Dressing Gown Days

December 21, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Yes, I am American, and I call them dressing gowns. Real Life Romance Hero calls them “enchanted robes of comfort.” His is a lovely smokey grey. Mine is burgundy or oxblood, depending on my whim. They are both fuzzy and warm and perfect for today. We are both having rest days, which for me means I finally get to sneak a blog in for this week. I’ve missed blogging and plan to be more regular in the coming year. Our tree is green this year, with white lights and minimal ornaments, because the rose gold tree is inaccessible at the moment, and I Had To Have A Tree. Worked out pretty well.

My most-played Christmas song this year is “Fairy Tale of New York,” in several different versions, including one all in Gaelic. Yeah, there is some kind of story brewing. I am more than okay with that. .;ppppppppppppppppp (that last bit is from Storm, even though she will get her own blog post tomorrow. She has to be in on everything. Only fair, as it *is* her home.) b She is in the mood today to remind me that this is a dressing gown day, and that means I have things on my list like “read,” and “watch TV” and “do journal things.” I am trying to tell her that blogging is like journaling, but I don’t think she’s accepting my argument. Ah well.

Housemate purchased this year’s tree at her place of employment, and far overbought both lights and ornaments, which are both tiny and glass, but this is fine for a couple of reasons:

there are no such things as too many ornaments; if we aren’t using them now, we will be using them later, perhaps when we have a house and multiple trees.
Storm can’t get to the tree anyway. If she could, she would have by now.
It goes really well with the fun family stories we already have, like the time I blindly picked out a far too tall for our apartment tree because it was dark and raining and it ended up being Christmas trees, plural, as Real Life Romance Hero sawed it in half and gave the other half to our neighbor.

For those keeping track from last year, that brings our tree count to five. We have the green tree above, the rose gold tree in storage, my pink bottle brush tree, and my pink ceramic tree. Tree number five, I am calling our foster tree, as we are holding onto it for a friend in transit.

I love last year’s A5 rings so much, I am keeping the same setup, only changing the pages for this year’s

The current planner lineup for 2024 is approaching its final form and looks quite different than what I had expected. That seems to be a theme around here these days. I am even going out of town for what is shaping up to be an annual trip to the two coolest places in CT, namely The Book Barn and my friends, Mary and Brian’s house. Obviously, The Book Barn is the number two coolest place. Yes, it has a seemingly endless array of books to buy, but my friends are there only some of the time but they are in their home every day, so that makes it the #1 coolest place. Plus there is a dog.

This year’s Book Barn jaunt is going to be different, because I will be using either crutches or walker (looks like a torn meniscus but healing well) and that will be an adventure. I acquired a backpack to make toting stuff easier, but Storm seems to think I brought home a(nother) cat bed. She is in love with it, to the point of abandoning Real Life Romance Hero feeding her to settle on it. She has priorities. Everything is a cat bed if the cat is comfy enough.

No real point to this post other than the above, which is exactly what one needs on a dressing gown day. How is your day going?

2023; The Worst Reading Year of My Adult Life

November 17, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

2023 has been the worst reading year of my adult life. That surprises me. Not that I am experiencing it but that I am experiencing it now, that we are three years securely ensconced in a comfy apartment, with no lack of books to read, both paper and electronic. I have multiple devices on which to read e-books, and to have audio books read to me. I am in walking distance of at least two libraries, and a short bus ride away from more. Even with all of that…no.

The first thing that I can think of is that my books, the ones I owned before our vagabond time began, are still safely in storage. It is most assuredly time to dig them out and set them up in the bookcases I have had since I was a literal baby. That will require some finagling and probably an entire day of playing storage Tetris. Books have always been the first things I packed before a move, and usually the first thing I would unpack, or one of the first. things probably will be different when I am able to touch my books again, but I do have newer to me books, acquired since we moved in here, that are still mine and I can still touch and still…no.

The first thing that came back on this healing journey, was stationery/journaling, and oh boy did it ever. I n a much bigger way than I had ever expected, so I would not be surprised if this ntime next year (or some other year) I might crank reading up to eleven and turn into some sort of book locust. I like that image. The lack of interest in reading waved a big ol’ red depression flag, which pointed me toward the awesome therapist I see now. Our big goal is to get me back writing, and one of the steps along that path is getting back to reading.

Not going to pretend there aren’t reverses and stumbling blocks. My current plan is to stick with books I either know I love (rereads) and the occasional whatever catches my fancy at the time. Getting back to some sort of reading tracker -a basic one at first, as much as I love the gorgeous, intricate kind I have seen from favorite influencers- is also on the table.

So, what are my reading goals for 2024? I like the “drop and give me 52” idea My reading tracker (handwritten) says I have read twenty-nine books so far, and Goodreads says thirty-two. Definitely a discrepancy there, so let’s go with the higher number. I want to complete 2023’s fifty-two and then start another for 2024. It’s okay if 2023’s goal finishes in 2024. In fact, I expect that it will. The reading bar is low for this year, sure. That happens sometimes. For the rest of the year, my focus when it comes to reading is finding stuff I want to read, then reading that.

How’s the reading year looking for you?

Typing With Wet Paws: Now It’s November Edition

November 9, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It is November now, which means superpowers are in full swing. I made sure to wake my parents early this morning to announce that the weather was especially November-y. Mama Anna appreciated it. Papa did not. Whatever, it was playtime.

This week, I am happy to report that Mama Anna is working on the writing that she means to be working on, and that includes a rough draft of her own blog, about how 2023 has been the worst reading year of her entire life. Don’t worry, it’s not a sad blog. I have sat on the notebook she wrote the first draft in, and it’s really comfy, so it should be a good blog.

Mama Anna is indeed working on the reading thing. Right now, she is listening to an audiobook while she is helping me write this post. She has a paper book going as well, and I think she got an eBook from the library, but hasn’t started reading it yet. Give her time. It is November, after all, and the perfect time of year to cuddle on her mountain of spooky pillows, under a fuzzy blanket, with an even fuzzier purr-sonal assistant at the ready.

This week, we are watching Fear The Walking Dead, and Frasier, and Mama Anna is planning out a good way to binge both seasons of Yellowjackets. Purr-sonally, I prefer things like “Koi in their Winter Pond,” or birdfeeder footage, but this stuff is good, too. Cats hunting, people hunting, does it really matter? As long as I get my belly rubs, the answer is no.

Now that it is nice and cool outside, and the heater is on, I am much more cuddly than I am in the summer. Since Aunt Linda generally goes to bed first, I like to very smoothly slip into her bed when she gets all settled and demand belly rubs. Sometimes she can still watch her tiny glowy box, and during some of those times, I can watch her screen, too. I have no idea what the hoomans in her glowy box are saying because she uses headphones. \]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

(I typed that last part myself, with my own paws.)

”””””””””””””””’

(also that line)

In short, I walk on the keyboard a lot. If we had a parrot in this house (We don’t. It’s a bird. I am a cat. Which is a predator to birds. Bad combination, most likely.) they would have learned “get off the keyboard” super duper fast. Mama Anna says it a lot. I still think she needs a bigger desk so I can have my own seat. For now, I hunker down in her open sock drawer until it is time to walk across the keyboard to demand cuddles and hugs and pets and playtime. The parrot would also have earned “cats don’t drink tea.” I don’t know that I believe that one. From the way Mama Anna drinks it, it must taste super good. It smells good, and it’s warm. What’s not to love?

That’s about it for this week. Mama Anna wants to play Sims, and that is one of my favorite glowy box shows. I think she should make our family in the game, complete with a Sim version of me. She has done that before, but doesn’t have a version right now. About time to fix that, right? I better get on that.

Therapy Homework and Other Stories

October 12, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

The weather is cool and cloudy today. I have a tall tumbler, filled with vanilla chai tea, too hot yet to drink, which gives me time to start this blog. My blogging goal for this week is to blog twice. Once, to help Storm with her blog, and one that is entirely Anna. The tumbler is a plain silvery finish right now. I will probably find some vinyl stickers for personalization. I plan on taking it out in the wild with me. I want to get some foliage shots while the leaves are with us. I miss taking pictures and posting them. The only way to do that is to do it. Baby steps count.

That is some of my therapy homework for this week and the next. I also need to finish reading Lisbon, by Valerie Sherwood. I’m over three hundred and fifty pages into the five hundred and fifty page plus book, so I think I should be able to do this. I have only read this book once, when it first came out, the same year Real Life Romance Hero and I were first married. It’s like reading it for the first time again, but with enough familiarity to know this is the right sort of story to keep my attention. I also get to make notes as to why that is. what does make this book work for me?

Right now, Storm has parked herself between me and my keyboard. She would prefer to be on it, but I have work to do. After I publish this post, I will make popcorn and check out the Frasier revival. Possibly some Yellowjackets, either diving into season two, or going back to season one and binge. I am listening to creepypastas as I write this and will probably do some journal stuff while watching abovementioned shows. TV and journaling seem to go well together around here.

Journal prep will be extra special this time, as I am getting ready for my own loosey-goosey version of Preptober/NaNo-ish doings. Updates to come as I progress. From my chat with Melva this week, I have to read through what I have on Her Last First Kiss so far and report on my own books. Not only read it, but spot what’s working, what I like. On my own book. This should be interesting. I have an audiobook to finish listening to as I take care of some household chores, and then another one lined up to take its place when I am done with the first. If it’s been difficult to stick with an audiobook the way I normally listen, how about I try listening to them the way I do the creepypastas I have been inhaling like nobody’s business? More sessions of shorter duration and remember there will be no quiz on the material at any point. I don’t know why I have felt like there would be, but there isn’t. There is no wrong way to read for pleasure.

That’s about it for right now. There is reading and there is writing and at some point it will resume making sense. Specific assignments and accountability work well for me, so I will be going with that. Odds are high that I will be making some sort of trackers for my personal and writing journals. I know myself.

What’s going on with you guys?

Typing With Wet Paws: Adoptiversary Edition

October 6, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This is a special edition, because it is my adoptiversary. Well, actually, it was yesterday, October fifth, but yesterday was also Mama Anna’s talking people vet session, and the first pictures of me with these guys were taken the day after, because everybody wanted to give me some time to get used to my new family

Possibly first crunchies with forever family

I have had three mamas, and that is the final number. My cat mom was my biological mom. I don’t remember a lot about her, but she was gorgeous (I assume she looks like me) and ran one heck of a milk bar. When I was big enough to set out on my first adventure, I went to my first human mom, Mama D, who took the best, best, best care of me until it was time for me to come to my forever family. I still love my first two mamas and I think about them a lot, always fondly.

As you might be able to see from the picture above, I wasn’t done growing yet when I met these guys, because I am bigger and longer and grownup now. These guys never got to see me as a tiny jelly bean or a li’l potato, as I came to them in my long teen stage. Now I am a big long, which is my final form.

Please note that Mama Anna was kind enough to match the cover of one of her journals to the color of half of my nose. Yes, she has another one like it in black, to match the other half of my nose. I will accept this tribute. My bond with Mama Anna and her writing has been there from the very start. One of the very first times I came out of my adventure cave, she had a journal out on the bed, and was working with an India ink pen. I wanted to play with the pen. She said I should not, because the ink might stain my white paws. Well. She had not noticed the black spot I have on one of my front paw toes before then and thought that she had stained my fur. She felt awful until she realized it was original equipment.

Ever since then, we have only grown closer. I have made new human friends/aunts and uncles both online and in purr-son. If Mama Anna wants to have a video chat with anybody, I must be part of it. That is not negotiable. I don’t make the rules. Oh wait, I am a cat. I totally do.

Mama Anna wanted to remind me that one of my main reasons I get to blog once a week is that I am to be her PR kitty. That means I have to talk about her writing. She’ll admit it hasn’t been great as of late, which is one of the reasons she is seeing the talking vet. The talking vet helped her give herself a couple of assignments. First, she needs to finish reading the novel she is currently reading, which is Lisbon, by Valerie Sherwood. She loves that book and has read it only once, so it is like a new book, but one she knows she will like.

Another goal is for Mama Anna to write one of her own blogs once a week for the rest of October. It doesn’t matter the topic, so be prepared for some babbling. Some of you like that, so you’ll be in for a treat. The rest of you, maybe ask her some questions so she can maybe use those to help figure out a topic. My Aunt Mary already asked Mama Anna to blog about Lisbon, so she will probably do that at some point.

The other other goal is related to NaNoWriMo and even Preptober. Mama Anna would like to participate in those, but she’s not sure exactly how, so the idea they came up with was this:

Pick a notebook
Fill it by the end of November
That’s it.

What she fills the notebook with doesn’t matter as much as just filling it. Probably extra points for making it be about historical romance. Mama Anna plans on getting together with Aunt Melva for an in person worldbuilding session soon, about the small town they are creating for their new contemporary series. This new notebook, which she will probably introduce you to later, will be saved for stuff about historical romance and maybe fantasy romance that reads like historical.

Will I try to steal her pens that she writes with in that? Yes. Will I sit on the open pages and the closed cover? Yes. Is she fully aware that if the notebook has a leather or faux leather cover, that I will do the pricky-pricky-pricky things with my murder mittens to the cover? Yes. Might she try to foil me by putting a cover over that cover? Almost certainly. Will that stop either one of us? Probably not, but there is only one way to find out.

How was your week?

Typing With Wet Paws: Post-Papa’s Birthday Edition

August 18, 2023annabowling 1 Comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. this was an interesting week over here, and of course one week closer to fall, when Mama Anna’s superpowers come back. Tuesday was Papa’s birthday. He wanted cannoli for his cake (or ake substitute) and well remembers last time, when Aunt Linda contended she did not get her fair share of cannolis. Should I tell her that the bakery sells them all the time? She could get more. I don’t get any because I am a cat. I get crunchies and gushy food. Much better. Mama Anna had to show Papa a picture of what his birthday present will be, because it did not arrive in time. Aunt Linda had somehow not noted that it was shipping from overseas, but that is okay because it will be worth the wait.

I don’t know how to share the picture, so I will tell you what the present is. It is a tropical shirt with lots of flowers and pineapples and leaves, and best of all…ME. Naturally, it was hard for Mama Anna to pick from the pictures she took of me, because they are all good. With material like this, how could she get any duds, am I right? You know it.

could this work as my Halloween costume?

Anyway, Aunt Linda had a clear favorite picture, so they went with that one, and Papa LOVES the idea. He says he’s going to wear that shirt everywhere, all year long, and he even wants to more of them with different pictures. Some of them will be of Big Sister Skye, but that’s okay. I think it would be cool to hang out with her in a shirt pattern. Everybody wants something with both of our pictures on it together. Maybe even pajama pants. My only concern with clothing that has my picture on it is, how are my sheds going to show?

Since human eyes are not as awesome as cat eyes in seeing detail, I should tell you that the print on the belly band in the picture above is from Mama Anna’s new “Neapolitan” Archer and Olive n notebook, but we properly refer to it by its right name, Calico. It has black pages, white pages, and kraft pages, which is close enough to orange. She says it is in honor of me. I appreciate the recognition. Mama Anna thinks she will probably use that as her first bullet journal of 2024.

Speaking of her planning, she found out that she does indeed already have the A5 calendar filler for next year’s catchall planner, so that fits right in with no-spend, which is pretty cool. This has been more of a well filling week than a writing week, but she is okay with that. Also, she smells like people vet again. She said it was something called a “physical” and the people vet wants to check on a couple of things to make sure everything is working as it should. I, of course, will be on hand to provide cuddles afterward. She might even be able to talk to a special talking kind of people vet to see if I can get a letter saying I am an essential worker in the industry of keeping Mama Anna operating at best capacity.

Right now, she is listening to one of her all-time favorite books, On the Jellicoe Road, on Audible. As usual, part of her is thinking about how elements of this would work in historical romance (there is romance, but it’s not the focus, and there are two timelines, one in the past, but only a generation ago from the present story.) It also gives her the taste for a historical romance set in Australia, because it’s a setting she likes a lot, but doesn’t see very often these days. Do you know of any? Leave titles, authors, and/or links in the comments.

Low-Hanging Fruit Day

July 18, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Today is a low hanging fruit sort of day. It’s the middle of July, for one thing. For another, I have a doctor appointment tomorrow (routine, no worries) and my anxiety did not sign up for that, so is kicking a fuss. Fortunately, that’s what the appointment is about, so that is for the good. Put together soupy air (seriously, folks, I have seen air fish, that’s how humid it is around here in NY state) anxiety and the regular stuff that comes with carrying out both writing and domestic warrior queen duties in such an environment, this is one of the days when it’s time to focus on the easy stuff, call that good enough and then flop back in front of the fan. This will include cuddles from feline companion, because Storm needs her cuddles regardless of weather.

the coolest of cats
(seriously, at the point where fans converge)

Reading wise, things are looking up.

Oh my mercy, I loved this one. Five stars on GR, review incoming, and definitely a book that I want to write about in a future post. I class this as historical fiction (Ireland in 1957\8) with romantic elements (there are relationships, some HEAs, some other outcomes, but the focus is on the, well, friends.) Up next is another Binchy, The Lilac Bus. My other current read is Don’t Let in the Cold, by Keely Parrack.

YA thrillers usually work very well for me, and this one has a blizzard setting, so no surprise that I am zooming through this one. I am always up for a blizzard, especially when I am dealing with air fish in the here and now. I’ll be back to this one when the adulting for the day is done.

For today, the writing low-hanging fruit is obviously this blog. Next up is a character interview because I absolutely can get back on the historical romance horse, which I prefer to actually do than whinge about it being haaaaaaaard. (Which is definitely worth mentioning at tomorrow’s appointment.) My favorite kind of research is talking to people, and that includes my own characters. This is, at its core, “dude, what’s going on?” mode and it’s kind of one of my favorite parts. Getting out of my characters’ way is also some tasty low-hanging fruit.

Dinner gets to be some mix of a) there are two other adults in the house, b) we have plenty of non-oven-needing food, and c) we live in a city with delivery options. There’s also d) there are food place right there in walking distance. In other words, some variation of I Am Not Cooking. That’s always one of my summer favorites.

What’s your low-hanging fruit for the day?

July 13, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Well hi there. Anna here. It’s a hot July day, and I says to myself, Anna, if you blabber your way through a blog post, you can cross “blog post” off your list for the day and then you get to write the interview questions for the next scene in Her Last First Kiss, and after that, you get to go back to reading A Circle of Friends, by Maeve Binchy, in front of the box fan, with a huge glass of ice water. This is a strong motivation, because I am only fifteen percent through said book, and already adore it.

I’d tried to find the movie version, with Minnie Driver, but that’s apparently not streaming anywhere, so book it is. At the moment, I am on a movies from the late 60s-mid-70’s drama movies kick One would think such movies would be readily available on streaming services, but one would be wrong I did find The Sterile Cuckoo on Amazon Prime Video, which I loved. I did not know it was a book first, and that the book covers three years, where the movie compresses all of it into one school year. I found this movie when I was actually looking for Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, which was also a book first, by a different author. I can rent it on Amazon, and I will probably cave, as well as Summer of ’42, which I have wanted to see since I was nine and fell crazy in love with the theme song. My parents would not allow me to see the movie, even though these are the sane parents (okay, mainly my dad) who took me to see The Manitou.

Anyway. :breath: I have a huge soft spot for broadly middle of the twentieth century coming of age movies. If there are dual timelines or a where are they now type of epilogue, all that much better. My educated guess is that it’s the saga element that I love and crave in my historical romances.

Earlier this week, I had a long video call with my friend, Mary, how is a huge help with historical research assistance. With a few pointed questions and referring to her impressive historical nonfiction library. An hour or so of that, and then boom, the foundation of a Tudor-era quartet, there it is. This will be going in the journal pictured above, in a way that makes sense to me, along with the corresponding information for the pirate trilogy, and a couple of standalones.

All of this, of course, means that I need to make with the tappity tappity and get Her Last First Kiss to the end of this new draft. My medieval novella, A Heart Most Errant, may need more eyes on it, to figure out any related stories (writer friends, I’ll do the same for you) and will be headed back out on submission in the fall. For today, I get to ask some pertinent questions of a character to get a scene moving. That, I am delighted to report, can be done in front of above-mentioned fan, sipping above-mentioned journal.

After that, it may be movie time. What vintage coming of age movies would you recommend?

Typing With Wet Paws; Papa Smells Like People Vet Edition

June 7, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It’s been a while since anybody posted here, but Mama Anna and I have good reasons. Most of them are that Papa spent a lot of last week at the People Vet. No cone of shame, though, so good for him. What I understand is that he fell in the pharmacy and split his head open. Two arteries and a muscle were involved, but the people vets are super super good and he is okay now. He is back hunting (he calls it work) and Mama Anna is digging out of the domestic chaos that ensued from that week’s events.

One of the things Papa was in the pharmacy to get was a thumb brace for Mama Anna. Since I do not have thumbs, because I am a cat, I am not sure exactly what went on with that, but she moved her thumb in a direction thumbs do not generally go, and it hurt unless she taped it to something straight, which made her think that a brace would help, and she was right. She has been wearing the brace since the first day Papa was in the hospital, and it is working great. She can hold a pen and use a mouse (the computer kind, not the delicious kind) and give me belly rubs, so that’s all good. Huzzah.

Mama Anna and Aunt Melva are working on a brand new contemporary romance novel, probably a series. Mama Anna is back on writing Her Last First Kiss again. She is also entertaining some other ideas, both for historical romance novels and web content. She would like to do more vlogs. I one hundred percent intend to video bomb her as much as possible, so that might be an incentive to watch those vlogs. She also wants to show off her planners and journals and pens and stuff.

Mama Anna is working on getting back into the reading groove. She is currently reading Wool, by Hugh Howey, the book that inspired the TV show, Silo, which she super wants to watch, but is following by recaps instead, because she does not have Apple TV. Mama Anna is very, very allergic to wool in real life, but it should be okay to read an e-book with that title.

Another thing Mama Anna wants to do is to take more pictures. She really kikes doing that, but hasn’t done as much of it as she would like. This was taken in the park that we can see from our house. As in really easy to walk to whenever she wants. She says I have to stay at home, though, because apparently, I cannot be trusted around ducks. Not that I have ever encountered ducks. She just knows me.

What are you all up to this week?

Monthly Reset and The Delicate Question

May 29, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Hey there, hi there, ho there, Neighborinos. What does it say when my cat has her intro down pat while I’m still trying stuff out? Trick question; doesn’t matter. What does matter is the planning and the writing, not always in that order.

Ever since I stumbled upon the idea of a weekly and monthly reset (not yet up to the point of a yearly reset, but it will come) I slid straight into it like a custom-made shoe. Then again, maybe I have, since this is the first year in a long time that I have been in a wire bound planner. Well, one of my planners, I am also in a traveler’s notebook for my everyday carry (EDC) setup, and no worries about my disc bound stuff; that’s moved over to other duties. Plus ring binders, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I like the fresh start of a new month or week, even day, as the thirst for a morning routine (initiated by abovementioned cat, so “feed cat” is the first thing on that list) rises fast and urgent. What are we doing right now? This concerns everybody’s schedules Our household is three adult humans and one calico cat. The humans all have their own household duties and areas of expertise. Meal planning, for instance, is shared between myself and Real-Life Romance Hero, because I am the planner, and he is the foodie. Housemate is in charge of getting the groceries, while I make the list. She’s happy to eat pretty much anything, and since we live in a city, “delivery” counts as a food group.

This weekend, Housemate and I will hie ourselves off to another region for the pursuit of art and craft supplies, hopefully with some in person face time with friends who live there. Sorry, burglars, RLRH will be home, and Storm has a sitter who will be stopping by as needed. Knowing that my daily journal/planner stuff is all in one tote, ready to go to a different room, outside, or on the road, knocks a lot of uncertainty out of the picture, and I like that,

That seems like a good place to pop over to “the delicate question.” If you are a gentle reader, do not Google it Seriously, seriously, do not Google it. Also do not click on the link above, because it will tell you. If, however, you are like the kind of historical romance writer who has a stuffed Plague Doctor, baby raven, and multiple plush bats, once won a Blackbeard’s flag t-shirt from The History Channel’s once upon a time pirate trivia contest, and counts among her prized possessions a transcript of the trial of Anne Bonney (and Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham) then you may also want to watch the video that got my mind spinning. Again, gentle readers, this is not for you.

For me, though, it’s aha. Yes. Going to tuck this one right into the notebook for the pirate trilogy. Not only the bones (hah) of the um, thing, but avenues of research, some ideas on how this might fill a plot hole (eh, more of a divot, really) and noticing only halfway through a personal calzone that I am one hundred percent not bothered by this rabbit hole (I must note that I am listening to a video essay on Yellowjackets while writing this, so the rabbit mention makes me hmmmm.) This includes jotting down names of people I know on the interwebs and IRL who might have access to umm… :shifty eyes: special information, and a reminder to self that Beau Crusoe, by Carla Kelly, is extremely affordable on Kindle, and long overdue for a reread. Well, gentle readers might prefer a different Kelly book.

What are you up to this week?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

Books