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
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Have you heard about gratitude lists? Writing down what one is grateful for, every night, is said to benefit psychological health, sleep, and relations with others. I’ve been marking small bits of gratitude down in my trusty bullet journal of 2018, a dog-eared book that is entering into its last … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. I send greetings from the north of Italy, where Christmas lights are twinkling and it’s time to buy panettone. It was a grand surprise a few months ago, when my Italian publisher, Neri Pozza, share an invitation to be a literary guest at Festival In Noir, an international … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. The Golden State was the port of entry for me as a very young immigrant from Great Britain. Although my family’s stint in California only totaled three years of my childhood, it has always held a mythic place in my heart. Palo Alto is where I remember collecting … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Two years ago, it was my rotation for blog duty the day after the US presidential election. I planned to write something about it that night—because nothing else seemed relevant. I spent the day buzzing around, feeling anxious yet certain the stress would soon end, and I’d be … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. On a hot Saturday afternoon in early October, I was in the Mumbai Harbour, taking the slow tourist boat back from the cave temples on Elephanta Island. The water journey had been almost two hours, and I had only a few drops of water left in my bottle. … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Did anybody ever tell you that it’s easier to raise three children than two? I am fine with the two that I have, but I’m beginning to believe the saying could be true. Especially when I think about books. If each book a writer births is like a … Read more