Messiah. Nutcracker. Blizzards. Butter. And Gratitude.

Sharing winter writing, winter performances you can stream and enjoy, and what I love about winter!

Working on the third Mystery in Maine, Deadly Taboo, I dug into my personal misadventure archives searching for a way to start the novel. (Yes, this moment did really happen to me. “Don’t ignore personal   experiences if they work for you,” said a writing mentor.)  

Setting up the Deadly Taboo excerpt:  tracking lynx across a late winter landscape, Patton and her often wayward dog discover that maybe spring is already on its way.

Up to my waist in broken ice, snowshoes scrambling for good footing in the melting marsh, I struggled for breath as freezing water saturated clothing and skin. I wasn’t too busy to miss Pock sinking into a happy crouch. My dog was a Lab. Water—any water— was heaven-sent.

“Nooooooo,” I yelled. “No, don’t jump! Not fun in here. Not FUN! …

Before we go outdoors, here are at least two things I will be streaming this holiday season. (After watching my fav holiday movie “Love Actually” too many times.)

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Who Knew? Of Salamanders and Their Service. Well. All Services.

Under the soil a large army of wiggly, illusive engineers, soil scientists, and food service workers are helping to create billions of dollars of economic value. If we could count each of them working in a factory, we could value them as part of our economy. Just how are we to value these tiny, essential and moist forest workers who add so much value to our lives?

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New Season. Same Pandemic. But New Get-Out-There Strategies

Here comes a new season so I’ve got two new goals to get more use out of things I’ve taken for granted.

Goal One: Get out on the first snow, even if it’s only a few inches, and then get more use out of my snowshoes and skis than ever before.

Goal Two: Change up my blog posts so they get a better workout too. Find a way to reuse them, re-tweak them, and repurpose them to reach more people interested in their content.

First: The snow. On only a few inches of lawn, field, or golf course, we can snowshoe. (Long before terrain gets skiable.) Today I’ll share some visual encouragement and some links to find snowshoe places. If you can walk, you can snowshoe. “Just widen your stride a bit, kind of like you’re wearing diapers . . . “

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It's Really Okay to Call Something Stupid

Apologies for crashing into this lovely fall weather with anything sobering (this is not about COVID), but maybe after the hottest summer on record in Maine, we can shake loose our brains for something we can do something about.

I have been on a bit of a mission. Both my novels attempt to seduce readers into a compelling murder mystery, into the magic of woods, and also into what threatens to murder those woods. (One murder mystery inside another murder mystery.)

In Maine, this forest is the last temperate forest of its size and kind in the northern hemisphere. Rich in all kinds of plant and animal diversity and essential water resources, and the last of its kind. Chunking it up with industrial development is, well, just stupid.

There, I’ve said it. Stupid.

And now if you’ll read on . . .

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