Even though the calendar has said it’s been spring for a while, and even though this is probably March the Blur-ty Second, my sure shift occasions happened a couple of days ago. I was getting into Housemate’s car for a grocery run, and that’s when it hit. Time to switch out my everyday carry (EDC) planner. Can’t force these things. They happen on their own.
Since fall, I have been using and loving my black Pen + Gear B6 travelers notebook cover, with a mini Happy Planner for guts. Still looking for my B6 mojo, insertwise, but that’s another story. For planning, this works. I’ve been carrying it in my burgundy tote bag, the fall and winter version of my beloved blush tote, which I will be busting out of stuff jail as early as the end of this week. Carry burgundy faux-suede in May? Perish the thought.
current EDC
First world problems, definitely so. Not saying that having anxiety and depression and being in between permanent addresses during a pandemic is a picnic, but the fact that I am having strong opinions on stationery and stationery accessories, well, I am going to file that under signs of life. The more chaotic life becomes, the more I want to organize it.
For my EDC, this will probably mean slipping my HP mini out of the black cover, sliding it into the blush one, and moving over decorative ephemera. My current planner, last year’s eighteen months version, ends in June. I will replace it with a new 2020 mini, with different layoyt, and th current cover (and some dividers) will find their way back into the black cover, with filler paper in place of planner pages. Et voila, notebook.
Feeling spring-y
These things work best for me when they happen organically (odd for planning, but it works.) Forcing them generally does not work at all. Funny enough, there are similarities to writing. I would like for there to be more writing, and there will be, and one day I will look up at the screen or down at the page, and the most recent line will read “the end.” Huh. How’d that happen ? I
Bit by bit, usually. One step at a time. Days when scrolling blankly through Facebook or Overdrive are the pinnacles of productivity, and says when writing hits a roll. Neither, in my experience, is anything I can force, but things like “time to switch covers” or indie pubbing book x makes sense, ” those show up when they will, and give a solid foundation for the next phase.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! It’s halfway through April, I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. The humans are almost done with their side quest with Chez Grandmere, so Aunt Anna is confident that she will be back to a regular blogging schedule. Yesterday was actually a “regular” writing day that felt pretty darned good, from where I was sitting (on the table behind her monitor, if anyone wants specifics. I take my duties as mews very seriously. Feline supervision is crucial.)
Goodreads challenge report first today because I’m a cat and I do what I want. Apparently, Aunt Anna also does what she wants because she is currently twenty-five books ahead of schedule, with fifty-one read out of her goal of ninety. I will be waiting to see if she can continue this pace, because we are no longer in residence at Chez Grandmere, hence access to interwebs, and Uncle Rheuben bought Aunt Anna two new stuff packs for the Sims 4 yesterday, so it’s really anybody’s guess. Also there is apartment hunting to be done, but Aunt Anna can listen to audiobooks while she blogs, journals, or -most importantly- cuddles me, so she may well be able to maintain. Also, she keeps finding new stuff to read.
Segue now into Buried Under Romance. Four new reviews went up this week, thanks to the amazing Amy. Aunt Anna is still finding her way around all the technical aspects of the site, but she’ll get there. In her latest post, she talks about some reading goals that challenge the status quo (for her) and will probably involve some hunting on eBay, because going to in person used bookstores is kind of not a thing right now. When it is, expect Aunt Anna to be alllll over that. So am I, because if the humans take me, then I get a car ride, and I looove car rides.
I have my own banner now.
That brings us to the me part of this post. From the first day I came to stay with these guys, I have been surprising them with what a good traveler I am. In short, car rides = awesome and I frequently chill in my adventure cave even when we aren’t going anywhere. It makes a pretty good stay at home cave, too. Since the hauling of one beautiful calico girl across state lines will no longer be happening on a regular basis, and roots will soon be, well, taking root, the humans have had discussions on what will happen when the resident feline gets wanderlust. They already agree on what to do about the regular lust. I will be getting fixed when the human virus thing is past. Sorry in advance to all the disappointed boy cats.
Where the humans landed on are a few facts:
Storm loves car rides.
Storm loves new places.
We have a travel cat.
We will need to take her on pleasure trips.
This means they are looking into getting me a harness and leash once we are settled-settled, and maybe even a kitty stroller, so they can take me on walks. I would have to practice the leash stuff inside and the humans will definitely consult with a vet before any of this happens. I am also looking forward to going to the stores where cats (and dogs) are welcome and can pick out their own toys. I already told them I want the yellow flappy things that go “chirp” and anything in the fish department, but I am told those are actually other pets. Who knew? Anyway, if you ever thought of Aunt Anna as the kind of human who looks forward to walking her cat while conferring with her imanginary friends, you are a human of great vision. She totally is.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Greatest Hits picture because Amazon and Aunt Anna are having disagreements of the password variety, but yay for new content.We are back in Albany after a side quest in CT, and Aunt Anna said it was high time to get back to blogging. This seldf isolation thing is hard on extroverts, so I have been putting in exstra mews time to get Aunt Anna up and running…er, writing.
Aunt Anna’s big task this weekend is to comb through her Google Docs and put all of her scenes for Drama King into one Scrivener file, along with Aunt Melva’s scenes. Some of those scenes might be stored on a flash drive that is in the storage unit, which is on lockdown (except by appointment) so if Aunt Anna can’t find a couple of specific scenes in the files she can access, she will need to reconstruct the scenes. If you hear her sobbing softly, it is probably that. She has not yet come to the point of obessively looking at her writer email to see if there are any nibbles on A Heart Mosty Errant, but we are realistic over here. That time is coming.
She is also verging on “what the fluff, let’s see what happens” about giving My Outcast Heart a once-over and getting it out there with a new cover and a couple of tweaks. The main things that give her pause is that it was written in first person, and maybe that’s a turnoff for enough romance readers to consider translating to third. Because it is exhausting to see her overthink (and I need both of us well rested because she got me a red dot and I LOVE chasing it) I will ask you guys here. Would you read a historical romance told in first person, or is it third person or nothing?
Aunt Anna is kicking tail and taking names on the Goodreads challenge front, with 45 books read out of her goal of 90. This puts her at halfway there, so I think she is probably going to make it, seeing as this is only April. She is 23 books ahead of schedule, which I can’t even….but good for her. Keep going, Aunt Anna. Blow that goal out of the water.
Aunt Anna is kind of salty about this, so if you’re looking for a new contemporary…
For readers looking for My Outcast Heart or Orphans in the Storm, those are currently between publishers, so keep eyes peeled for news on new editions soon. In the meantime, besides Chasing Prince Charming (click the link above) her historical romance novellas, Queen of the Ocean, and Never Too Late, are both available on Amazon for less than the price of a cup of coffee. QotO has wreckers and pirates, and NTL has a seasoned heroine and second chance at eh one who got away. Both are standalones, so you don’t need to read one to read the other. I’m not saying don’t read them both, but if you have strong opinions on tropes or settings, pick the one you like.
Buried Under Romance is indeed on the way back now that we are done with the CT side quest and Aunt Anna has some ideas historical romance authors, message her. She wants to talk.
In other news, we are moving toward a new normal, with apartment hunts and Aint Anna working on Patreon stuff. She and Aunt Melva are back to their weekly chats about their contemporaries, and will be giving their website a major overhaul :salute.: If you got that reference, you get an extra awesome point.
I have been helping Aunt Anna with ther planning and asrt journal, though she says making off with her pen is not actually helping. She got a new pen that is part thing that pokes her tablet screen and part RED DOT!!!!! I LOVE Red Dot! No shade on Mousie, but Red Dot? Dude is going down. As soon as I can catch him. He’s a slippery one, though, BUT i WILL KEEP TRYING.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Nobody is sick over here, but we are doing the weekend in New England thing again (well, end of weekend and start of week) thing, which is de facto social isolation, or, as I call it, being an indoor cat. Which is what I do every day. Being an indoor cat, that is. Another good thing about being at Chez Grandmere for a few days is that there is no interwebs, so Aunt Anna has more time to pay attention to me. She thinks she’s still going to be writing even offline, but we will see how that turns out. I suspect the chances for feline paralysis is high. The feline, of course, being me. Ah, the belly rubs.
The writing news here is that Aunt Anna sent out her first historical romance submission of 2020, A Heart Most Errant. She is not sure whether the fact that it is set in the wake of the plague in medieval England has anything to do with current events, but she needed to get something out on submission, and she’s been doing her research, and it was time to pull the trigger, so to speak. She will probably make another placeholder image that better fits the mood of John and Aline’s story, but this will do for now. If you like medieval romance, road stories, and books where the history directly impacts the romance, stay tuned for news on this one.
Here is a fun fact. When Aunt Anna was first writing this book, her writer friend from way back, Miss V, said she imagined the hero, John DeWarre, as The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson. Aunt Anna did not agree. (She does think he’s a talented performer, though, and seems like a nice human) She told Miss V that if Miss V put The Rock forward One More Time, as a physical manifestation of John, Aunt Anna, who normally does not “cast” her books, was going to base the hero’s looks after Colin Firth. Miss V learned not to try Aunt Anna on this kind of thing. Aunt Anna wants me to remind you all that she means more like from the Fever Pitch era, not his current age. He’s grumpy and crusty and stuck with an extroverted optimist, out on the open road, because he needs the work.
Aunt Anna also doesn’t normally think in linked books, but she does think that Guy, John’s friend, a fake monk and plague survivor, has potential. What medieval romance tropes do you like? Aunt Anna wants to know. Inspiration is always a good thing.
Also a good thing is reading, which Aunt Anna continues to kick tush in doing. For her Goodreads challenge, she currently has thirty six out of ninety books read, halfway through month number four. She is already forty percent of the way to her goal, which is making pretty good time. Only takes one hand to belly rub me, if I and pressed up against her, so that’s one more hand to hold a book or tablet. If she listens to an audiobook or text to speech, then she can cuddle me with both hands and not need any for holding books. Plus I can listen, too.
Still working on the picture situation on Buried Under Romance, but there are reviews coming, and also interviews, If you are a historical romance author who would like to drop by, let me or Aunt Anna know, and she will make it happen. This also coincides with the Historical Romance Readathon, which is pretty good timing, because social distancing does not mean social media distancing, and Aunt Anna is well supplied with books. This runs March 16-22, there is a bingo board (click the link to get yours) There is also a group read that Aunt Anna plans to join if she can, with Johanna Lindsey’s Hearts Aflame, the second book in her Hadraad Viking trilogy.
It’s this one, and yes, she will also read the first and third because she is a completist.
If this works out well, Aunt Anna is considering her own challenge, so stay tuned in case you like reading challenges. She will post her TBR list as she figures that out. Well, both of them. She likes lists, so more lists are better.
In most important news, I have redeemed myself from last week’s hiding in the recliner brouhaha. This time, when it was time to leave Chez Grandmere, the humans couldn’t find me again, but this time it was because I had already put myself in the adventure cave. I was even taking a nap when they found me. How’s that for making it easy on the hoomans? I didn’t even wake up until Aunt Anna picked up my adventure cave and carried it to the door. I was a Very Good Girl for the whole trip back to NY.
I think that’s it, though Aunt Anna is going to try and get a “walking away” picture for my signoff, since you readers liked Skye’s so much, and you need a good look at the way my tail comes out of a big spot on my butt. Also, I have done some growing up since that first picture.
Headbonks!
Yeah, pictures being wonky, so enjoy this greatest hits pictre.
Spring is not usually my favorite season. It still isn’t, but a new season is a good time for a new start, and, after seven of the craziest, weirdest, hardest months I have ever had, it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train. Not that there aren’t still question marks, because there certainly are, but fewer ellipses (… -= those things) so I am going to count that as good. I have every faith that we may soon be nearing the end of our vagabond days, and I am very much ready for it.
On the fifth of March, we have been officially between apartments for seven months. Longer than I had thought or expected, but also, we are, as Skye would have said, badbutts, because we are still standing (cue Elton John) and, as Mr. Rogers’ mother said, looking for the helpers is always good advice. Storm is a travel kitty extraordinaire, and I have become far more adept than I ever thought in breaking down a desktop computer and reassembling it in another location, and knowing for sure and certain that longhand really is the best way for me to compose.
Writing, yes, can be done anywhere (seriously, anywhere) but the part that goes beyond composing, the transcribing, the editing, the polishing and submitting and/or planning out an indie pub (independent publishing, where the author is also the publisher) strategy, those things need a home base. It’s getting there. Before too long, there will be a new location for Stately Bowling Manor, a new office to move into, books to bust out of stuff jail (aka storage) and set into place. Time to know and declare that the new normal is now within reach. Not here yet, but within reach.
Which comes to the often sticky part of writing, finishing. When I first started writing romance, a starry-eyed seventeen-year-old with an electronic typewriter and a dream, of course I could finish a book. A lot of books. Now, I could be the parent of a seventeen-year-old, with some wiggle room. (I am not. Real Life Romance Hero and I decided early on that all of our kids will have four legs and fur.) Life and writing are not always that easy. That girl with the stars in her eyes and correction ribbon on her fingers had read once that Valerie Sherwood wrote twenty pages at a session, so okay, that’s a normal pace. The more seasoned writer now also remembers that Valerie Sherwood also said that any writer who says they write thus and so every day is lying.
There are days when the words, when the story, don’t come, and life has proven that, in heaps. There are also days when they do, and those are the days that I want to nourish. This past weekend, spent at Chez Grandmere, I took an outdated planner I inherited from Housemate, and ripped out the guts but for the monthly dividers (setting aside the unused guts to repurpose as plotting charts) and cutting down plain white office labels to cover the names of the months, and now it’s my general writing :salute: notebook/planner.
Writing each area of focus on each label – historical romance, contemporary romance, blogging, Buried Under Romance, Patreon, even “paper” (one can never have enough filler paper) — felt…good. Right. A few weeks ago, I posted on Facebook that I had a finger hovering over a stock image on a cover art website, because the couple in it? Could very well portray John and Aline from A Heart Most Errant. My first thought when I figured out what I was thinking was, “Anna, what are you thinking?” because, well, vagabond days. Vagabond months. Independent publishing isn’t cheap. I have never done it before.
Hm, though, but have I? In the intro to my “Play In Your Own Sandbox, Keep All the Toys” workshop, I mention that I spent well over a decade amongst Klingons, Newcomers, Immortals and others, not only writing for fanzines, but also, in time, publishing my own. I didn’t know what I was doing back then, either, when I started on that (huge props to my friend, the awesomely talented E. Catherine Tobler, who did a lot of very patient hand holding and talking me down from ledges of various heights) journey, so, maybe…cannonball? I don’t know.
What I do know is a page a day is a book in a year. I know I don’t have to reach every reader (and can’t, and shouldn’t) but only my readers, who are going to respond with, “please, miss, may we have some more?” The answer I want to give is “yes, of course, here you go.” I know I am too fond of italics and need to brush up on my comma use (thankfully, my contemporary cohort, Melva Michealian, has a PhD in English, so odds are I am going to catch on sooner rather than later.) There comes a time, and I think this is it, as my finger hovers over cover stock, and I have sussed out to get myself as bottom of the line webcam, because starting somewhere is better than not starting at all.
Which all feels pretty on-brand for spring. New life. Things blooming. Baby ducks. Baby ducks make everything better, and if we end up somewhere near Washington Park once more, there will be baby duck pictures aplenty. Even if not, there will be stories. That’s what I do. That’s who I am.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Human stuff is settling down, at least a little bit, so Aunt Anna expects to be showing her own face on the blog once again, before too long. Once she sorts out the password stuff, that is, but that’s another story.
This week, Aunt Anna actually scoped out some new electronic doodads that will be helpful. in the whole Patreon thing, because that is totally happening. She’s working on content even now, and I am keeping a close supervisory (and slow blinkey) eye on the whole process. I have already volunteered to review cat toys, so Aunt Anna can save all her reviewing energy for books and stationery. I think that’s the most efficient division of labor. Also, I will do most of the napping. Leave it to the master, amiright?
One sure sign of spring is the planner clearance sales that provide Aunt Anna with a chance to try out new notebook systems and get a few of her metaphorical writing ducks in a row. It also helps her get ready for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo, which she is heavily leaning toward doing this year, probably but not definitely getting Her Last First Kiss all the way to the end of draft number two. It’s also about time to um, stuff of get out of the litterbox about getting My Outcast Heart and Orphans in the Storm back out there, where readers can find them. She’s still overthinking about the whole submissions versus indie route thing, but if there is a paw that hits “send” sometime in the coming week on one of those submissions, well, I was in a sunbeam the whole time. You all saw me, right?
Spring is a time of changes, and Aunt Anna is on them. Buried Under Romance will be back ASAP, and if anyone doubts Aunt Anna’s devotion to romance, I direct them to her Goodreads challenge, where she is kicking tush and taking names at 30 books read out of 90, which is fourteen books ahead of schedule. Yeah. She’s like that. Channel that energy into writing and publishing, and this gal is going to be unstoppable.
Now we come to the important part of this entry, which is to say the part about me. We spent a few days at Chez Grandmere this past week, where my beloved Blue Chair lives. I love Blue Chair. He is mine, and I am a very smart girl. I am so smart, in fact, that when I saw the humans getting ready to pack the car and head out, before I was done with Blue Chair, I was not about to let that happen.
I made a beeline for the master bedroom, where I hid inside the box spring (that is my go-to hiding place. My mom laughed super hard when Aunt Anna first found out the hard way) Aunt Anna and Aunt Linda teamed up to flush me out of the box spring, but I was not done yet. I zoomed into the living room, and then poof, disappeared into thin air, or so the humans thought. Everybody looked in all the closets, the big dark basement where I am not allowed, the washer, the dryer, the refrigerator, all the cabinets, even outside in the rain, under the shed and everything. No Storm. I made Aunt Anna cry, but she also Googled about hiding cats, and then the humans looked in Blue Chair.
Aunt Linda found me inside that box spring, looking quite comfy and un-budge-able, but then Uncle Rheuben turned the chair on its back and he and Aunt Linda got me out while Aunt Anna grabbed my adventure cave. That’s when it hit me that we were Going On An Adventure, and I love adventures, so bloop, I went right in without question, and off we all went. The ride back home was great. It rained the whole way, so my view was incredible. Aunt Anna loves rain, too, so that probably helped her mood
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Not standing on ceremony today ( I am actually *quite* comfortable where you see me above. Aunt Anna says never fear, I have to be in my adventure cave when the car is in motion. Things have been very move – y around-y the last couple of weeks, hence the sporadic updates, but things are indeed in the works.
This past Monday, Aunt Anna met with Aunt Melva, to rough out the rest of the needed scenes for Drama King, all the way to the end. I stayed with Uncle Rheuben for some playtime (spoiler: it was awesome.) They got some good work done, and generated a few new ideas for future projects, but the end of this draft is so close, they can taste it.
Writing this entry on Aunt Anna’s tablet, because a) it’s cat-sized and b) I am writing on the go, go, go. Anyway, let’s have a look at Aunt Anna’s Goodreads challenge. At the end of month number two, she is closing in on the one-third mark, with twenty-seven books read our of ninety. Most of these so far have been audiobooks, or e-books read via text to speech. Very convenient, easy on the eyeballs, and she can read while doing other things, like laundry, or petting me.
A bunch of that has been YA, and there are a lot of classic and indie historical romances that are revving her love of that genre as well. This has her thinking a lot about how she can adapt the way she prefers to work to a way that is practical for when life gets interesting. Success in writing is indeed the goal, and it takes about a billion steps to get to that place, but it’s worth it.
Some of that has to do with fear and getting over perfectionism, or, as I like say, ” kick litter and zoom” away from that kind of thinking. It’s nothing a little mental midnight Parlour can’t handle. I also like to bring Aunt Anna my Mousie, because Mousie always puts a spring in my step.
Today is a very Monday-y Tuesday, but that has ceased to phase me. Internet may be spotty this week, but blogging feels normal, so I want to get an entry up on as regular a schedule as possible. The offline times are good for writing longhand, so I am not complaining at all. As much as I love winter, this has been a tough one, and I will not be that sorry to see it go. I am ready for a new season.
The title of today’s post comes from a discussion Real Life Romance Hero and I had earlier this week. We are pretty sure that the light at the end of the tunnel is not, this time, a train, so we are moving in that direction. That also means that the Patreon will indeed be a go, and, for the first time, setting up tiers doesn’t seem as scary as it once did.
This past weekend, I presented Play In Your Own Sandbox, Keep All the Toys, at Capitol Region Romance writers. I learned a couple of things. First, I really do need to use visual aids, for myself as well as the people taking the workshop. A dry erase board usually does the trick, and I probably should learn PowerPoint. I will add that to my list. The second thing I learned is that, when visually impaired, and knowing darned well one needs high contrast, do not attempt to work, in front of a group, from handwritten notes, if the only inks available are pink and turquoise.
Even so, I crazy love this workshop, and the CRRWA chapter, and I came away from the experience remembering how much I really do love writing romance. When I got home, a chapter was waiting for me from my contemporary collaborator, Melva, which has me excited to work on Drama King. I also need kick in the behind to get Her Last First Kiss back in action, because those pirate books are chomping at the bit. That’s part of what I’m taking care of this week.
I know how to do this. I know how to write books. I know how to write good books. This is the thing I wanted to do more than anything else in the world for as long as I can remember. It’s easy, though, to lose sight of that when life gets crazy, and boy howdy, has it ever this past year and change. I am hanging onto the “change” part. I have mad, mad, mad respect for the productivity of authors like Sandra Sookoo and Kathryn LeVeque, the staying power of Cynthia Wright and Kimberly Cates, and yes, there is most certainly a seat at that table for me. It comes by putting butt in chair (or passenger seat) and pen to paper and telling those stores. Dump from brain to page, rough and raw, and make it pretty later.
Right now, I am tired and stressed and hopeful, and very much in love with my chosen genre. I have added an ebook edition of the material for PIYOSKATT (pee-yose-cat? Pie-yose-cat?) as a Patreon perk for a middle tier, because now, it feels like a reachable goal, and actually kind of fun. Small online class offerings may also be in the offing, because I also crazy love teaching workshops, both on my own and with other talented author type people. It’s a good place to be.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and it’s Valentine’s Day. Aunt Anna is cramming for her workshop tomorrow, at Capitol Region Romance Writers, but only to a certain point, because there comes a time it is possible to overprepare, and it’s really better to shut that stuff down and play Sims. Better yet, play Mousie, with me. I have a signature move. It involves hiding under the bed, where the blanket hangs down, then when Mousie goes by, I pounce. Works every time.
Buried Under Romance has been on a little vacation, but Aunt Anna is back on the job, and there will be new content up ASAP. Since I already put the Goodreads update in my last post, there isn’t that much to update on that front, and I can’t recap her workshop until she gives it, so that does leave me with a certain amount of wiggle room. I am exceptionally good at wiggling.
Since Aunt Anna is all about the workshop for right now, maybe I will stick with that for a while. She’s not doing visual aids this time around, because we are still on the vsgabond track, and because she isn’t doing any exercises that require visual aids, but she is hoping to put some sipplemental material on either the chapter website, or her own. She is strongly thinking of turning the material for her online workshop into an ebook for her Patreon patrons, and, for that, she’s goling to need pictures that are not copyrighted (well, not to anybody who is not her) so she will need to take new ones. It is a tough job, but I may volunteer to be her model. What *isn’t* better with a beautiful calico girl? I mean, look at me. I’m stunning.
will work for tuna
One thing Aunt Anna likes to do at the start of this workshop is that it is *not* a workshop on how to write fan fiction. That might be a fun workshop to look into another time, but if she had to say only one things about that, it would be, “have fun.” Also make sure the characters are in characters. Okay, that is two things, but it is not this workshop.
What this workshop is, is a way to use the media a human already loves, to amplify their individual voice and abilities. Voice is how readers can tell who wrote the story. No two writers will write the same story the same way. Aunt Anna thinks that is pretty exciting. This is part of why the romance level is such a wide and varied place. It still has a way to go, but Aunt Anna is adamant that writers who follow their own hearts put the very best passion into their work, and readers can definitely tell.
How does a human find that voice? Aunt Anna said I can’t give away her secrets, but she did say I could share a link to a bunch of songs Spotify says she really, really likes. Can you see any common threads (apart from the holiday music thing, but that too) in this playlist here? https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EpQ64htXwwvLs?si=aTSPRkcAQ0G3rATUOit9TQ
Huh. I thought that was a link. Hm. Hard to type with paws sometimes. If you copy and paste that link, it will work. Aunt Anna will try and fix the link once she comes up for air. We will see how that goes, but I will remind her. I do that by putting my paws on her leg while she is at work, and look soulfully into her eyes until she gets the idea. Usually this works when it is dinner time, but also when it is time for her to go to bed, but I think it will work in this case as well.
That’s about it for now, and my sunbeam is hitting the exact spot for premium nappage, so I am going to wrap this here and let Aunt Anna get back to business. Hope you are all having a good Valentine’s Day.
I did take a deskscape for today (okay, it was a lap deskscape) but there were technical difficulties, so let us all appreciate stock photos and photo editing software.
At any rate, I’m back. Our stay off the grid extended itself due to a couple of factors, but that’s life. Apart from the virus that converted all of my energy into super gross eye boogers, the whole thing did pretty well. I had a great working lunch with Melva Michaelian. We are oh so ready to get Jack and Kelly all the way to their HEA, so it can be Rob and Heather’s turn next, and we do know what comes after we finish this group of three.
Longhand really does work best for me, for composing/drafting, and the lack of internet distraction did allow me more time to get at least some of the ducks in a row. That does involve plotting out the bones of the gazebo story, which is taking a turn I didn’t expect (still a romance, don’t worry) and I actually have all of my pirate trilogy longhand notes in one container. ,I will do a post later, on the plotting method/template I used, and the modifications I’m making to it, but for this week, I have another focus.
Even though the whole future of RWA (Romance Writers of America) is a big question mark right now, I am super excited, and a little nervous, about the meeting of my local chapter, Capitol Region Romance Writers, because this month, I am the one presenting the program. I am honored and psyched that my fellow members not only asked me to present the workshop a few years back, but asked me to present it again.
Come to think of it, the workshop I presented back then was at a February meeting as well, so one more time, and it’s tradition. I could live with that. The chapter has changed in the intervening years, and so have I, so it stands to reason that the workshop has undergone a few changes of its own. Bob and Jane (if you’ve taken one of my workshops before, you know who they are) will be making an appearance, and there will be a few surprises as well. That’s usually what happens when we creative types dump a bunch of stuff we love in the kiddy pool of our imaginations and splash about with reckless abandon.
“Um, Anna,” I hear some of you saying, “the title mentions five things, and I don’t see any numbered lists here, just saying.” I hear you, dear readers, so I will get right to this wee listicle of five things that have made me happy recently:
1) photo editing 2) Sims (3 and 4) 3) getting back into my travelers notebooks 4) historical romance with adventure and pageantry 5) contemporary YA that makes my heart ache
To use a phrase one will hear often in my workshop, what do these things all have in common? Either with each other or as a whole. Anybody? Anybody? Beuller? The list took only a few seconds to come up with, because those things have been very near the surface over the last couple of weeks. It’s been a rough few months IRL, so that means that getting some of the good stuff is even more important, not only for creativity’s sake, but for emotional survival.
I will probably go into more detail on each item above, but for now, I’m going to be more general. I have been watching a lot of photo editing videos online, most with a very particular aesthetic. Take a look at the picture above and guess which one. The fact that I have been listening to a lot of The Smiths while I try to see if I can apply what I’ve learned to my own work probably says something.
Erik was born in-game, a while back.
Sims games are eerily similar to writing, and with custom content, I can -hey, like photo editing- make the picture on my screen look more like the picture in my head. Said picture does absolutely have a lot to do with those historical romances and YA novels that play my emotions like YoYo Ma plays the cello, and I can oh so happily spend hours getting a Sim or a house, etc, exactly right. I probably have the save with the above simulated gent in it, saved in the cloud, and if not, I have his parents; they always make gorgeous offspring.
is the return of Big Pink imminent?
Though I believe I have found planner peace with my current planner, I still very much miss Big Pink, and Li’l Pink, my travelers’ notebooks, so that probably means it’s time to get back to them. I don’t want to duplicate my7 calendar, but that only means that the next logical step is to make them something else. That, I can do. Not sure what, but I will start with my old faithful Moleskine cahiers, rather than the standard size pictured above.
That’s pretty much the gist of the workshop. Find what you love, and find a way to make it uniquely one’s own. No two combinations are ever going to be the same I find that exciting.
Typing With Wet Nails 