Author: annabowling

Maybe In The Moonlight

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I have the house to myself this morning. That’s still somewhat of a novelty, both having a permanent home, and having complete run of it, though I trust I will get used to it in time, My window of time lasts as long as it takes for Housemate to get back from doing her thing at the laundromat. At that time, there will not only be another human in my space, but clean sheets (burgundy plaid, flannel, aka my perfect autumnal option) and clothing (definitely time for an overhaul there, as A) we wore most of our stuff a lot in the last year, B ) style evolution, and C) we live in New York, and we are coming up on winter in not too long at all.

That, though, is probably not why the majority (here is where I comically correct that to “both”) of readers are here, though, who knows, maybe so. Maybe this blog is a little bit about mental health, especially where it intersects with the writing process, since if there were a way to separate the two, I like to think I would have found it by now. Then again, I have times where I can set my cup down, turn around and then have no idea where the thing went, even though our apartment is not that big. I digress.

So. Writing. I am going for that. A good chunk of my relationship with my own writing, these day, can be best summed up as “Oh, there you are,” like opening the packing box labelled something like “kitchenware” and well, hello there, my favorite sweatshirt. Didn’t expect to find you here, specifically, but I sure as heck am slipping you on right away. Not quite warm from the dryer, but not smelling of mothballs, and maybe even a little bit bigger than remembered, but, all around, a much-welcome reunion.

Reading is not quite there yet. I did, however, inhale two Hulu series, both based on YA novels I had read and liked, both which turned out rather well, and one of which was actually a little better than the source. Maybe I should give Poldark or Outlander another look for the historical romance quotient. In the meantime, I have been poking my nose into books by favorite authors, and then poking right back out after a couple of pages. That’s okay. It will come. It always does.

Same with the whole planning thing. With a little more than one month left in the year, my reaction to planning this week, which does include a holiday, has been largely “ehhhh.” I am not firm on what format or size I want my 2021 planner to be, but I do know that I want one main planner, rather than an at home planner and then a mini version to put in my bag. I have started experimenting with making my own planner stickers, example below:

appropriate quote, or what?

Using some of my favorite song lyrics and book quotes (I am beyond excited to be first in line for a hold on the newest Nina LaCour YA novel. No, I have no idea what it’s about; if her name is on the cover, I want it. Period.) feels a heck of a lot more exciting than and searching for stock images that catch the idea in my head feels like a super fun challenge, and is a good step toward getting exactly the planner stuff I want to have, even if I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet.

This ties in pretty well with my view on writing right now, so I’m going to stick with that. There is some confidently traipsing down familiar trails, and there is some splashing about in the shallows, sometimes in the shadows, but also in the moonlight. In the end, where this will lead is putting one foot in front of the other and hitting one key at a time, and then, one day, between sips of tea or bites of seasonally appropriate nibble, between kitty scritches or You Tube videos in the background, I will type “The End” and blink at the page, not entirely knowing how I got there, but glad that I did. After that? Next evolution.

Typing With Wet Paws: That’s the Stuff Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are closing in on my first proper Thanksgiving with these guys, and, after a rough start to the week (depression sux) Aunt Anna can attest that the autumnal super powers have indeed kicke4d back in for her. Yesterday was a super good writing day – she managed three whole units. One blog entry and two scenes for Drama King. That was in no small part, I am sure, due to the emotional support I gave from my old-lap-desk bed next to her glowy box. I am somewhat impressed that the writing was good even with the day’s domestic adventure.

At least there was no vacuum involved.

A few days ago, the humans noticed that the kitchen sink was not draining. At. All. Uncle Rheuben, who is a superhero, but not a plumber, took a look at it. I cannot vouch for what exactly happened after that, because the humans put me in the master bedroom with Aunt Anna, while Aunt Linda helped Uncle Rheuben take care of All Of The Water. Then they called Mr. Kurt to come and help.

I don’t think Mr. Kurt is exactly a plumber, but he is in charge of apartment fixing, and he said Uncle Rheuben had the sink almost fixed. It was kind of tricky, so Mr. Kurt had to go back to wherever he comes from and get a thing called a plunger, which he left (don’t worry, it now smells right, aka like me) and there were Sounds, but the sink is now fixed. That’s good, because that is where the humans get my water, and I love my water.

New candidate for author photo

So, anyway, back to the writing. Aunt Anna followed her usual thing of writing longhand first and then spiffing it while she transcribes. She sent her scenes to Aunt Melva, and gave feedback on Aunt Melva’s scene, and they will talk more about the book later today. Then they will have more scenes to write, and the end of the book gets ever closer. This gives Aunt Anna some wobbly stomach feels, because she has issues with that kind of thing, but it also means that she can turn her attention to other books, like historical romance and things like that. Plus the next book with Aunt Melva.

Aunt Anna does not have any shortage of stuff to come next. This morning, she got a nifty kind of idea. A couple of days ago, she finished her last notebook that she used for her morning pages. That meant it was time to find another one, and since she was on a no spend week, she had to pick from notebooks she had on hand. She tried one that had awesome paper, but only dot grid instead of lines, and she really needs lines as early in the morning as morning pages will be. Which is when she got an idea.

We will talk about the tiny book later.

The notebook with the road on the cover is the planner Aunt Anna used last year. She loved the cover too much to not use it for something, even though some of the plastic discs did not hold up so well during our vagabonding. Hence the metal discs, which came in a pack of eleven, while the notebook cover only has seven. That’s where the tiny book came in handy. Aunty Anna is making that one from scratch, based on a purchased book, and she will talk about that later.

Okay, morning pages: show me what you’ve go.

What she did now is to put the new discs in the cover, and snapped in some special filler paper, and it felt right. No dividers, since it will all be the same thing, her morning blabber. Going by instinct like this usually works out well for Aunt Anna, and helps her not get in her own way, which she can often do when she overthinks a thing. She will be talking more in the future about the whole planning by instinct thing. So far, it seems to be working.

She also has a couple of paper books in the house, but still needs to set up things on the bed with extra pillows and a bedside lamp, so that bedtime reading can be A Thing once again. She already has the most important part, the extremely beautiful cuddle buddy, aka me. Isn’t that all she really needs?

Headbonks!

Welcome Back, in Duck

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For the past few days, depression has been kicking my butt. Consulting docs, and looking at environmental measures to get things on an even keel. Not quite ready to put up the Christmas tree –it will be our first proper Christmas with Storm, which, for all we know, may be indicative of her typical interaction with holiday decorations.– but I have a twenty foot string of white fairy lights ready to drape around the window in our bedroom. There are the dregs of a jar candle warming on the candle/mug warmer in the kitchen. The external microphone/speaker for my computer has a mood light, which is fun, and I am back to walking around the lake in the park, which is, conveniently, one block away from our home.

We are actually a little closer to the park now than we were in our first Albany apartment, which I like very much, and I have figured out that the best way to get around the issue of glasses fogging to 100% opaque white while wearing glasses and mask at the same time, is to…take off the glasses and stash them in the pocket of my puffy coat. The path around the lake is a complete loop, with water on one side, an up=slanting hill on the other, so wandering to one side is really not possible, and it’s foot traffic only, no vehicles, so no risk of getting flattened, except from the big gander, but that’s an occupational hazard. He hates everybody.

Photo by Brandon Montrone on Pexels.com

While it’s still above freezing, I can take a notebook to the park and ensconce myself on one of the lakeside benches and get some rough stuff written. My first time out this month, I came back with two scenes. While I was doing my thing, one of the mallard females broke away from the bunch, paddled up to me, quacked at me, and paddled on back. I take that to be “welcome back,” in Duck. As for the Canada Geese, I walked through a bunch of them yesterday and they did not kill me, so that must be the goose equivalent (and thank you to the nice person who was feeding/distracting them.) The chance fo meeting friendly dogs is quite high, which only recommends these walks, and if I can time things close enough to sunset, I get to see the holiday lights in tke park as I go.

On the one hand, I knew full well how much I had missed my park walks, but on the other hand, I didn’t know exactly how much. Similarly, I did not know how much me-er I would feel when sticking a whopping three paper books in the bookshelf that now holds my planner supplies. There will be more, but we have not yet gotten to the back part of the storage unit, where they have been resting for nigh on two years now. Feels like forever, and only a minute ago. I actually like that. The books were the first thing I packed when we decided to leave that apartment, and they may well be one of the last things unpacked. They will be very much welcomed.

The fact that Thanksgiving is soon to be upon us is unreal, but there is lots to be thankful for this year. We will probably get takeout (non-turkey) from a local place, sprawl out in our pajamas, and there may or may not be Netflix involved. There will almost certainly be a walk in the park, even if I am the only one who goes, but there is also the family tradition of going around to look at lights after Thanksgiving dinner that we may observe, and there is the whole matter of the Christmas tree. We know where ours is, and all of the ornaments are unbreakable, so Storm can do her worst.

Rambly post today, more to get something up than anything else, before I dive back into Drama King, which is rapidly nearing its HEA at long last.

How’s your week?

Typing With Wet Paws: Friday the Thirteenth Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. A lot of humans have been dreading this day, because apparently Friday the Thirteenth is not a great thing, but it’s been okay for me so far. Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben are both home, which is my favorite, because I love them. They are both doing computer things and sometimes talking to each other. On days like this, I like to nap on the bed, or on the cat bed that is between the bed and Aunt Anna’s desk. It is actually Aunt Anna’s old lap desk, which she loved, but it did not weather the vagabond days very well, so she put it on the floor, upside down, so the cushion is up, and I took it. It’s perfectly me-sized, and I can shed both my white and orange hairs on its blackness, so pretty good deal all around.

The blanket was Aunt Anna’s idea. Aunt Linda made it.

I also like the clickety sounds, which mean Aunt Anna is Writing Things. Uncle Rheuben is quieter, as he does a lot of reading and watching and studying. Sometimes, he takes a break to tell me how pretty I am and make sure my water bowl is full, which I like. I am really good at drinking water. I do not, however, like the new cat food Aunt Linda picked out (sorry.) I lick all the gravy off the meat and then leave it and complain about being hungry. Aunt Anna said we will get a different kind, that I have liked before. Aunt Anna is smart.

Not so smart, though, that it took her longer than she would like to admit to figure out this spot was original equipment, not her fault from me bopping her India ink pen.
Also, look at my claw.

Another way she is smart is to figure out new ways that put her in the writing mood. Scheduling writing in terms of “units” rather than words works for her, because the number is smaller, and not intimidating. That may change at some point, but that’s what is getting her making new pages now, so she is going to stick with it. It goes along with another thing she has found, and that is to have something going on a different burner of her brain, so to speak, and then she will switch between the two of them until she kicks into full writing gear.

This can happen either with longhand or on the computer, but longhand is best for composition, which is first draft kind of stuff, often in present tense and with a lot of cross-outs. I like that because I can bop her pen with my paws (she doesn’t like it as much, because I can still do that while she is actually writing and make marks she didn’t intend.) Either way, she likes to have some sound going, either podcasts or Netflix/Hulu, or YouTube. Sometimes, on the YouTube, she picks by the tone of the person’s voice who is talking, and doesn’t care at all about the content/what they are saying.

Believe it or not, this is a writing tool

When she is on the computer, the back burner thing she likes to do most is Sims, either playing, or more recently, designing. She likes a lot of custom content and exercising her inner control freak to micromanage her Sims and their surroundings. This kind of gets her ready to do that with words, too. Playing the actual game, that’s for another time. She says next time she makes our Simselves, she will make a SimStorm. I think that will be the best Sim ever. Woo.

As you can probably tell, Aunt Anna told me we can get back on the link thing next week. She is getting ready for tomorrow’s Capitol Region RWA meeting, which will be online (which means high chance of calico photobomb.) Last year, she wasn’t able to help with the member appreciation celebration because family emergency, but she is looking forward to getting back in that saddle for this holiday season, especially because it’s in a new format they have never done before. Let her get on the other side of that and she will be back in gear with Buried Under Romance and Goodreads and all that stuff.

Oh. One more thing. She is still figuring out the new printer. She can kind of get it to work, but it tells her it isn’t happy when she tells it to print something, so she unplugs it and plugs it back in and then it prints. Eh. Whatever works. I , however, am fine with any mistakes she makes, because I can sit on the papers she doesn’t want to keep. Win-win, I say.

Aunt Anna wants the computer back so she can write more, so Calico Got To Go for now. See you next week!

Headbonks!

Settling In, and Other Stories

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There is no surer sign of settling into a new place, for a stationary aficionado, than figuring out where all the pens and papers go. For a writer? Same thing. Luckily for me, I am both, and this is our way of putting down roots. Today, I have the house to myself, the office is more or less in place, and spedning a few minutes to plot out the day goes a long way to eliminating the “too many things to do” feeling.

Since it’s November, this is the time of year when plans for the next year, for planning and for writing both, not to mention reading, c ome naturally to mind. As of right now, I am not sure what my planner situation will be for 2021. I do love my disc bound systems, and especially the metal discs (soooo smooth) but the further I get into storage, the more options I find. Besides the dis bound options, in four different sizes, no less, I have:

  • Traveler’s notebooks
  • Ring bound systems
  • bullet journal/bound book
  • preprinted bound planner

Not to mention the good old fashioned three ring letter and half letter size binder. Which one is my favorite? All of them. Since our whole family is dedicated, especially now, to making good financial decisions, I want to challenge myself to, whenever possible, use what I already have. The reasons for this are several:

  1. Everything I have has already been purchased or gifted.
  2. I already like it.
  3. Putting existing things in new combinations is fun.
  4. I don’t have to mask up and go out to use stuff that’s right here.
  5. I finally have a chance to dig in and use what calls to me, and equally fun, to pass the stuff I don’t love as much on to somebody else who will love it – which makes room for more stuff for me.

Okay, that last one doesn’t fit with a lower-spend philosophy, but pen and paper tuff is at the top of my gift list when such occasions arrive, because although I have a lot, I use it, which feels utterly amazing. Like how my once upon a time writing group facilitator, J, told us that we had to keep the pen moving once it hit the paper, during our timed sprints, and the process would beget the product. That’s turning out to be true as I set up the corner of the master bedroom that is my space.

the coffin of black pens

I have my cardboard coffin that holds black pens, both ballpoint and gel. These get a lot of use. Washi tape (actually just washi, as apparently “Washi” means “tape” so it’s like a “ramen noodles” thing where it’s literally saying “noodle noodles,” so “tape tape?”) comes in many flavors, but right now, I am focusing on blush and black. It’s an aesthetic, and I’m feeling it.

Also skinny metallic tape, because Christmas is coming

That fits pretty darned well, because it applies to writing. I write romance, yes, so it is all about the love, but I need the darker edge as well. What if a pirate, marooned on an uncharted island, somehow made it back to land and hunted down the mentor who left him to die? What if that opened the door to three generations of pirates?

What if medieval romance and post-apocalyptic romance had a story baby that was both of them at the same time? (News on that coming in the not too distant future) What if I stretched outside my comfort zone and told more stories in that world.? What if I unpacked stories, as well as physical items, that I had put aside for some nebulous time in the future? What if the future was now?

Those among us who are writers will know (or I hope you know) the feeling of finding an old notebook and reading the story skeleton you’d scribbled down once upon a time, and hey, this thing is pretty good. What f I brought it over to a fresh page/file and picked it back up again? That’s not a bad feeling by any stretch of the imagination.

As we keep looking through our stuff in storage, I am eagerly looking for my Alpha Smart, but I have more than enough notebooks, index cards, sticky notes, etc, to tide me over until I can incorporate that into the mix. Stay tuned for a closer look at the tools of the trade, as it were, because I can talk about stationery for fluffing ever.

Bit by bit, it’s all coming together, and there is probably going to be a moment (or definitely going to be a moment) when I slip over the line, and, like a kid kicking off the training wheels, hey, I’m doing it. Maybe I’m there. How about you?

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Results are on the Way Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Here in the United State, the humans are all waiting for the results of the elections. I am watching to see which of the boxes that the humans keep bringing into the house are staying and which are only visiting.l It is very exciting.

Another of my Gotcha Day presents, which was really a Christmas present from my Cousin Kristen (Aunt Linda’s brother’s daughter) but we did not have an apartment then has now been installed, and it is a second litterbox. It’s domed, with a lid to give me privacy and has a vent for fragrance relief, as my humans put it. I am not sure what to make of the too many bowls that are on my food mat at the moment, but a bunch of bowls came out of storage, so the humans have to figure out where to put them. Pictures to follow when they sort that all out. In the meantime, I am doing a lot of this:

No place like home

As you can tell, I am very much in favor of the flannel sheets and the new bed, and my current favorite other bed is the upside down lap desk that is between Aunt Anna’s side of the bed and her temporary computer desk. That way, I can be near her no matter what she is doing. Lately, that involves a lot of writing longhand and being on the computer stuff. That is all pretty good.

Today, Aunt Anna is kind of sleepy because of some medication (don’t worry, she is fine) so this will be sort of a fly by blog. I am needed to cuddle with her and purr as she reads in bed. We will probably both get some sleep. Uncle Rheuben went to school for politics stuff, so he is watching the election things closely> Aunt Anna went to the same school, but she studied how to teach people kittens, decided that wasn’t for her, so now she writes stuff. Which is looking pretty good these days.

On Wednesday, she and Aunt Melva had a Messenger call. Since everybody else was home, Aunt Anna took the call into the bathroom. She forgot that she is not allowed in the bathroom without me, so I yelled and scratched at the door until she let me in to join her. You’d think she would have learned by now. She’s pretty smart in other things, like picking out my gushy food. The call went really well, and they hashed out an actual wedding scene. Big surprise, romance writers love coming up with wedding stuff.

Also, I was in heat (I am getting my big girl operation soon, though) but I’m over that now. Boys are dumb. I like mousie toys.

We are also coming up on the time when Aunt Anna has to start making plans for the holiday season, as we aren’t that far from Thanksgiving. Uncle Rheuben wants to go out, but the aunts aren’t sure what all will be open on a holiday, and may try to convinvce him to go to Our Bodega (it is across the street from where they lived when Skye was kitty here, so I have never been there; I assume it has a real name) and get what they call bodega burgers, but still make the side dishes at home and finish with pumpkin pie. Christmas will probably be Chinese food if at all possible. I would like the tuna, please. This will be my first proper holiday season with these guys, and only my probably third overall (math is not my strong suit, but I’m young) so who can tell what can happen between now and then? Looking good, though. Just like me.

Headbonks!

NaNo or NaNot, 2020 Edition

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That time of year again, when the eternal question for many of us writer types is “do I participate in National Novel Writing Month?” I’ve thought about it a lot this year, probably more than most. I came down on the side of…kind of, maybe.

While some may say NaNo or NaNot, there is no “kind of,” that’s where i landed, and rather organically at that. I love the idea of going all in and, as a favorite aunt would say, going hell bent for leather toward a distinct goal. What to write, though, well, that’s where things get murkier. I love the idea of those who can dive in with no other idea than “I’m going to write something” and make it all the way to the end. That’s not me, and comparing the way I do things to the way anybody else does things is not ever going to work. Part of my day is set aside for putting on a podcast and getting on the bed with a bunch of sticky notes and/or index cards and setting out all the things I want to write in the next while.

For some things, it’s pretty clear cut. Come hell or high water, Melva Michaelian and I are going to get Drama King, our second jointly written contemporary, done and dusted, ASAP. Part of it is that we are eager to get to the third Love By the Book story, Queen of Hearts, but how flat out fun it is to combine snarky grumpmaster Jack and ray of sunshine Kelly (cue “Tomorrow” from Annie, which might be a reasonable choice for Kelly’s incidental music) and goodness knows we could all use any fun we can get this year.

There’s also kicking myself back into historical romance gear. I am taking my first step into indie publication, and exploring a new format -novella- and time period -medieval- and taking a wide angle view of the place where what I love to do best and what the market fancies converge. That kind of excites me, to be honest, and it also gives me a reason to play with stationery, which is my second instrument after writing. There’s also the desire to not write less about writing, but to write actual fiction and see the pages accumulate (hence the attempt to set up the new printer at long last after I write this blog entry) along with writing about writing. Maybe talking about it, too, because YouTube very definitely is partly responsible for me still being here (gestures in the general sense) after very definitively the worst year of my life.

Phew. Let’s take a break. First home decor photo I can share is below. Bit by bit, we are putting down roots and making this look like home. One of these throw pillows is not like the others.

purr-fect contentment, yes?

The new normal is still taking form, and I don’t want to rush it. I actually tend to get a lot more done, and the ideas flowing much more freely, when I set aside some time to play with pens or noodle around with Sims, some You Tube or podcast or TV show in the background, consciously working toward drinking x glasses of water a day, focusing more on getting story from brain to page, one day at a time, right now. I will probably give one of both Camp NaNos a go. That’s a tale for another time.

For now, this is Monday’s blog post, t he first one for November. I do have plans for less rambly, more focused sorts of posts, if you’re into that sort of thing. Types of stories I’m looking at writing, my renewed and boundless love for black paper notebooks and pens that write on them, planner lineups for the new year, and my reading plans for same.

The fun thing about NaNo, besides getting to cheer on all those who are officially participating this year or any other, is that the principles can be put into place at any time, and modified to fit the individual’s needs. Camp NaNo is one example, and writing, in general, is another. Writer friends are available at all times of year, and I am always thankful for mine.

Happy reading, and happy writing,

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: End of October Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers. I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Big doings this week, so let’s get started.

all of these boxes are mine….

The week started off as a momentous one with the humans all going at the same time to the storage unit, so they could get some special things – furniture. Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben now have a real bed, which of course I sleep on, too. Well, except when I am on Cat Bed #2, which is Aunt Anna’s old lap desk that did not survive the vagabond months very well, but the cushion is great and me-sized, and it’s between her desk and her side of the bed, so it is perfect, or Cat Bed #1, which is an actual cat bed, and on the floor at the foot of the human bed. Basically, I want to be where the humans are, so if they want me to be in that bed more, then they should be on the floor more.

Uncle Rheuben has set up his bookcase and a free standing clothes rack. He even surprised Aunt Anna with a bunchy of velvet covered wood hangers that are all the same, and they look very classy, so she is happy. The clothing rack was actually out in the hall of the storage unit with a “free, take me sign on it, so they did. Aunt Anna brought in one bookcase, that her dad made for her when she was a baby. There is another bookcase that goes with it, and she will bring that next time, along with her favorite extra special favorite books (they are by Bertrice Small) to go in it. Mostly, these days, she is reading on her Kindle, or the Kindle app on her phone, and she has moved the boxes with the rest of her books to an easily accessible part of the storage unit. Those, she can get as needed, but she wants the extra special favorite ones on hand at all times. The first bookcase is currently holding notebooks and planner stuff. That may change, but things are no longer on the floor, and that makes a lot of difference.

Another thing that is different is that yesterday, Aunt Anna went to Aunt Linda’s co-worker’s house, to look at a table for Aunt Linda’s sewing machine (that will come in a couple of days, and yes, cat costumes may be a thing that could happen; I am open to it.) Along with the sewing machine table, Aunt Linda’s co-worker had cats. Some of them live with her all the time, but the ones the aunts met were fosters, a mama and her four babies. Before yu get excited, I will point out that they all have homes lined up already, so I am not getting a sibling just yet, but I was very interested in smelling Aunt Anna’s shirt and learning about the kittens. In a word, (or a few of them) the kids are all right. I am not jealous or concerned, because I am secure in my place in the pride.

Speaking of reading, Aunt Anna has now hit eighty percent of her reading goal at Goodreads. Shockingly, she is currently two books behind, but this is the weekend, and she ahs her reading mojo back, so this should be fixed by the start of the new week. It’s also the time of year for historical holiday novellas, which will take care of that requirement quite nicely.

Aunt Anna is also back to watching TV on Hulu and Netflix and probably Prime as well, which is going to require a tracker, because she wasn’t able to watch anything for a long time (because lack of metaphorical spoons) and now it seems like A Lot, but probably really isn’t. Also, keeping track will help her track patterns on kinds of things she likes to watch. She will post more about that later.

For now, it is time for her to atten to the making of fiction, so I am required at my station, sending good kitty vibes and providing moral support.

Headbonks!

Beautiful Mess

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No picture of the new Stately Bowling Manor as of yet, as it’s all boxes and cat hair and furniture in the middles of rooms. Definitely not fit for public consumption, but I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Monday, the three of us spent hauling furniture and boxes our of our storage unit, and up two flights of stairs. We did agree that for some of the heavier pieces, like my beloved secretary desk, we should wait until we can find some strapping young people who can be paid in pizza, so we now have folding desks for both Real Life Romance Hero and myself, which double as nightstands, and our bedside lamps are Wal-Mart’s finest. We have the skeleton pillows a dear friend gave us a year ago, on the bed, along with burgundy plaid flannel sheets and a berry and white afghan Housemate knitted back in our first Albany apartment.

this blog post is Storm-approved

This is wildly different from where we were only a few short weeks ago, and there is a learning curve. I thought that the transition to apartment living would be pretty much plug and play, but it’s something else, and I am fine with that. I actually like the idea of a fresh start, and going through the stuff we put away for our next home is interesting when it’s the people we were who packed it but the people we are who are unpacking.

Right now, I am composing this blog entry because getting back on the metaphorical horse is paramount. RLRH came home early, and my first instinct was to ask him to make lunch, because I’m writing. That felt good. Having a desk I can sit at in the morning also feels good, and the fact that “writing plan” is in bold black ink on today’s space in my big planner doesn’t feel daunting, but exciting. I can go anywhere.

By my estimation, Melva and I are only a few scenes away from the first full draft of our second contemporary, Drama King, and something is afoot for an upcoming historical release. Still need to reconnect with Her Last First Kiss, which, for me, is going to mean talking it out with a writer friend who knows historical romance, the Georgian era, and my writing well enough to help me still the pinwheel in my brain. (Applications for the position are officially open.) I am not entirely convinced that a manuscript doesn’t have to be perfect in order to make a good book, but I am on the road there, one step at a time.

I thought about NaNo this year. It would make a lot of sense, and if I can comfortably produce one unit of writing (I count by “units” now, which for me is about 1 to 1.5 k words in a session) a day, then 16+k isn’t that much more, so not totally out of reach. Maybe when the first Camp NaNo rolls around in the spring. Right now, I am focused on taking the next steps and getting back to finding out what Current Anna can do.

What I know for sure is that she/I can tell stories. I love to tell stories. I don’t have to reach every reader, only my readers, and what my readers want is what I have to give, so trying to follow trends or be like anybody else, no matter how much I may admire their work, doesn’t make any sense. Making sure I connect with those readers, well, that is another thing, but not something I need to concern myself with at present, because books are the way to connect writer and reader, so making sure the books get written and out there is job one. That, I can do.

I’ll leave that here for today. I’ve missed blogging regularly, and now that I have one place to be, and a fairly regular schedule, my goal is to get back to the thrice a week posting, and am strongly looking at resuming the video blogs of yore, with perhaps a wider focus. We’ll see how that goes.. For now, time to help RLRH set up the clothing rack.I get adult points for that, right?

Anna

Now, Where Were We?

annabowling 2 Comments

Hi. I’m Anna. I write stuff. Theoretically historical and contemporary romance novels, and I blabber about them a lot. I also love stationery, and there is a rumor going around that I do a thing called “blogging.”

I’ve been remiss on that last one for the past year and change, because there were bedbugs and then homelessness, motel rooms, car camping (do not recommend) hospital stays (not mine, ) panic attacks (mine) and a whole lot of uncertainty from day to day.

Now, it’s a different story. We are in our new apartment, and coming up on our first monthiversary of same. No pictures as of yet, because they would all be of boxes and cat hair, and we aren’t moving real furniture in until around the weekend, which also contains two deadlines and my birthday. I am, obviously, a glutton for punishment. Common affliction for writers, I believe, and especially for those who, like me, are getting back to normal (for me) after a year that was anything but.

the scent of home

I don’t know how much I’m going to talk about that stuff here, because I want to focus on what’s ahead of me, and what’s right now, and right now is a lot of making sense of what was. Which, again, common among writers, especially those who write historical romance. Even my contemporary ventures have some tie to historical romance, so who can tell? These things have a way of sorting themselves out, and I plan to let them.

Right now, we are well, we are housed, we are fed, everybody is working, and there will be book related news in the very near future. Having our own internet connection at home helps a lot, though I am writing this while sitting on the floor, the desktop I hauled around in the back seat of a car for a year, on a coffee table, which is not the most comfortable arrangement, but real furniture is coming in only a matter of days, so very, very doable.

Think I’m going to leave this entry at that, with a big THANK YOU to all who are reading this, whether new or still sticking around after the year of what the fluff. Thank you for those who contributed to our GoFundMe, who reached out privately, who prayed for us, thought of us, held us in the light, or did whatever it is you do. Thank you for text messages and DMs and Skype and Discord chats, for emails and pizzas and motel rooms, for meeting us in shady parking lots with gas cards and crudites, for buying books and leaving reviews, and all the rest that goes along with that.

Next evolution.

Anna