“I’m a taxpayer. I paid for it, so I’m using the whole road.” Who hasn’t made (or cringed as the driver made) similar remarks after drifting across the highway’s center line or onto the shoulder, or going the wrong way down a one-way street. A couple of weeks ago, a woman in a coffee shop parking lot heading straight for me veered at the last moment, leaned out the driver’s window and yelled, “Watch where you’re going!” Apparently she’d had too much caffeine and didn’t notice the painted arrows going both ways. I remember traveling with our band director and a few other Read more…

This week, I’m making a shameful confession of a different kind. (Last week’s was word count-related.) We’re going back to the third Sydney Brennan book, The Perils of Panacea, for a Magpie Moments post today, and back into the recesses of time and memory to find the real world source material that acted as inspiration. A little context with as little spoiling as possible: in the following excerpt from the book, Sydney is driving a car with … let’s just say, someone with whom she’d rather not be driving. I started the engine and shifted the gear on the steering column, Read more…