Pen, Spoon & Dagger

There are only two reasons I clean my office:  because although clutter doesn't faze me, I can't stand dirt, and  when the clutter starts taking over the floorspace, it scares my Golden Retriever.  This is why every six months or so I have to spend an entire day decluttering my office.  In between, I simply lift up the stacks, dust and vacuum under them, and put them back where they were.  Spotlessly clean chaos.  It drives my neat-freak brother crazy when he visits, but I can always put my hand on just the piece of paper I want, without hesitation.  This morning we had had once again reached situation critical ,  the point where Clue just stands in the doorway, looking pitiful and whining -- a sure sign I needed to take action. We're talking about a 10' X 12' room here, not a huge area. Some things have to stay: the desk, computer table, scanner stand, filing cabinet (one drawer dedicated to recipes, the other to expenses and important pap...

Most of us can't write our mysteries without the inevitable research.  Since a living/breathing expert is not always handy, I often (most of the time) turn to the Internet for facts and figures. It may be a flaw in my character, but I can't seem to stop researching once I get started. I jump from page to page, using those handy little hyperlinks the "experts" so thoughtfully provide.  And I swear I'm developing a new disease: Research ADD . The other day I was researching Swedish towns, looking for a likely name to use in my current manuscript.  I found a site listing town names and from there, it was all down hill, at least in terms of writing productivity. My navigation went something like this: town names -> country information -> things to do-> cultural festivals -> regional foods -> recipes -> gravlax.  Once I'd landed on recipes for this delectable treat, I felt compelled to discover gravlax's origins.  It wasn't a total...