Remember to click on the artwork to see it clearly in an enlarged format! Altichiero, also called Aldighieri da Zevio, or simply Altichiero of Verona, was born around 1330 somewhere near Zevio, Italy. He was a painter reflecting the art of that period, in other words, the late Byzantine style (note the Byzantine Madonna). But …
Okay, I’m almost ready for April Fool’s Day. I have five more entries to go and I’m editing the ones for next week for typos and general appearance. My texts changed as I wrote about more and more artists, so much of my editing is in expanding the text a bit or adding pictures. This …
Ready, set, go…. A-Z Blog Challenge Read More »
This is the second year I’ve done this challenge. Last year I did odors, something that should be integral to any fiction writing. This year I’ve taken on something that has been challenging but a lot of fun: Renaissance artists and their art. I was an art minor in college and took two courses on …
Theme Reveal for the A-Z Blog Challenge! Read More »
Today is a rather special St. Patrick’s Day for me. I’ve always worn green on the 17th of March but felt like phony because I wasn’t Irish. For years, I had heard stories about my ancestry – English, French and Polish – backed by stories from my family on both sides. Also maybe Native American? …
Happy St. Patrick’s Day – Surprise, I’m Irish! Read More »
Do you do research for your books/stories? Since I spent many years doing scientific research, I found it natural to see a need for at least some research in my writing. Writing a mystery book with a completely imaginary setting somehow didn’t resonate; I needed some real places to ground it. Previously I have spent …
Just thought I’d issue a bit of a warning. For last year’s A-Z blog challenge, I did odors – something every mystery writer should include in their stories. And it was a challenge! There are many blog writers out there whose musing on writing, specifically mystery writing, are so far beyond anything I would write, …
A-Z Blog Challenge is Coming! Read More »
It’s amazing to me how the South responds to a “winter event.” A winter event is snow, sleet, ice or any combination thereof, and despite the fact we usually have 1-2 of these each winter, the Southern states are woefully unprepared. Consider the situation in Atlanta, Georgia, where traffic during the recent winter event became …
Some Observations on Snow and Ice in the South Read More »
This is loooong overdue. I kind of hit a wall in early December with all of the holiday activities, and despite promising myself to post a blog, it just kept being put off. I know other writers go through this, and it was complicated by a lot of critiquing and working in fits and starts …
Having grown up in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and as one of the first guides at Plimoth Plantation, Thanksgiving has a special place in my heart. Working in the Pilgrim village, standing in reproductions of the crude homes in which the Pilgrims first lived, I could not imagine the hardships of that first bitter winter, when nearly …
May We Give Thanks Read More »
Tom Clancy died today, too young at 66. He was a towering author of technically detailed espionage and military thrillers spanning three decades. I was particularly impressed with his character Jack Ryan, with whom I was in love even before Hollywood’s depiction with the likes of Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Alec Baldwin. The guy …
I wil miss Tom Clancy Read More »