Laura Benedict's Blog, page 21

Handbasket Interview: Lori Rader-Day

 

 

About a year and a half ago, I attended a wildly fun day-long conference in Milwaukee called Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee. During my panel–and I can’t for the life of me remember what the subject was because we laughed a lot–I sat beside the delightful mystery writer, Lori Rader-Day. Lori is young, fresh, clever and a heck of a writer. She’s a keeper, and I predict a long, long successful writing career for her. You know I love sharing new writer friends with you, so I invited her to c...

From Supernatural to Suspense: Why the Jump?

(The Amish peach orchard, down the road)

Change can be a good thing, yes?

I’ve had six novels published, and every one of them has been a ghost story. No, scratch that. Every single one has been a mystery with ghosts in it. To me, every novel is a mystery story. As we read a book, we wonder what the ending will be like. Will we be right about it? Can we predict who will change and what will happen? Aside from wanting to immerse myself completely in another universe, it’s  one of the things I...

Black Snake Rodeo (Reprise) and an Edgars Update

Happy Wednesday, my dears! One week from now, I’ll be at the 2017 Edgars Symposium in NYC. I’m thrilled to be on a panel moderated by the remarkable Jeffery Deaver with a lot of other cool folks. Then the banquet is next Thursday, where I’ll be waiting nervously to hear about the Best Short Story award. But–and I’m serious when I say this–it’s an amazing honor to be nominated. Particularly since I’m nominated with four writers whose work blows me away. I’ve got the dress and the shoes, and th...

Wizard World Comic Con pics the Second

 

Oh, no! I missed blogging on Monday–the first time this year. But things happen, yes? And I promised it was for a good cause: editing, editing, editing. I’m SO excited about this new manuscript, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it…soon!

I took hundreds of pics at the Comic con last week, so I wanted tostare some more. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

April 16-17 Words
Journal:   0 words
Long fiction: 2 days editing–20 hours, 437 pages
Short fiction: 0
Non-fiction: 0 words
Blogging:  81 words...

Sunday, 16 April 2017 –Rejoice!

 

Mark 16 5-7

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

He is risen. Happy Easter, my dears!

 

April 16th Words
Jo...

Saturday Serendipity, 15 April 2017

Easter Eggs, Cat Armor (!), and Books by Friends

5 Beliefs About Anxiety That Can Make You Even More Anxious. As someone who has a lot of anxiety, I find these all very familiar. At tinybuddha.com.

We are at our happiest at ages 23 and 69. Here’s the original abstract–more detailed, and requires close reading.

Gorgeous Russian and Ukranian decorated eggs for Easter.

Cat armor. Mouse armor, too. Just wow.

I’ve long been a Joe Bob Briggs fan. Good interview.

My writer friend, Carolyn Haines, h...

Garden Rethink

I feel worried about my flower garden. With the exception of a couple trays of annuals, it has been on autopilot the last two years. Five or six years ago, we did a large planting with some hummingbird sweet bushes, evergreens, a small Japanese maple, and a lovely butterfly bush. But the hummingbird sweet bushes have died, one by one (I pulled one up), and the viburnum is spiky and weird. Nearly all of my thyme has withered or has been overtaken by that scamp, oregano, and the rosemary didn’t...

Do You Birthday?

 

(My fifth birthday. We were quite the crew.)

 

Let’s pretend I didn’t use “birthday” as a verb, and move on, okay? It’s weirdly appropriate in this case, but I know such a slip can be triggering for my grammar-faithful friends.

Husband’s birthday was this week, and he wasn’t in a great mood. In fact, he didn’t really want to celebrate his birthday much at all. As an adult, he gets to choose how his birthday wants to be. Except…Well, I find it hard to understand why a celebration might not b...

Tick Magnet

 

My dears, my brain is zapped from editing, and I’m not quite finished. (Soon. Very soon!) Editing should be a perfectly safe job, right? And guess what happened? I was bitten by the first tick of the season. It was one of the very tiny ones–a deer tick. I suspect it was brought inside by the dogs. We must live on a very ancient deer path, or else we’re on some kind of deer sightseeing tour. “This way, please. See those humans down the hill? Fling all your ticks at them. And their dogs. They...

Wizard World Comic Con 2017: St. Louis

Last year my son and I ventured to St. Louis for our first Comic Con, and had a blast. As soon as we left, he was planning his own costume for this year’s event. We attended Wizard World Comic Con 2017 this past Saturday, and he was fully costumed as a character named Robin from the game series, Fire Emblem. Of course, being 17, he ditched mom and dad as soon as we arrived at the convention center. But it wasn’t a problem. Husband and I had a great time, wandering around taking pictures. We a...