Month: January 2017

News Squib: Murder in Palm Beach? Not In This Century!

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week:  Local Paper Celebrates 20 Homicide-Free Years in Palm Beach

 

People are always getting bumped off in Palm Beach, the exclusive, upscale island playground of the rich, beautiful and famous on South Florida’s Atlantic Coast. But only in novels and movies. For my first thriller, Scandal, I chose the North End of the island as the scene for the murder of a TV talk show host while she was swimming in her oceanfront pool. Better-selling authors like James Patterson, Lawrence Sanders, Stuart Woods, and Lawrence Block as well as local authors with the Palm Beach Writers Group, like Erik Brown, have also set murder mysteries on the ultra-rich island.

Murder Milestone

In real life, however, the 5 square-mile island of Palm Beach is virtually crime-free. Where else could you have a front page headline in the local paper proclaiming: “Last island homicide occurred two decades ago.” Even then, the Palm Beach Daily News, known locally as the Shiny Sheet, got it wrong: The last homicide occurred more than 20 years ago in June 1996 when wealthy widow, Geraldine Pucillo was found strangled in the shower of her home on Seaspray Avenue. Continue reading “News Squib: Murder in Palm Beach? Not In This Century!”

News Squib: For Writers Who Procrastinate (And That’s Most of Us)

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week: How to Stop Procrastinating by Going To Lunch

 

From l to r: Marilyn Murray Willison, Sonia Cooper, Cathy Helowicz (PBWG Executive Director), and Me at Chesterfield Hotel, Palm Beach

If there is one thing writers love it’s to listen to advice on how to stop procrastinating long enough to finish their novels or screenplays. Give them the opportunity to listen to such advice over a long, leisurely lunch, and most writers will leap at it. I certainly did when I got an invitation to attend the Palm Beach Writers Group talk and lunch at the Chesterfield Hotel’s Pavilion Room this week. The subject of the talk by PBAU English professor and writer, Dr. Gene Fant?  How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating and Love Deadlines. Continue reading “News Squib: For Writers Who Procrastinate (And That’s Most of Us)”

News Squib: Language Rules: Why You Are A Silly Old Fool & Not An Old Silly Fool?

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week: The Language Rules We All Know But Don’t Know We Know

I came across an English language rule (actually two of them) this week that I had never learned in more than 60 years of studying and using the language.  The information came to me courtesy of my brother Michael in Prague. He sent me a link to a story that appeared in BBC Magazine last year about a tweet that went viral from BBC Culture editor (@MattAndersonBBC) who copied a paragraph from a book titled The Elements of Eloquence. Continue reading “News Squib: Language Rules: Why You Are A Silly Old Fool & Not An Old Silly Fool?”

News Squib : A miracle herb for aging well ? Seriously?

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week. Today: Rosemary with Anchovies, Anyone? 

 

After you reach a certain age, it’s always a relief to find that you’ve made it to a new year. Then, immediately comes the thought: Will I still be here for the next one? And, on its heels, the more important question: What shape will I be in? Will my knees be my own? Will I still have my memory? Will I still be able to pout and look insulted when the airport security guy asks me if all my parts are my own –or will medical hardware holding knees and hips together set off the metal detectors? Continue reading “News Squib : A miracle herb for aging well ? Seriously?”