Heather asked me to fill in for her today (not that I could EVER take the place of Heather!) and so I decided to write about rituals.
We just finished up another season of religious ritual, including giving up something for Lent. (For me that was all sodas except club soda. Technically, I could have had [...]

Besides writing mystery novels, I also have a “day job” as a freelance copywriter.
Perhaps one of the cosmic laws of writing as a profession is that the byline/pay ratio is inverse. I get a credit for writing my novels and columns, but modest pay. On the other hand, my copywriting goes uncredited… but my pay [...]

The time for me on The Little Blog of Murder has flown by! I’ve enjoyed being part of this community–and I am still a part of it–but with a change.
Casey Daniels–another Ohio mystery writer–will be taking on Wednesday posting duties. Casey is the author of the Pepper Martin Mysteries, published by Avon Books. The first [...]

Last week I wrote about wanting a box of crayons, out of sentimentality for school supply lists.
Which brought up a memory about my oldest kid, and her pre-school year.
See, she not only wanted to color outside the lines… she wanted to color with only the black crayon.
Somehow, this was disturbing to her pre-school teacher. Here [...]

‘Tis school supply time, and I’m feeling a wee bit sentimental for the days when it was a big to-do for me to take my little daughters to some version of a shop-n-save for school supplies. Each kiddo would clutch her list and insist on picking out her own items, and dutifully check off each [...]

It’s time to clear off the bulletin board that hangs over my desk: the list of column ideas I’ve already used, the deadlines already met, the summer events already enjoyed.
My schedule for clearing off the bulletin board is: whenever it gets full.
But there is one item that always stays pinned to the board. It [...]

My youngest daughter is 12 (13 soon) and can be the absolute epitome of adolescent girlhood sometimes: sassy, mouthy, and trying. (Or, by turns, giggly, cute and fun. One just never knows WHICH adolescent is going to show up from moment to moment.)
The fact she refuses to take “no” for an answer from me can [...]

Cornfields are scary… at least to some people I know.
To me, they are just an everyday sight. In winter, they are filled with the corn stalk stubs. In spring, the earth is churned up, awaiting re-planting. In summer, they’re lush and green. (I remember a saying from my childhood: “knee high by the fourth of [...]

Heather told me I should be patient about my flowers… and she was right.
You see, in early June, I planted impatiens and coleus in the pots in front of the shrubs in front of my house. Two tiny white impatiens, two tiny salmon impatiens, and two tiny coleus (in the middle), per pot. The plants [...]

The other day, I ran across a list of quotes from comedian Rodney Dangerfield, of “I don’t get no respect” fame.
Some of my favorites:
–I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.
–I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive [...]