I’m not even going to pretend to be pithy today. It’s no secret that our Virtual Cocktail Guest this week is one of my all-time favorite people. Brett Battles is the kind of guy that you can always depend upon, whether you need a friendly chat, writerly advice, or reading recommendations. If you’ve not yet […]

Oops! Is it Thursday already? Sorry, I was caught up in the pages of a book. The last pages of a book. And a good book at that.
My book.
I’m doing the final read-through and edits for a manuscript - a McLean Jacobson manuscript, a lighter mystery of the type I pen […]

A few weeks ago, I blogged about an article that listed things that have disappeared from modern life. One item caught my attention, #22-The Afternoon Newspaper.
Back in the dark ages, before the Internet, ipods, and wifi—twenty or so years ago—most major city newspapers had a morning and an evening edition, but as television (particularly […]

They’re hot—red hot! They have a way with words. They know attractive women when they see them. And they’re willing to lay it all on the line.
Who are they?
We’re not telling.
But we will offer a sensual tease. The kind of tease that makes it impossible to turn away, impossible to sleep, impossible to forget…
The Good […]

So from everything I hear, the new Nancy Drew movie is not doing too well at the box office. I feared it was going to crash and burn the minute I read that they had saddled the Nanster with A KID BROTHER.
Huh?
What part of this sublime youthful feminine fantasy did these idiots not get? […]

Friends, friends, friends….I am in love. Hopelessly, passionately, desperately in love. Why, prior to this week, did no one ever tell me that I needed to throw myself on the mercy of the Green City Market? Don’t bother to answer; it doesn’t matter. I’ve found it now and have everything I could ever need. That’s […]

I’m still reading Agatha Christie’s autobiography. I know, I know. How could I be so slow? First of all, it’s long - over 600 pages. Second of all, I really don’t want it to end. I’m enjoying reading about her first dog, her first Nannie, first car, first cook, first […]

Summertime.
What does that word make you think of? Here’s my list: the pool, the scent of sunscreen, hot sand between my toes, road trips, cherry season (yeah—my favorite fruit!), sweltering heat, booming thunderstorms.
And of course, beach books. I haven’t actually made it to the beach yet this summer (pool—check), but I have […]

Summer is here.
And to me, that means lazy days, mini trips, and hours baking in the sun’s rays. It also means limited writing time no matter how hard I try to remain disciplined.
Fortunately, that slowed productivity doesn’t bother me as much as it used to because I know my mind is still working—plotting and […]

Virtual Cocktails will return next week when the world we live in and life in general settles down a bit. In the meantime, here’s a nice poem from Anne Sexton…
Be careful of words,
even the miraculous ones.
For the miraculous ones we do our best,
sometimes they swarm like insects
and leave not a sting but a kiss.
They can […]