Category: Friday Fare

Well, this article was good news for me considering I’m profane, a slob, and like to stay up until the wee hours of the late evening.  (If I’m not in bed by midnight, I turn into a freakin’ Gremlin, so none of the “hours of the morning” for this mom of two.)

This was a great piece about iconic moments in personal or professional fashion.

Finally – fall means soup season.  And I love pickles.  So I need to try this.

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Listening: We’re all aware of my love for Neil Diamond, right? Here’s an article that goes into the meaning behind 10 of his most iconic songs.  Not sure why they didn’t profile this one.

Also – I think this falls under my “have I been living under a rock?” category.  I don’t know who this man is, but I’m glad to know that there’s more music to discover.

Reading: Still reading Estevez and Sheen.  Work’s been busy, so it cuts into things that are fun (and essential).

Writing Life: See above. 😦

To say this week was a shitty week, that really doesn’t do it justice.  And I’m one of the lucky ones – I wasn’t innocently attending a concert and shot at by some deranged asshole with an arsenal of weapons.  I didn’t lose someone that I loved.  I have my house, electricity, and healthy family members. I prefer action to “thoughts and prayers” but have little hope that anything is going to happen with the current climate in our country.

^^ I wrote this because it feels twee to post a bunch of random Internet articles and not acknowledge the chaos that’s happening all around us.  I don’t have answers and I have some vague ideas that go beyond trying to beam kindness at everyone I encounter.  Suggestions are welcome.  Leave me a comment.  And seriously – let’s do our best to not be assholes to each other.  Again, not an answer – but maybe that’s the smallest, minimal step that we can take towards making our corner of the universe a place that’s more peaceful.

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Listening:

Why does losing Tom Petty feel like losing a piece of ourselves?  The LA Times takes a crack at that riddle.  Incidentally, this video of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame featuring Petty, Prince, Steve Winwood, and Jeff Lynne still is one of the best vids of all time.

Reading: I’m in a bit of a reading rut and I’ll admit that.  However, I was trying to reserve a book at my local library when I came across an autobiography written by President Bartlet, erm – Martin Sheen and his eldest son Emilio Estevez.  Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son is wonderfully written and I’m really enjoying it.

GOING: I have a partially solo weekend coming up this weekend.  If I hit my writing goals on Friday, I’m treating myself to a movie and this one looks ridiculously cliche, but features Idris Elba (hot!) and Kate Winslet (hotter!).  I’m not even going to read the reviews, I’m just going and enjoying.

I have a date on Saturday with my momma.  My dad’s usually my concert buddy, but my mom has a soft spot for Chris Stapleton, so we’re going.

Writing: Editing.  Have run into a bit of a snag, but I’ve ID’d what I need to do to get out of it, so … time for some backtracking.

I’m sitting at my desk, wearing a fleece as I write this.  And. It’s. Heavenly.  Here’s some good stuff from the Interwebs:

Monday (September 25th) was One-Hit Wonder Day and one of my former high school classmates (who’s also a kick ass DJ down in Waterloo, Iowa) posted his list of favorites.  There are a couple on here that made me smile and definitely think to myself “why yes, JP – we went to high school together.”

Speaking of favorite things, The Telegraph recently published an article asking “Why LA Confidential is Hollywood’s Last Great Noir.”  L.A. Confidential is a 1997 movie based on (the master) James Ellroy’s 1990 novel (of the same day.)  The movie helped launch the careers of a couple Australian actors (certainly, you’ve now heard of Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce?) and featured standout performances from Kim Basinger (who won a Best Supporting Oscar for her role), Kevin Spacey, David Strathairn, Danny DeVito, and James Cromwell.  While I haven’t watched the movie for awhile, back when I was living on my own (and had a working VHS player), I probably watched it monthly – it was a visual version of comfort food.  (And no, I don’t want to know what that says about me.)

Finally, when I think about fall, I think about chai tea lattes.  This cake would also do in a pinch.

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Listening: Willie Watson was one of the founding members of Old Crow Medicine Show and later left the band to become one of the premier interpreters of roots and folk music. He has a new album out and NPR featured this video recently.  So damn good.

Reading: My reading has fallen a bit off of the radar lately.  And it’s not a matter of not having enough books …

But recently, I downloaded Peter Graham’s “Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century.”  This book interested me for a couple of reasons.  1) Anne Perry?  She’s an amazingly successful mystery writer.  2) A murder she was involved in (yes, you read that right), riveted New Zealand and was later made into a movie by Peter Jackson called “Heavenly Creatures” (which featured a young Kate Winslet before she made her fortune on the “Titanic.”)  This book review from the Washington Post gives a good overview of the book.

Writing Life: Busy.  Edits.  New project with some amazing writers.  Edits.  Work.  Lots and lots of work.  Busy.

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!

I’m a little embarrassed that this is the first mention I’ve made on my blog about this, but as I’ve shared this on my social media feeds (follow me!  I’m on Twitter and the Instagram!), I don’t feel like this is a total failure to communicate. My work-in-progress is on the long list for Killer Nashville‘s Claymore Award.

This was me when I read the email:

I’ll be making the trip down to Nashville later this month.  I cannot express how thrilled and honored I was to be counted among my fellow nominees.

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Listening: In no particular order: Patti Smith (read the touching tribute she penned to her former lover and longtime friend Sam Shepard here); Sturgill Simpson; and Gillian Welch.

Reading: Read Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Shadow Lands.”  And it was marvelous.  While Kostova’s debut novel “The Historian” is one of my all-time favorites, her sophomore effort “The Swan Thieves” left a lot to be desired.  In “The Shadow Lands” Kostova returns to familiar territory in Eastern Europe, telling the story of a modern day young woman who finds herself meshed in a mystery that has ties to the past.

Writing Life: Eeeeedddddiiiiittttsssss.   Edits. Edits. Edits.

That’s about it for me, friends … hope that this blog post finds you well and ready for the weekend!

MUAH!

It’s been a little quiet around these parts lately … my apologies!  (And it’s not for lack of interesting things on the web, the article keep flowing …)  But man – the time I’ve been away has been personally fulfilling and seriously packed with late nights and excellent adventures.

Last week alone, I got to hang out with some dear, dear friends that I met 19 years ago when I worked at ValleyFair for the summer.  (For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, VF is a amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota.)  My friend Jessica and I were heading to see Neil Diamond at the Xcel Energy Center and agreed to meet up for dinner beforehand.  To my surprise, she organized a quick dinner party with our old friends and man … 19 years is a long time to go without talking to people, but after the requisite “How many kids do you have?  What are you doing now? Whatever happened to that guy – didn’t he go to jail?”, it was like that summer on East Hennepin Avenue (that was after hours at Pete or Tony’s apartments, utilizing Pete’s ID since he was the only one old enough to buy beer).

The next night featured a meet-up with Lori Rader-Day.  She’s the current president of Mystery Writers of America-Midwest.  And oh, hey … she just had a book came out.  “The Day I Died” is getting some amazing press and glowing reviews (here’s the one from Publishers Weekly).  And Lori’s just an all-around amazing person and is one of the most supportive people you’ll ever meet for those of us in the trenches waiting for publication.  Lori was at Subtext Books in St. Paul with Kristi Belcamino.  Kristi’s YA book “City of Angels” just came out as well and has been receiving equally amazing reviews. I’m proud to know both of these women and spending an evening rubbing elbows with them?  Amazing.

Phew … that’s a lot.  But that’s not the end of it.  I spent the holiday weekend with my best friend and former college roommate.  (And in the mornings when she slept in [because her internal alarm clock is not skewed because of early bird children], I got to spend time editing “Dragonfly” and taking care of some other literary business.)

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Listening: Robert Plant “29 Palms.”  I kept hearing this song on the stretch of Highway 52 between northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota and had to find out who sang it.  Should have figured it was the incomparable Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame.  This song comes from Plant’s 1993 solo release “Fate of the Nations.”  Rolling Stone had this to say about Plant’s vocals on this song: “… Plant’s always incredible voice finds a new temperature for sex.”  Best. Line. In. A. Review … maybe ever.

Reading: Finished “Jane Steele” by Lyndsey Faye – an amazing homage to Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” (<– I have a ridiculous soft spot in my heart for that book, I do not care what my friends say …).  Also finished “Death’s Acre” by Dr. William Bass, the visionary who founded the University of Tennessee’s “Body Farm.”  And incredible book about an incredible forensic scientist.  You may not want to read while eating …

Writing Life: Life has been marvelously busy lately.  We’ve had some changes in our personal lives that are incredibly bittersweet, but positive.  (Not to be too vague, but basically – my babies are growing up and we’re changing up their care routine.)  Despite the chaos and an uptick at work, edits are going well with “Dragonfly.”  Part of the clarity around my edits have a lot to do with a class I recently took at The Loft Literary Center.  It was a class on scene and structure with Tamara Hogan.  I was able to get some useful tools out of the class and was able to apply it to my manuscript.

Sorry for the really, really verbose update on my goings on.  I think all of us need to “fill the well” sometimes and looking back at last week – my cup runneth over.

A few good things from the Interwebs this week:

This excerpt was nowhere near long enough.  Cannot wait to read Patricia Lockwood’s memoir.

Warren Beatty is 80.  And according to this article, he’s still got it.  And he’s funny as hell, worth a read.

It’s been years since I’ve read Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods,” but it should surprise no one that the book is rooted in Midwestern weirdness.

I’ve made this dish twice already and it’s been my morning breakfast.  And sometimes an afternoon snack.  It is so effing good.

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Writing Life: I had last Sunday to myself and established my editing calendar for “Dragonfly.”  And yeah … I’m already behind.  But it’s OK. I got one night of edits in and as soon as I put my notebook and laptop away, the ideas started flowing in on how to revive a troublesome chapter.  <– That’s why you pay tribute to the Muse. Even if her timing is fricking inconvenient. 

Still raining, but the pictures above have me dreaming about springtime.  Because April showers and yadda, yadda, yadda … Shall we?

Limited time only from Starbucks!!!  The Unicorn Frappucino!!  Reviews can be found here and here.  I’ll let you guess which article was my favorite.

Huzzah to Midwestern indie presses!  The Midwest Book Award finalist list has been announced.  Some good reading to be found here.

Um … birthday wishlist.

Finally, there’s a new book that pays tribute to an object that is now a Pinterest favorite.  The library card catalog.  I think I’ll need to see a copy of this book.

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Writing Life:  Hit the deadline for consideration of a short story in an upcoming anthology through the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime.  And that was even with company coming over on Saturday!  Go me.

Work decided to be hectic this week, so not much else other than trying to survive and going to bed at night feeling my eyeballs twitch from too much coffee.  (Apparently, there is such a thing.)  Next week will be better!

Friends, we made it through another week … Happy Friday!

Spring is here in Minnesota with a rainy vengeance.  But the trees are budding, there are earthworms everywhere, and the Interwebs are random … shall we?

I’m a fan of Lorde, even if I’m pushing 40 and I wasn’t half as cool as she was in her teenage years.  This was an interesting piece (with awesome photos) of her return to the spotlight.

I made two cakes this week (we celebrated a couple birthdays in my writer’s group).  The first one – Nigella Lawson’s Guinness-infused cake – was damn tasty.  (I’ll tell you – for once, read the comments section.  Good tips/swaps/suggestions in here by people who made the cake.  One of them – make it a day ahead, the flavor will only get better.  My changes – nixed the frosting [powdered sugar on top with the choice between salted caramel or a berry coulis to top it], used Toppling Goliath’s Rover Truck oatmeal stout instead of Guinness, and added a pinch of kosher salt to the batter.)  The second one was Smitten Kitchen’s Vanilla Bean Pound Cake.  And that fricking thing was true to name – it weighed a ton.  And while it was tasty, make this one instead.  (Even with the sifting needed.)

This gave me a larf.  (Hint:  Stephen King vs. James Patterson.)

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Writing Life:  I spent an enjoyable Saturday with some amazing writer friends at the Edina Art Center.  (See pic of Vivian the Art Center Pug in the collage up above – she was moving on to someone who didn’t smell of cats and dubiously-behaved children.)  I moderated a panel about humor and mysteries featuring Midge Bubany, Jessie Chandler, Barbara Deese, Pat Dennis, and Christine Husom. We had a nice crowd, some hilarious readings, and a great atmosphere at the Edina Art Center.

I have a looming deadline to get a short story ready for consideration in an upcoming anthology through the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime.  I’m almost there … I have some amazing feedback from my writer’s group and another one of my writing friends.  Just gotta get AIC (ass in chair) and finish it up!

Because I was in Edina on Saturday with some time on my hands, because my children were spending the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s (HOORAY FOR GRANDPARENTS), and because it has spent enough time “marinating”, I started digging in on “Dragonfly” over the weekend. There’s some good stuff there.  There’s some really terrible stuff that’s been written, but it’s the writer’s life for me. 🙂