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I love Halloween. I love the costumes and the lights and the gorey-bloody decorations (not so much the cutesy ones–I want bones and spiders and eyeballs and intestines). And I love Halloween parties. So every year we have a themed costume party: This year the theme was “Night of a Thousand Cliches.” The trick to…

The group of authors at the Beverly Hills Literary Escape had plenty of interesting conversations–on-stage and off-stage–last weekend. A few of them have stuck in my head. One of the nonfiction writers mentioned that writing is “abject misery.” It was a man, not that gender is necessarily important there. Another male writer on stage agreed. I…

I got back late last night from the Beverly Hills Literary Escape, which was filled with great authors and equally great readers. (Really, I’ve never met a more enthusiastic, charming group of readers.)  I’ll talk about the weekend a little more tomorrow, but today I’m here to add a recipe.  I had several conversations this…

Headed to Los Angeles today for the Beverly Hills Literary Escape this weekend. On Friday night, there’s a cocktail party and Story Slam. So I have five minutes to tell a story to an audience. No notes. The story has to be on one of these topics: True Love, Revenge, or Home for the Holidays.  Judges…

So I grew up going to the Alabama National Fair–I have no idea why it’s called “National”–every year in Montgomery. I’ve been back a couple of times as an adult, but never to stay for hours, ride the rides, and in general recreate the whole experience. We took the kids and assorted family down this…

A couple of great music experiences lately: First, we had a phenomenal cab driver take us to BWI when we were leaving DC. He was, I can comfortably say, the most intersting and engaging cab driver I’ve ever had. (That title was previously held by a driver in New York, who, once he found out…

A couple of great music experiences lately: First, we had a phenomenal cab driver take us to BWI when we were leaving DC. He was, I can comfortably say, the most intersting and engaging cab driver I’ve ever had. (That title was previously held by a driver in New York, who, once he found out…

(The header is from a Magnetic Fields song, by the way. Just to avoid any copyright infringement.) Off to DC today. The land of delicious Afghan food, equally delicious Ethiopian food, the world’s best running path—at least, the most monument-filled running path—great bookstores, and, last but not least, our friend Adam’s wedding. It’s a direct…

Sidewalk Film Festival was this past weekend in Birmingham. It’s always a treat. This year, the award for Movie We Can’t Stop Talking About goes to Dogtooth. It is, to quote the film Web site, “a hyper-stylized mixture of physical violence and verbal comedy.” I don’t think that quites does justice to its total brilliant…

I’ve just noticed that the Hallmark Movie Channel is showing Murder, She Wrote reruns from 11 p.m. onward most nights. For months now, I’ve been sadly disappointed that the number of Murder, She Wrote reruns has dropped from about 10 per day on various channels to absolutely none. So this discovery soothes my soul. I love Murder,…