Looking in other people's houses

I’ve been reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and one of the exercises she asks you to do in the book is to imagine what you might be if you weren’t what you are. Like, what alternate career would you choose if you could do something else?

I wish I could say I had a glamorous answer to this, like a singer in a rock and roll band, or a horseback rider. But the first thing that popped into my head was a real estate agent.

I’ve often used characters who are real estate agents in my fiction. It’s a job I come back to a lot because truthfully, I have a bit of an obsession with other people’s houses. When I was younger, my mom and aunts would take me to New York City for a bus trip, and at night, when we’d be pulling out of the city to go home, I would sit against the bus window and press my face up against the glass to get glimpses into the many apartment buildings above me, each small window representing an entire life.

As an adult, I love going to open houses to browse around because there’s so much weirdness inside the walls of the spaces we live in. The choices people make, the comforts they surround themselves with. The way our spaces can wear down around us, without us even noticing. Houses get energy from the people who live in them, but people can also get their energies from the places we spend the most time.

I don’t think I’d necessarily be a very good real estate agent. I hate selling things to people, for one, and I’m not as upbeat and outgoing as you may need to be to succeed in that job. But I think it would be fun, on some level, to help people find the right place for them. To find a home. I imagine I’m totally romanticizing the job, and there are lots of parts of it that are boring or suck (like all jobs, really), but I still think there would be very interesting aspects to it. But, since I’m not a real estate agent, I’ll just keep writing fiction—and inventing other people’s homes.

Speaking of other people’s houses, have you visited the Van Ness estate yet? Now’s your chance! Today only (April 14), you can purchase the ebook of The Weekend Retreat for only $2.99!

Then head over to my web site and download the floor plan and estate map to accompany the book! (Drawn by my enormously talented 12-year-old son Dash. Which, yes, I’m biased, but still, they are amazing.)

I chatted with Polly Campbell at Simply Write recently about all things publishing. If you haven’t listened to Polly’s podcast or signed up for her newsletters, now’s the time. I adore her words of wisdom and thoughts on life in general. She always puts me in a better mood.

Check out the recent interviews I did over at What Scares You! You can find out about the creepy hotel K.T. Nguyen stayed at, discover why Lauri Schoenfeld is terrified of possession, and hear all about Carl Vondereau’s obsession with The Twilight Zone, among other scary things.

There’s a darkness inside all of us. Habits we aren’t proud of. Failures we want to keep secret.

In my first collection of short stories, Modern Manners For Your Inner Demons, I explore our dark sides—our shame, guilt, and bad habits. Each story is an “etiquette guide” for all the things about us that no one else would ever write etiquette guides for—think adultery, homicide, infertility, discrimination, dementia, and more.

You can snag your copy over at Santa Fe Writers Project, and if you contact me with proof of purchase, I’ll email you a PDF of an exclusive extra story that was only available as a limited edition bonus content at my launch party!

APRIL 25-28, 2024

Malice Domestic, Bethesda, MD. I’m on two panels! And doing a book signing! And attending the Agatha Award banquet, where The Weekend Retreat is a finalist for Best Contemporary Novel! (eeek!)

MAY 4, 2024

Washington Writers Conference, Rockville, MD. I’m on panel, “Does This Genre Look Good on You?” with Louis Bayard, Tania James, and Eryk Pruitt.

MAY 18, 2024

Gaithersburg Book Festival, Gaithersburg, MD. I’m on a panel with Lauren Thoman and Keith Donohue!

JUNE 9, 2024

So excited to chat with John Copenhaver about his latest novel Hall of Mirrors, 4:45 p.m., Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C.