Link Saturday with Fuzz on Top

We're living in a new place this spring with actual (albeit fractionally slivered) acreage. There's already been some nice landscaping done, but I didn't know whether we had any spring bulbs working. When I asked my long-time, gardening neighbor, she assured me that I could safely wait to see what showed before planting more. Something would happen.

Now, I can really see the daffodils pushing up. No crocuses or snowdrops that I can tell, though other houses already have blooms, but lots of daffodils. Those are the most important to me anyway. The Montauk Daisies are working their magic and sprouting leaves and spreading plantings. The miscanthus grass is starting to green up, but so slowly. The hydrangeas? Dunno. Risky. I think I see buds, but I can't be sure. Some of the recent birds at the feeder are small, even for sparrows, and still carry silly plush mohawks of gray fuzz on their heads and backs. Last night, I made coconut cupcakes to take to my family's for Easter. I love the time of year, and am starting to feel more awake and alive again myself.

My novel's also finally picking up momentum again, even if, at the last meeting of my writers group, no one's life was transformed or even astoundingly improved by reading it. There's still nascent fuzz on it, too, but I believe it's getting pared down, muscled-up, and more aerodynamic by the day. So while I continue plucking the yuck out of my paragraphs, here are some scribbling-related links:

1) Some (I've done it) may give the occasional cat mystery a hard time, but Rita Mae Brown is a fascinating, forthright person as well as a successful author. Though approaches and subgenres may deteriorate into caricature over time, she was one of the founders of the genre and still believes in her characters and concept, so she's earned her pass. Anyway, I enjoyed this Time interview (via CrimeSpot) ...Well, I didn't know I was going to be famous. All that happens, and I was like, what is all this crap? Excuse me for swearing...

2) In a refreshing departure from traditional "literature" or "classics", One Book, One Chicago has chosen a crime fiction title, specifically Chicago-born Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, for its citywide reading program. Coming up in early April, the NEA-sponsored Big Read will also be offering two free events with a noir focus. Panels of MWA authors at Manhattan's Mercantile Library will discuss (and debate, if you're lucky) the lasting influence of The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade.

3) You may love your copy of the terse Elements of Style by Strunk and White , or maybe you prefer the even shorter Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing (however swelled into its hardcover from the original speech delivered at Bouchercon). But neither of these brevities will fit into the waistband of George Orwell's pithiest 6 tips , linked in their entirety. Free sample: Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

4) This TimesOnline article compares contemporaries Albert Camus and Georges Simenon, prolific creator of Inspector Maigret. The existentialist versus the existential hack. I'm sad Paul Theroux used that phrase, because though I don't know what Nan will choose, Existential Hack has always been on my business cards.

5) But Clare, you ask, why are you spending your time on this flapdoodle when you should be writing, writing, writing? Well, procrastination is part of my Method. Besides, I still see blogging as an extracurricular outlet, not a substitute for writing, but plenty of authors have found it worked otherwise to their detriments. Ignore your agent and pals, and do what's right for your writing. (via Whatever) Bestselling fantasy author Robin Hobb strongly cautions against the time and creativity-draining Vampires of the Internet. And yes, you have to read her warning online, smart a**.

Happy Spring!