This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. When I began writing fiction, I didn’t know conventions for writers even existed. (I think the Murder is Everywhere gang might excommunicate me for the confession). Before I was published, I joined the wonderful international program Sisters in Crime. Experienced women writers in that group told me that I … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. These days, pink is everywhere. Millennial Pink is the official name of the soft hue that now colors chairs from Target, rose-gold phones from Apple, and yes, pink clothing for both genders. Why this soft shade now? Is it because treatment of people has become so hard? Pink … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. There’s a poignant food moment during Made in Heaven, the gorgeous Amazon drama set in New Delhi, that makes me hungry remembering it. Tara, the show’s beautiful and troubled heroine, is alone at night when she buys a snack called golgappas from a street vendor. Golgappas are mini puris stuffed … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Confession. Last week, I did a scant amount of writing, and a lot of hillside climbing, on the Eastern Caribbean island of St. Christopher, better known as St. Kitts. I had flown here with all good intentions. Freed of daily chores, including dog walking and driving and cooking, … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. These days, photography seems to have become an expected skill for writers. Confession: I like to take pictures, but I don’t understand how to artfully compose them or wait until the right moment to get a great shot. I wish I’d learned more during my years as a … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Winter has a way of making me want to fly the heck away from Baltimore’s cold wind, leafless trees, and intermittent ice and snow storms. Sometimes, it actually happens. In the middle of winter of 2018, I spent time to Arizona and India while on book tour. The … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. M.F.K. Fisher, the great American food writer, once stated:”A writing cook and a cooking writer must be bold at the desk as well as the stove.” In the 1930s and ’40s, when Mary Frances began her concurrent explorations of cooking and writing, most writers did not cook, probably … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. A doctor once reassured that it’s normal for a writer to be disorganized. Clutter goes hand in hand with creativity. That my excuse for my lifelong for tendency to fall victim to clutter. But looking at it doesn’t make me feel calm. Because of my issues, I find … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. When the snow fell last weekend, I welcomed it, not just for its beauty, but the way it stops time. I grew up in Minnesota, where children are hardwired to appreciate the beauty of snow and also to expect it as a normal rhythm of the winter, rather … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. I’d love to start everything fresh in the new year. Clear Desk, Clear House, Clear Fridge seem to promise a Clear Mind. But I can’t blank out what’s already going on. For this writer there is my work in progress—Perveen Mistry #3, about 1/4 written—and various contracts for … Read more