Friday Fare: 9/22/17

The days still feel like summer, but the nights are reminiscent of fall (and actually, it is now officially fall – hooray!).  And it’s Friday.  Let’s dig in:

My husband and I are both fans of Patton Oswalt and his razor-sharp wit.  And although we don’t *know* Mr. Oswalt and his late wife Michelle McNamara, both of us were sympathetic and stunned when Ms. McNamara, 46, died unexpectedly in April 2016.  Prior to her death, Ms. McNamara was working on a book about the Golden State Killer, an “unidentified serial killer and rapist who committed 50 rapes in Northern California (1976-1979) and murdered at least ten people in Southern California (1979-1986).” Her book “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” comes out in February 2018.  On the strength of the title alone, I’d be interested in buying it.

The New York Times had an article about “How to Work From Home.”  This line resonated: “I felt unkempt and dirty, lonely and disconnected, malnourished and unhealthy.” <– BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  OK, it wasn’t that funny, but I have had days where I felt like that.

I didn’t realize that there was such a thing as the “best Internet recipe comment of all time.” But this comment is better than the stuff that I typically read. (“Can I substitute margarine for butter?” [No.  God no.]  “Can I substitute …” Seriously … reading news commentary is disheartening, but the comments on recipes make me gnash my teeth.  Please understand that if you’re making a tomato pie, you probably shouldn’t try to substitute something else for the mayonnaise because you want to make it “lighter.”  THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THE RECIPE.)  Wow, anyway – here’s the story behind the best Internet recipe comment ever.  (And a killer brownie recipe.)

Some Killer Nashville recaps:

There have been several Killer Nashville blogs published since the end of August.  A few that I wanted to share:

Paula Gail Benson gave a great high-level recap on Writers Who Kill.  (Also, Paula’s one of the nicest writers you’ll meet. I felt so incredibly blessed to make some of the connections I did in Nashville, Paula is one of them.)

Catherine Dilts has been blogging her Killer Nashville experience by day over at her blog.  I had the pleasure of appearing on a panel about social media.  She was also on a great panel about time management for writers.  Another person I’m thrilled to have connected with at Killer Nashville.

I also had the pleasure of really getting to know and hang out with two extremely talented writers.  Lucie Smoker and Kathleen Donnelly. (Fun fact – Kathleen and I attended the Writer’s Police Academy together in 2016 and reconnected this year in Nashville!) Lucie was the 2017 Lisa Jackson Scholarship winner for Killer Nashville and runs a fabulous blog called Reverse Perspective. Her recap of her KN experience can be found here.

Kathleen was a previous Lisa Jackson Scholarship recipient AND a fellow Claymore Award finalist.  She gave an incredible speech at the KN awards dinner in August, reprinted by The Stiletto Gang.  Her online home can be found here.

I talk sometimes about “finding your tribe” and how even during the solitary pursuit of writing, it’s important to find people who will serve as sounding boards, help you out with tricky plot twists, or just write you hilarious emails that remind you why you keep writing.  I’m grateful to have befriended these two women and look forward to finding them on the bookshelf.

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Uff da, this was a long blog post.  If you’ve made it this far – bless you! I hope this blog post finds you well and ready for the weekend!

MUAH!