inspiration
I was honored to receive an advance copy of Death at Greenway annotated by the author Lori Rader-Day, which I won in a charity auction. I made myself read it slowly, savoring the experience of having the insight of the author as I read her fabulous story about Agatha Christie’s holiday home. Lori generously answered a few of my questions to share with Miss Demeanor’s readers.
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Recently I spent twelve days in the hospital. One thing I discovered is that there is actually a limit to the number of Law & Orders you can watch. But, when I turned off the TV, I discovered myself awash in some of the most profound and moving stories I’d ever heard.
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While images of James Bond and his martinis and Nero Wolfe and his beer, and apocryphal quotes about the degree of inebriation best suited to writing, come readily to mind, no one thinks as much about a character’s favorite shade of nail polish or preferred aftershave. The Missdemeanors were up to the challenge, however. I asked them, You’ve been hired to create a new cocktail, ice cream flavor, or lipstick color. You have to name it after a book, fictional character, or author. Who’s it named for and what’s it like?
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You can say that all books are about a character trying to attain a perfect state of being–a perfect day.
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I don’t know who needs to hear this but… Churchill didn’t quit. Neither did Ray Kroc. Need some more inspirational quotes on persistence? Here are 52. What’s your favorite reminder to never give up? Share a bit of inspiration here, on Facebook, or Twitter.
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I was roaming around the woods yesterday when I came upon this hole. Immediately I was intrigued. Perhaps a horse made it? But why would a horse be hopping on one leg, and in any event, there are no horses in the woods. That I know of. Then I looked more closely. The edges of the dirt were smooth. I imagined a rock had been there and someone decided to pull it out. But why? Happens I’ve been rereading my first Maggie Dove mystery (because it is to be published in paperback soon! But more on that later.) Maggie Dove had planned to throw a rock at someone, so it was possible that someone had read my book and decided to emulate her. Though that seemed unlikely. The track team runs on this trail, so I thought it possible that someone tripped over the rock. Got irritated and dug it up. But why then would you leave a hole that you could trip on? No, the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that someone had done this with a purpose. I have a friend who paints on rocks. She could have chosen to pick it up. […]
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that an intelligent woman who turns to Twitter for information will soon find herself trapped in a sinkhole of despair. (Hieronymus Bosch comes to mind.) However, I’ve found that, by treading carefully, Twitter is actually entertaining. Bordering on inspirational. The key thing is to be careful about who you follow. Very careful! When I first joined Twitter, ten or so years ago, I was preoccupied with accumulating as many followers as I could. So I followed everyone. Everyone followed me back. Then I began getting really weird messages and I felt like I was hanging out with some very unusual people, and not in a good way. So I began to reevaluate. Cut back. Stop worrying about numbers and think about content. I winnowed down my list to people I liked. Some of my favorite tweeters: The Monty Don He is the host of Gardeners World and his Twitter feed is filled with beautiful pictures of gardens. Reading his posts in the morning is like breathing in fresh air. 2. Deanna Raybourn She is the author of the Veronica Speedwell mysteries, which I adore. Her Twitter feed is entertaining and just a little bit […]
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My dreams fall into two categories. In the past, and now. I’m not a medical expert but I think the pandemic changed them.
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One of the pleasures of being a writer is that it is my actual job to seek out weird facts. Sometimes I feel a bit like a jaybird, skimming through books and articles. Or eavesdropping. Or gossiping. Feathering my nest with all sorts of intriguing information. Will I actually use them? I just don’t know. When I least expect it, these facts pop out of my head. Or melt into my brain. For example, a weird fact about owls is that a group of them together is known as “a parliament.” According to chipperbirds.com, this is because owls are considered to be wise and intelligent. Like a parliament. Then there is the issue of the chocolate chip cookies. I was chatting with my son, who is living in London at the moment, and he informed me that when the French bake chocolate chip cookies, they don’t use brown sugar. (He sent me a recipe, so I can attest that this is true.) This weird fact stunned me as I have spent a good percentage of my life hacking away at brown sugar in a desperate attempt to make chocolate chip cookies. And more weird facts Then I was reading Midnight […]
Read MoreOn Sunday mornings, I’m like a little kid flipping on the television to watch Captain Kangaroo because it’s time for a new episode of Waldy & Bendy’s Adventures in Art Podcast! It sounds juvenile and while at times it may be silly, it is most definitely a podcast designed for grown-up art lovers. Here’s the link: Waldy & Bendy’s Adventures in Art Archives – ZCZ Films. Not just a Podcast! It’s not just a podcast – it is so much more. If you access the recordings on the ZCZ link, there is a page dedicated to each episode displaying the works discussed. So even as you hear what the boys have to say, you can see a high-definition image of their subjects. Listening to them on my headphones, it is like having my own two private experts revealing art to me as they see it. The experience is immediate and intimate. “Waldy” is Waldemar Januszczak, the (London) Sunday Times art critic, author, and BBC presenter of many documentaries including Impressionists Painting and Revolution (2011), Holbein: Eye of the Tudors (2015), and Big Sky, Big Dreams, Big Art: Made in the USA (2018). Several of his shows are available on Amazon […]
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