Author: annabowling

Typing With Wet Paws: May Day Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. April is gone, and we are now in the merry month of May. Since this is probably only my second time doing this May thing, I am not entirely sure what this means, but I am here for it.

The big news around here is that my days at Chez Grandmere are no more, because Grandmere is selling the house, but never fear. Aunt Anna and Aunt Linda are saving my favorite chair and headboard, to put in our next apartment. They packed some other stuff, too. Some of it belongs to Grandmere and will go to her apartment with her. The rest of it will get stored until our moving day, and Aunt Anna made sure to label everything so that she can find the stuff she needs when she needs it. This largely means stationery and planner stuff, as well as books. Speaking of which…

Some of Aunt Anna’s buried treasure

There is a little storytime required here. When Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben moved out of their apartment in CT, and into the first NY apartment with Aunt Linda, they put some of their stuff in the dungeon at Chez Grandmere. Aunt Anna was not aware that one of those boxes, in fact the one on the very bottom of the stack, held a whole bunch of books. Like really a lot of them. A whole long box full, two or three levels deep. These books are from a while ago, the 1990s and earlier Most of them are historical romance, but some (the Janelle Taylor books, for example) are futuristic romance.

Aunt Anna did a bit of sleuthing on the matter, and she is still missing one book out of the four in the Saar series, number three. This will require some scouring of eBay and related sources. If you are interested in finding our more about the books that Aunt Anna uncovered in her digging, and what they mean to her, hop on over to Buried Under Romance tomorrow, because that is what she is going to talk about then. The Virginia Henley books are medieval, the Mary Baloghs Regency, and the Laura Parkers, three different eras. Aunt Anna loves when a series covers multiple eras, so she looks forward to rereading these.

Speaking of rereading, rereads absolutely do count when it comes to the Goodreads reading challenge, so let’s go on over there to check on Aunt Anna’s progress. Right now, Aunt Anna has read fifty-seven books out of her goal of ninety, which puts her at sixty-two percent of the way to her goal of ninety books read in 2020. Not too shabby, and she has been killing it on the historical romance front as of late, especially with her discovery of all those classic books like those pictured above. If you are thinking that lit a fire under her when it comes to her own writing, you would be right.

Whoops, I forgot to link you to last week’s Buried Under Romance post, because there is one. Click here if you want to check in about quarantine/isolation/social distancing. There’s no social distancing for those who have cuddly cats, though. There’s a reason cats and books go together.

The big important part of this week’s doings is that I found something game-changing. I love catnip! I mean I really, really love catnip. My humans were not sure if they want me to know what catnip is, and my mom confirmed that she never gave me any of that, but I found a way around it all. Here is what happened.

One of the things Aunt Linda brought back from their travels was a bag full of old papers that belong to Aunt Linda. Well, mostly old papers. Down at the bottom of the bag was a catnip toy! I don’t think the humans knew it was in there, but I could smell right away that there was a wonderful thing, and I dug for it. Oh bliss, oh heaven. The humans say that it was originally a gift for my big sister Skye, who is at rainbow bridge, but she was a straight edge kitty and did not partake of catnip, no matter what form it might be. Even bigger sister, Olivia, who was the kitty before Skye (also at Rainbow Bridge) loooooved catnip, and so did biggest brother (Sir) Ginger, who was the kitty before Olivia. The humans wondered how I would like the nip, and now they know. I LOVE IT. I guess you could say that Aunt Anna and I both found some wonderful things from her archaeology trip this week.

Next week, they are going back to Chez Grandmere for the final time to move everything out of that place and into storage. I wonder what else they will bring back when they return.

Headbonks!

Typing With Wet Paws: Almost Out of April Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Lots of mews duty for me this week, as Aunt Anna had a couple rounds with the anxiety monster, but I think things are under control now. That’s a good thing, because that means she can take care of some overdue stuff, like writing things and keeping new content up on Buried Under Romance.

Last week, the internet wasn’t working so great, but things should be better now. Aunt Anna is glad for that. She is a little salty about the Will and Grace finale, but gives it a grade of incomplete. If it’s pass/fail, pass, which is better than fail. She also hit her loan limit for library e-books, so there is going to be a bunch of reading ahead. She has now read fifty-four out of ninety books, putting her at sixt6y percent of the way to her goal.

She is well aware that a bunch of the books in her currently reading sidebar have been there for a while. Some are even from before me. At least one is. part of her says she should really get on that, but another part says that putting should in her pleasure reading takes the pleasure right out of it. I am not sure which is right. I’m only two, so I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing (or a lot of things, really.) What do you think?

Aunt Anna thanks everyone for their patience with the Buried Under Romance stuff. She hasn’t forgotten or gone away. It’s this whole life thing, but romance novels are a happy place. What ones are you reading? Aunt Anna is mostly reading e-books now, as we are still in for-now lodgings. I can tell you one thing: when we do move into our new apartment, I am going to have a lot of book scenting to do. Her tablet and Kindle cases already smell like me, so we are all set there.

Anyway, I am being a good girl, if you don’t count 4AM Parkour sessions and systemstically knocking things off Aunt Anna’s nightstand (and only her nightstand. Uncle Rheuben doesn’t have much smackable on his, nor does Aunt Linda. I also like sleeping right above or next to Aunt Anna’s head. That’s not at all creepy, right? I want to make sure she is okay.

The big family news around here is that Chez Grandmere has sold, so it is time for Aunt Anna and Aunt Linda (Uncle Rheuben will stay here with me) to go out in that direction and load the stuff we are keeping onto a truck and drive it back to NY, where they will put it in a storage unit. From there, once lockdown is lifted, Aunt Linda will take one box of Grandma stuff every time she visits and let Grandma decide where it all goes. I am very happy to report that when it was time to put labels on things, Aunt Anna put Storm labels on my favorite chair and headboard. Well, every chair is the cat’s chair. You know what I mean, but this is the one where I hid in the boxspring. It’s special.

Let’s see, what else? Aunt Anna and Aunt Melva are putting together a real official draft of Drama King to date, with Aunt Anna searching her files for scenes that go in particular places. When they wrote Chasing Prince Charming, Aunt Anna numbered all the scenes. She is probably going back to that because it made this kind of thing a whole lot easier. She’s still working on finding the writing routine that works for the current arrangements, as in no door to close, and can’t go to a coffee shop to write. She’s smart, though, so she’ll figure it out. Trial and error, a good pair of earbuds, and some creative scheduling should do the trick.

I think I’ll wrap it here, and see if I can give one of the humans the big eyes so they will play red dot with me. I love red dot. I will catch him. I will.

Headbonks!

That Time of Year Again

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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.

Typing With Wet Paws: Mid-April Edition

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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:

  1. Storm loves car rides.
  2. Storm loves new places.
  3. We have a travel cat.
  4. 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.

Headbonks!

Typing With Wet Paws: Where Were We? Edition

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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.

Headbonks!

Typing With Wet Paws: Social Distancing Edition

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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.

Springing Forward

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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.

see you next time

Typing With Wet Paws: Signs of Spring Edition

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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

Headbonks!

Typing With Wet Paws: Drive-by Update Edition

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Typing With Wet Paws

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.

good writing incentive, right?

Headbonks!

Cautiously Optimistic

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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.

see you next time