I collect photographs by a man named Wallace Nutting. You can read about him here and here. But it’s not the man who interests me–it’s his work. He hand-colored his early twentieth-century photographs of rural Americana, making them lovelier, richer, more dramatic than the photographs alone would have been. I’m fascinated by this twice-removed notion …Read More
It seems I mention the novel REBECCA a lot. But I love Hitchcock’s film as well. Have you seen the BBC program That Mitchell and Webb Look? They do a lot of funny things, but this sketch is brilliant!
My dreams are filled with people these days, strangers who come onto our land, and into our house. Their faces are vivid. They might be people I’d see on the streets in town, or at the mall, or driving in cars–anywhere. In one dream, several of them have set up tents in our driveway, their …Read More
If you know me, you know what a sucker I am for Project Runway. Actually, the whole family is addicted–even Bengal, our eight year-old, will comment on the challenges. He knows that one really should stay away from produce during the Make-an-Outfit-at-the-Winn-Dixie challenge. Though it worked out for Korto last week. (Love the kimono look, …Read More
I’ve always disliked that tired old phrase, “Nice guys finish last.” It simply isn’t always true. Over the last year, I’ve made the acquaintance of many successful people in writing and publishing, and I could qualify nearly all of them as nice–at least to some extent. But my friend, the writer Luanne Rice, is Queen …Read More
I knew I would adore Kelli Stanley just as soon as I heard that she’d coined the term “Roman Noir” for her first novel, NOX DORMIENDA: A Long Night for Sleeping. My daughter is a scholar of all things pertaining to ancient Rome, and she even tried to teach her eccentrically-educated mother a little Latin …Read More
If I weren’t a writer, I think I’d want to be an architect. I like industrial landscapes. I like the stark angles of buildings and the simple, artful details of construction materials like steel, brick, stucco, wood and concrete. So while I feel wistful about being away from home when I travel, and nervous about …Read More
Once, years ago, I went fishing with my father and sisters. There were worms and the hook and line got tangled in the tree behind me. That was the first and last time I went fishing. Today the Amish kids from up the road came by to fish our pond. Here are the three largest …Read More
A little more on the Big City tomorrow. The FedEx folks delivered my copyedited manuscript for CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS yesterday morning. I had been wondering when it would arrive and had bugged my editor’s assistant about it when I saw him in the bar at Thrillerfest. But it turns out he’d been promoted to …Read More
A review of my almost-week in the Big City wouldn’t be complete without a mention of a the Quick Thrills From Out-of-Towners reading I did at Borders Manhattan Park Avenue with several of my friends. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the week (running a hard third behind coffee with WDWF and sitting next …Read More