Farewell, Eartha Kitt

Chanteuse, actress, outspoken performer, and all around diva Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day. Linda L. Richards has details and links on her blog. Here, I'll just say that I had the privilege of seeing Kitt perform a year ago last summer at the Newport Jazz Festival. At that point, she must have been dealing with the cancer that took her life, but she was magnificent. In the days since, I've read several obits, and have been newly impressed by her strength (the daughter of an unwed mother, she pretty much had to fend for herself for much of her youth) and her brave candor (Lady Bird Johnson asked Kitt what she thought about the Vietnam War. Kitt told her – and had to move to Europe as a result of the blacklist that followed).

What a great lady! Put on a copy of "Santa Baby" tonight, even though it's after the holiday, and remember her. Eartha Kitt, RIP.

Welcome back!

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas! The solstice has passed. The sun is returning! It may be 16 degrees out now, but spring will come again. Let's celebrate!

Do you have a holiday tradition? Jon and I light my family's old menorah. Usually, we save our presents for each other till the last night. But with the storm and all, we gave each other one present each on Sunday! (He got a bottle of Scotch, as human anti-freeze; I got an Edward Gorey cat pin!) We're seeing lots of friends over the next two weeks, folks coming to town and others who just finally have time. And on Christmas Day we're going to the movies with another friend - and then out for Chinese!

New Year's Resolution: Learn to Write!

What are your plans for 2009? Have you made any resolutions? I can't help you lose weight or quit smoking, but I might be able to help with another popular resolution. If you're one of the many folks who have promised yourself that 2009 will be the year you finally start writing, why not take a course? Sometimes the structure of a course, with its guided excercises and deadlines, is all you need! I'm telling you this now because I'm in line to teach "Essential Beginnings" through the UCLA Extension writers program in January. "Essential Beginnings" is a six-week workshop designed to get anyone up and writing in a supportive and encouraging environment. Curious? Check out my course (and hundreds more) here.

18th Century mayhem

"A fellow by the name of Revere. Lives up in the North End. Charges a fortune..."

Murder, mystery, and lots of mayhem in pre-Revolutionary Boston – all in Jill Lepore's and Jane Kamensky's Blindspot, read my San Francisco Chronicle review here

Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.

I've been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren't known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don't lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn't in the cards.

We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let's mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your presents, but that's just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children's books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they'll be cheaper after the holidays) and buy many, many books.

Enjoy the holidays.

Roy Blount Jr.
President, Authors Guild

The deep breath...

I know in some ways this is the crazy season, but really, isn't it also the deep breath before the plunge?

I've pretty much finished a rough draft of my "pet noir," I expect to have some good news to announce in the new year, and I've got "Probable Claws" coming out in April. But right now, freelance is dying down. Editors are taking off for vacations (or getting laid off). Things are quieting down. We're planning a couple of dinners out with friends, some quiet holiday celebrations. It's the deep breath before the plunge into the next busy year, I think, and I'm savoring it.

What about you? Crazed or quiet?

RIP, Bettie Page

Sex kitten, bondage queen, and one-time pin-up star Bettie Page has died.

Santa clawed

Hey, I understand holiday stress! I'm trying to get all my work done – more on this, soon – and still manage to have a little fun, see some friends, etc., this holiday season. So I know what this kitty was going through. That said, did he have to bite Santa? Poor Benny. Poor Santa!

David Liss returns with "The Whiskey Rebels"

David Liss has returned to historical mysteries with The Whiskey Rebels, a thoroughly enjoyable book. As I wrote in today's Boston Globe:

"Blame the speculators! Banks are unstable, and the nation itself appears on the verge of collapse. Americans have turned against each other, each convinced that the other side is intent on destroying the country. No, it's not 2008, it's 1792, but that doesn't mean that the means and motives aren't the same. Indeed, in his engaging new historical novel, David Liss recounts the dawn of the fledgling US banking industry up through its almost-demise, in the 18th-century Whiskey Rebellion, through characters as intriguing, and often as disreputable, as many we are observing today...."

(Read more here.)

"Dumb Beasts" – my first pet noir

from Dumb Beasts, from Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Authors

I really didn’t want to go over when Mrs. M. called. Sheila, as I think of her. With most people I’m on a first-name basis immediately. They’ve invited me into their homes, into some of their most intimate relationships, after all. It only makes sense. But not her. We were introduced formally the first time I came over, but although I immediately reached out, saying, “It’s Beth. Please, call me Beth,” she never reciprocated.

Her husband’s another sort entirely. I think it was his idea to call me the first time. At any rate, he was the one who cared, who wanted everyone to get along. She might’ve complained about the noise, though. I wouldn’t have put that past her.

It was a compatibility issue, that first time. The dog had been hers originally, a yappy little Yorkshire terrier, spoiled and insecure. More of a fashion accessory than a companion, I figured, them both being blondes and all. The Yorkie had been understandably unsettled when they had moved into his townhouse. The presence of his pets – a cat, a parrot, an aquarium full of fish – didn’t help the Yorkie’s mood, and, to be fair, the cat – an elderly Persian – hadn’t made it any easier. But I think they would have worked it out. Animals do. She was the problem. Couldn’t stand the barking, the hissing, the squawking.

I tried to tell her it was all part of the change, everybody finding their new place in the social order. She was having none of it. I thought that what really got her was Bridget’s betrayal. Bridget – that’s the Yorkie – took to Paul right away. I try to keep my feelings out of it. I’m not here for the people anyway. It’s all about the animals. ...

What do you think?
By the way, there's a book launching party for Deadfall next Tuesday, Dec. 16, at Redbones, in Davis Square, Somerville, 5:30-7 p.m. Come by and say hi. We'll have books for sale, and you can also order it here.

Revolutionary fiction!

Long-time friends Jill Lepore and Jane Kamensky didn't set out to write a bodice ripper in Blindspot (Spiegel & Grau). But when the two historians – Lepore is the David Woods Kemper professor of American history at Harvard and Kamensky is chair of Brandeis' history department – started drafting a two-character sketch for the 70th birthday of their mentor, historian John Demos, the characters carried them off. Six hundred pages later, their personae – "a Gentleman in Exile and a Lady in Disguise," as the subtitle explains – have involved themselves in murder, scandal, slave stealing, and some very hot sex, all in Boston on the eve of the American Revolution.

I got to spend some time with Jill and Jane. To read our chat, click here.

Bring back the cheap paperback!

This is such a brilliant idea!

Parties, parties, parties...

Sometimes people ask me about signed books, so I thought I'd speak out and remind folks that if they want signed copies of any of my books, the best way to do it is to catch me at one of the season's PARTIES! This Friday, I'll be at Kate's Mystery Books, for example. Officially, I'm signing 6-6:45, but I intend to be there the whole time. And next Tuesday is the party for Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Authors at Redbones Barbecue. (Deadfall has my pet-noir short story, "Dumb Beasts," in it.)

Of course, sometimes you can't make it to a party. But I'll be at both – as will my books – which means these are great places to get me to sign copies. One smart reader has already contacted Level Best Books to order a book, and has arranged for me to personalize an inscription at the Redbones party (after which, her copy will be mailed to her). But if anyone else wants a copy for the holidays, please just call or email either Kate or the Level Best Books folks. Let them know what you want, and I'll sign 'em!

*Just got this!*
Check out the authors who will be signing at Kate's on Friday. Come if you can. Call to order a signed book if you can't!
Holiday Party Schedule

5:30-6:15
Steve Anable, Linda Barnes, Sibylle Barrasso, Gary Braver, Jan Brogan, Susan Conant, Joe Finder, Kate Flora, Gary Goshgarian, Robert Parker

6-6:45
Judy Copek, David Daniels, Lynne Heitman, Chuck Hogan, Susan Kelly, William Landay, Dennis Lehane, Chris Mooney, Clea Simon – Me!, Leslie Wheeler

6:30-7:15
Johnny Barnes, James Benn, Alex Carr, Jane Langton, James Lynch, Rick Marinick, William Martin, Katharine Hall Page, Jenny Siler, Jere Smith, Mary Anne Tirone-Smith, Sarah Smith, Dave Zeltserman

7-7:45
Susan Atwell, Dana Cameron, James Bartlett, Sheila Connolly, Hallie Ephron, Debra Feldman, Beth Kanell, Steve Kelner, Toni Kelner, M.E. Kemp, Hank Phillip Ryan, D.G. Stern
--
Kate's Mystery Books
2211 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA. 02140
617/491-2660

How We Do It: Two Writers Talk Technique

Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder?

With Thanksgiving over and winter really in the air, sister author Caroline Leavitt and I decided to tackle how we write over this season – and through the holidays. Here's her take; mine is on her blog, here.

Is it true that to everything, including writing, there is a season (turn, turn, turn.) Well, it used to be that comic novels and beach books came out in the summer, and the most serious stuff came out in the fall, but now it seems that books come out any season at all (which is a good thing.)

For me, writing is something I have to do. I need it, I crave it, it’s an addiction, even on the days when putting a single word like “he” on the page is traumatic. Stories form and take years to get right, so whether it is frigid out or boiling, makes no difference to me—I still need and want to work. I’m more of an indoor, urban girl, so I don’t feel the pull of a sunny gorgeous day or the need to get out and romp in the snow as much as I feel a yearning to finish a chapter, a tug to meet my deadlines. That said, there is the thanksgiving through New Years problem, and then there is August, where somehow, for me, all bets are off.

It’s easy to see why. No one else is working. Around the holidays, there is so much family stuff going on so much to do in NYC, and let’s not even begin to talk about the movies that are out. August, the month when all shrinks seem to vacation, is actually more of a problem for me because of the intense heat (give me air conditioning and make it extra frosty) and the sense of pure summer laziness. I want to write—I just also want to nap or have another iced lemonade. I know a lot of people get depressed with SAD in the winter when light is more precious, but for me, the blinding heat and light of August puts me in a cantankerous mood. Nothing feels right to me in August, nothing seems to work well, and I admit, until I see the first signs of wool clothes in the store, I can’t seem to catch a breath, let alone write a decent sentence.

How do the holidays affect your writing or other work? Let us know!

"Probable Claws" ARC WINNERS!!

Drumroll, please....

The winners of advance, uncorrected reading copies of my April mystery, "Probable Claws," are Gina Teh, Krista Schnee, and Debbie Bogenschutz! My good friend and fellow author Vicki Croke ("The Lady and the Panda," among other books) drew three names at random for me. These three advance readers will be getting their copies soon. Everyone else will have to wait till April ... but thank you for playing!

(Note to the winners: This pretty cover is NOT on the advance edition yet. Sorry!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, this may finally be just too odd. But click on it anyway – and happy holiday to all of you!

A last gasp...

Well, I no longer have a column. But the new, redesigned Globe did allow me to sneak in an interview with jazz DJ Jeff Turton today.

What we're doing wrong...

I got the email on Friday. "Help! I've done my words for the day – but now I'm beginning to see everything I'm doing wrong with this book." And it hit me, that's exactly how I feel, too! Now that I'm deep deep into the first draft of my pet-psychic mystery, I'm seeing things I should have done differently, asking myself questions that I should have considered from the start. My pet psychic is a grouch, a hard-boiled bad girl who just happens to be able to talk to her cat. So... would she eat meat (after all, her cat does)? Or would she be a reluctant vegetarian? How much would that bichon frisé resemble his gossipy owner? And would the kitten really be that clueless?

These are the questions that are only occuring to me now, 60,000 words in. But what I keep reminding myself is that this is a first draft. A rough draft. Supposedly the novelist Frederic Barthelme dictates his first drafts into a tape recorder, needing simply to create some raw text to work with. Supposedly the fact that these questions are surfacing now is a good thing. After all, I'll get to respond to them on the rewrite. I hope.

(and on the good-news side: I've hit 60,000 words!)

Pie eyed

I love to cook. Love it, but I'm not a baker. I have a theory that we're different types of people. Bakers have to be scientists. The chemistry of cakes rising, of baking powder and glutens, depends on exact measures. On precision. I'm not like that. I'm an improviser, an "I'll just add a touch of this, a sprinkle of that"-type chef, happiest with a simmering pot on the stove top. But next week, I've been called on to provide desserts. For starters, my mom (who we're seeing on Wed.) wants a mince pie. Then (on Thurs.), we're visiting Jon's family. I know I can do a good pecan pie (they're pretty basic) and I thought I'd throw in some good bittersweet chocolate pieces to jazz that up. And I like my own pumpkin pie, because I like to add ginger and cloves, etc. But apple pie – anything with a double crust – frankly scares me, and I've spent the morning on Epicurious and related sites trying to conquer my particular kitchen demon.

Any good recipes you'd care to share? Any kitchen terrors you'll own up to?

Buy a book. Give a world!

What is more encompassing than a new book?

My dream

So, last night I dreamt that Musetta was blogging for Obama. Didn't matter that the election was over. She was at the computer at all hours, and she had all these piles of papers (research) around her, the phone was ringing, and people were bringing her news items at all hours. I wanted to be supportive, but it was sort of disruptive.

What's up with that?

Man, I loved The Eight. I really wish I'd liked the sequel, The Fire, better.

PROBABLE CLAWS contest!

Probable Claws is coming out this spring! I've got a great cover and the book is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon, BN.com, and through the Poisoned Pen Press website. I've also got some advance copies and would love to offer them to readers. So here's the deal: If you can answer the following question (answer can be found on my home site) and you will commit to sharing your opinion of "Probable Claws" in a chat group, blog, or on Amazon by April 1, you could win an advance copy! (Note: These advance copies only have a plain cover, and they still have lots of typos.) I'll choose three winners at random from everyone who emails me beween now and Nov. 27.

QUESTION: What was the name of my "eminence grisé"?

Email me your answer – and your pledge to read and review the book by April 1 – and best of luck!

"Bar'king up the wrong tree?"

Sheesh! That said, my buddy, animal expert Vicki Croke, and her wolfhound Tally weigh in on President-elect Obama's possibly puppy choices.

What's a pet psychic supposed to do?

Ever wonder if our animals know more about us than we'd like them to? Ever wonder if they'll talk? That's the idea behind "Dumb Beasts," my first pet psychic short mystery. It's just one of the short stories in the brand new Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Writers, which is just coming out now.

Order Deadfall here.

John Leonard

Alas, the great, smart, funny, liberal critic John Leonard has died today. Gawker has the obit.

I know Michael Crichton also passed this week, but I didn't post anything. Partly because with all the election euphoria, I didn't want to. Partly because I have mixed feelings about Crichton. Granted, I loved him when I was younger. I remember the film version of "The Andromeda Strain" scaring the pants off me (though, a few years ago when I rented it, it had aged very badly). But in recent years, he'd gotten weird and cranky. We're all entitled to some extent, but writing an anti-global-warming novel? When you're a scientist?

Leave it at this, I'm sorry for his family. And I'm really going to miss John Leonard.

YES!!!

Today's the day

Vote.
Just vote, and you'll have done your job today.

***
"I'm not voting, cause there ain't gonna be no change until Jehovah comes." That was what one older Floridian told me when I called to prompt her to vote today. I started to argue, then realized, well, she probably isn't registered. And odds are, she wouldn't vote for my candidate anyway!

Anyone else out there phone banking or calling from home*, canvassing, or whatever? Anyone have any horror stories about waits at the polls? (Even here in liberal-lefty Cambridge, there's a wait! But a short one, about 25 minutes.) Anyone see someone get turned away?


*If anyone wants the info for calling voters from home, email me!

How We Do It: Two Writers Talk Technique

This month's shared blog focuses on friendship and jealousy between writers. As always, Caroline has a great take. You can see mine on her blog


Writers need support—and other writers. But what happens when your friend gets that 6-figure deal and you get another rejection and maybe it’s even a form letter and they spelled your name wrong, too?

How do you handle jealousy and envy?

First some definitions. Envy is the desire for something that someone else has. Jealousy is the feeling that someone has something that you feel belongs to you. And both are evil emotions which will hurt you.

This is all something Clea Simon and I have been talking about this week, and I think it’s important to realize that jealousy and envy are natural emotions, but that they have to do with your views on scarcity. Are you jealous because you think your friend got something so there isn’t enough to go around? Or are you envious because you think it means your friend is talented and the only thing you should be writing is “Vegetable salad” on a menu pad at Arby’s? Both of these scenarios have solutions. Scarcity is a myth—there is plenty for everyone, and worrying about your own talent is insecurity and you can easily shut it up by just writing some more.

A writer friend and I used to routinely deal with our throbs of jealousy when someone got something we wanted by instantly congratulating the person and writing a lovely note to them. Karma, we figured, might protect us, and in fact, writing those notes did diffuse our heart-wrenching yearning to “have what she’s (or he’s) having.” I’ve also been blessed with enough generous writing friends to know that their success often paves the way for opportunities for me (and vice versa). Of course you are going to feel the stings of jealousy, but when you begin to realize that we writers are all in the same boat, bobbing about at the mercy of publishers, editors, reviews an media, you begin to realize that the sharks bite at everyone one time or another, and that there really is room for all of us in the boat, which to my mind, is headed for Rome.


Case in point, my friend MJ Rose just got a rave Editor's Pick review of her book The Memorist in People. I was so excited, I screamed. I know how much this means to her-and I also know how much she deserves it (the book is that good.) All I want to do is share in her joy.

Thanks, Caroline. And YAY MJ!

Three more days

Did you read the New York Times story about anxious liberals today? Did you recognize yourself? I did.

New month, new rules. I will not spend more than 15 minutes per day, total, on five thirty eight.com, electoral vote.com, or pollster.

I get all my news from The Weekly Reader

As goes the Weekly Reader, so goes the nation?
(thanks to electoral-vote.com )
That said, it still can't hurt to make some more phone calls!

Weekly Reader Calls It for Obama
In contrast to McInturff, the Weekly Reader's quadrennial poll of students from kindergarten to 12th grade predicts that Obama will win big time, with 55% of the vote to McCain's 43%. This survey has been surprisingly accurate in the past, getting 12 of the past 13 presidential elections right, missing only Bill Clinton's win in a 3-way race in 1992. The survey's accuracy may be due to children getting most of their political views from their parents and the children's views may more accurately reflect what their parents are really thinking than what the parents are telling the pollsters.

Roasted author!

Yikes! I'm on the skewer today over at Book Roast ! I've already answered a bunch of questions for the moderator and handed over excerpts, bits and pieces, and along the way some trivia that nobody else knows in preparation. I'll be taking questions (and, probably, some jabs) all day today. I hope the roast master will be gentle...come on over and join the fun.

R.I.P., Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman has died at the age of 83. Over at her blog, Sarah Weinman rounds up the tributes of this wonderful writer, who brought the Southwest and Native American culture alive for so many through his mysteries.

Oooh.... scary!

Walking home from a concert last night, we saw lots of small groups wandering the streets - most in costume. It was a blustery night, not too cold, but windy and rainy, and often we'd see couples with raincoats and umbrellas. Not till we were close would we notice the green makeup or the glitter on their eyes. One young man was courteously carrying a young woman done up in some kind of colorful spangly outfit. Didn't get a chance to ask if she'd been taken a fall on the wet pavement or she simply didn't want to get damp. Halloween week is here!

On a less scary note, I've been reading the ARC of Probable Claws and I'm really liking it! In all fairness, I'm way too close to judge the plot. Will there be any mystery in it for people who haven't read it a zillion times before? I hope so, but I honestly don't know. The good news is that I am enjoying the writing. Soon, I think I'll have a contest to give away a few of these ARCs, so maybe I can hear what real readers think.

In the meantime, I'm going to be the featured "roasted" author on Tuesday over at Book Roast . I'll post again on Tuesday, but keep it in mind. I have no idea WHAT the hosts will ask me... but I'm prepared for some Halloween tricks (and treats).

"Oui, On Peut!"

Oh, I love this video! Black and white, male and female, cajun (fiddle) and zydeco (accordion) musicians together, singing a pro-hope, pro-Obama "Oui, On Peut!" ("Yes, We Can"). Lousiana may be a red state, but it's got a blue heart – and you can dance to it!


(The Band includes Zydeco Joe, Christine Balfa, Corey Ledet, Dirk Powell and others)

End of an era

Well, here it is, my last Boston Globe "Radio Tracks" column. The summer Arbitron ratings are out, but I figured I'd close out with something fun – and give a last boost to college radio, my favorite form of the medium. Maybe not my best written column, but I had a hard time with these last three, knowing that my gig was coming to an end. Of course, my one-line farewell was cut, but at least I was warned.

Oh, I also had a review of Christopher G. Moore's "Spirit House" run today, too.