With Time on My Hands

With Time on My Hands

Retirement–that longed-for Utopian state for which I worked for decades. Lovely, unhurried mornings, peaceful, sunny days of travel, visiting coffee shops. Plenty of time for cleaning a house and keeping it sparkling, baking cookies, taking long walks. And, oh, my goodness, all that accumulated wisdom. Just a whole headful of good advice gleaned from years of […]

Why Worry?

Why Worry?

Every day as I listen to the news, I find a new reason to worry. I think it’s time to re-print a poem by an anonymous author. Worry? Why worry? What can worry do? It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you. It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night and fills with gloom […]

Spider Webs and Spooky Noises

Spider Webs and Spooky Noises

When you were a child, did you ever sit in the living room with your family on a dark night listening, petrified, while your dad or grandfather told a true story about a really spooky happening, something that was never explained? You wanted a rational, satisfying explanation but there was none. It was just a mystery, […]

I Declare; This Isn’t Just Fiddle Faddle

I Declare; This Isn’t Just Fiddle Faddle

Being brought up in Oklahoma, I’ve heard most of these Southern sayin’s all my life. I don’t think they’re odd. I thought everybody talked this way. They make perfect sense to me; don’t they to you? One thing I’ve learned through life is not to take things for granted–success in any field, particularly in writing. […]

A Mystery Writer’s 12 Days

A Mystery Writer’s 12 Days

This is Twelfth Night, the Epiphany, the impetus for the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. With my family’s help, I added words that might be appropriate for a writer of cozy mysteries. Thanks, Matt, Dawn, Sara, Nathan! A Cozy Mystery Writer’s Sizzling Twelve Days of Christmas On the first day of Christmas, Santa brought to […]

Interview with Author Janet K. Brown

This morning, I am pleased to present an interview with fellow Pen-L Publishing author, Janet K. Brown. Blanche: Why did you decide to write? Janet: I don’t think I chose writing. It chose me. Ha! Recently, I told my story about what sparked my creativity at castlegatepress.com. I have written most of my life. Job & […]