This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. A novelist I greatly admire wrote her last blogpost in September. Catriona McPherson, formerly of the Femmes Fatales, declared that that with the election ahead, so much work needed to be done that she felt it useless to write about “cats and courgettes”—nor did she want to turn her … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. In the early hours of Wednesday November 4, I am running on fumes and bittersweet chocolate. I stayed awake much of Tuesday night, watching and waiting as the votes roll in for the 2020 presidential election. Where was the easy win for Biden that I expected? I voted … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. This is not a post about death. It is about the phenomenon of Pandemic Bucket Lists. In the Before Times, my family and I commuted to work and spent long hours on errands and other activities outside our house. When our state locked down in April, I was … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. She promised us she would not give up. Cancer hit her four times, yet she stayed on the job, conscious of the Americans who relied on her power within the U.S. Supreme Court. She strengthened herself by lifting weights, made from iron, and from authoritarianism. Ruth Bader Ginsburg … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. What a grand feeling for a writer to labor over the creation of the book, reach the final page, and triumphantly type: THE END. (Sujata clears throat) Sorry, it’s not the end. If you’re a writer working with a traditional publisher, finishing a book means you’re submitting it to … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. This is a post about voting in 2020… but it begins at the time I was trying to become a citizen. In 1998, I was a longtime green card holder who had finally made a citizenship application. Friends had told me not to be nervous at my US … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. The most exciting kind of travel has been taken away from us. Borders are closed, flights cancelled, museums shuttered. And who dares go to a restaurant? Yet we can still escape quarantine with books. And nowhere has seemed more mysterious, gorgeous and suspenseful to me than the inner … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. I got a three-month writing retreat with every comfort needed! I scrawled the grand statement, which sounds like a cheesy advertisement, and taped it next to the guest room desk back in March. I was upset about the pandemic, and I was trying to reframe what I could … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. A few weeks into the pandemic, a big bang broke this stillness of a stay-at-home Saturday afternoon. An electric fuse had blown, which meant the third floor had no lights, and the wi-fi was down as well. When I say a fuse was blown, I don’t mean a … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. People around the world are saying, when? Over eight weeks ago, business as usual stopped for most of us. Not just working: but shopping, learning, socializing, being out in society. Some are saying enough already! and demanding that their states’ governors reopen all non-essential businesses and get children back to school. … Read more