March started with snow. Yes, snow. On March 3rd, we woke to a few inches of snow. It stuck around for a fews days thanks to the cold temps. On March 9th, we got rain and it washed the snow away. During the last week of the month, I could see flowers breaking ground and grass starting to turn green. On the 27th, I spotted the first yellow daffodils in the back yard.

We watched the movie, Split, with James McAvoy. It’s the 2nd part in a trilogy by M. Night Shyamalan. The 3rd part, Glass, came out this year. Split was okay. James did a great job in his role as a man suffering with multiple personalities. It reminded me of John Cusack in 2003’s Identity or John Lithgow in Raising Cain from 1992.

We also watched the new Aquaman. Eh… I was never a fan of the comics or cartoon. The movie was very appealing visually, but I just couldn’t get into it.

We binged a ton of Netflix this month:

Russian Doll: What a treat! Reminded me of the movie Ground Hog Day. Same premise. Different story, but I really enjoyed it. Natasha Lyonne was so good in Orange is the New Black. There are several actors from that in Russian Doll as well.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: I never watched the TV show in the 90’s, and though I was an Archie fan I never read the Sabrina comics and didn’t know about their relation. The Netflix show is amazing, and very dark. Looking forward to season 2 which is available the first week of April.

The Order: Sabrina was better but if you like horror, this is worth a look. It’s about werewolves and magicians battling it out on a college campus.

Queer Eye Season 3: What a fun, feel good show! Gurl, slay!

We also started the second season of The O.A. Loved season 1. Was totally lost at the beginning of season 2, but watching the recap helped. Excellent writing and characters.

I did a lot of reading in between.

I finally (FINALLY!) finished The Gold Finch in early March. It was a good read and I’m glad I finished it, but by the time I reached the last 100 pages I was getting really frustrated with the characters. I’d give it four stars but I’m not sure I’m going to write a review about it; it’d probably be too long.

I finished Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Compared to the politics we’ve had to deal with since 2016, reading this book and reliving the Obama years was like slipping into a warm bubble bath. Great book! And Michelle’s determination and hard work is very inspiring.

I finished Mary Oliver’s Devotions.  I’ve kept my own poem-a-day devotion and also found time to write ten more poems of my own. I started a collection of Tennessee William’s poems to finish out the month which will carry me through April.

Speaking of Tennessee, I also started and finished Christopher Castellani’s Leading Men” which is about Tennessee Williams and his companion Frank Merlo. Little is known or mentioned about Frank in other books I’ve read about Tennessee, so this fictional account of Frank’s last days was a nice read.

In anticipation of Austin Kleon‘s new book, Keep Going, which comes out in early April, I went back and reread his book, Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work. If you ever need a creative boost, read these books or subscribe to Austin’s newsletter!

Besides the poetry, I did some more writing:

On March 7th, I took a 3 day break from the current work in process. I still couldn’t come up with an ending and chose to print it out and go back to the beginning and edit it again chapter by chapter. It needed work, and with no ending in sight, I realized I was quickly falling out of love with this story. Sad? Yeah. Kinda. But it just means it was time to set it aside and give this manuscript a rest. So, that’s what I did. I bound the printed copy with several rubber bands and symbolically tucked it away.

And when those 3 days were over, I went back to working on a book I’ve stopped and started for several years now. My earliest notes are dated 2011. This time, I added a new narrator and switched to a first person point of view. I wrote non-stop every day for the rest of the month and averaged about 5,000 words a week. This book has never left my mind, even after so many starts and stops so maybe this is the year I finally finish it.

It’s been a busy month, and as the weather grows warmer I’m looking forward to a busier spring and summer. My post for April will probably be about a lot of outdoor activities.

How was your March?