Month-in-Review Highlights: March 2026

View of the Parc de Milan with its daffodil arc in full bloom and people taking advantage of the beautiful early-spring day. Lausanne, Switzerland. March 21, 2026.

I postmortem each month shortly after it ends. Previously, I used these posts to hold myself accountable on progress toward my annual goals. Starting in January 2023, I broadened these posts to address more generally my observations and experiences for the month. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)

March was a busy one. In addition to the work and the writing work, I had a much needed uptick in social activity after months of everyone hiding out and hunkering down for the winter months. (Me included.) The hibernating humans are coming out of their dens.

In addition to seeing a few friends who came through Lausanne (one from an adjacent town and one from her new home base in Vienna), we saw French family on two weekends over in France: A trip to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday in Normandy and a quick jaunt across Lake Geneva to have lunch in Evian with an aunt and uncle of my spouse.

All the interaction will continue to increase as the warmer months get underway. A good thing. As much as I enjoyed the hibernation season, I’m ready to get out and about.

We had a return to colder and gloomier weather at the end of March and did I welcome it? No, I did not. Bring on springtime already, s’il vous plaît.

The March uptick in social engagement required me to create more space in my schedule, and that meant stretching and flexing my malleability to ensure I still got everything done on the work and writing and life-maintenance fronts. But adjust I did. It was good practice for the weeks and months ahead, when the social calendar gets even busier.

Work and life-maintenance proceeded apace in March, though I admit to kicking a few less-urgent cans on both fronts down the road. I’ll need to clear those away before summer months get here. But I wanted to keep as intense a focus on my fiction as I could muster, as I was in my second month of heavy-duty revision on one of my two novels-in-progress. The novel-revision process takes an intense amount of focus and brain power.

I made my goal of finishing the revision of that novel by the end of March. Just before the month ended, I sent the draft to a tiny coterie of early readers to give me first impressions

 It’s always nerve-wracking to send people a manuscript that hasn’t yet had any other eyes but mine, but it’s a critical step. I’m at the stage where I just can’t see it clearly anymore. I need others’ opinions before I hack away at it any further.

While I wait for my early readers’ thoughts, which should come in toward the end of April or in early May, I’ve turned my writing-time attention to the other novel I have in progress. Though I’ve only just begun the getting-reacquainted process—always interesting to see how little I remember, especially with extended time away and intense focus elsewhere—I like what I see so far. That’s energizing.

Still no progress on the goal to create a regular social gathering with friends here in town, alas. I also failed to find a cultural event in March that aligned with my schedule, and that’s a bummer. I really, really love at least one trip to a museum or viewing of a play or participation in a walking tour or other cultural activity each month.

I’ll have to do better on both fronts in April, in addition to catching up to those cans I kicked down the road in March.

And onward into full-fledged spring!