It’s officially that time of year where we are sprinting. Job stuff. Writing stuff. Kid stuff. Trying to coordinate who is taking whom where. Dinner on the fly. Those blue Takis? Sure. Maybe those have protein. Did you feed the dog? Did we accidentally feed the dog twice? Again? And by the way did you hear the weird noise our car is making?
But even with the breathlessness of right now, I’m trying to savor things.
In a few weeks we’ll be in full summer mode: a time of irregular schedules, with a million camps, and my kids disappearing to do God only knows what by those train tracks even though I told them a million times not to.
Last year, after an incident that I may write about some day, one of my son’s famously said, “You never told us we couldn’t set things on fire.”
Which gives you a sense of what we’re up against.
In Appreciation of William Collagan from the Moses Wheeler
This year, the Maine Historical Society hosted an afternoon pre-conference workshop for the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. Elizabeth DeWolfe (remember THIS post?) shared how she goes about researching and writing. Katie Alleman, the amazing librarian at the Brown Research Library, scoured her archives to find fascinating crime-related artifacts for us to look at.
The artifact that really stood out to me was a Captain’s Log from 1861, in which William Collagan from the Moses Wheeler, accounted for his time. In it, he tracked the stars and storms and sketched the fish and birds and ships he encountered.
Maybe this summer I can drag my kids to that fried clam place and then we can go off in search of William’s grave at the Evergreen Cemetery.
My kids already think I’m a little weird, what with the writing about murder. So this will track.
Little League Majors Finals
Last week my husband and I went with my kids to the Little League Majors Finals at Loring Park. My kids watched the game from the fence. James and I talked to other parents and ate popcorn on the bleachers.
From the field, you can see Back Cove and the playground and the trail along Baxter Boulevard. You can see the joggers and the dog walkers. And you can hear the pickle-ballers.
When the game was over, one of our friends said, “If you would have told me ten years ago that I’d be spending my Friday night watching somebody else’s kid play baseball, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
I agreed.
Until recently, I didn’t know much about baseball.
I watched the Ken Burns documentary to try to keep up with my sons. It was informative but I still don’t really understand what a dropped third is.
I am, however, waiting for an opportunity to reference Merkle’s Boner.
A Noir at the Bar Reading
The Crime Wave Noir at the Bar was a lot of fun. Others might post about it, so I’ll keep it brief. We had 10 readers, five minutes apiece, a hotdog truck and cold brews and colder rain. At peak around 90 people listening and the amazing Jule Selbo and Matt Cost moderating.
I loved all the readings but really enjoyed Rebecca Turkewitz’s story (so sad and creepy!), Mo Drammeh’s story (because his stuff is so unique and unexpected), and Travis Kennedy (so, so funny and weird.)
The piece I read was “Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise.” I’m hoping to have it cleaned up a little more and submitted for publication soon.
It was a great audience and a great group of writers.
Special appreciation to the amazingly talented photographer and writer Lucas Brilliott for snapping this picture of me reading.
Events:
Just in case you’re looking for something to get up to this summer, here are a few things crime writing related you may want to check out.
I’ll be doing a book talk with the amazing Jennifer Breedlove on 6/30 at the Briar Patch in Bangor at 7:00. You all will get a sneak interview with her here on June 17.
Matt Cost, Travis Kennedy, Timothy Queeney and I will sit down to together for a Writers on Writing (WOW) panel at the Windham Public Library on July 29 at 6:00.
Ryan Lowell and I will get together to talk about his debut Freight: A Novel at Longfellow Books in Portland on August 11.
Margot Anne Kelley, Robert Kelley, and I will get together at the Jackson Memorial Library in Tenants Harbor on August 27 at 5:00.
Dick Cass and I will sit down to talk about his latest novel at Longfellow Books in Portland on September 1.
There are a group of us working to organize some more community crime readings in Kittery, Rockland, Bangor, and Portland. More details on these soon.
Be well and hopefully our paths cross soon.
