I’m happy to report that I am not the only one who has noticed this is definitely a weird time of year. I’ve been struggling with productivity for weeks now. I can spend hours at my desk and then discover that I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing. I have deadlines looming, but that doesn’t make me work any faster. I keep a calendar in front of me, but I more often look at the pictures than the dates. Oh, and the deskpad one with its “color-me” border! Whatever made me think it would be a good idea to have coloring book access at my fingertips all day long, along with a whole mug full of pretty colored pencils.

 

So, is there an explanation for all of this silliness (or sheer laziness)? Well, a friend in England tells me it’s because of Mercury being in retrograde for almost the entire month of March. And what does that mean? I’m not sure I understand it myself but it has to do with the planet Mercury appearing to move backward in the sky. No, it’s not defying the laws of the universe. It’s the same phenomenon that sometimes makes the wheels of a car appear to be turning backward while the car is actually moving forward—something about the speed at which our brains can assimilate visual data, I suppose.  Still, it’s discombobulating and confusing, and throws our reasoning abilities into a tailspin.

 

Then there’s the equinox theory offered recently by a well-known blogging superstar. She insists that twice a year, during the spring and fall equinox periods, she experiences a burning in her chest that warns of disruptive life changes.  The theory there? Something about the seasons. In the middle of summer, days seem to last forever, and the bright sun lets us know we should be busily planting corn, or whatever. And in the midst of deep winter, the days are short. We can almost pull the drapes in mid-afternoon, light a candle or two, and then hurry off to bed for a long winter’s nap because only a silly old man in a red suit would go out with a troop of reindeer in that kind of weather. But during an equinox, the day and night are about the same length, and who knows what we are supposed to be doing? Confusion reigns, and we feel torn between two opposite desires—to sunbathe or hibernate.

 

Now imagine what happens when the equinox and Mercury in Retrograde occur in the same two-week period! No wonder I’m not getting much done. I have my excuses all lined up and I’m sticking to them. However, I’m going out on a limb here and making a couple of announcements about what I intend to be doing in the next few weeks. First, I’ve set the date for the launch of my new book, “Henrietta’s Legacy,” for Thursday, April 18. That’s just five weeks from tomorrow. And between now and then I’ll be tempting you with tidbits of information designed to make you want to buy it. We’ll start with a cover reveal—currently scheduled for tomorrow!