Month: February 2019

I’m sending you a note from the frozen tundra of MinneSNOWta.  My neck of the woods got hit with a blizzard on Saturday night heading into Sunday, which means that school is cancelled for the day.  #sendwine (This is after Presidents Day last Monday and a snow day on Wednesday. I don’t know if my kids actually remember what school is?  My state has broken a record for the most snowfall in February and man … I am fairly done with all of this white shiz.)

Incidentally, snow days mean excuses to bake.  I made this banana bread (Shutterbean is the curator of one of my favorite Instagram feeds) and this baked oatmeal dish.  I am almost out of beer, but the baked carbs keep flowing.

I am in love with Billy Porter.  That is all:

Thursday marked my cousin‘s 39th birthday.  I miss him every day, which is admittedly weird considering that we only talked at the holidays.  And even then, those conversations were largely one-sided with me doing all the talking.  (My cousin was a man of few words.  And a shit-eating grin.  God, I miss that kid.)

Incidentally, Peter Tork died on my cousin’s birthday.  His Minnesota connection is a fascinating one.

This was an interesting piece about how one writer used to write pre-computer / Internet days.  And even though I can only relate to a fraction of it, I remembered my first electronic typewriter.

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Listening: A couple Friday nights ago, I was freezing my ass off outside of First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, waiting for this band.  I’m fairly in love with Andrew Marlin’s voice and it was well worth the extra hour I spent outside in the cold, hanging out with some random guy named Paul, and finding an actual stool to sit on versus having my 40-year-old self jostling for room down in the floor area of First Ave.

Reading: A couple books came in for me at the library!  “Grateful American” by Gary Sinise and “Sin Killer” by Larry McMurty.  (Random factoid: McMurty’s book was in my parents’ bathroom the last time I was back home in Iowa.  It was compelling enough that I decided to check it out from my local library.

I also finished Tracy Clark‘s debut novel “Broken Places.” And DAMN.  That was a satisfying read and I cannot WAIT to meet Ms. Clark IRL next month in Chicago.

Writing Life: I love me some Emily Allen West and Jessica Laine is an up-and-coming author to watch!  So you can imagine how exciting it is to COLLABORATE with these amazing women.  The following was announced earlier this week by Ms. West:

I’m done with the snow. That is all.

– Shelley

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Monday Mayhem is what happens when I neglect to write a Friday Fare. Or it can be any kind of article that happens to be published on a Monday.  I hope that it provides a great start to your week!

Very proud of my friend and her blog debut.

This woman is a hero.  And we should honor her memory.

I might need to put this on my watch list.

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Listening: The Interwebs have been buzzing since Sunday’s Grammy Awards and Brandi Carlile is getting the lion’s share of attention for how she slayed the audience with her live rendition of The Joke.  Here’s the link to the Grammy performance.  Equally powerful on the album.

Reading: Nada.  Work deadlines + snow days with hellions = not a lot of time for things outside of what pays me and the beings I need to nurture and feed quasi-healthy foods.

Writing Life: Good?  Small increments of progress can be reported.

That’s it for this week – I hope that this finds you well and warm!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.

Eh – it’s February, I should probably check in.  While I am sorry for my absence, I’ve been feeling like my blog = slog lately, so I took a quick break.  It didn’t help that January ended up being an epic travel month with a work trip to Denver, followed by a girls’ weekend in Las Vegas.  (No, I don’t gamble; yes, I was appalled by the prices; but man … Vegas has her charms, doesn’t she?  Notwithstanding the enormous billboard promoting an upcoming Gordon Lightfoot concert.  That was cool and felt like a sign I was in the right place at the right time.  Erm … well, maybe not the right time, since his concert’s in March, but you know what I mean …)

I was excited to see this news out of my quasi-hometown Decorah, Iowa.  Kate and her team have done a wonderful job with Dragonfly Books, I’ll be excited to see her bring that to Master’s Touch.

Huge congrats to my friend Rob Jung on the publication of his book “Cloud Warriors.”  Rob and several other of my writer friends will be appearing at The Loft Literary Center on February 26th for a joint book signing / event.

Finally, I am very excited (and getting a little nervous courtesy of the weather), for an event that I’m facilitating for Mystery Writers of America-Midwest Chapter.  Mindy Mejia is talented as hell in the mystery / thriller world AND she’s a CPA.  (Which means she’s good with numbers … this woman may be part unicorn.)  Mejia is going to be talking about taxes for creative types and the meeting is free and open to the public!

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All Things Ina: Everything’s been coming up Ina Garten lately.  She shared an epic Valentine’s Day playlist over on Spotify.  And then she went day drinking with Seth Meyers.  Hilarious.

Reading: During my recent work / life travels, I read Paula Hawkins’ “Girl on the Train.”  I can see the fuss.  Also reading Tracy Clark’s debut novel “Broken Places” and am very impressed with her work.

Writing Life:

That’s it for this week – I hope that this finds you well and warm!

– Shelley

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What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs.  I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.