Want to Get Some Reading Done? Hire a Terrier
You may recall (That’s Why You Don’t Leave the House) that we have occasional issues with rodentia in our rural Big Island home. Also, everywhere else we’ve lived on the island. Our first stop in North Kohala, the rats lived in the ceiling space above our heads and rolled mac nuts across it at night like bowling balls. There was a small knothole in the ceiling near the kitchen, and occasionally you’d see a rat head peering out of it like a periscope. It took us a month or more to get the rat situation under control here the last Read more…
Arachnopocalypse, or The Things That Occupy a Writer Between Paragraphs
It’s a good thing it’s hard to fall asleep on a yoga ball chair. Yes, it helps your productivity to actually be awake at your desk. (Although I have heard a well-timed nap can do wonders, unless you have three dogs and a cat for whom human napping is anathema.) But right now, staying awake at my desk is a matter of life and death. The day I fall asleep may be the day they eat me. Following is a rough reconstruction of the Arachnopocalypse timeline. Day One: Oh, that little bitty web at the ceiling is too hard to reach, Read more…
Egg Windfalls and Dysfunctions, and an Update on the Upcoming Book
I’ve mentioned before that eggs are liquid gold in Hawaii. My husband and I have never been big egg eaters, but several months ago when they hit $7 a dozen in the health food store (I’m not even sure they were organic) I put my foot down, or at least put my credit card away. No more! Earlier this month we were on the verge of breaking our boycott when one of our neighbors saw us on the street and gave us a dozen eggs fresh from her chickens. (We were having friends over and wanted to make ebelskivers; see the final Read more…
Nothing Drops our IQs Like a Plane Ticket
You ever wonder if all of our technology (or maybe artificial sweeteners or gamma rays from another galaxy) is making us stupid? Do you wonder what’s happened to our basic common sense? Don’t worry—this isn’t one of those back in my day we knew our times-tables rants. It actually dovetails with some research I’ve been doing, but I’ll start with a recent personal experience. Earlier this week, I drove to town to run some errands and stopped for a snorkel. The lifeguards had put out the High Surf and Strong Current signs. It was sloppy, and the sets rolling in Read more…
Mai Tais or Marketing? Tough Choice
So, now that I’ve sent a draft of the latest Sydney Brennan novel, Braving the Boneyard, off to my editor, what have I been up to over the past week? All Mai Tais and pool boys? Not exactly. (Although I did track down the Mad TV Pool Boy Dance for your viewing pleasure.) I mentioned in the last post (Resolve to be Resolute, Not to Aspire) that I’m working on my writing space, and I have to say: chair mats are beyond me. The sizing seems completely arbitrary. And how does having chunks cut of the corners mean a chair Read more…
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