Caramel apples and fall are BFF’s. I started this site, Big Apple Dipped in Caramel, years ago, as a love story to NYC. The Big Apple needs lots of kindness and caramel apples this holiday season. Be kind, be thankful—and enjoy those caramel apples. That’s the New York way. I’ll be posting lots of NYC holiday goodies. Can’t wait to share 💕
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NYC is a walking town—especially now, during the COVID pandemic, it’s ideal to be outdoors. Here, my TravelChannel picks for walking and birdwatching in NYC https://www.travelchannel.com/destinations/us/ny/new-york-city/articles/walking-paths-in-new-york-city
So, the best part of The Super Bowl is that baseball is on deck. Here’s my piece on where to enjoy the City if you’re a Yankees fan–it’s Jeter’s year to enter The Cooperstown Hall of Fame this summer, big season coming up for the Yanks! http://www.newyorklifestylesmagazine.com/articles/2018/05/37.html
Just six years ago, the Big Apple hosted the Super Bowl, and the week leading up to the game (played across the Hudson River), was all about parties, events in NYC. And this happened in Times Square. It was an absolutely frigid night when the photo of my son was taken. The night is a special memory of smiles and frozen toes. Fast forward to a new decade–enjoy the game tonight, and the wings, nachos and brews!
Jessica takes on New York City in this classic Murder, She Wrote novel, Manhattans & Murder, during the holidays in magical NYC. My dad, Donald Bain, and I wrote this together. I also included a scene from Long Island, where my dad and I both lived at the time. Jessica has a driver take her on the LIE to Gallagher’s Pub, a favorite of mine and my dad’s, located in a darling town on the Long Island Sound. This was the second book in the series–there are 50 now, 46 of the books were written by Donald Bain. Amazing! Congratulations, dad! A fun stocking stuffer! Happy holidays to fans, and thank you, truly, thank you for all the love. Lots more to celebrate soon, so blessed and grateful!
You don’t have much time. Whatever it is you are writing, you must tease the reader from the get-go so that they are craving s’more.
I recently spoke to a business group in Newburyport, MA. I spoke about how to get your reader’s attention. I started out my talk with the first line in an article I wrote that was published in Salon.com and reprinted in Working Mother magazine’s 35th anniversary issue. Here is a link. The first line is a hook and bait. Here it is: I didn’t mean to put the tampons in my seven-year-old son’s backpack.
Gotcha.
http://www.workingmother.com/mom-stories/big-switch
Remember, you must come up with something clever, funny, gripping, frightening, shocking, intriguing…. And it must be well-written. Have fun with your ideas. You can come up with your first line or first paragraph (or ledes, in journalism it is called a lede, not a lead) while running or walking the beach. Or driving. Make your words dance.
Okay, so you have probably heard that writers often write about what they know.
When I co-authored Rum & Razors, the second Murder, She Wrote novel I wrote with my father, Donald Bain, I opened the book up with an experience that happened to my mother, Jackie, and father, when I was about nine.
Jessica Fletcher’s experience parallels what my parents experienced. It was actually very frightening and my parents had to call in the FBI to our house! It was a scary time because my dad was involved in writing a controversial book about the CIA and model Candy Jones and so we thought we were being targeted. I wasn’t allowed to walk to and from school or hang out outside. Turns out it was a prank created by good friends of my parents through a community theatre group they were involved with in Westbury, NY, on Long Island
The point is this: I used a real life experience in the opening pages of the Murder, She Wrote novel. Fun, right?
Write about what you know. Yes. Go for it!
Below is a link to the scene in Rum & Razors. Enjoy! You will learn that GLOTCOYB in Rum & Razors stands for Good Luck On The Completion of Your Book. But in the real-life episode in my house, it stood for Good Luck On The Completion of Your Basement, because my father was renovating the basement in our small modest house. Crazy.
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Bundle up, hook arms and admire the City’s festive window displays. New York is absolutely magical during the holidays. The spirit is cheerful, little shops are wrapped in ribbons and lights and the biggest stores are totally decked out for the holidays through New Years. Grab a cup of steamy cocoa and hit the pavement, fa la la la la, la la la la. Here’s a little, self-guided walking tour.
Begin at the Lord and Taylor windows (38th and 5th Avenue; 212/391- 3344 at Fifth Avenue).
Walk north up Fifth Avenue, past the New York Public Library, to the Saks Fifth Avenue windows at 611 Fifth Avenue (at 49th Street; 212/ 753-4000).
Cross the street to admire the larger-than-life Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Continue walking north up Fifth Avenue to Bergdorf Goodman’s windows at 754 Fifth Avenue (at 58th Street).
Walk one block east to Madison Avenue and then three blocks north to the windows at Barney’s at 600 Madison Avenue; 212-826-8900.
If you want to take in Bloomingdale’s windows (at 100 Third Avenue), walk two blocks south to 59th Street and then a couple of avenues east to Third Avenue.
Note: The Macy’s window displays are also engaging. Macy’s is located at Herald Square and Broadway between 34th and 35th streets.
New York City 