I am looking at an article I've dug out of the files entitled "How To Improve Your Investigation and Prosecution of Strangulation Cases" by Gael B. Strack and Dr. George McClane. It's a great article for a crime writer but - really?
From my chair I see books on venom, toxicology, rare hunting rifles of wildcat calibre, trees, and the principles of modern fighter combat.
What a lot of odd things we collect as writers. It's doubly so as crime writers.
A lot of this collection is of no use to anyone. In the manner and order by which I acquired it, it means a lot to me.
I was looking in a book on the natural toxins of animals of the Australian continent just last week. While lots of animals use toxins, no one is quite sure why those in Australia are so terribly venomous. A little goes a long way but these folks have it in spades. Shake the blanket out before you lie down. Seriously.
So, tomorrow I'll write about "writing the book we want to write" but today I am struck by all the odd things - and the odd ideas - we writers carry about. I had an exchange with a writer about a body in a competition bar-b-que smoker. It wasn't remotely an original idea.
The ship above looks like a lovely place to have a murder. It screams "put the body in here."
Off to write. New project. Lively, irreverent storytelling. Everything one could want.
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