Having trouble organizing my thoughts today. I suppose it might just be that the weather switches back and forth almost hourly it seems. One hour it’s warm, the next it’s raining and cold. Here are a few things that have kept my mind busy today:

• Salman Rushdie was crushed when Padma Lakshmi left him and almost didn’t finish writing The Enchantress of Florence, according to this interview in the Guardian.
• I agree with David Mehegan that author bios are getting a little too cutesy.
  

  Since time out of mind, biographical sketches of authors have appeared on the inside back flap of book jackets: what they have written, what they have done, marital status and number of kids, where they live. In recent years, I have noticed the exceedingly odd custom of including, and enumerating, pets and animals.

• This article on the big box stores vs. small independents doesn’t say anything that new, but it’s still worth reading.
• I should say something important about Harper Collins new, big bright publishing plan, but I can’t muster up anything to say right now. I’ll believe it when I see it work.