Isn’t February so delightfully square this year? I suppose it’s because 2026 is a leap year, or maybe not a leap year; a child whose special interest is calendars explained this to me once, but I confess the particulars escape me. I prefer the French Republican Calendar. Anyway, the much-loathed whistlepig told us what we already knew: it’s fucken cold.

I don’t have any real publishing news to report, so I suppose you could say my 2026 is proceeding according to plan so far (although I do feel the temptation to submit to this flower-themed call and maybe you will too). Not to say I’m not making things. I finished an embroidery for a friend—no sneak peek because they read this newsletter—maybe—and have been writing lots of poems.

One I turned into a mini-zine using a block print of oranges and blossoms my husband made. If you’d like to print it out for yourself, it’s here! I’ll have this mini and two more new ones, plus a bunch of older material, at the Indie Books and Comics Expo at Black Walnut Books on February 28. I’m excited to finally be able to table at one of these! They tend to be on weekends I work. If you’re around the Capital Region, drop by and stock up.

Eleanor remains snug and hopes you are too.

In the realm of links:

• I finally got around to compiling my old newsletter, Readers Up, into a giant-size ebook. If you’re interested in not nearly comprehensive but sometimes interesting survey of Thoroughbred racing literature, all proceeds from the book are going to my favorite equine charity, The Retirement Home for Horses in Alachua, FL.

• I kind of love Valentine’s Day and this year I’m making puzzle purse Valentines. Warning: absorptive.

• Am I stupid for thinking the quotation marks on the Wuthering Heights poster are just a call-back to classic movie posters, despite its director’s overly-complicated explanation? For example: West of the Divide, Tess, and yes, Casablanca.

• An interesting overview of the tendency for fictional detectives to drink or use drugs. Someone remind me I’m not yet old enough to write an Occult Detective (whose vice, of course, is arcane power)…