What the girl's been up to . . .

 If you read my last post you'll know Annabelle and I are home alone.

I, in jest, muttered about "what's a girl to do while DH is out of town."

Those who know me know I've never had any difficulty entertaining myself.

Perhaps that comes from growing up as an only child.  Or being a bit of an introvert.  Or simply being content with my own company.  

I know some people need a good bit of socializing to keep them happy.  I know some people who think staying home alone is boring beyond words.  And some people just need to be out and about and doing stuff.

My lifestyle of happily being at home, sometimes, for several days at a time, seems weird to some.  Oh, well.  To each his own.

When the urge or need hits, believe me, i will get up, go out, and do stuff.

In the meantime, Annabelle and I are fine fine fine.  She has, by the way, started speaking to me again.  We're pals.  She is sticking pretty close.  ❤

We chat with Donald a couple times a day and things are going well with the move.

I did order a bag of scrap fabric from amazon, and pulled out all the other items needed to make my own version of the scarf I mentioned in my last post.

While waiting for the fabric to arrive I've done a little bit of cooking (thank you, Greg Herren for that Sloppy Joe recipe!  The BEST!). 

I've read a couple of VERY good books, and watched a couple of movies.

Books have let me down this year.  Some that sounded good didn't hold my interest.   Some I was looking forward to disappointed.

But.

Thanks to NetGalley.com I did read two that I loved.  Started and could not put down (I love being retired).

Want to hear what they were?

Neither have been released yet but you can pre-order them.

Check 'em out!!!

Next up is . . .

Movies I've (re)watched are Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Practical Magic, and Midnight in Paris.

And, that, my friends, is what's happening in Meat Camp, North Carolina.

Life is good.

Guess Who's Eligible for an Anthony Nomination this Year?

wow.


Me.


After years of having the privilege of submitting names for various mystery award nominations, I have a short story that's eligible.


This is a first. A very fun first.


It feels very odd, but kind of delightfully odd, to be able to say to you, if you read and enjoyed "Voodoo at the Jitterbug," I would appreciate your consideration.


From the Bouchercon 2017 webpage: "If you were registered for Bouchercon in New Orleans and/or are signed up for Toronto this year, your Anthony Award nomination ballot will be arriving in your email box on Tuesday, February 28.

The nomination form will be coming from SurveyMonkey. If you don't see it in your inbox, please check your spam/junk folder. If it's not there by Wednesday, March 1, please message us.

Anthony Award nomination forms are due back by April 30. As soon as all nominations are tabulated, the 2017 Anthony Award Nominees will be announced."


AND - the anthology, Blood on the Bayou, 2016 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Greg Herren, is also eligible for nomination.


Thanks, everyone!!

To those of you who voted for Trump

Whoa! Those of you who are telling us to calm down.

To be "gracious in our loss?!" 

It's NOT a fucking sporting event. 

Did Republicans calm down quickly after Barack Obama was elected? 

Why, no. No, they didn't - for, um, HOW MANY YEARS did you not calm down?

Good Lord - some of you are still insisting on his birth certificate, for God's sake!  In case you didn't hear, your hero, Trump, finally admitted to not being serious about any of that . . .

How very presidential of him.

And another thing . . . 

To those of you who are so smug in your "get over it" preaching. 

How 'bout you guys "get over" your witch hunt. 

Hillary Clinton has been proven innocent of all the crap thrown at her for more years than some of you have been alive. 

Surely to God, if she were guilty of even one of these charges, she would have been charged, indicted, arrested and thrown into the hoosgow by now. 

So, how bout this? 

"Get over it."

And, oh yeah, there will be lots more of this sort of thing showing up here.

As my friend Greg Herren said this morning, "I plan to treat President Trump with the same level of respect with which President Obama was treated by the Republicans."

Bouchercon 2016

Only 46 days until Bouchercon!

Yay!!!


One of the long awaited B'Con events every year is the unveiling of the panel schedule.


Placing 750+ authors into approximately 480 panel slots fell into the more than capable hands of Jon Jordan and Judy Bobalik this year.  They're pros at this, and did their usual outstanding job.  But, you know, it's hard to make everyone happy (unless you're pizza).  Needless to say, there are happy folks and there are unhappy folks.  Always.  And in coming years at upcoming conventions, these roles could be reversed.


I fall into the happy folks category.

You can find the entire Bouchercon schedule here, thanks to the incredibly always on top of things, Erin Mitchell.

If you plan on being in New Orleans for Bouchercon this year, I hope you'll stop by the "All the Critics Love You in New York Panel" at 12:00 on Thursday. 

 Librarian Penny Halle of "Murder and Mayhem in Muskego" fame will be moderating  Lesa Holstine of Lesa's Book Critiques, Dru Ann Love of Dru's Book Musings,  Kristopher Zgorski of BOLO Books,  Erica Neubauer, Freelance Book Reviewer at Publishers Weekly, and me, as we discuss books we recommend.

This should be fun, and I can promise you'll walk away with a list of new books to add to your ever-growing "To Be Read" stack.

And -

I'll also be joining David Morrell, who is best known for his popular character Rambo, bestselling author Heather Graham and the rest of the talented and awesome contributors to this year's Bouchercon anthology, Blood on the Bayou, for a group signing.

The signing will take place on Saturday at 2:00.

Blood on the Bayou, edited by the marvelous Greg Herren, is now available for pre-order through Down & Out Books -

https://downandoutbooks.com/2016/07/22/now-available-to-pre-order-from-down-out-books-blood-on-the-bayou-by-greg-herren-editor/

I always look forward to Bouchercon.

I'm not able to attend every year, which makes it that much more special, I guess, when I do.

There are always some moments of pure magic.

I love when I happen to bump into an author whose work I love and get to exchange a few words, when I get to have breakfast, lunch or dinner with old and dear friends I don't get to see often enough.

There's always much to love about Bouchercon.

This year I'll get to spend some time exploring a city I've never been to, but have long been fascinated by.

I plan on spending a lot of time wandering the city with my camera, and have a list a mile long of places I want to see.

A pretty long list of places to shop.

A monstrously long list of places to eat.

All in all, I expect this to be a pretty memorable Bouchercon.

Life is good.