Kassandra Lamb's Blog, page 11

17 Things To Do In Your Seventies

by Kassandra Lamb ~ Eight years ago, I wrote a post about 15 Things You Should Do By the Time You’re 62. It was well received. That post was about things one should do along the way, while on this journey called Life. Today, 9 days after my 70th birthday, I bring you 17 Things to Do IN Your Seventies.

This post is about making the most of our “golden years.”

1. Live where you enjoy the climate most of the year. The view from the center of my driveway in Maryland in January, where I am...

6 Things I’ve Learned About Labor—An Encore, Again

by Kassandra Lamb ~ This is a re-run of a re-run, but it’s an oldie but goodie—6 Things I’ve Learned About Labor.

Another Labor Day has rolled around. For many of us this is just another three-day weekend, an excuse to have a cookout or make a trip to the department stores to grab some bargains.

Traditionally, beaches are jammed full on the last big weekend of summer. (photo by John Murphy, CC-BY-SA 2.0 Wikimedia Commons)

Or we may look upon this holiday as the bittersweet end of summer....

Why I Don’t Write Romance (Plus a New Release)

by Kassandra Lamb ~ I’ve got romance on the brain right now, because my 46th wedding anniversary was two days ago. Obviously, I’m a believer in long-term relationships; however, I don’t write romance.

I do write romantic suspense (under the pen name of Jessica Dale), but there’s a very good reason why I don’t write romance without the suspense part.

But before I explain that reason, let me set up some background. There are certain reader expectations for each of these genres. But in any...

An Off-Week Goodie: That Day I Got Old

by Kassandra Lamb ~ With my seventieth birthday looming, I figured a reblog of this post, That Day I Got Old, by my good friend Barb Taub would be an appropriate off-week goodie.

Yup, you read that right, my seventieth birthday, as in seven-zero, is happening in less than two weeks. How can that be? Btw, I had to look up how to spell seventieth. I had no clue. I’ve never had to count birthdays that high before. At least, not my birthdays!

But leave it to Barb to make even getting old seem ...

Crime Writers Interview with DonnaRae Menard

We love introducing you, our readers, to other crime fiction writers we think you might enjoy. Today, we bring you our crime writers interview with DonnaRae Menard, the very interesting and fun author of the It’s Never Too Late mystery series.

Here is her bio:

My unofficial writing career began in the seventh grade. While writing descriptive notes about a fellow classmate, I was apprehended and sentenced to reading those notes to the class. The episode went far in undermining my pop...

10 Things I’ve Learned About Training Service Dogs

by Kassandra Lamb ~ I recently guest posted over at Joanne Guidoccio’s blog on 10 Things I’ve Learned About Training Service Dogs. I thought you all would find the topic interesting, so sharing here as well…

When I set out to write a cozy mystery series about a service dog trainer, I didn’t quite realize what I was getting myself in to. I assumed that, between my psychology background and having trained my own pets through the years, I’d be able to wing it when describing the tasks the dogs d...

An Off-Week Goodie for Newbie Writers and a New Release Reminder

photo by Joel Herzog on Unsplash.com

by Kassandra Lamb ~ For any budding writers out there, here is a great summary of the things newbie writers should and shouldn’t do when first getting started, by Anne R. Allen, whose website was named one of the top 10 for writers by Writers Digest.

Two examples from her list: #1~Come out of the writing closet and #2~Develop rhino hide.

Check out her post: 10 Things Beginning Writers Should Do Before Trying to Publish a Book.

And a reminder that...

The Blessing and the Curse of DNA Testing (Plus a New Release)

by Kassandra Lamb ~ Getting one’s DNA tested can be a lot of fun—finding out more about one’s ancestry and heritage, sharing that experience with family. But sometimes there’s a downside. A curse of DNA testing is you may find out something you didn’t want to know.

And there’s no unknowing it.

The Blessing of DNA Testing

DNA has most definitely been a boon to law enforcement. The ability to use DNA evidence forensically to solve crimes is an incredible advance.

And the flip side of t...

The Psychology of Patriotism Part II: The Dark Side of Belongingness Needs

by Kassandra Lamb ~ I promised to follow up on my post for Independence Day with more on the dark side of belongingness needs and patriotism. I pointed out in my earlier post that the kids who are alienated, who don’t get these needs met in a healthy way—they are the ones who can end up being the gang members, the school shooters, the terrorists.

(photo by Noah Silliman on Unsplash.com)

And I mentioned that I was one of those kids who felt alienated rather than affiliated. People who know m...

Kass’s Reviews of Three Summer Reads (Plus a New Release)

by Kassandra Lamb ~ Three great books for your summer reading pleasure! Plus a reminder to preorder my new release…Goes live this Saturday! (Note: These summer reads reviews are shorter versions; for my full reviews, click HERE.)

Sugar and Vice, A Cupcake Truck Mystery #1, by Emily James ~ Free on KU or $2.99

Isabel Addington is hiding from an abusive husband and trying to make a living selling cupcakes from a food truck. But both her living and her life are in jeopardy when the old man...