Laura Benedict's Blog, page 19
May 17, 2017
In the Handbasket: Amy E. Reichert and The Simplicity of Cider
Making new friends on the road is one of my favorite parts of my job. Today I want to introduce you to the talented/adorable/funny Amy E. Reichert. I’m so thrilled that she dropped by the Handbasket to answer a few questions and show off her latest novel, The Simplicity of Cider, which came out on Tuesday.
Wait–did I mention that her books are full of literary nourishment: complex and appealing characters, delicious food, and stories that just might have you feeling good about the world...
May 16, 2017
Daily Handbasket: Packing Up My Baby Girl
Today I go to my baby girl’s apartment to help her get ready to move far, far away. We’ll have her back home for just a couple of weeks in June, but then she goes to her summer gig, and from there to start a new life far south of here. Nora’s been away from home at various schools and working for nearly eight years, so you would think I’d be used to her coming and going. But now it really feels like she’s going. Of course, wherever she goes, I won’t truly be far away, because my heart ❤ is...
May 15, 2017
Daily Handbasket: Marble Inspiration
Earlier this winter I visited the Cincinnati Art Museum–one of my favorite museums–with my son. These sculptures are the inspiration for the as-yet-unnamed Southern gothic short story I’m finishing up right now. I could have looked at these all day.
May 15th Words
Journal: 0 words
Long fiction: 0 words
Short fiction: 1920 words
Non-fiction: 0 words
Blogging: 22 words
Exercise: I really need to do that.
The post Daily Handbasket: Marble Inspiration app...
May 14, 2017
Daily Handbasket: What if the Rejection Beast Isn’t a Beast at All?
My idea of the Rejection Beast (photo by the author)
This is what my idea of the Rejection Beast looks like. Sharp-clawed and powerful. Enigmatic, fearsome, yet oddly charismatic. Decorated with gold, and rather magnificent. This is the beast we encounter whenever we choose to live in the world instead of hide from it. The Rejection Beast, always slavering, loves to gamble with us. Sometimes we win and part ways with it, for a time. We always meet again, unless we give up completely. But we...
Daily Handbasket, Sunday 14 May 17
Thanksgiving laser tag with my niece and my mom.
A mother’s happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories. –Honore de Balzac
My mom has always been the fun mom. When we were kids, she played with us, and she loves to play with her grandchildren. She’s the kind of mom I always hope to be. She deserves every day to be Mother’s Day. I’m so blessed. ❤
May 13 Words
Journal: 0 words
Long fiction: 0 words
Short fiction: 1100 words
N...
May 13, 2017
Saturday Serendipity, 13 May 2017
It’s been a long week. Here are some easy-on-the-brain links 
May 11, 2017
Daily Handbasket: Smiling Scout + Two Very Dangerous Mothers at a Discount, 12 May 17
Scout, the ever-helpful chewer of dirt clods, snatcher of pulled weeds, chaser of bumble bees 
May 10, 2017
Daily Handbasket: Turtles, etc. 11 May 17
A friendly box turtle came to visit on our porch a while back.
On my screen this week is a short story for a Southern gothic anthology. But it’s more Jane Eyre/The Secret Garden than Flannery O’Connor. It’s one of those stories that I can see the end of very clearly, but I will have to rein myself in because it really wants to be a novella. I’m will whip it into shape, though. The next couple of days will be very busy. I would tell you the title, but it doesn’t have one yet.
Characters mu...
May 9, 2017
The D-Word
At the Cincinnati Art Museum
I’ve never seen a dead person who wasn’t already embalmed and funeral-ready. The idea of being right there in the presence of a fresh corpse terrifies me. (I’m not crazy about open-casket visitations, either.) In fact, just thinking about writing about real-life corpses sent me running for a bag of potato chips, and I spent the last ten minutes eating them obsessively because everyone knows it’s easier to approach difficult subjects bolstered by potato chips....
May 8, 2017
Night and Day
It’s late now, and I’ve spent the last few hours writing on my laptop in the dark. If I were alone in the house I’d never do that, but Husband, Son, and all the animals except one cat are sleeping peacefully. It’s lovely to work in my home, surrounded by sleeping objects of my affection. I used to think that I had to write out of pain and chaos in order to have real emotion in my work. But now I think that living in a state of (relative) peace allows me to access difficult emotions without th...
