So, 2009 caught me without a New Year’s Day blog. I’ve been ruminating, but mostly I’ve been freaking out about–uh, change that to carefully planning for–my Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts tour. It starts today, as a matter of fact. My first stop is the Carbondale, IL, Barnes & Noble. I’ll be there from 1:00 until …Read More

Some novelists envision their novels in fragments, writing a climactic scene or even the ending first. But I started at the beginning with Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts, describing the strange little ritual three teenage girls had come up with to conjure up a boyfriend (never would they have used the word “lover”) for themselves. The …Read More

I am not a crafty person. I nearly flunked out of the adult ed sewing class I took when I was nineteen, am just passable at other needlework, and was a dismal failure at scrapbooking four years ago. Every Christmas the kids and I do our version of gingerbread houses. I tried actual gingerbread one …Read More

So, last night was the first night of Hanukkah, there are only two more shopping days until Christmas, Kwanzaa begins on Friday, and if you were looking for St. Nicholas, he came way back on December 6th. Yesterday was Yule for both Christians and Wiccans. Chances are you probably know at least one person who …Read More

Jenny Gardiner’s debut novel Sleeping With Ward Cleaver came out in January, but for whatever reason Jenny and I never could coordinate our schedules so she could visit the Handbasket. I’m thrilled to have her here now to tell us a very timely holiday story. More about Jenny after her post. And be sure to …Read More

Finally, my copies arrived! And thank goodness for CJ Lyons and the lovely folks at Pop Syndicate who put their interview with me in their Thriller Spotlight, because I could interview myself, but I don’t think either of us really wants that. I do recall describing my work as “the picturesque rearrangement of the chaos …Read More

and I don’t mind if Stephanie Meyer sells a few more books. This cracks me up. (Made by a clever someone called Spooky Dan.)

Saturday morning, P came home from breakfast at a local diner to find me standing about six feet from the television watching Kevin Bacon in Stir of Echoes. I’d started out watching it on the exercise bike about an hour before. I had my work schedule set for the day: to work out, get cleaned …Read More

Last week’s publishing news continues to reverberate in the most dramatic of ways. A NY Observer article describes the folks at 1745 Broadway–the home of Random House Publishers–as being in “complete emotional lockdown” (via). But my fearless editor Mark Tavani is always one to keep a cool head, and he’s stopped by to offer some …Read More

I just love making big announcements! Here are the winners of the goodies from Laura’s New Website Soiree: Signed Copies of Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts (just as soon as I get them!) Cynthia Todd Mary Carr A signed copy of the new trade paperback of Isabella Moon (ditto) The Walking Man $25 Barnes & Noble …Read More