The fact that my last newsletter was almost six months ago and was about the surprise death of my cat and my aunt should tell you everything you need to know about why it’s been so long since I last wrote to you. Things didn’t really get much better and then the weather tried to…
I’m big fan of Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, so when I heard she wrote a mystery novel I was very excited. It’s even better than I hoped. It’s a celebration and skewering of authors and publishing and mystery novels as well as a very funny skewering of Save the Cat style…
Since Mort passed away in Feb we’ve been thinking about getting a kitten, but we wanted the situation to be right and with Maurice still holding on it was going to be a tricky dance. Then a few days ago I saw a post on Bluesky from John Scalzi’s daughter Athena about finding a bonded…
Spenser and I did a double feature last night and saw the new minions movie then the new Jackass movie. It was thoroughly delightful and both are loving tributes to cinema in their own skewed way. The genuine love and non toxic masculinity of the Jackass guys is awesome.
I bought myself a Jinhao 9019 fountain pen as an early Father’s Day present. I’ve been writing longhand more lately because it‘s easier to get started and isn’t as distracting or uncomfortable on my wrists as my computer. This feels premium and is the best pen I’ve ever used. pretty good for $15.
Spenser’s graduation came and went so fast and I was so annoyed by how hot the arena was where they had the ceremony and the families in the stands screaming and hollering so we couldn’t hear anything. So I’m just now processing all of it and the complicated cocktail of emotions I‘m awash in.
Too much grief. That’s the phrase that’s been going through my head a lot the last couple of weeks. It really started though about six months ago when I was laid off from my job unexpectedly. That really messed me up on just about every level. It didn’t help that I’ve been in a crisis…
I don’t remember a time I didn’t know Lori Rader-Day. We started as online acquaintances then got to be better friends when I joined Mystery Writers of America and she was heavily involved in the Midwest chapter. More recently we’ve developed a closer friendship and have acted as sounding boards and cheerleaders for each other.…
Navigating life with ADHD requires an ever-changing mix of high tech and low tech processes and tools. One of the things I‘ve been realizing is that I need to have a notebook on me at all times because handwriting important notes imprints them on my brain better than typing them into an Apple note. But…
2025 joins an uncomfortably large group of years recently that I am happy to punt into the sun, but it wasn’t all misery and depression. I did read some good books (I also did some good writing, but we’ll get to that in a bit). One cool thing I did this year was finally start…
J. Todd Scott is one of of those folks I first met through social media and have had the pleasure of also meeting in person. I’ll always have a special affection for the first time we met because it was at the Bouchercon Putnam author party and I was there as a Stuart Woods co-author.…
I’ve known Michael Koryta for almost 20 years and he has read more terrible drafts of my attempts at a PI novel than anyone not related to me should ever have to read. He is one of the most generous and supportive writers in a community known for pretty generous and supportive authors. He’s never…
This is 49. I’m tired, I need a haircut, my therapist is late for my appointment, and this is the first birthday I’ve celebrated in a while without having a job, but I’m surviving and that seems to be an epic accomplishment these days so I’ll take it.
Today is my last official day with Industry Dive (Informa TechTarget whatever). After three years at my current job, my position is being eliminated as part of organization-wide restructuring. Right now I’m mostly stunned and a bit disoriented, but soon I will recover and dig down deep and find all of the reasons this is…
I’ve been on a run lately of memoirs and biographies of writers, actors, and performers I admire including Kelly Bishop, Carole King, Marvin Hamlisch, and Elmore Leonard. As much as I love reading stuff like this, it can also be an exercise in frustration for me as well. I lament that I wasn’t born to…
Other than two rejections from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, I haven’t had a short story rejected in more than fifteen years. I’ve had two this year already. That obviously hurts my confidence, but what’s worse is that I should have never written them in the first place. One of the reasons I haven’t had a rejection…
Note: Various versions of pieces of this appeared recently across my social media profiles and a few group texts, but I wanted to gather it all together in one place and smooth it out a bit, so I hope if you’ve already read some, or all, of this you don’t feel cheated. All I’ve ever…
I’ve been watching a lot of MURDER, SHE WROTE and COLUMBO lately partially as a comfort to the horrors of the real world and partially as research in trying to find the right tone and style for my typewriter mystery. Finding my current style – both creatively and in day-to-day life – has been one…
I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence lately. Unlike the marvelous Julie Andrews who sings the song from Sound of Music that this entry draws its title from, I do not have confidence. Or, rather, I’ve had trouble maintaining confidence personally and professionally for the last few years. Personally, it started at the end of…
Today is Halloween and we added that new Chucky balloon to our menagerie at the kids’ request. The weather has been unseasonably warm and I’ve complained about it a lot, but today for trick or treating it will be nice. Then it’s supposed to drop down into proper fall temperatures this weekend. I’m hoping to…