This is the third in a series of what I’m calling Magpie Moments, things that I snagged from real life and repurposed into fiction. I’ll add something new to the series every week until the next Sydney Brennan release. And SPOILER ALERT: you may not want to read these if you haven’t read Back to Lazarus yet. Ida set her tea glass down and rested her elbows on the table. “I don’t grow fresh mint anymore. I guess you saw Mr. Phillips next door, with his greens and tomatoes in buckets. The EPA man told him it wasn’t safe to eat anything that grew in Read more…

This is the second in a series of what I’m calling Magpie Moments, things that I snagged from real life and repurposed into fiction. I will add something new to the series every week until the next Sydney Brennan release. And SPOILER ALERT: you may not want to read these if you haven’t read Back to Lazarus yet. When I was a sophomore in high school, I caught an elbow playing pick-up basketball and ended up with a hell of a shiner that covered half my face. It was beyond makeup, even if I had owned any and known how to use it. Instead, I Read more…

David Sedaris is one of those people who could make a to-do list funny, interesting, and sometimes even insightful and transformative. I am definitely a fan. He often talks about cannibalizing his own life for his writing. For example, one essay in the fabulous Me Talk Pretty One Day centers around his compulsion to share a personal story that his sister forbids him from telling. (As he points out, it’s not like she’s doing anything with it.) I doubt that fiction authors are any different from essayists. I’m always incorporating bits of my life or the lives of others into my writing, sometimes Read more…