End of Month Roundup

[temporus]

April finally upset my streak.   I had a new short story completed every month since November.  This month, I just couldn't put anything new together.  There was too much going on.   Besides a week where I was sick, and managed nothing there were a few other critical events.  One was the culmination of my wife's year long work on an important committee for our congregation.   It was a committee to find our congregation a new minister, and I couldn't be prouder of her and all her dedication and effort.  (And of course, of the other committee members.)   Then there was the nor'easter that turned out to be the second heaviest rainfall in NJ history.  I was worried about water in my basement, until two good friends called because the river near their newly purchased house was rising, and wanted to know if they could find some sanctuary.   Many hands are helping them put things back together.

On the writing front, the only news is a rejection.  No need to belabour it further.

Books read:

Howl's Moving Castle  by Dianna Wynne Jones.  I have seen the Studio Ghibli movie of this novel, and decided to read the book.  I'm quite a bit torn, because I really like each on their own merits.  But there is just enough different between the two that it's so hard to decide.  I can say this for certain, if you only are familiar with the movie, read this book.  The differences are not insignificant, and I think it will allow you to get a new appreciation for the same story.  Much of the movie was lifted from the books, but I think there is also a lot of the movie that is pure Ghibli.  The emphasis on transformation and flight, and war, is really not in the novel.  But the novel has its own machinations and variations.  In a way I was happily surprised that the movie was different enough, that I didn't know everything that was coming, which is a danger of seeing a movie before you read a book.  (And I suppose the opposite as well.)

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking  by Malcolm Gladwell.  Okay, I'm cheating, as I'm not completely finished with this one, but I will be by tomorrow at the latest.  I read the Tipping Point, also by Gladwell, and was fascinated by it.  So I had to pick up this next work, because I wanted to see what other intriguing ideas he could show me.  I wasn't disappointed.  As the title implies this is all about how we make snap decisions.  When its good, when its bad.  When we do it right, when there is a danger in relying on it.  As his previous work, it touches on so many possibilities.  But the one thing it does show, is that thinking things to death isn't always the right answer.  In fact, sometimes gathering even more information can actually make bad decisions.  If you liked the Tipping Point, I think you'll also enjoy this book.  
 
That's it for the month.  My only hope is that the April showers will bring in some May flowers.