Energy Vamps By Maggie Toussaint There’s a new critter in my latest Dreamwalker Mystery, Dadgummit. I stumbled upon the idea of an energy vampire in the oddest way, through a conversation with a friend. Somehow our chat drifted to the topic of people who are exhausting. Some people exhaust me because they seem to be […]
A Short Story to You From Me by Terry Odell When we founded Booklover’s Bench, we wanted a place to talk to—and listen to—readers. June and July have been very busy months for me, and the stress level has been high. For me, reading has always been an escape, and I thought that I’d share […]
To Nap or Not to Nap by James M Jackson … that is a question I used to struggle with. Now, I am a confirmed napper. My preferred nap lasts 20-30 minutes. If I sleep longer than that, I wake up a grogamuffin—what scientists call sleep inertia—and I waste a bunch of time trying to […]
A Taste of the Past by Nancy J. Cohen Recently I’ve begun sifting through my cookbook collection to see which ones I can donate to our local library. My days of cooking elaborate meals are over. Ironically enough, just before I headed down to the Mystery Fest Key West, I came across this Key West […]
My Life is a Musical by Karla Brandenburg When I tell someone about the “Song Affliction” illness in my family, I’m amazed at how many other people suffer from this same sickness. You know, that feeling when someone says something and the first thing that comes to mind is a song snippet and you break […]
The Path of the Unexpected By Tina Whittle One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn about being creative is that to fire up the creative juice, you have to put yourself into the path of the unexpected, the unfamiliar, and the radical. You have to afflict your sense of well-being and make yourself […]
Special Occasions By Maggie Toussaint As a December birthday, I spent my entire childhood wishing my birthday was in the summer like my brother and sister’s. For one thing, they didn’t get shorted on presents because “Christmas is coming soon.” They got to go swimming and eat watermelon at their June birthday parties. I did […]
Does Summer Change Your Reading Habits? By Terry Odell When I lived in Florida, summer (for me) was the time to stay inside and take advantage of the air conditioning. I used to liken it to being snowed in. Both conditions lend themselves to more time to read. Summer can be a time to relax […]
That’s for the birds by James M Jackson I am a reasonably curious person, which can be a bad thing when I am doing research for a novel. I can easily start gathering information about why mowed grass smells so nice and end up engrossed in reading about the negative effect of warmer oceans on […]
Cataloguing Your Books by Nancy J. Cohen Do you mark the books you read? I never used to do so, and I easily lost track of which books I’d read. I have tons of books filling my shelves, and I may or may not have already read most of them. Somewhere along the way, I […]
