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Catch You In The Feels – Open Book Blog Hop #544

August 31, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

Topic #544

From a writing perspective, how do you view advertisements for
products or services (on TV, in magazines, online)?

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This right here may be a clue as to why I am no good at writing ads or any marketing for my work. To manipulate the feelings of others feels disingenuous. Running at the mouth with platitudes built on word salad loses confidence. While I may feel super excited about my work, I can no more manipulate another person about it than I could a stick of deodorant. Have you ever listened to the lyrics of songs in ads and wondered how the performers get into it? I could never. Worse is when that word salad of feeling attempts to appeal to your self-image!

Sometimes, an ad can be super catchy or hilarious. Of late, though, I feel like the creativity is gone. Have you ever seen the Bones Coffee, Co. ads? You’ll find them on YouTube, mostly. Sometimes, you might see a splash ad on social media. I regard them as a winning ad campaign. They’re not so much manipulating your feelings as saying, we know you like horror and we have horror themed coffee, and we believe our flavors are the best available. Their bag designs, site design, splashes, and spots are all on point. They’re themed to the hilt, and they don’t miss. The best part is, they back up their claims with great coffee.

When you can feel great about purchasing a product that appeals to you aesthetically and by quality, it’s a win. No manipulation, as you’d call it. It cuts past that to what they got and the confidence in their product. The worst is when a product attempts to catch you in your feels. And then, you’re just like what even is this?

From car ads to meal time, everyone is attempting to appeal to your lifestyle and emotions with their products. There’s little genuine sentiment behind it. Look, Birdseye, it’s just vegetables not the most meaningful moment of my life. Why are they trying to attach themselves to important moments? To your quality of parenthood or personhood? Bones doesn’t do this. While I’m sure they’d love to corner the coffee market, they’re content providing quality product to the horror and cosplay crowd. They know who their people are. Birdseye thinks that if you want to be considered the good kind of family, you’ll buy their stuff. The underwriting of elitism threads through a lot of ads.

open book blog hop, a young woman with dark hair, wearing a black top, chews on the end of a pen. She's writing something in a journal resting on a white picnic table.

The writing behind these ads goes hard for helping their customers portray a persona to others. They don’t come in saying, they match with your persona. Think of car ads and clothing, perfume and jewelry. They’re selling you image, and that they can make you popular. It’s kind of pubescent, which is something you’d probably accuse Bones of being for matching Halloween and fun flavors. How does bones avoid that trap? They meet the customer where they are at, and don’t propose to change who they are or make them over. They accept you as you are: a person who likes horror and good coffee.

I struggle with this kind of writing. While I have full faith in my work, there is a disconnect in articulating that I have this thing I think you horror nerds are gonna love. My reluctance is in having been bullied into believing doing this makes me an egotistical nuisance. Maybe it would feel different if someone else did this step for me? Having a team is a great help when trying to market anything. The quality and technique of that team will matter even more.

Instead of catching a potential customer (reader) in the feels, it’s better to show them how you align. Don’t beat it like a dead horse, either. Theming will help, because it shows what you have concisely, quickly. It’s not easy, regardless. Eventually, the feels will come with the territory, because you’ve created places and characters readers can really fall into.

In the meantime, I really hope Birdseye, Chevy, or that bra company on YouTube catch on. Platitudes aren’t a sales pitch. Talking in circles to string together feeling words is poor writing. You come off empty and elitist. Instead of seeking feelings, seek common values and compelling connection.

Hop through the other author responses on the links below to see how they feel about current advertising and the writing behind it. Before you go, add your email address to the subscription box. The hop arrives to your inbox each Friday without the need to search for us! See you next time.

Why Do You Bother To Put It On Paper? Open Book Blog Hop #544

August 31, 2026 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

Topic #544

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” – Flannery O’Connor.
Authors have many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write?

That’s a great question! The effort to put the ideas from inside my head out into the world is unmerited, essentially. Writing is often a thankless job, unless you manage to hit the moment perfectly, striking the fancy of enough readers. If they can’t find you because algorithms work to prevent it, and you can’t afford to advertise effectively, you feel you’re screaming into the whirlwind. Unfortunately, added to this is the grifter utilizing AI to produce fake manuscripts. When AI could benefit an artist to overcome the lack of capital for advertising, it is instead set against them to ensure they never can, burying their work beneath millions of bot manufactured shitty texts.

It feels so defeatist to go over this, as I examine the hurdles. However, I am at a point where I can study the problems without them touching me so deeply. It sounds trite to say that you get used to it. However, you really do! Big publishers are in the business of making money, and if they can silence the competition, they will. So don’t ever shut up!

It’s been one thing after another for writers in the past few decades: the gatekeepers, failing independent publishing, the claim no one reads anymore, the rise of influencers, and now AI. As if a lack of capital were not enough, there are all those bad actors thwarting any author’s rise. If you don’t have it or nepotism to assist, you’re going to have to strive.

How does one strive against these terrible odds?

Think of all those authors who came before you centuries ago. They had a drive to do this, and nothing was going to stop them. They published themselves, and they put their books out there regardless of getting any love back from other humans. Ovid did not ask permission or approval of a publisher. An author needs to have a reason to write, no matter what it is, that lasts against all the hurt and frustration coming their way. You can call it loving the art, but is your love strong enough? From my perspective it is something more than love, but just as fragile as pain and frustration experienced by being halted at every step damages it so thoroughly.

Is Your Love Strong Enough?

Bryan Ferry

Just one step at a time,
And closer to destiny.
I knew at a glance,
There would always be a chance for me.
With someone I could live for;
Nowhere I would rather be.

Is your love strong enough,
Like a rock in the sea?
Am I asking too much?
Is your love strong enough?

Just one beat of your heart,
And stranger than fantasy.
I knew from the start,
It had to be the place for me.
Someone that I would die for;
There’s no way I could ever leave.

Is your love strong enough,
Like a rock in the sea?
Am I asking too much?
Is your love strong enough?
Is your love strong enough?

Is your love strong enough?
Just one beat of your heart.
Is your love strong enough?

Is your love strong enough?
Just one beat…

Written by: Bryan Ferry
Album: Legend (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Released: 1986
Lyrics provided by Musixmatch

A good buttress against losing heart is to have many reasons. Don’t think for one minute having one solid reason is enough. The love that you have for writing will change over time. You’ll gather more reasons and achieve distance that makes the old ones moot for all the right reasons. We grow throughout our lives, so should our love of what we do.

For instance, I write for a multitude of reasons. You’ll find I cite cinema as a huge reason for putting me here. The great films of the 1980s, for which many are so nostalgic, (looking at you Stranger Things (2016)) inspired me to create. The blessing of growing up in that time, bookended by the 1970s and 1990s in my most formative years, certainly is a reason for why I write. Scholastic Books provided subscription services that made a home library possible. In addition, my grandmother, who retired by the time I was up and running, took me to the library and on outings when not in school. What a beautiful time to be alive.

From there, cinema has provided some epic fare. There have been books and movies pumping ideas into my head for decades. What else helped was my dislike of hanging out at parties and taking part in that whole fraternity style high school life. I remember the slight disappointment in not having that as well, but it isn’t as if I didn’t hang out with friends–going dancing, to theme parks, their houses, all the things. It was just less frequent. Therefore, I had plenty of quiet time to recharge my introvert batteries and absorb books and movies.

Being from a boring town, watching movies was a big entertainment option. Sometimes we got to theater shows and concerts. The creme de la creme, however, was getting to Disney World. For someone steeped in cinema, you might imagine what a big deal this was. Beyond that, though, Walt was a huge creative, and he showed me that spilling your brains out into tangible things was truly possible. Next to him, Jim Henson presented the importance of taking that bottomless creativity and making things that mattered, that people loved, and touch other humans. To show love through creativity.

Feeling the love through the screen on films from Disney, Ridley Scott (Legend (1985)), Henson, Spielberg, Lucas, and many others helped me piece together my puzzle. Tolkien, Jordan, Austen, Poe, Shakespeare, and so many others filled in more pieces. Family and friends added their pieces. Experiences and education still more pieces. That makes what you see before you now. 1000s of pieces complete that picture. Therefore, if I forget or can no longer see those pieces, I know there are 1000s from which to pull.

No one can take this from me. My hero list has only grown and become more diverse over time. Not a single frustration or hurt will remove my appreciation for past and present creatives who I enjoy, who make me feel, somehow, what I do actually matters. Instead, because they touched my life, I don’t count readers as fans. How do I even class those folks who read my work and enjoyed that work as fans? They feel like friends and that is how I see them.

Writing gives me friendship and connection. Irreplaceable. At some point, that may reach a point I can’t see everyone’s faces. I hope they’ll know that they matter to me, just the same. The whole point was for them to read the book and feel the joys I do with the stories I tell. Otherwise, those stories could stay wrapped up in my brain not bothering anyone.

neon sign that reads: All we have is words. All we have is worlds. Words need a reader. A writer creates worlds. — ^{Photo by Alexandra on Unsplash}

Why would you bother to write it all down?

Somehow, I had the thought that others might like to explore the ideas I had. They had me invigorated, so why wouldn’t they provide that to others? Essentially, I wanted to share that excitement I felt. My writing met with confusion from those who require others to assure them my work is worth reading. Conversely, others ready to take a chance on the adventures I pen embrace them. That is the basis of why I write–to share my stories. Like I said above, there’s no other reason to put it all on paper without that desire being strong first. It gets your pen to paper.

Aside from the desire to share that which I am excited about, I wanted to provide to others the same high I got off reading and watching films that those creators had provided for me. You know the feeling of watching a great movie or reading a great book. I am compelled to create as in kind. If people don’t come along to pick up the pen when others have passed away, where would the new stories come from? Folks may not be able to reconcile what they see in me with the reality of me, but that’s not my problem. I’m here to be a storyteller, not what they think I should be.

Unrealistic Expectations Around Publishing and Writing

During my graduate studies, I was awarded a fellowship for my social justice writing. All of my books contain explorations of social issues, such as women’s roles in society during war time/historical ages, the bold exposure of how domestic violence can destroy lives, it shows how community strives to protect its members and how that plays out in realistic ways. I even explore how folks can heal from bad experiences and that their value isn’t in arbitrarily set ideas of purity. Nobility is found in the heart, not your blood line.

A common thread you may find in my work is the message to never give up, and that things change over time. They may get worse, but they will also get better. Sometimes we have to fight for that, but the fight is worth it. Stay.

But, just like I am 1000s of pieces of my history and touchpoints, so are my books. They come from dreams and nightmares I have had, and they come from and idea to challenge myself to create something lasting. The base of it all is to give love back to a world that showed me such beauty. Yes, there is ugliness, but oh, it is so beautiful, too.

The more love we put into the world, the better things will get. Click on the links in the scroll box below to find out why the other authors write. Each of us is different and compelling in our own ways. Before you go, subscribe by dropping your email in the box on the top right. The hop will arrive Friday afternoons in your inbox without searching the web to find us. See you next time!

Don’t Do This 1 Thing – Open Book Blog Hop #543

August 24, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

Topic #543

Name one thing that a writer should never do.

Actually, let me list a couple of top tier pieces of advice for writers. Why stop at one, when there are two really important things to keep in mind? At the risk of sounding like one of those click bait articles or videos, I really mean don’t do this one thing. The fact is, engaging in these can end your career.

Aside from not committing the plagiarism, which will get you sued and end your career, Authors should avoid responding to negative reviews. This won’t defend your honor or your credentials. It will make you look unhinged (regardless of it being warranted or not), but it will also make you feel unhinged. Why would you waste your precious energy on some ass hole? There are people who literally spend all their free time trying to wind someone up online. They enjoy it like normal people enjoy a roller coaster. Someday, their sociopathy will have a clear category and be treatable. Until then, save your time and breath.

A one star review can be really upsetting. Trust me, though, when I say that it’s part of the drive to flick someone’s nose and get off on their reaction. It is highly unlikely they even read your work. A bad review, even if backed up by comments about the text, should only be seen through the lens of how you can improve your craft. Brush aside the unhelpful and pointless snide remarks and look for anything that you can use to hone your skills. When nothing is there, write it off as a troll. Don’t get your bestie to respond. Resist running to anyone to respond on your behalf. Lastly, don’t hire folks to bump your ratings in response. Artificially blowing yourself up is just as unhelpful. You could get your work banned from publication.

Deep breaths. I feel your frustration as one who experienced it.

four round stones that say dream, courage, inspire, harmony

The next bit of advice is super important to your success, too. You may think that we writers work in a vacuum. While we do our efforts on our own, we still come together to do many of our next steps. From editing, proofing, spit-balling ideas, publishing, marketing, and the all important community, we need one another. Community being the main hub, instead of an office building, is how we get along and figure it all out. It helps us feel sane. We build real relationships with other authors, that are symbiotic and necessary.

To best maintain your relationships: don’t diminish other writers. We have each come to this art by our own means. Taking a giant dump on how that happened (traditional institutions or otherwise) doesn’t make you look smarter. Anti-intellectualism, in fact, attacks your own path. Being a writer is seen as an intellectual pursuit by bookish individuals. You came from the streets or you came from the hallowed halls, you sought out education and the betterment of your mind. Writing is a noble art! Authors are viewed as deeply insightful intellectuals.

If we dump on education institutions, we dump on the art we engage in. Don’t mistake this for legitimate criticism. Criticizing how things are taught and gatekeeping, is a necessary task. It improves access and quality. What we don’t want to do is stop others from reaching for this, too. We don’t want to shut down the drive to write. All of that will shutdown the drive to read. So not only would dumping on it cause less people to seek out writing, it’s going to lessen the pool of readers. Why would we do that to ourselves?

It’s understandable to fear going unheard. There are a lot of books out there. Undercutting other authors to improve your chances is not the way to manage your marketing. The most successful authors I have seen work with others. They’re often editors and do marketing. They love the art and want to share it with others. They celebrate all the books. In no world does being against reading and learning make a wider field in which to share your writing.

All that said, being realistic about those who are ahead of us and those coming up behind us is fair. If you’re not realistic about where you fit, how do you improve? If I thought I was the great American Novelist, I’d never do any better. What would I think I had to change? But, don’t forget, you must respect your own accomplishments, too. Diminishing yourself isn’t going to help you anymore than blowing yourself up falsely. The realism goes both ways! Holy shit! You published a book. Do you know what a huge deal that is? Only 6-7 million publish 2-3 or more times, out of a whopping 8.3 billion people in the world. (AI calculation via DDG search assistant).

Don’t cry on me now! You’re brilliant. Now, don’t mess that all up by trying to knock the sparkle off another one of us or loosing it online with idiots. You’re better than that.

Check out the tips our other authors wrote this week by clicking on their links below in the scroll box. Before you go, subscribe to the blog. The hop will arrive without fuss each Friday in your inbox. If you’re an author, this will be a great tool for figuring out all of the things you have questions on. See you next time!

Home Improvements – Open Book Blog Hop #542

August 17, 2026 By Captain Maiel 2 Comments

Topic #542

What’s one thing about your writing that you would change if you could do it easily?

There’s always room for improvements. Don’t ever get to a point in your writing career where you feel infallible. I realize that may be the goal, but what you actually want is satisfied readers. These are two different things, although they can gleefully hold hands as they skip through the fields of your writing career.

The real issue is, ego. As with every aspect of art or business, an ego can blind you to that which will make you stronger in your chosen field. When it’s said, be humble, that means retaining the ability to critique your own performance. Additionally, the ability to understand that others have taken steps to do so, and that education and street learning are different animals. Traditionally trained writers have both. It’s facts. Getting in the feels about isn’t helpful to your personal growth. Afterall, many authors who took the harder non-traditional route are doing just fine. The point to writing your book is to make an audience happy.

On the other hand, the lack of respect for traditionally trained writers ignores that they know a shit-ton and poured all their focus into studying the art for however many years under the tutelage of other writers who did the same. That knowledge transfer is vital to the art, and growth of the artist. This isn’t something to brush off or dump on. Remember, they have both street and institutional learning. Who would you want to learn from? They did their improvements–avidly. Does anyone really believe that standards are inconsequential?

If you can give respect to the knowledge and effort that other authors have put into their work, you’re more likely to be able to examine your own work honestly–while also having numerous sources from which to pull. Dunning-Kruger comes to mind. You have a better perspective on all the things that go into writing. If I vet an editor to work on my books with me, their education is a concern when looking at their resume. It is something that makes them eminently more qualified. That said, if I see that an editor may have very little higher education, may fall into self-taught, and have edited some amazing titles as the main editor, that matters, too. When an editor shows up with all of the above, you have a winner.

Understanding nuances in this manner is a great benefit to you and your writing. When you seek growth, it’s like doing your spiritual shadow work, for instance. You’ll have to look at every pimple in the mirror and think about how much it bothers you, if you can fix it, if it matters to fix it, or is this part of your style (grammar issues aren’t a style choice). Are you pushing boundaries artistically or are you hiding your mistakes behind my art my choice dressings? It’s not me or anyone else that should be held in contempt when you refuse to be honest about yourself. I love seeing others succeed. I don’t love having my work diminished after all the effort I’ve put into my art.

What would you change about your writing, though?

I wish I could stop myself from making those annoying, typical typos, like fro instead of for, teh instead of the. They slow me down when I’m typing furiously. I’m compelled to fix them in the moment and it can really kill the mood. However, if this was my biggest issue, I’d let it stand. It’s not that crazy. If only!

There are other improvements for my writing that I think about when reading other writers: vocabulary and active voice, showing not telling. I’d like to always have those excellent, high-grade words I’ll hear a lot of journalists throw out there. An author does risk alienating audience with those highfalutin terms (remember, you’re supposed to keep it simple for better reach). Sometimes, though, I really like the accuracy and sound of them. Even better is when you don’t sound pretentious using them. In addition, I bet they’d help me stay on task with the active voice and showing not telling. That line is one I walk closely at times. My professors insist I have done it well, making a fair balance, as it can’t entirely be avoided. I remain unsatisfied (as I should!).

Another way these improvements might help is in the skeletal writing of screenwriting. You have to use few words to say the thing you mean. You can’t dance around the point. Having words that would encapsulate all the meaning are economical and precise. Each page equates to a minute of film. That’s a binding rule. Therefore, having those perfect words in the moment I need them would be the greatest ability I can imagine. Yet, short of reading a dictionary, I’m not sure what words I miss in my lexicon until I hear them. There’s so much going on in there. They may not be missing, just lost in the files. A reminder is nice.

What concerns me about this ask: what if my style changes, and I lose my voice adopting such improvements? Your style should be your style regardless, but a good portion of it is in the words you choose and the way you string them together. It’s not grammatically wrong to tell, it’s just less interesting exposition. The writing is not as strong. I don’t think I would lose my voice in finding more ways to meet this expectation, to address those times I feel there is no way around that obstacle. Maybe it’s better discernment and quicker recall I seek?

That’s a compelling takeaway. Any of these would help me immensely in writing contracts but would it improve the short fall on respect I’m given at the day job or in fiction?

Click on the links in the scroll box below to find out what the other authors would like to change, if anything. Their different perspectives are a great way to weigh all the ideas. Before you go, drop your email address in the subscribe box. This way the hop will find you each Friday without the need to search for us. OBBH is a great tool for authors. See you next time!

The Collector – Open Book Blog Hop #541

August 10, 2026 By Captain Maiel 2 Comments

Topic #541

Do you collect anything in particular?

One of my favorite shows for a time was America Pickers. It makes sense. As an avid lover of history and archaeology, getting a peep at other peoples’ collections is a big deal for me. Antique stores, Oddity Shops, and museums are my favorite places. I find all the bits and pieces left by a human life endlessly fascinating. The stories behind them can often be remarkable. There are connections from the collector to the history behind that item–even when it’s just a vinyl doll.

Speaking of vinyl dolls, I’m a lover of the recent phenomena represented by Funko Pop and YouTooz. I’m also crazy for the 3d printed critters and fidgets. They keep me sane during my day at work and don’t take up a lot of space. In the end, they might fill a small beach bucket. Not a problem at all. The others, they take up some space. A win for any collector.

My books piled up with my Mr. Toad popcorn bucket, and testors paints for models (I made a Hal9000 kit).

I’ve collected figures and film memorabilia for sometime. There’s an extensive Lord of the Rings collection packed away, but I have figures from so many things. Definitely something I enjoyed that is a hold over from childhood. And, that is the point. I don’t believe in hanging up the things that brought you joy as a child just because you turned a certain age at some point. How does age stop it from making you happy? What does practical mean? If it keeps a smile on your face, harms no one, go ahead with it!

Right now, I am looking at my Freddie Mercury Funko Pop. He sits right beside my laptop. The greatest pipes in music. Ever. I will die on that hill. I grew up adoring Queen along with my brother, and and was so sad when we lost him. It was not fair, and I hated how the disease that took him was painted in that time. I was scared to death of it, which is normal, but that fear kept a lot of folks from helping those suffering. The heroes who stepped up, they hold a special place in my heart. All of that is contained in this little Funko, with the gold jacket and microphone. An icon of the times and community. So much love in my heart.

Beneath him, is stacked Endora and Samanta, to the side is Vincent VanGogh, and a retro Batgirl. These are all little icons of the things I love, from comics to old television and film. There’s a lot! So I won’t get into it. But, yes, I definitely collect more than books that I use for research, enjoyment, had for school, or manuals. It’s a busy space, but it reflects my busy mind, and brings a lot of joy. This is why someone becomes a collector

In the end, I can’t take it with me. My daughter is told that she should only keep what she wants auction the rest on one of the many collector sites. She’ll be up to speed and ready to go, when I start auctioning some in retirement. That said, just try to pry that Dalek out of my hands before I die. I will fight you!

In addition, as a film student (fulfilled in grad school), I have a huge DVD collection. I think I’ve mentioned it or shown some of it on another post. Let’s just say, I had enough to cover my studies, all the good stuff you need. My focus was Film Noir, which has been a good portion of my focus for a long time! Of course I ended up writing something that echoed those themes. The other is horror and fantasy. Enough said there.

My last big collection is my Halloween decorations. I can’t even tell you the extent that I have gone to make this a stellar collection. It has taken a long time, and I am still working on filling it out with some choice pieces. You can see some things from that collection in the post An Author’s Halloween – Open Book Blog Hop #245. It’s been several years since I wrote that, so a lot has changed in that time with this collection.

If you like, you can see more on my TikTok. Just go to my Halloween collection, and I have walkthroughs of my decorations from last year (log in required, loves). This is such a joy for me as a collector, to share!

My Christmas decor may be on the verge of being another collection, but I don’t want to claim that right now. Suffice it to say, there is a lot around this place. I wonder what the other authors collect. Let’s click on their links below in the scroll box to find out! Before you go, drop your email in the subscribe box on the top right. The hop will arrive in your inbox without searching for us. See you back here next time. Thanks for hanging out with us!