Shades of Winterport on Vacation, or Why You Don’t Ask a Writer for Directions
Another airport, another Friday blog post. <Glance at calendar> But wait—it’s not Friday; it’s Sunday. Yeah, about that… I actually wrote the following post on an airplane Friday, intending to upload it at the next airport when we landed, but then things got complicated. One of our flights was delayed (while we sat on the tarmac with no internet), which meant we missed our connection at LAX, yada, yada, yada… The short version (I may share a longer version this coming Friday if I haven’t gotten it out of my system yet) is we spent Friday night in Honolulu, made it to Read more…
Magpie Moments: Not the Cheeseburger Pie!
Today I thought it was time for another Magpie Moment. These are bits I snatched from real life and incorporated, magpie-like, into my fiction. We haven’t talked about food for a while, so we’re due, right? Or maybe I’m just hungry, like my fictional private investigator Sydney Brennan in this scene (and, honestly, most of the time). I took a wary bite. The last dish my sister prepared for me was probably a bowl of cereal, so I was pleasantly surprised. “I’m usually not a fan of chilled quiche, but this …” “I know,” Lisa said, smiling. “It doesn’t just Read more…
Magpie Moments: The Glamorous Life of a PI on the Road
A few weeks ago, I wrote a Magpie Moments post (bits of real life, incorporated into Sydney’s adventures) about the Delta Orlando Resort. This week, I thought I’d write about less luxurious accommodations. “… I travel a lot, and I always feel funny about using the hotel phone. Like I can feel the last person’s face there.” Lisa looked at me as if I were wearing my underwear on the outside of my clothes. “It’s no worse than the bed, or—” she almost couldn’t bring herself to finish, “—the toilet.” “True,” I said. “And, unlike me, Graeme probably never stays in Read more…
Magpie Moments: A Hotel by any Other Name
As of yesterday, No Safe Winterport, the fourth Sydney Brennan book, is live! Woo hoo! Well, the ebook is anyway. Apologies to my paperback readers. I’m still waiting for a paperback proof copy (yes, I’m that paranoid) to make its way across the wide Pacific Ocean. It’s unlikely that I accidentally uploaded my grocery list instead of the manuscript, but in this unreasonably hot summer anything is possible. (By the way, I’m one of those people you hate in the grocery store because you think I’m that addicted to my smartphone; I’m actually staring slavishly at its screen because my Read more…
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