I’ll start out easy. While on my trip to Maine, my buddy Jennifer very casually mentioned the big black spider in the bag she’d packed with car snacks. Eek! (After she’d properly disposed of it, thank heaven.)
Fast forward to back home. I sent the Big Guy out for groceries, and broccoli that was on sale. I washed half a head to cook for dinner, and something caught my eye in the sink. A big black - black widow! - spider. I very calmly called the Big Guy into the kitchen and pointed at the beast. After dinner, I told a friend about the spider and posited that it might have come from the broccoli since I’ve NEVER seen a black widow in my house. She said she’d never heard of spiders in broccoli. Well, I have, but black widows? So, of course, I had to look it up, and yep, it happens. Yeesh. Now I’m nervous about eating the rest of the heads he bought, but I will soldier on. (The second meal with broccoli was spider-free.)These sorts of unexpected things have a tendency to find their ways into my books. In this case, I wrote black widows BEFORE I encountered one (have you read THE ARCHITECT?). Shout out to editor Kelly for educating me on the wee beasties.
Meanwhile, I'm working on Elspeth Barcley #3 and contemplating what unexpected horrors... um, surprises... she will run into this time.
Have you read the new series? How are you liking it?
I'm not big on spiders, especially venomous ones, but not quite as bad as my brother was when he was little. He encountered a spider in the bathtub and ran running, screaming into the living room while my parents were entertaining guests. Should I mention he was naked?
ReplyDeleteTo add insult to injury, I woke up with a spider bite this morning. Sneaky buggers.
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