Spring

Well, it's that time of year - when the weather calls me out to do yardwork and my body says "Forget it!" The goal in March and April is always "writing work in the morning, yardwork in the afternoon," but this year, again, it's not happening. If I had a backbody that worked like my backbrain, though, boy would I have a gorgeous yard!

The resemblances between writing and gardening are so close that the gardening metaphor is almost too obvious to pursue. In both, you plant more than you want because you know some of it's going to die; you have to be constantly on the alert against weeds (which might be anything from adverbs to distractions); you have to prune wisely to bear good fruit; you have little control over success but are guaranteed to fail if you don't keep plugging away at it every day; and the best bits are always unexpected. One day you look up from weeding and see a hummingbird hovering in front of your face. Ma Nature plants jasmine along your fence. You suddenly realize what your book is about, and it's so much better than what you'd planned to say.

I have to get at least one more query out (three more would be better, but I might not manage it) before I can get back to Len. But I need to get back to her. Taking care of business is insufficient compensation for being inside in Texas in March.

It's too nice a day to blog

Seriously. My pittosporum is blooming for the first time in the over 20 years since we moved into this house and I'm way behind on yardwork. Also, I have to go pick up Moby at the body shop this afternoon.

Also, I can't think of a good April Fool's post, mostly because I didn't think about April Fooling till this morning. So here's an e-mail I got from Bookview Cafe:

For Immediate Release

The Book View Cafe authors are delighted to welcome our newest author members...the Walking Dead!

With proven staying power, and back lists of books that have never gone away, awards too numerous to mention, these authors will re-energize and re-shape the cafe in ways never before imagined!

In honor of these new additions to the Cafe line up, the Cafe's front page (www.bookviewcafe.com) will be dedicated to the finest work of these authors, newly returned to prominence and the surface of the earth.

"With the internet, print on demand and civilization-ending environmental catastrophy bringing so many exceptional authors back to life, as it were, we saw a real opportunity," said Sarah Zettel, Book View Cafe's Managing Director.

When asked why she decided to rise from the grave to join the ebook revolution and zombie apocolypse, Margaret Mitchell said, "I swore, as God is my witness, I would never go hungry again. With Google Maps to help me find the best concentrations of fresh brains, I can keep that promise."

"The fleeing populace is a moveable feast for a young zombie," adds Ernest Hemingway. "If we can use ebooks to help ensure they have short, happy lives, why the hell not?"

But, as always, it was the father of the modern English language who put it best. Said the Bard:

"Brrraaaaaiiinnnnssss..."

Meanwhile, Greenwillow is jazzing up its line for the new trend. I am of course anxious to read the great Diana Wynne Jones's The Afterlives of Christopher Chant.

Bye. I'm off to work in the front yard, where I can breathe pittosporum, the definitive fragrance of San Antonio spring!