draw in a sketch book or write stories. It was my hiding place of sorts. It’s where I dreamed up all kinds of wonderful scenarios of how my life would be.

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads where you can send in a drawing and they evaluate it? I did that. And they sent me a letter saying how they could see me as an artist or graphic designer and they could help me attain that goal with their curriculum. Mom indulged me and let me purchase the first kit. But when I wanted to go on to college for art, my dad squashed that idea out. He told me I would be going into the medical profession. That was where I’d make money.

He was adamant. I refused to be a nurse and found out it only took two years to be an x-ray technician. Needless to say, I didn’t finish. I didn’t want to be in the medical field but I didn’t know what I wanted at that point. Though my college English professor encouraged my writing.

A couple years were spent at different jobs, trying to find the one that fit. I married, started having kids, and when the two oldest started school and hubby was willing to take #3 with him trucking, I started taking college writing and art classes. The art dropped to the wayside but I was inspired by writing.

I started writing for the local newspapers, while also working on the first great American novel. 😉 Which was really a murder mystery with an amateur detective. By this time, I had read nearly every mystery book our local library had and knew this was what I wanted to write. After a bad experience with an agent, and not able to find a way to learn more about mystery writing, I turned to Romance Writers of America and started writing historical western romance.

History was one of my favorite subjects in school. Especially American history. It made sense that I’d write that when I had a bounty of workshops, conferences and people who were willing to help me learn the craft and the business of writing. My first book was published in 2006 by a small press. That book began the eventual 8 books in the Halsey Brothers Series.

But I still felt I hadn’t achieved what I wanted. When agents at a conference said they wanted historical paranormal, I came up with the Spirit Trilogy. Books historically accurate with Native American spirits. An agent loved the books but couldn’t figure out how to pitch them to the people who had asked for historical paranormal. Luckily, an editor, with the small press that published my westerns, loved the books, and they were published. Now, I not only had historical western romance but I'd added Native American romance.

Still not happy, I wrote a contemporary western romance and then another. I’d just added another genre to my list.

Then I decided to write a series with a female MacGyver/Indiana Jones character. I loved writing Isabella and Tino’s adventures. I called it Action Adventure but the books could also be classified as Romantic Suspense, with the same two main characters. I LOVED writing the Isabella Mumphrey Adventures. The first book in the series won an award and reviews were good. But they weren’t selling.

I went back to historical western romance. But the idea of finally writing a mystery series kept banging at my brain. And I finally came up with a character, where she lived, a paranormal element, and I started writing the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. I LOVE writing this series and characters. My readers love this series. The sales are doing well.

With all the great things happening with the mystery series, I decided to write another one. This one has a male protagonist, who is also Native American. Which is now becoming a worry. I have a person who connects me with the reservation and people my Shandra character is related to, but I need to make a connection with someone from the reservation where Gabriel Hawke hails from. I made a small connection last spring and plan to make it much stronger this spring.

But like I said in the beginning, I never do anything the easy way! It’s been a long trip, but I am finally in my happy place with what I am doing.

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 43 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

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photo source: DepositPhotos

I'm Ready for Fall by Paty Jager

Summer came and is quickly sliding into fall and I am struggling to feel as if I had a summer. While I enjoyed every minute of the last three months, I am having trouble digesting that they have come and gone.

June I was preparing for my trip to Iceland and ventured forth the end of the month. Up to my trip, I also jet-boated up the Snake River for research. Then July and August I pinged all around the eastern side of the state judging at county fairs, culminating with judging at the State Fair. 

This past weekend finished out my summer, I was set up at the Sumpter, Oregon Flea Market for three days selling my books alongside another author from the area. With this weekend over, summer is finished as well as my running around. For a while. ;) 

Now I need to sit down and get the book written that was supposed to be ready to go to my editor by now. Funny how having fun always seems to mess up my writing schedule. 

The worst part about having played so much this summer, I'm having a hard time getting my mind wrapped back into the act of writing. I've fleshed out the book I need to write. Made my suspect chart and drawn up info about the characters. I even have all the maps I need. But I keep finding other things to distract me.

The first book of the Gabriel Hawke series is being narrated and I stop to listen to the chapters as they are finished. 

I just published the third book in the Silver Dollar Saloon Series. Freedom. It is available in ebook and soon print.  

Their dreams brought them together. But will violence tear them apart?

Freedom longs to be out of the Silver Dollar Saloon, with a family of her own. When a white man promises marriage and children, she takes the biggest risk of her life, and follows him to the wilds of Montana Territory. Where he shows his true nature.

Water Runs Fast, a Crow off the reservation, comes upon a white man whipping a brown-skinned woman. After stabbing the white man and riding off with the woman, he realizes she is the woman from his visions. The one who pledged to help him and his people survive in the white man’s world.

On the run from the tragedy, the two grow close. Together, they begin a life as husband and wife. But will they have their chance at a life together, or will they hang for murder?

Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/mlawnB

And for one more week, you can get the first book in the Silver Dollar Saloon series, Savannah, for $0.99.

She went from an heiress to a pauper.

He outran the law and became preacher.

Escaping a past full of deceit and larceny, Savannah Gentry goes in search of her only kin, a half-brother she discovered after her father’s death. She hopes Shady Gulch in the Dakota Territory can give her a future. However, she stumbles into the arms of Reverend Larkin Webster, finds herself working in the Silver Dollar Saloon, and soon fears she’s gone from the frying pan into the fire.

After dodging death and incarceration, the Topeka Kid decides to turn his life around and takes on a new identity. Reverend Larkin Webster. It works, until he finds a temptation he can’t resist and steals the heart of Savannah Gentry. When her past collides with his, he wonders if this theft could end up with him losing everything… including his life. https://www.books2read.com/u/b5MkNp

While all of this is going on, I'm also in the critiquing stages of the 13th book in the Shandra Higheagle Series, Toxic Trigger-point. 

I guess it's no wonder I'm having trouble clearing my head and pushing forward on the work in progress, Chattering Blue Jay.  

Off to send Hawke chasing a convicted killer through the Hells Canyon of the Snake River. I hope I don't fall off a cliff! 

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 40 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

blog / website /  Facebook / Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / Pinterest   / Bookbub

Crime of Passion by Paty Jager

How many times do you hear that on a mystery show? It was a crime of passion. There are statistics that show most murders are crimes of passion. Lovers kill lovers, husbands kill wives, mothers kill children, fathers kill families. It's not something we want to think about or write about- but it is the world a mystery writer has to think about.

Passion- it can get out of control and cause the loss of life or it can be used to keep readers wanting to know what happens next with your protagonist.

What the statistics do tell us, is no matter what happens in a person's life- romance or lack of romance- plays a part in how that person acts and reacts to others. 

That is why I enjoy reading mystery books that have an element of romance going on either between the main protagonists or the secondary characters. It's that little bit of human interaction that makes me root for them, remember them, and think of them as real people.

Not too long ago at a book signing, I'd just set everything up and five women marched up to my table

and one declared, "Why are you being so mean to Ryan?"  They all agreed and went on to quiz me about when I was going to have Shandra (main protagonist in my Shandra Higheagle mysteries) give in and agree to marry Ryan. The women said they loved the mysteries but wanted to know when I was going to get Ryan and Shandra together. 

I gave them a vague answer, knowing full well which book I planned to give Ryan and Shandra a happy-ever-after. Drawing out their attraction and waiting for the right moment had worked. It kept readers purchasing the books. While my reviews remark about the mysteries, the Native American elements, and the twists, they usually also comment on the romance element too. 

One of my critique partners who writes romance kept telling me to add more romance into the story, but I knew staunch mystery readers wouldn't like that. I tried to keep the romance as much a mystery as the murder they were trying to solve. It was the best way to keep the ones who like romance in the books to keep reading and to appease the ones who don't care for romance in their mysteries. 

If you look back to Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence mysteries there was a romantic/married

couple who solved mysteries. Dame Christie's books also showed a wonderful array of local people who might or might not be involved in a bit of hanky-panky. 

I believe to make a realistic setting for a mystery you have to include romance in either your main characters, secondary characters, or both.  My latest murder mystery series, Gabriel Hawke, I have a man in his 50's who lost his wife the first five years into his career because of his career and has believed he doesn't need another woman in his life. Unfortunately for him, his best friend, other than the couple who are his landlords, is a woman and he's having strong feelings towards another woman. While there isn't a romance, yet. There is ample opportunity for one to happen and for the readers (who have already been telling me who he should go for) to made a wager if he'll crumple and if so with which woman. 

I'm betting that having this will he or won't he fall in love element of romance fluttering on the fringes of the murder mysteries he solves is one of the things along with the cast of characters and the settings and twists that keep the readers coming back for more.  

How about you? Do you like romance with your mysteries or do you want just the facts ma'am and work at solving the mystery on your own? 

Paty Jager is the award-winning author of the Shandra Higheagle and Gabriel Hawke Mystery series. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

This is what Mysteries Etc has to say about her Shandra Higheagle mystery series: “Mystery, romance, small town, and Native American heritage combine to make a compelling read.” And Books A Plenty Book Reviews says this about the Gabriel Hawke Series:"The blend of nature tracking, clues, and the animals makes for a fascinating mystery that is hard to put down." 

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