Wartime Diaries, Watermelons, and Watercolor

Here's a Hilarious Form Letter from WWI.
 

I'm reading a lot of World War I-era letters right now as I get ready to write the sixth Kopp Sisters novel, which takes place during the war. Letters are wonderful because they offer a firsthand glimpse into life during wartime, but they're also frustrating, because military censorship made it impossible for letter-writers to get too specific about their whereabouts or what they were up to. ("Somewhere in France" was the standard return address used by every soldier at the front.)

That's why I loved this little gem: a form letter created by a soldier as a joke, poking fun at the very limited topics that a letter home could cover. Go here to read the whole thing.
 

You Probably Need a Watermelon Cocktail Right Now

Is there anything better than watermelon in the summertime? No, there is not. 

Watermelon belongs in every cocktail in July, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not much of a fan of margaritas--I don't like all that sour lime juice--but I love this watermelon tequila cocktail:

Agave y Sandia (serves one)

1.5 oz 100% agave tequila

.5 oz Combier or another orange liqueur

4-5 chunks fresh watermelon

Juice of ¼ fresh lime

3-4 sprigs spearmint or rosemary

Optional:  fresh jalapeño slice

Reserve a slice of lime or herb sprig for garnish. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and crush with a muddler or wooden spoon, being sure to release all the watermelon juice and break up the pulp.  Shake with ice and pour into a cocktail glass.  Add garnish.

(Oh, and a watermelon-basil mojito is also a glorious thing)

I'm Off to Porto to Make Art with 500 Strangers.

Apparently there is a place in the world that looks like this. I am going to make the ultimate sacrifice by going there this month to find out if it's actually true.

The international Urban Sketchers group is holding its annual symposium in Porto, Portugal, which means that 500 artists will roll into town at once to draw and paint this gorgeous place. I'll be one of them.

If you're interested in following along, keep an eye on their blog, or look for the USKPorto2018 hashtag on Instagram. I'll be posting my own drawings there, too. 

These Apps Make My Life Better
 

Here are four apps I'm taking with me on vacation this summer:

TripIt holds all my travel plans, notifies me of flight delays, gives me directions, and requires almost no data entry on my part. Just forward your travel confirmations and TripIt builds your whole itinerary. I would never travel without it.

Libby is the new library app for borrowing ebooks and audiobooks from your local library--and what is a road trip without a great audio book? (Yes, it's free, but it costs the library money to offer you this service, so please show your gratitude with a donation to your local Friends of the Library.)

Touchnote lets you mail a postcard from your phone. Snap a picture, type a message, and pay just a couple bucks for your postcard to be printed and mailed, anywhere in the world. Postcards are what people did on vacation before Facebook, and they're way more fun.

Google Translate just keeps getting better. I meant to learn Portuguese before I left for this trip to Portugal--really, I did. That didn't happen, but at least I downloaded the Portuguese pack for offline use (so I don't waste precious cell phone data), which allows me to either say or type, "May I have a carafe of chilled rosé?" and either hear, or see displayed on my screen, the proper Portuguese translation. I actually do speak Spanish, so I tested it with a few simple Spanish phrases and found it to be quite accurate and straightforward.

Lady Cop Makes Trouble is a $2.99 Ebook This Month

Can I interest you in a $2.99 ebook? The second Kopp novel is on sale this month everywhere ebooks are sold. Pick one up for yourself or give one (or hey, a dozen!) as a gift! All you need to bestow an ebook on someone is the recipient's email address. Go here to read more about it, and find links to every ebook retailer.

Am I Coming to Your Hometown?

If so, I would love to meet you in person--and I will have a present for you. It's just a small token of my affection, but it's something I'll only be giving to people on this list. So come up and introduce yourself, and tell me that you  subscribe to this newsletter!

Milwaukee, WI: Aug 22 Boswell Book Company
Madison, WI: Aug 23 Working Draft Beer Company
Spring Green, WI: Aug 24 Arcadia Books
Mackinac Island, MI: Aug 26-28 The Grand Garden Show
St. Petersburg, FL: Sept 6-9 Bouchercon 
Ridgewood NJ: Sept 17 Ridgewood Public Library
Spokane, WA: Sept. 27 Spokane Is Reading
Florence, OR: Sept. 28 Florence Festival of Books

More tour dates can always be found on my website. Please confirm details with the venue before you head out.

This T-Shirt Just Won't Quit.

This is me and Liz Anderson, my publicist extraordinaire, at the American Library Association conference in New Orleans. Don't you love our shirts? Would you like to win one? Or maybe a customized coffee mug, or a set of coasters?

If you pre-order the fourth Kopp novel, Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit, I will send you a signed bookplate and enter you in a contest to win some of this very cool merch.  Read all about it here.

What Are You Reading?

Aren't you already in love with this woman? Look at that smile!

This is Elsie Janis, a plucky and daring vaudeville actress who kept a fantastic war diary when she was overseas entertaining the troops during World War I. 

The Big Show: My Six Months with the American Expeditionary Forces is available as a free ebook just about everywhere you might buy an ebook. Can you imagine what it would be like to travel around France in wartime a century ago, singing and performing in the most rustic and makeshift conditions imaginable, often without the benefits of such niceties as electricity or running water, for an audience of young men facing unimaginable danger?

Well, you won't have to imagine it. Elsie Janis was a wonderful diarist, and she will tell you all about it. 

If you're interested in this sort of thing, keep an eye on my Goodreads research shelf, where I'm keeping notes about all the wartime diaries, letter collections, and histories I'm reading. I actually do update it now and then, so stay tuned.