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Well, I'm rambling this week. We have come to another week of Molly having to score essays instead of doing other lovely things, like writing books, submitting books, reading books, etc, because she must have cash for the taxman cometh.

This has led to a break in novel writing posts that do take me a while to put together, and I have a current time famine. I find that the business of life can just shut down the work. I have to be patient. My Rembrandt book is coming out and that is exciting. I have to devote my precious time to some book promotion. Really, I'd rather be writing.

I also am doing a graphic novel workshop with my son's class. This is quite the blast. I love getting kids on teams and having them work together to create a collaborative work. In other news, next weekend I will be heading to a SCBWI conference so I have a post with conference tidbits coming.

Rambling on -- I'm always trying to think about what books need to be written. I continue to feel there is a great dearth of books for boys. I've written one authentically boy book. I feel that I must write more. I think boys enjoy Godzilla-like creatures that stomp cities and lol stories about mutant clones. There are just not enough great books out there like that. I also feel that there are not enough rousing history stories for boys - not "Little House" folks, but adventure stories with airplanes, ships, submarines and motor cars. I'd like to see a big mystery series too. Hope this gets you thinking. I hope that you jump on board and get into the business of making great boy books.

Today it is snowing at my house. Yes, it is April 18, so what is all that about? I feel that I about to march over to Mother Nature's house and have one big argument!Where is spring!!!

The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love.

Margaret Atwood

Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow.
Langston Hughes

Chin Hills, Burma

Coordinates: 22 30 N 93 30 E

Maximum elevation: 10,018 feet (3,053 m)

Desperately trying to keep the Taxman at bay for a few more hours, I wound up at my favorite Monday night watering hole with a few friends last night, earnestly discussing the summer foods we enjoyed most. After listening to everyone’s peculiar arguments I found myself championing the mango as the perfect fruit for warmer days ahead. And yet as I tried to explain its versatility as an ingredient and its unrivaled popularity (the National Mango Board claims that more fresh mangos are eaten every day than any other fruit in the world), I realized that I knew precious little about its geographical origins.

As it turns out, this succulent relative of the cashew and the pistachio has been consumed in India for thousands of years, although it didn’t reach the United States until the late nineteenth century. Pinpointing the location of the first mango, when there are hundreds of varieties of the plant today, is not something I wanted to undertake but fortunately others had already agreed on the higher terrain forming the border between India and Burma (Myanmar). Running north-south, the evergreen-clad Chin Hills stretch across much of this tropical zone, and may hide an ancient progenitor in their forested slopes.

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