Another nomination

I just received word that The Boreal Owl Murder has been nominated for the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards, presented by the University of Minnesota Duluth Library and Friends of the Duluth Public Library in collaboration with Lake Superior Writers. How exciting! Books in the competition represent northeastern Minnesota in the areas of history, culture, heritage, or lifestyle – I guess all those long weekends I’ve spent in Two Harbors seeped right into my writing. Of course, the fact that you can only find Boreal Owls up north certainly influenced the book’s setting. Actually, that’s one of the things that makes writing Birder Murders so much fun for me – since birds are found in certain spots, I get to explore different pieces of Minnesota with each new Bob White mystery.

Tags: awards, The Boreal Owl Murder

Trust Me!

I always get a laugh from bloopers – the mistakes people make in using the English language. And, believe me, as a college English teacher, I see plenty of them every term in my students’ papers. Here’s a short collection of them from this past school year for your own reading enjoyment.

Blooper: “Every year on The Day of the Dead, families go to cemeteries to visit their diseased relatives.”

My comment on the student’s paper: I think you mean ‘deceased’ relatives. Typically, ‘diseased’ relatives are either in the hospital, a nursing facility, or at home. Cemetaries are places you bury bodies, not a place to host get-well parties. That would be pretty depressing for the patient, don’t you think? ‘Hey, Uncle Stu, let’s get everyone together at the local graveyard to ...more...

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