It seems I’m always looking forward to something. This weekend it’s having a booth at the Jackass Mail Run. This is the beginning of Rodeo Weekend in Springville, CA. This particular event begins at noon with booths lining Main Street. (The part of Highway 190 that goes through town.) My booth will be in front […]
I’ve got a ton of people coming for dinner on Saturday night. It’s the start of Passover and we celebrate with a ritual meal called a Seder. This holiday marks the Biblical exodus of the Jews from Egypt. We sing songs, say prayers, and eat certain traditional foods (yes, this is the origin of matzoh […]
Lorraine Bartlett is the author of Murder Is Binding, the first in the Booktown Mystery series, now available, and the author of the Jeff Resnick Mystery series. Dead In Red will be released in late June by Five Star. I’m writing under two names: L.L. Bartlett writes the Jeff Resnick Mysteries, which are either psychological […]
Coming late to a writing career, the first piece of advice I was given was not to quit my day job. Unless lightening strikes, it could take a decade of work before the income from your writing pays the bills. And that’s the optimistic view. For more than twenty years, my day job has been […]
Is there any better feeling than throwing stuff out? Am I the only person who feels this way? (Show of hands, please.) The whole spring cleaning exercise started this year when my teenage daughter, whose bedroom had last been decorated when Clinton was in his first term of office—before the blue dress, before we used […]
Or I could title this, “Figuring Out How to Get Other People to Do your Chores.” The older I get, the harder it is for me to take care of everything in my home like I used to do. I’ve been paying someone to do my housework for years. Back when I had kids at […]
Last week I gave a library talk in Neptune, New Jersey. Lovely group, great food, fun discussion about my favorite topic – mysteries! I was packing up, considering carefully whether I should take one of those delicious brownies for the road, when a gentleman stopped me. He wanted to know: “How did you become a […]
Today Evelyn David interviews Elizabeth Zelvin, author of Death Will Get You Sober (St. Martin’s, in bookstores April 15). Liz’s story, “Death Will Clean Your Closet,” has been nominated for an Agatha award for Best Short Story. The story appeared in the anthology Murder New York Style and is available as a free download on […]
It’s that time of year again. Tornado season. Monday was the first day of 2008 that eastern Oklahoma was under a tornado watch. Of course I’m used to Oklahoma’s wild spring weather. I grew up here. Some of my earliest memories are of being bundled up in the middle of the night and taken to […]
I make every attempt to get my family to eat healthy. This is not an easy task because I have a son who likes virtually nothing, except for (inexplicably) pepperoni. He claims not to eat meat, but will partake of a steak dinner if it is offered (and/or if I threaten him with a six-thirty […]