Becoming Persephone

January 2, 2019January 2, 2019annabowling Leave a comment

Happy New Year, everybody. 2018 is finally in the dust, and 2019 is ready to show us what it’s got. Hopefully good things. Though we are past the first of January, and the ornament harvest (family term for putting the Christmas décor to bed for the year) is slated for Twelfth Night (okay, the morning after Twelfth Night, so Thirteenth Morning? Is that a thing? I think it should be a thing, and have something like pancakes to soften the blow) my count of Christmas romances read, and Christmas movies watched remains the same as it was before December 25th. Zero. Oh well. I’ll get them next year.

My friend, H, gave me the first two volumes of Fruits Basket, collector’s editions. This was my first time reading manga, but a lot of the dynamics of my favorite historical romances lie within those pages, so I am well and truly into this story for the long haul. The rest of my Christmas/tucked away week reading went to The Summer Wives, by Beatriz Williams, and my feelings on this book, as with most by this author, can best be summed up with guh. Emotionally evisceration via fiction is a real thing, and, here, it is very, very, much welcome. So, that’s been my holiday 2018 reading.

As for 2018 holiday viewing, it was YouTube. All day, every day, or so it seemed. Most of my viewing fell into one of two camps; Book Tube, or stattionery/bullet journaling. In short, branding was huge on my mind, this season, especially as 2019 brings new adventures ahead. Melva and I are in the process of building our brand for our collaborative work, which of course makes me give what I’ve been doing with my own brand, a second look.

Both of these interests brought me to the same question: what sort of thing do I keep coming back to, again and again? I don’t recall where I read it first, probably on Facebook, but the text of the graphic was “Why choose between a girly and a dark aesthetic? If Persephone can be the goddess of springtime and queen of the underworld at the same time, so can you.” Yes. That. What that person said.

There were two things I noticed as I watched seemingly endless videos on the two subjects, looking for places I could twine them together. The first was that there are, to my knowledge, zero Book Tube channels about epic historical romance. Searching for historical romance on You Tube brings up a lot of fun vlogs about the current world of historiccal romance, which warms my historical romance loving heart. Deep inside that fire, though, there’ is a cranky flame (we might call it spotting a niche to be filled) that crackles with a desire to talk about some of the greats that came before, some of whom are still delivering the goods. So, there’s that.

The second thing I noticed was that I kept searching for stationery/bujo vloggers who had a certain aesthetic. No surprise, colors in the dusty rose/rose gold/ballet pink/blush family, combined with neutrals figure highly in this aesthetic. Once again, There Were Questions. What kinds of stories do I love the very, very most? Not merely what I like, but what leaves me wrung out like a wet washcloth, and happy about it? What sweeps me into its world and has me chomping at the bit to make some of that, myself?

In both cases, my next thought wasn’t “ugh, that looks hard” or “I don’t know if I can do that,” but “eh, give me a couple of pens and some paper, and I will figure it out.” That, I think, is part of taking myself seriously as a writer, and a creative being. That’s a journey that takes place one step at a time. Do I have an exact map to how this will mean gauranteed success every single time? Pffft, no. What I do know, though, is that, since i started my YouTube binge, I have been more focused on planning the actual work of writing, and have been consistentlyhitting my goals.

It’s an ongoing process. Yesterday, I opened the file for Her Last First Kiss, gave the first chapter a light spiff, and sent it in Melva’s general direction. Doing that had a similar feeling as setting up my new bujo system. Little different, but good different, still with the same feeling, even “me-er,” and …yeah. Let’s see where this takes us.

What new paths are you following in 2019?

Typing With Stuffed Paws: End of Year Edition

December 28, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Greetings, Foolish Mortals. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling, coming at you with all the stuff about the week that was. This was a different sort of week, thanks to the Christmas holiday. Writer Chick spent some of her time volunteering, and there was some kerfluffle in getting particular gifts to the right people, but, in the end, it turned into a pretty good holiday, and now, Writer Chick can turn her attention to the close of this year, and the start of the next year to come.

Observant readers will notice that I am not alone in this week’s picture. Still getting to know the new kid. He’s not much of a conversationalist at the moment, but I like the cut of his jib. Other Writer Chick asked if Dude got him as a friend for me. I prefer the term, “minion.” He has not yet told me his name, but I think he’s trainable. I will keep you updated.

Speaking of updates, let’s get to it. This past week, as always, Writer Chick was at Buried Under Romance. This time, she talked about the true gift of romance reading, and how a ghost of Christmas past dovetailed with a gift she received this year. Check that out here.

Now that Writer Chick has completed her 2018 reading challenge, she is turning her attention to what she wants to do for 2019. Should she stick with the tried and true goal of ninety books, or step it up to ninety-five, with an eye toward one hundred when 2020 rolls around? She is still figuring that one out, but if you are interested in how her reading year has gone, pop on over here. New Goodreads friends are always welcome.

Writer Chick also has some Christmas historical romances queued up on her Kindle and Kindle app, but those are hard to photograph, especially this close to naptime. I’ll let her fill you in on those, later.

This is the part where I bring you up to date on actual writing stuff, and, knowing Writer Chick, there will probably be some sort of banner or something to go here, next week. She is starting a whole section in her writing planner about blogging, and that’s probably covered in there, somewhere. I am afraid to look.

Anyway, Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick got a special present from the person we will refer to as Editor Chick, and that was their first round of line edits. Writer Chick is absurdly happy about this, because she loves this part of the process. This week, she and Other Writer Chick are going over the first twenty-five percent of the suggested edits, and accepting, correcting, or questioning each one. Like I said, Writer Chick is into this, so we’ll go with it. This brings Chasing Prince Charming one step closer to readers, so that counts as a step in the right direction.

Another step in the right direction is that Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick are working on rolling out their joint website. That apparently involves more than putting their individual websites alone in a candlelit room, with Al Green music and a box of chocolates. To my knowledge, they have not yet tried that approach, so we cannot rule it out.

This brings us to the most important part of the goal setting for the year ahead (no, Writer Chick, not picking out stationery) – the writing. She’ll talk more about exactly how the writing breaks down, later, but the focus for this coming year looks something like what we have here:

* Take care of pre-release stuff for Chasing Prince Charming
* Complete second draft of Her Last First Kiss
* Get Drama King (her second ms with Other Writer Chick) to the end of the first draft
* Pick next historical romance project and get started on that

That’s about it for this week. There is a suspicious squirrel outside, and I need to train the new kid, so that’s going to be it for me right now.

Peace out,

Typing With Stuffed Paws: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Planning Edition

December 7, 2018December 7, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Greetings, foolish mortals. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling coming at you with all the stuff on the week that was. I wanted to call this edition “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Sebastian,” but Writer Chick says this blog is about her writing, not my handsome self. Go figure.

Anyway, best to get the compulsories out of the way first, so let’s get to it. As always, Writer Chick babbles on about something, over at Buried Under Romance, every Saturday, and this one is no exception. Last week, she talked about when a reading slump really isn’t one. What’s that all about? Hop on over here, and find out.

This leads directly into our other update, that of Writer Chick’s Goodreads challenge. Getting down to the wire now, and looks like she might actually make it. As of this writing, she has read eighty-six books out of ninety, which puts her at ninety-six percent of the way there. Four more books, three more weeks; will she make it?

Writer’s favorite read this week was a surprise. It was also How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff.

Writer Chick says the S mug in this week’s book picture is for Skye, but Sebastian also starts with S, so I’m claiming it. Not right now. Right now, it’s full of tea. The box of lights is mostly there to block out the view of what’s behind the box of lights and the mug, but it’s also a sign that we are moving into a different time of year, and that would be Christmas. Writer Chick loves Christmas. I’m okay with it. For all I know, I was a Christmas present (the exact circumstances of me ending up with this bunch are a little fuzzy. Heh. Fuzzy. Classic Sebastian.) and a first Christmas in a new place is definitely important.

None of the decorations are up yet, but there is a tree, and there are ornaments. I have heard it is traditional to gift the family cat with their own presents on Christmas, and I am going to assume that extends to Cats Regent. It better.

I am going to go out on a (Christmas tree) limb here, and assume, also, that Writer Chick will be receiving planner and/or art journal stuff for Christmas. She is definitely going to use the tucked-away week between Christmas and New Year’s, to get her 2019 planning stuff in order. This includes moving essential stuff from the stripey planner, to the big eyes planner, as well as starting a separate planner that is only for writing. Possibly one for her co-written contemporaries with Melva Michaelian, and then another for her solo historical romances. These are the everyday planners, in which she will be planning how she plans the new year.

Blah blah, different sizes, blah blah, aesthetics, blah blah, DIY, etc. Whatever. She went over the specifics, but I wasn’t listening. Long story short, do what works. Even if it looks weird. Maybe especially if it looks weird. There will be more updates on where Writer Chick is, in her ongoing WIPs, as soon as she figures out how to measure that progress, and updating the Coming Soon section would not be a horrible thing, just saying.

So, yeah, that’s basically what’s going on here at Stately Bowling Manor. Waiting on confirmation, but looks like Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick have cleared a milestone in their draft of Drama King, and are already talking about what they want to do for their combined author website (this one is staying right where it is) so there will be updates on that as they come along.

Peace out,

Thankful

November 21, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Here we are, the day before American Thanksgiving. Stately Bowling Manor is about as ready for the holiday as it’s going to get. This means that we have some form of the traditional foods, a table at which to eat them, and chairs in which to park our backsides, while we eat abovementioned foods, at abovementioned table. This will be a cozy holiday, with myself, Real Life Romance Hero, and, of course, Sebastian.

There’s not a lot of prep left to do, over here, which suits me fine, because, as great as Thanksgiving food is, it’s not the whole point of the day. I am thankful for my family, very much so, though the absence of a real-life fuzzy buddy does pinch. Next year, we hope to have one or two four-legged family members parked beneath the table, ready to take care of any food that may fall and/or be surreptitiously slipped to them. Maybe we’ll station Sebastian nearby, to fill the gap.

This morning, I had my weekly breakfast with N. After the usual getting current on each other’s weeks, we turned our attention to how writing is going for each of us, and where we would like it to go. This year, I am very thankful for the fact that I am going into this holiday season, as a contracted author, once again. Complete honesty, I needed a “win,” and this definitely counts as one. The fact that I get to do it along with Melva, who has been friend and critique partner for coughty-cough years, makes it even better. Today, it means that I get to finalize (for now) a scene for Drama King, that cranks up the stakes, and leads into the next part of the book.

I am thankful that there is a next part of the book to get into, and that this is the second book in the series. I am thankful for the structure that comes not only with writing a series, with a partner, but for the structure that comes with the pre-publication process. This past week, Melva and I finalized the extra scene we needed, and the manuscript is now moving on to the next waypoint on our journey.

As I’m getting my bullet journal/traveler’s notebook ready for next year, I get to set things up for our progress along the road to release for Chasing Prince Charming. I get to set up a notebook to keep things straight with all things related to this collaboration; who’s writing what, and when it’s due, when edits are expected, what they are, and all of that good stuff. This is going to mean choosing and/or making notebook inserts, and accompanying pens, highlighters, and ephemera.

Though I won’t say I won’t be doing any shopping (especially Black Friday) for any of these items, because I have a decently robust collection of such items, I will say that I am immensely thankful for the huge boost this past year has brought me, in my love of all things pen and paper. For those who have been gently (and not so gently) suggesting I blog more about pen and paper, I will say maybe. The more I play with pens and paper, the more notebooks I fill and pens I empty, the more I want to write, and the more fun writing has become. If that means, along the way, that I pause every now and again, to pet a notebook cover, and stare off into the distance, it also means there is stuff going on in my story brain while I do so. I’ll take that.

I am thankful for my RWA family, fellow romance writers of all ilks, who have been supportive and encouraging, from the first day the new gal with the thousand-yard stare slunk into the business meeting and mumbled something about the time travel that was kicking her butt, to now friends, critique partners, and colleagues. I am thankful to be writing romance, because I get to fall in love every single day, and take a million different paths to happily ever after. Now and again, I get monies for it.

I am thankful for the writer friends I don’t get to see every day. Some, I have never seen as anything other than words on the computer screen. Still, we are family. I am thankful for the romance writers, whether or not we have ever spoken in actual conversation, written or verbally, whose books entertained and inspired me, from the day I first stole my mother’s then-new copy of The Kadin, to an overflowing TBR shelf. Those still keep me going, and are a great carrot on my stick.

I am thankful for the mistakes I have made along the way. As my mother often said, broken bones heal stronger. Would I change some of those, if I could? Probably so. Not all of them. Some. Today, after I get this blog posted, I get to have lunch with Real Life Romance Hero, and then I get to sidle into a too-small billiard room, where flirty banter pings off the walls. After that, I get to reward myself with a good cuddle under a warm, fuzzy blanket, with a good book, a cup of tea, and let a part of my brain drift toward tomorrow.

Not only the part of the day that smells like turkey gravy and hot buttered rolls, but the tomorrow that comes after that (okay, and after Black Friday) and means clearing the decks and making a new notebook for Her Last First Kiss, another for my work with Melva, and look toward the year to come. That’s the year when I will be able to measure the time since my most recently published novel, will be counted in months, not years. I am thankful for new chapters that await, on the page, and the writing life.

Also, pie.

Typing With Stuffed Paws: Snow Day Edition

November 16, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

What up. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling coming at you. There is snow on the ground. A lot of it. Writer Chick loves snow. Like really, really loves snow. This is not dampened by the cold she has had all week. Dude isn’t feeling that hot at the moment, but Writer Chick managed to get a load of laundry done. I, of course, am in favor of fresh laundry, as it is warm, and ideal for napping. Those of us who are of the stuffed persuasion can internalize the heat and stay toasty for hours.

As usual, Writer Chick did the blabbity-blab on Buried Under Romance, on Saturday. This time, she talks about saving a good book for a rainy — or snowy — day. Little did she know how appropriate that would be. If you want to read more, it’s here, and this is the picture if you need to find it that way, or appreciate her book and mug photography skills.

Speaking of reading, which is something Writer Chick is very wont to do, we move now to her Goodreads challenge. Writer Chick has been doing a lot of napping, this cold week, but she did make a respectable library haul, and historical romance actually dominates. That’s for another post, though. Right now, she is ninety-one percent of the way to her goal of ninety books, with eighty-two books read. Skye would be impressed. Me, I just report the numbers. Then I nap.

weekend reading and then some

Besides being a sick week, in which Dude proved himself a pretty decent nurse/personal chef, Writer Chick had her first week as a contracted co-writer. This involved a lot of thinking really hard about getting up and going to the computer. Sometimes, she actually made it. These are usually the times when she managed to get the really strong tea. Anyway, the times she did make it to the computer, she talked with Other Writer Chick, and they talked about Stuff.

Some of that Stuff included a scene that the publisher humans would like them to put into the book, where it was only implied before. All I am going to say is that the action of that scene would require turning around any stuffed animals in the room with the human characters. I have not read the scene in question, but it is my understanding that there are not any. Yet another instance of stuffed erasure in contemporary fiction. W are real, we are cuddly, and we will not be ignored. We’d make more noise about it, but, well naps. Some of us have squeakers, though. That floppy zebra in the other room? Squeaks like a new pair of shoes on freshly cleaned linoleum.

Another thing Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick had to talk about, was who they are, as a writer. Singular. Writer Chick writes historical romance on her own, and Other Writer Chick writes contemporary with a strong suspense element, and humor, on her own, and when the two different writers collide, it makes something entirely new. That comes with a lot of new questions.

One of those questions is about their combined author brand. Both of them had put a lot of thought into their individual author brands, condensed into catchy taglines, that let readers know what kinds of stories lie between the covers. Together, though? That’s something new, and they are working on figuring out exactly what that is. They already know they are going to need a joint website, which means they are going to need to pick out colors, motifs, a look that tells readers what they might find from this particular tag team.

That’s where I got to find out what it sounds like when two different writers make the “uhhhhh” sound at the same time. Writer Chick made some notes, and Other Writer Chick made a suggestion that they get their individual brand statements together and see if they can combine the two. We will see how that goes. Writer Chick is going to give this another go once she has full brain back, which should be in time for their weekly Skype session, but that isn’t even their main concern.

That’s kind of evenly split between working on the expanded scene for Chasing Prince Charming, and moving along with Drama King, because they always have to keep looking at the next book, while this one is getting ever closer to publication. There’s also the matter of keeping each other accountable on their different solo projects, because if they can drag each other through one book, they can drag each other through more books.

Maybe drag isn’t the word, but you get the picture. Thankfully, Writer Chick’s penchant for planning and notebooks is super useful when it comes to keeping things like this straight. She will probably have more to say on that. As long as her notebook covers are soft, and the paper is crinkly, I’m good, and, in the end, isn’t that all that really matters?

Oh look, squirrels.

Typing With Stuffed Paws: Recently Contracted Edition

November 9, 2018November 9, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Hey. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling, here on the windowsill, bringing you the latest edition of Typing With Stuffed Paws. There’s some stuff to talk about this week, but first, let’s get the compulsories out of the way, because it’s a cloudy Friday, and I feel a nap coming on in the very near future.

As always, Writer Chick was at Buried Under Romance on this past Saturday. Last week, she talked about the promise of romance fiction. If you’re curious about what that ight be (besides the Happily Ever After, that is) you can read it here, and this is the picture that goes with it:

Next we come to the part where I usually update about Writer Chick’s Goodreads updates, but it has been a week. More on that later. Instead of saying she is cheating again on her Goodreads challenge, she would prefer if I said that she is currently reading Heart of Iron, by Ashley Poston. More details on what Writer Chick actually thought of the book, when she has actually finished reading it (she is almost there.) She picked it because she liked another book by this author, Geekerella, which is a Cinderella retelling, but modern, with teenagers, no magic, and fandom. Heart of Iron is a retelling of the whole Anastasia thing, but in space, and with romance. Writer Chick says it reads like a really good medieval romance (actually two romances) but with space and I guess robots or something, but whatever.

Writer Chick also filled one morning pages book and started another. This one has birds on it.

Okay, I think that’ all the stuff I have to say before the big things. The first of which is that Skye came home. Well, sort of. She is the one in the box. It is kind of sad for the humans, because Skye is still on the other side of Rainbow Bridge, and also kind of nice, because there is now something to touch when they want to feel closer to her. In today’s picture, you see me trying to play nice with my sister. So far, so good. We both have exactly the same degree of interest in the green ball, so we have that going for us.

Now, we come to the next part. Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick now have a book contract. I cannot guarantee that Writer Chick will not blabber about this in a video blog (we thought she forgot about those things, but she has been watching a lot of vlogs, lately, so I can promise nothing.) Chasing Prince Charming, their first co-written contemporary romance novel, is now contracted by The Wild Rose Press.

Since this whole thing is super new, as in this week new, there is not a lot of information to share as of yet, like when the book will be out, so you can buy it, or what the cover art will look like (you will have to wait for the art humans at The Wild Rose Press to make it first, which means Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick have to fill out some more paperwork when the publisher people send t to them) etc. If you are interested in this kind of thing, hit the subscribe button, to make sure you don’t miss any updates as they come along. Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick (humans call her Melva Michaelian) worked really hard to get this book to this stage of the game, and there is still a whole lot of work left to do.

First, there was paperwork. There is always paperwork. That is one reason I am glad to be stuffed. We never have to do paperwork. Not so for writer humans. There is even math involved. Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick have signed their contracts, and now the fun begins. Writer Chick actually likes the process of doing edits. Other Writer Chick doesn’t like it so much, but that’s probably one of the reasons it’s good that there are two of them. Writer Chick hates tracking submissions and things like that, so this probably shakes out to about equal.

Both Writer Chick and Other Writer Chick are still writing their own, solo, novels. Historical romance for Writer Chick, and the love child of contemporary romance and cozy mystery for Other Writer chick. In case you were wondering what is at the crossroads of combining both of those above genres, Chasing Prince Charming would be it. One of the things Writer Chick has on her agenda for this upcoming week, is to look into a joint website for herself and Other Writer Chick, because that is a different writer than only Writer Chick by herself and Other Writer Chick by herself. Do not ask me to explain the specifics. I don’t know if there will be a blog, but Writer Chick is involved in this, so draw your own conclusions.

There are a lot of things to figure out when this whole kind of two-headed writer thing gets some momentum. Writer Chick knows what she has, for aesthetic and somewhat in the neighborhood of branding and all of that good stuff, and she could probably pretty accurately put something together for Other Writer Chick, because they have been friends for basically forever, and conference buddies for almost forever, not to mention co-writers for one whole book and part of another already. (I will not mention the “what are we going to do for the next series?” conversations that I may or may not have overheard, during Skype sessions. Public Stuffed Service Announcement: we stuffed guys can hear everything you’re saying, so please keep that in mind, and yes, please turn us around if you plan to do things that cannot be unseen.) What the two of them together look/sound like, though? Yeah, that’s new. Writer Chick is probably going to use this as an excuse to play in one of her art journals, but, to be fair, she does that with pretty much everything else, anyway. It is what it is.

That’s also about it for this week, so I am going to call it naptime.

Later days,

Typing With Stuffed Paws: Something About Voice Edition

November 2, 2018November 2, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Hey, everybody. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling, coming at you on this rainy Friday. Rainy Fridays are Writer Chick’s favorite kind of Fridays. Check back when it snows, because she loves snow, but rain happens during every season, so I am going to go out on a limb and say it has an edge, for frequency alone.

Domestic tornado-y week around the apartment again, but we come to the end of the week with the same amount of humans as we started it. More importantly, the same amount of stuffed folk. Most importantly, me. Being Cat Regent is a tough job, but somebody has to do it, and, between you and me, I am far more qualified than the red teddy bear, or the super floppy zebra that can’t even stand on its own. Plus, I am a cat.

Anyway, on with the show. Last Saturday, Writer Chick was at Buried Under Romance, as per usual. Most recently, Writer Chick wrote about the eternal appeal of fairy tales in romance. That post is here, and this is the picture that goes with it:

For Writer Chick’s Goodreads update, I have to call it now: she is being a cheater cheater pumpkin pie eater (she insists that I mention that A) there is not currently any pumpkin pie in the house, B) what’s up with that? and C) she is reading as fast as she can, okay? It’s been a very stressful week, and she’ll have finished the last couple of chapters by the time anybody reads this, so lay off, Sebastian. Yes, she used my name, but not the entire name, so she is probably not too irritated. Probably because she wants to get to the end of her book.)

That out of the way, Writer Chick’s pick of the week is The Iron Duke, the first entry in Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas steampunk romance series. Writer Chick says this has exactly the right blend of history and romance, even if the history is a very different version from what happened here on really real Earth. Just go with it. She is definitely going to read more of these. If you have steampunk romance recommendations, leave them in the comments, and Writer Chick will check them out.

I think that’s everything from the agenda Writer Chick gave me, so now it’s my time to riff. Wednesday was Writer Chick’s birthday-plus-one-week, which I gather is celebrated by putting on unusual clothing and going around to neighbors’ houses, begging for dessert. This is a fitting observance, though a quiet one around ye olde homestead. Maybe next year’s celebration can swap out the desserts for office supplies, because Writer Chick would be all about that kind of reboot.

It has come to my attention that National Author Day or something, was some time in the past week. Also National Cat day, but they didn’t say stuffed cat. At least I don’t t think so. I didn’t read the fine print, but I did lie on it. It was in my sunbeam. By that, I mean real sunbeam, not the artificial sunbeam, in this week’s picture, although that is good, too.

Also in this week’s picture is the business card holder that usually sits on Writer Chick’s desk. Since Writer Chick’s desk is currently in storage, that holder thingy and the pen attached to it live on the bookcase in Writer hick and Dude’s bedroom. Writer Chick gets the bottom shelf, Dude gets the top shelf, they split the middle shelf, and I sit wherever I want.

Writer Chick is kind of pumped that she needs to order more business cards soon, because she has now given out most of the ones she had before. That means networking is going okay. She is also pretty pumped that the pen takes Pilot G-2 ink refills, because she loves those pens. Bold point preferred; she’ll be very clear about that, but she’ll take medium in a pinch, fine point if she must, but she will do so with a heavy sigh.

The plaque on the base of the holder says, “I Anna-ize,” which is there because this was a gift from a friend, who froze when thinking of what to have put on the plaque. Writer Chick’s name only occurred to her afterward, but it’s all good, because Writer Chick likes that sentiment. Putting her own stamp on the romance genre has always been important to her, so this is a good reminder to make sure that goes into every manuscript.

How does Writer Chick “Anna-ize?” That’s a very good question, and there are times when her response would probably be that she was hoping you knew. Sometimes, it’s a matter of sitting down and doing the thing. Apple trees can only grow apples, and all that

For this kind of thing, it’s really best if Writer Chick doesn’t over Anna-lyze (see what I did there?) what she’s doing, and, instead, let the characters have their head (that is an old-timey phrase, meaning to let a horse pick where it wants to go, and the rider will be all “whatever” about the whole thing) and trust that they will get her to the right place, in the end.

Since Writer Chick writes romance, that end is an ever fixed mark (Shakespeare reference, for the win) but exactly how those people get to that happily ever after, well, that’s a wild card. I can respect that. It’s going to be different for everybody, which is why romance is such an interesting genre for Writer Chick to write.

That should be about everything for “Write” (heh heh) now, so keep your eyes peeled for those stray posts Writer Chick still owes. Never know when those babies are going to pop up, but they’ll be there.

Peace and Cuddles,

Typing With Stuffed Paws: Post-Birthday Edition

October 26, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Hey. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling< Cat Regent, coming at you for another Friday blog. Writer Chick was kind of busy on Wednesday, because it was her birthday, which is basically her second favorite day of the year, which is second only to Christmas. Which is also technically a birthday. She will probably make some extra blog posts, or toss them my way, in the next week or so, maybe more, because the holiday season has technically begun. Writer Chick counts from her own birthday. I get that. I would, too, if I knew what my birthday was. Best guess, it was somebody’s birthday, or Christmas, which we have already established is technically a birthday. So there’s that.

Okay. So. Somewhat looser edition of the weekly roundup stuff, because Writer Chick has to get some work done on Drama King, because schedules and writing and all that kind of stuff. She also needs to make sure this week’s Buried Under Romance post is ready. Last week’s is on feeding the hunger for reading a particular kind of romance novel. If you’re interested in finding out what that is, or just like clicking links, that post is here, and it looks like this:

Still crunching some numbers about the whole Goodreads Challenge thing, and things may move around a little, because somebody, and I am not going to say who (it was Writer Chick) did some (and by that, I mean a lot) of one-clicking late at night and now has a bunch of new reads lined up on her Kindle. We are not going to talk about the shelf full of library books, but this is the time of year when staying inside and reading (especially with a super cute cuddle buddy, preferably orange and stripey,) to share in the experience, is a very appealing option.

One book Writer Chick really liked recently, was What If It’s Us, by Becky Albertalli, and Adam Silvera. Writer Chick still has to write her review, but it’s got two authors she likes, and it’s like a YA rom com in book form. So far, she has read eighty out of ninety books for her goal for the year, which puts her at eighty-nine percent of the way there. That’s pretty decent progress. There may or may not be a library and/or bookstore run this weekend, because birthday weekends are kind of a thing around here.

Something else that is kind of a thing this time of year is NaNoWriMo. Writer Chick has a complicated relationship with NaNo. She did think about it this year, but it’s going to be a NaNot for 2018, and she is okay with that. Writer Chick does like the idea of starting something new, but, right now, it’s all about getting the current WIPs to the end of their drafts.

For her work on Drama King, that means a lot of contact with Other Writer. For Her Last First Kiss, that means a few different things. part of it is reconnecting with the characters, their story, their time, and writing on her own, rather than with Other Writer.

That can be kind of scary, but, once she gets started, it gets to be fun. Being between cats (of the peeing type) can be a tough thing for a writer. It requires a lot of cat videos on You Tube, which help part of the issue, but not all of it. Like reading a lot of books helps get back in the historical romance vibe, buuuut the only thing that is really going to get it off and running is the actual writing of historical romance.

Fortunately, Writer Chick already has a plan on this one. N, her Tuesday morning writer breakfast buddy (who, it should be noted, has three cats of the peeing variety, herself) is kind of in the same boat, with her manuscript. The solution? Sit across from each other, in public, with paper and pen, and Write The (Expletive Deleted) Book. Plus, they get to visit, and have bottomless cups of caffeinated beverages. Writers often run on caffeine.

That’s going to be it for this week. Sunbeam is in the window, and the mini roses smell extra delicious today.

Typing With Stuffed Paws: Going Medieval Edition

October 19, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Yo. Friday again. That means Sebastian time. You’re welcome. This week, I’ve been helping Writer Chick with her writing this week. Here, you can see me checking on her pen storage and morning pages book. Writer Chick is going to need a new morning pages book, around the first of November, so she is now interviewing candidates. Dude says the humans call this “shopping.” Potato, potahto. Whatever it’s called, what Writer Chick puts in this kind of book gets her in gear to do other kinds of writing during the day.

Some of that writing turns up on Buried Under Romance, in Writer Chick’s weekly Saturday Discussion post. This week, it was all about curiosity in reading.It’s here, and looks like this:

Gorgeous featured image on this one, amirite? If I were the poo-ing kind of cat, instead of stuffed, I’d want to look a lot like that. Only more handsome, but I’m already there, so that part would be moot.

Speaking of reading, Writer Chick is now eighty-eight percent of the way to her Goodreads goal of reading ninety books in this calendar year. She has read seventy-nine books, putting her eight books ahead of schedule, and it is only October. I foresee success in her future, unless I am lying on top of the books she wants to read, in which case…okay, she will probably pick me up and move me, because I am stuffed, but whatever.

A Memory of Love, by Bertrice Small

Writer chick is also making good progress on her goal of reading more historical romance, and, lately, she’s been concentrating on re-reading books she remembers liking, but hasn’t read in a while, and a bunch of those have turned out to have something in common. Her last three historical romance reads have been by Bertrice Small, the author who got her interested in historical romance in the first place, they have all been standalones, and they have all been medieval. She also has a medieval historical romance quintet, the Graistan Chronicles, by Denise Domning, on her Kindle, and a bunch of Terri Brisbin medieval novellas on her phone, so this is becoming kind of a thing.

Writer Chick has already written one medieval romance novella, herself, and if you want to read a part of that, you can, in New York’s Emerging Writers: an Anthology of Fiction. Writer Chick’s novel excerpt, “Ravenwood,” is in there, and she has the whole book ready to roll, and resume submission rounds. Even though she hadn’t expected to write anything else related to that story, now she is thinking that, maybe, that might be fun to try in the not too distant future. If you read the excerpt and like it, consider letting the publisher know.

It’s not big a stretch. Writer Chick’s medieval hero left his best bro in an abandoned abbey, filled with plague survivors. That isn’t really as mean as it sounds. Book Dude did what he had to do, and Other Book Dude was fine with it, so I’m going to call that solid. It’s also part of what Writer Chick likes about the whole medieval romance thing. The world was rougher, then, depending on who one asks, and there is definitely enough history to influence the plot. Castles, villages, wars, picking up after a giant up-ending of life in general, and rebuilding again. As. Many. Times. As. It. Takes. Writer Chick can relate to that.

So, how does this tie into the Georgian era stuff she’s currently writing? First, going from 1066 to 1766 (which is still fairly early in the eighteenth century) gives Writer Chick a whole lot of history to play with, here. Seven. Hundred. Years. How great is that? So. Much. History. So many things that can affect the love stories, that there is not even a chance of running out of ideas that could actually have happened. So many love stories, as well, that she can tell, for generations to rise and fall, time to pass, children from previous books to grow to adulthood, and all of that good stuff. She’s kind of into all of that.

She’s also kind of into getting the current WIPs done and on their ways, so that she can get to the new, shiny stuff. This means there is a lot of planning she can do, to make that kind of thing happen. If you have guessed that this is going to involve pens and notebooks, you are right, but that’s for Writer Chick to tell. Dude wants to take a nap, and if you think I’m not going to get on in on that, I don’t even know what to say in response.

Catch you next time.

Anna-ticipation

October 15, 2018annabowling Leave a comment

Right now, I am sitting on my pillow pile, lap desk in my lap. Outside, it’s grey and intermittently rainy. There is a package of pens (not the ones pictured) on its way to me, possibly arriving today. My tea mug is empty (again,) and, as soon as I finish this entry, I can get up and make more tea. It may possibly be chai. In the later afternoon, there will be groceries. This may or may not expand my tea choices. It may also expand my pen inventory, but that is a risk I am willing to take.

This past weekend, I attended our monthly CR-RWA meeting, where Jean C. Gordon took us through her Gone in Sixty Minutes synopsis workshop. Now, I have one eye on my notebook, as I go through the Monday stuff, because I want to get back to what I was doing on Saturday afternoon.

I’m not usually excited about writing synopses. Writing a whole book is, somehow, easier than giving a brief summary of what the book is about, and what it means for the two lead characters. Do not ask me why. All I know is that, usually, when I hear the word, “synopsis,” I immediately forget the entire book, stare blankly, and mutter something that sounds vaguely like “ummm….”

This time, however, I’m much closer to “this is super cool, and I can’t wait to hunker down and get to it.” I even like the idea of writing the synopsis before writing the book, and may have to give that a go at some point.’That may be close to what Melva and I are doing with Chasing Prince Charming right now. I used Her Last First Kiss for the hands-on part of the workshop, as well as reconnected with a once upon a time critique partner, about resuming that relationship, and, now, that it’s time to get back into the serious business of making book (literally) I feel more…grounded may be the best word. I was not expecting that, but I will take it.

That work isn’t for today, though, because Monday is for doing Monday things. Getting ready to Skype with Melva, making a grocery run, transcribing longhand pages. Keeping one eye on the clock, because I know when the mail carrier brings our building’s mail, and there is a very good chance that there may be pens in there. Not that I know exactly what sort of pens they are going to be, because this is from a pen exchange on a Facebook group for pen enthusiasts. I am also getting a bunch of pens ready to send off to my exchange partner, someone whom I know very little about, other than their address and taste in pens. Sometimes, that’s all one needs to know, only enough to take care of the task at hand. If that hand happens to be holding an awesome pen, well, that’s a plus.

As usual, the weekend included some craft store tourism with Housemate. This time, I cracked open the marker paper insert I’d been wanting for a long time, open as soon as I got it home, whipped out some markers and stamps and stencils, and started throwing stuff onto pages that were not the first page (excellent art trick to get over the reluctance to ruin the first page of a new sketchbook/insert.)

Again, this is kind of similar to something Melva and I are doing with our first draft of Drama King, and what a combination of talks with N, Saturday’s workshop, and a few other factors, have me wanting to do with Her Last First Kiss. Maybe one of the pens in the pen-ding delivery will find its purpose in doing exactly that.

I already know what my reward, at the end of the day, will be. Right now, I have one re-read of a classic historical romance for my before-bed reading, and one brand new contemporary YA, by two authors who always hit the mark, on my phone, to nip into when I have spare moments. Both of those are the kind of read where I find myself thinking about the characters during the day, hoping they don’t do anything interesting without me. They usually don’t, Other people’s characters are usually better behaved than my own, and happy to wait for me before they get back into the action.

Not so with my own imaginary friends. Getting up to stuff is pretty much in their job descriptions. They’ll run off the planned route, on a whim, make decisions and take actions that I did not authorize first. Oftentimes, they come up with better stuff than I do, and maybe this is what they will do, tonight, when I am scanning the shelves for no sugar added applesauce, or cruising the pen aisle for fun things to toss into a package I will mail out later this week.

It’s important to stay in the moment, and do the thing in front of us, but, sometimes, casting a glance at the horizon can be an excellent reminder of where we’re going, and why we want to be there.

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

Books