Where Am I ?

Happy Weekend !


I hate to be one to wish my life away, but . . .

I admit it - I am wishing this winter gone.

And every weekend gets us one week closer to spring - Yay!!!

This is not only Valentine's Weekend, it's Donald's birthday.

We celebrated a little by going out to dinner last night.

Today we're going to scoot over to my Mom's for a little while - maybe play a little Canasta.

Sometime today or tonight I'm going to bake him a cake in my new heartshape Bundt pan. A chocolate walnut pound cake. Yum.

In the meantime, I'm also hanging out with my friends at Poe's Deadly Daughters blogspot this weekend. I hope you'll drop by and say "Hey!" We're going to talk about Valentine's Day.

A Trip to Boone by Elizabeth Zelvin

Elizabeth Zelvin is a New York City psychotherapist who writes mysteries about recovering alcoholic Bruce Kohler and his friends. The new one, DEATH WILL HELP YOU LEAVE HIM, is in stores now. The first was DEATH WILL GET YOU SOBER. The series includes three published short stories, one nominated for an Agatha award. Liz’s author website is www.elizabethzelvin.com. She blogs on Poe’s Deadly Daughters.

(where Liz does her writing)

A Trip to Boone by Elizabeth Zelvin

Everybody on DorothyL, where I met Kaye Barley, knows that Kaye lives on a mountaintop in Boone. I don’t know why I assumed she lived in Kentucky, unless it’s the legendary Daniel Boone’s connection with that state. There’s a Boone County, Kentucky, but no town of that name. Nope, our Kaye lives in Boone, North Carolina, one of my favorite states and one that nowadays is chock full of writers. It’s in the mountains at the western end of the state, around two hours’ drive from Asheville and twenty minutes or so from Blowing Rock.

I got this straight after a couple of North Carolina writer friends, Maggie Bishop and Schuyler Kaufman, got me invited to Boone to speak to a group called High Country Writers in November, during my tour of North Carolina to promote my new mystery, DEATH WILL HELP YOU LEAVE HIM. It was a flying visit—is there any other kind on a book tour?—and Kaye, as it happened, was slated to be out of town for the twenty-four hours I was there. But more than thirty writers showed up to hear me talk about how to write about social issues—without getting preachy.

I write about recovery from alcoholism and codependency—or in the vernacular, booze and bad relationships, which I’m sure are as endemic in North Carolina as in my own New York or anywhere else on the planet. Social issues? Well, no one can deny that addictions and domestic violence are social issues. But they’re always deeply personal as well. On topics I’m passionate about, I’m tempted as I write to mount my hobby horse and ride madly off in all directions (to paraphrase Stephen Leacock). My first drafts are preachy as all get-out. So the one word “how-to” on the subject is: Revise! Being a gabby New Yorker, luckily, I found lots more to say.















My honorarium for the event was a night on a mountaintop, not in Boone, but in Blowing Rock, a spectacularly beautiful dot on the map with a 360 degree view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and winds so fierce that it’s said that in winter, the snow flies upward. The rock itself comes with a legend that involves the ubiquitous Indian maiden—though I liked the local twist, which included the boyfriend, not the maiden, plunging off the rock and a happy ending when the updraft blows him back into her arms.



















I stayed at Gideon Ridge Inn, an upscale hostelry a short stroll away from the actual rock, where my private stone terrace had a breathtaking mountain view. I spent most of the rainy afternoon curled up in a wing chair by the fire with a pot of tea and a plate of little sandwiches and homemade mini pastries close at hand. The massive carving in the picture isn’t a totem pole, it’s the southwest post of my four-poster bed. And the photo shows no more than one-quarter of my room.

In the morning, the rain had stopped, and I got a good look at Blowing Rock with plenty of photo ops. Then I drove down to Boone to give my talk. Afterward, the writers took me out to lunch in town. I’d expressed a preference for the local cuisine, ie barbecue, so a bunch of us piled into a down-home bistro with a snarling representative of the local fauna hanging over us as we ate. He must have been a critic in another life. My only regret on leaving Boone was that I couldn’t stay longer. I’ll have to go back some day—and if I’m lucky, Kaye will be home.

The Sisterhood Award

I am delighted and honored to have recently received not just one Sisterhood Award nomination, but two of 'em! This is an award from bloggers, to bloggers, in recognition of a blog spot which shows great attitude and/or gratitude.

Both came from women I not only like, but also admire. Being a part of their world has brought me a great deal of joy, and to have Meanderings and Muses recognized by them is quite gratifying. Thank you to Carol Murdock, who writes the ever so lovely blog, The Writers Porch. And a big thank you to Kelli Stanley, who somehow finds the time in between writing great novels of historical noir - the first of which, NOX DORMIENDA (a long night for sleeping), is an award winning, beautifully written novel already in its third printing, to also write a blog.

Keeping with the tradition of paying it forward, by the rules shown below, herewith are my nominees (wonder women all), and the directions:

IF YOU ARE A NOMINEE, PLEASE GO AHEAD AND....
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog, or sending them an email.
5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

And my nominees are:

1. Julia Buckey's Mysterious Musings
2. Sam Hoffer's My Carolina Kitchen
3. Maggie, Marilyn, Rhonda, and Marian's The Stiletto Gang
4. Patti Abbott's pattinase
5. Sandra, Darlene, Julia, Liz, Lonnie and Sharon at Poe's Deadly Daughters