WINTER PREDICTIONS

These guys are crawling all over my house.  I believe the old Ozarks superstition is that if woolly worms have large brown sections in the middle, you can count on a mild winter; the more black they have on the ends, the rougher the cold season.

That looks like an awful lot of black to me, actually.  I might be typing away on my AA-battery-powered Alphasmart by candlelight yet again this winter.

Dang it.

WARMER SEASONS

By now, it's not news at all that we're having an utterly rotten winter here in the Ozarks.  But I just can't seem to bring myself to take pictures of the massive inches of snow or the icicles hanging off the house.  It's evidence of melting—the sight of the ground poking through the white stuff—that makes me want to break out the camera.

I think I just prefer the look of a good thaw...I like the look of a cold, hard time giving way to a warmer season...

SEE A HEART

My editor at Dial shared this book with me at Christmas: SEE A HEART SHARE A HEART by Eric Telchin. 

It's truly a lovely collection of photographs.  I've found myself pulling it off the shelf repeatedly during the past few days, as the Ozarks has dealt with a horrible blast of wintry weather: sleet, snow, freezing rain. 

In the midst of ugly, harsh surroundings, it's provided a much-needed ray of warmth. 

WAITING FOR THE SNOW TO MELT...

My pup, Jake, with his face against the window, planning all the adventures he'll have, just as soon as the snow clears out:

SNOW IN SPRING

Okay, so the backyard didn't look quite this snow-covered this morning...this is a winter pic. It really did snow quite a bit last night, though...sigh...

But to make up for the fact that winter came roaring back like an ex on a social networking site, a great interview went live today at The Ending Unplanned. Remember that Amazon review I received for PLAYING HURT that I was raving about? Rachel at The Ending Unplanned wrote it. Love her. Really. You can check out her full review and the interview.

...And, while we're talking reviews, check out what Liza Wiemer said at Goodreads!

GROSS!

I thought for a while I might be becoming a winter person. Yeah, well, that’s over. Five inches of snow over the weekend makes me want to snarl like a Rott at an approaching mailman.

…And, sure, I’ve got too much stuff to do for the weather to matter. I know—so A BLUE SO DARK is going through proofreading. Okay. And so I need to revise PLAYING HURT. Sure. So I’ve discovered, over the past few months, that anybody who thinks writing is a leisurely occupation is (as we’d put it here in the Ozarks) a complete and total idgit.

Right. So I’m tied to my keyboard. But couldn’t I be tied to my keyboard just as easily in Turks & Caicos???