My March Madness: Book, Brain, Bandit (the cat)
- Jan Flynn
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Indoors or out, no one relaxes In March, that month of wind and taxes, The wind will presently disappear, The taxes last us all the year. ~Ogden Nash, "Thar She Blows," 1943
I never know how to feel about March. It’s the most in-between, neither here-nor-there month of the year. Its winds and weather changes are capricious, offering neither the solid coziness of winter nor the fragrant seduction of true spring.
Daylight Saving Time takes hold, depriving us of an hour of much-needed sleep. I struggle to forgive March for that.
There are no federal holidays in March, which for most employees means an unbroken slog of five-day weeks. This is complicated by schoolkids being out for a week of spring break. That’s a challenge for workers with limited PTO and who lack the disposable funds to whisk the family off to Hawaii.
This March, even Hawaii’s not a great option. Current forecasts for the islands include high winds and possible blizzards. It’s not just Hawaii; most of the U.S. is in for truly weird weather this month, from heat domes to atmospheric rivers.
Talk about coming in like a lion. No doubt about it, March is a challenge.
It’s Women’s History Month, which is a good thing, but I confess to mixed feelings. We don’t have a Men’s History Month, because it’s clear to everyone except maybe Groypers that there is no need for such a thing.
Also, Women’s History Month in the U.S. has to be instituted every year by presidential proclamation. The specter of our Current Occupant granting dispensation to recognize the contributions of women to American society makes me queasy, just saying.
As for the state of the nation and the world this month, let’s agree to politely avert our gazes, just for a moment. We all need a breath of almost-spring air from time to time.
Zooming the focus back down to the personal: In our ‘hood, the forsythia is bursting into chrome-yellow bloom. Daffodils are doing their sunny-faced thing. Neighbors are emerging from their winter cocoons, happy to sidewalk-schmooze while walking their pooches.
The local garden centers are restocking, intent on their annual campaign to get me to plant my front porch pots way too early (“No pots until Mother’s Day,” a wise neighbor advised me when we first moved to Idaho from California. I found out just how wise she was when I went ahead and learned the hard way).
And here at Chez Flynn, things on the brain-and-Bandit recovery front are coming along. In case you missed it, I recently posted about my husband’s brain surgery in February, and the cat’s resultant distress, and shared versions of it on Substack and Medium.com.
That piece has had something of a moment on those platforms, resulting in multiple requests for updates. Some regarding my husband’s progress, but mostly about the cat.
I am happy to report that the vomiting and nighttime agitation, while not entirely gone, have abated. I am referring here to the cat, who has mostly resigned himself to having just me to sleep with, or preferably upon.
The husband is doing splendidly. He has enjoyed a honeymoon side effect from the surgery that has tamped down his essential tremor. His hands have been so steady that he was even able to type again for a while. The effect is beginning to wear off, though, as the surgeon warned us; this is a normal part of the brain healing.
The surgical staples were removed last week, so my beloved no longer resembles something from a Guillermo del Toro movie. He’s cleared to drive, which has reduced his post-operative grumpiness by about 95% because he no longer has to be shuttled around by me.
His implanted device is scheduled to be switched on and adjusted in early April.
He has a tattoo in mind for the skin atop the implant. It’s designed to mimic the iPhone systems settings icon, which I find rather brilliant. We’ll see if his surgeon gives the go-ahead.
So, with brain and Bandit addressed, how about the book?
By book, of course I mean my forthcoming debut novel Griffin Speaker, which comes out on May 5 and is available for preorder now.
On that front, exciting stuff!
In most book deal contracts, the publisher agrees to furnish the author with a number of copies of the first print run, prior to the book going on sale. My copies of Griffin Speaker arrived from Penguin Random House (the distributor for Disney Publishing) two evenings ago. To say I was excited is an understatement.
The journey from manuscript to published book is long and fraught, so when a moment like this arrives, it’s worth jumping up and down.
I’ve been happily involved in some pre-launch activities this month. On March 5, I took part with three other (wonderful!) authors in a panel discussion for School Library Journal’s online“Middle School Magic” event.
On March 11, I was thrilled to be part of Disney Publishing’s spring/summer preview of new books for young readers on the American Library Association’s Booklist Webinar. If you’re curious, you can watch the recording here — I come in at 41:59.
More events and school visits for the end of this school year and the beginning of the 26/27 academic calendar are starting to line up, but here’s what’s on the schedule now:
March 30, Houston, TX: Panelist participant, “Imagination Unleashed: The Next Chapter of Middle Grade Fantasy,” Texas Library Association Conference (9:30 - 10:30 AM Central Time)
May 9, Boise: Book Launch Party at Rediscovered Books in Boise (1 - 2 PM Mountain Time)
May 16, Boise: Author In-Store Event, Barnes & Noble Boise (11 AM - 2 PM Mountain Time)
May 20, San Francisco: In-person presentation at Town School. May 21, San Francisco: In-store event at Books Inc Laurel Village location, where I’ll be in conversation with the wonderful Kiyash Monsef, author of Once There Was and its sequel The Bird of a Thousand Stories, both luminous books. If you’re in the area, please join us! eventbrite.com/e/jan-m-flynn-at-books-inc-laurel-village-tickets-1977649020457?aff=oddtdtcreator
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