Marching on:

There are so many possible and overused puns to be created about March, and -- aren't you proud of me? -- I resisted them all except for that teeny and probably not too cheesy one right there in my post title. I'm excited about March, for a bunch of reasons. It signals the beginning of Autumn. It contains my sister Lauren's birthday. And there are a heap of fun, creative things happening throughout this month, too.

Today my teeny little group of writer-friends (newly christened The Fig Tree Writers) handed in a grant proposal to our local arts council in pursuit of funding for a two-day screenwriting workshop with super-cool wordsman (and lecturer and published author and scriptwriter) Dr. Venero Armanno. My role in pulling together the proposal has been fairly minor compared to the work of the other ladies, but it's been exciting to see the process evolve and be behind-the-scenes on the chasing around, the gathering of potential attendees, the flurry of emails back and forth, and the meetings. Now to sit back and wait -- a few months! -- before we find out if our grant's been approved. Here's hoping!

What else? I'm taking part in the #marchphotoaday challenge, curated by the lovely photographer-lady fatmumslim, who came up with the list of prompts. I joined #janphotoaday too late to really get involved, and loved #febphotoaday a LOT, so I was excited to get a new month's worth of fun photography challenges. The idea is to take a picture each day, inspired by that date's photo prompt (see up there?). How you interpret that prompt is completely up to you -- and getting to see the different ways everyone does that is one of the fun parts of the project.

I'll be posting my pictures to instagram (my handle there is ohdeardanielle) where it's easy to follow everyone's progress by visiting the #marchphotoaday hashtag. However, you can engage in this project in whatever format you want. If you don't have an iPhone or iPod touch, take pictures with your digital camera (and post them to your blog!). It would also be a great way to reacquaint yourself with a film camera you haven't played with in a while. There are so many fun ways to do this.

Another March happening I'm excited about is the March of Books over at YLCF.org. I'm singing that same old song when I tell you that I really, really like books. It only follows, then, that an entire month dedicated to all things bookish has to be a lot of fun. Throughout the month, YLCF team writers will be posting book reviews and book-related talk (I've got three posts lined up). There's also an opportunity for you to be involved (and maybe make more blogging friends at the same time) by posting reviews to your own blog, and sharing in blog link-ups throughout the month. There are some cool book giveaways, too -- and who doesn't love free books? So do join us for that little bookity bloggity adventure.

Of course, all that just serves to remind me that I am yet to do anything very concrete with my little March of the Penguins project. I've read the first book in my epic journey, and once I was done, I started dreaming about doing a video post to review it. Then I got scared off that idea, and I stopped altogether. Silly. March would be prime time for me to reignite the Penguin book review extravanganza flame -- especially since I get double the pun value. Originally the joke was on the Penguins bit, but with it being March now, my project title packs a double-pun punch -- or maybe it just kills two (flightless) birds with one stone?

Okay I'll stop now, but before I go: what is the one best book you read over Summer (or Winter, if you're in that part of the world)? To make it even pickier, no re-reads allowed. It has to be a first-time read.

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Conversations:

Laura Elizabeth -- oh, that is a fabulous name! Can you please adopt a newborn baby tomorrow and name it Autumn? Thank you. Also, I agree with your reasons for liking Autumn and Spring, and that's probably why they both vie for position as my favourite season.

Carla & Alastair -- Carla, you know so much more about plants than me. I had no idea what it was called! You're right; it would make an AMAZING wedding bouquet. Also, I hadn't actually put "polar bear" and "groom" together in my head, so when you said that, I started imagining a polar bear in a suit, and... it was quite handsome.

Joy -- happy Autumn to you, too! As I was saying to Laura above, Autumn and Spring fight for favourites with me. Whichever one is coming the soonest usually gets to be my favourite :).

Hannah -- you do write the cheeriest little blog comments! Thank you for being a sweetie. xx

Lauren -- <3

Elizabeth -- :D

Un -- she's so "photonogenic" ;)

Katie -- isn't it a lovely chair? It was my Mum's gift to my Dad for Christmas. I'm a tad envious.

Meaghan -- ha! If I started to turn brown and crinkly like an Autumn leaf, I'll take a picture of myself and post it here :D.

Rebecca Simon -- and as if to spite us, Summer's just turned up the heat over the last few days, vindictive little season that it is!