Just because St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, it doesn't mean we can't read books with a bit of a "green theme." Other holidays in March offer some themes as well. How about Pi Day (March 14?) or the Ides of March (March 15)? Or spring equinox (March 20)? Sooooo let's see what's out there to whet your reading appetite. Let's start with St. Patrick's. Wear (or plant?) some green this month. National Library of Ireland on The Commons [No restrictions] The Cozy Mystery List site has a roll-call of St. Paddy's Day mysteries . And, of course, Mystery Fanfare offers up St. Patrick's Day crime fiction from cozy to noir, with recommendations of Irish crime writers thrown in for good measure. The holiday seems to invite romance. Why is that, do you think? Here is the Listopia link for 123 romance books for St. Patrick's Day. Check out the "Shamrocks and Clovers" book list —some for kids, some for adults. For the kidd...

‘Now is the month of maying,  When merry lads are playing,  Fa la la la la la la la la la la  Fa la la la la la la.’ *  English madrigal, Thomas Morley (1595)  There are many similarities between learning to be a successful gardener and learning to be a successful writer. Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned:  Sunshine = Praise. Both are necessary and make your garden or your writing ‘bloom’. Too much, however, can lead to sunburned leaves or dangerously over-inflated egos. Stones. Most gardens suffer from some degree of rocky soil, so work is necessary before anything decent will grow. Removing pebbles from soil takes time and so does decent writing. No one becomes an expert in a day. Or a week. Or ever. However, you can never get rid of all the rocks and carrots will grow around them. Your writing will adapt too - twists are a good thing. The necessity of fertilizer. Remember a little goes a long way. And... remember...

Inspirational blooms in my garden If you're anything like me, you might be ready to push back your writing chair and do something different for a few weeks. Spring fever always has me wanting to get outside and work in the garden. The last thing on my mind is crunching out a daily word count for a novel. Maybe the outdoors is exactly what your writing life needs to replenish a surge of creative energy. There's nothing like a change to make the imagination bloom again, and what better place than outdoors where nature is bursting through the warm soil, sending up new shoots and flowering bulbs? I love when the days warm up and I can get outside for long walks and photo sessions to record all the changes around me. By the time I'm back in my writing chair, I usually have a few new ideas to explore or directions for online research that I might be able to use in the book. A long country walk I also find connecting with new friends and projects can help inspire. M...