Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This week, I want to start with congratulations to Mama Anna for being on track with her Goodreads Challenge. Starting strong, that’s what we like to see. Also whatever she is doing at a given moment, because, you know, I am a cat.
This picture of me from one year ago is proof that I am a cat, and also that Mama Anna needs to take more pictures in general, and of me specifically. We are working on that. Everybody loves cat pictures, and if the pctures of me happen to be of when I am sitting on or near her planner/journal supplies and/or other stuff, the pictures can cross-post to special interest groups. I like to multitask.
The book Mama Anna is focusing on this weekend is Lisbon, by Valerie Sherwood, who is one of her top tier historical romance authors. This was Ms. Sherwood’s final book, as far as we know, and Mama Anna hasn’t read it again since she read it the first time, when it was new and she and Papa just starting their lives together. She still has her copy in storage, I think, and it is very special to her, because Papa went out and got it for her in hardcover, because she was so excited for the book to come out and didn’t want to wait for paperback. This copy is from the library, and they will want their copy back at some point. I am especially fond of Mama Anna reading hardcovers in bed, because A) I get to rest on it when she falls asleep next to it, and B) I can cuddle with her while she reads, and rub my scent on it at the same time. I wonder if there are any cats at the library who will appreciate me annotating in that manner.
In other news, we are now on spring watch. This means that I in particular am keeping an eye on the windows and asking the humans to open them for me. Open windows are extremely important for neighborhood surveillance, which of course is one of my duties as a cat.
Other important duties come into play at this time of year as well. With Mama Anna moving her papers and pens around to make way for the switch to focus on new writing projects, my opinion and input is vital. I may or may not make off with the occasional eraser, pen cap, or bookmark, but I consider that due payment. Ditto my new habit of walking from my drawer (that is level to Mama Anna’s desk) onto said desk. If I go back and forth, that means that I want a cuddle and I want it now. It is then her turn to invite me into her lap, which I will accept. Then I put my head and front paws on her shoulder. Today, she gave in to the inevitable and paused in what she was doing and concentrated on cuddling me. She’s smart that way.
So, that’s about it for this week. The weekend should involve reading, cuddles, journaling and cuddles, maybe watch something on streaming and cuddles. Do you see a pattern here? How’s your week going?
Absolutely no plan for today’s blog, even though I had, er, planned on one, but I am overtired, thus a tad loopy, and in my defense, was left unsupervised. Melva and I are happy to announce that our revise and resubmit of Drama King, the second book in our contemporary romance series, Love by the Book, is now under consideration at The Wild Rose Press. We will know in a few weeks. Seems only natural to be turning my planning and journaling stuff over for a new season in more ways than one.
Right now, I am sitting in a wash of sunlight, listening to Reddit threads read over an external speaker because somebody who lives in my apartment and has paws, has a thing where the line between earbud and snack blurs. I will remedy this soon. In the meantime there is the speaker (which also has cool lighting options I have not yet figured out) and a pair of wireless earbuds in a cute kitty shaped case, which do not go anywhere near the actual cat.
I am also surrounded by (yeah, passive tense, what of it?) all the elements of highly organized workspace. All they need is for me to put them in the right order. Or any order, as I look at them today. Over the winter, I have been trying a bunch of different things in the stationery-verse to see what actually works best for me, and the way I do things now, not the way I think they should be or how they have always (or usually) been. Most of it is still in flux, but a more streamlined flux, if that makes any sense.
I have what I call a “big furry mess” stage, where things are generally in the same space. I have, for instance, a tote that’s all set up for my morning stuff. Morning brain dump and sleep log, my catchall planner, which is almost entirely functional, a fact that surprises the heck out of me, but there you have it, and the writing planner that I am still splashing about in the shallows with but trust that it will right itself (not write itself) by the time we shift into summer mode. There is one set of pens in that tote, the specific sticker books and accessories where appropriate, that I will be using with those specific planners/notebooks. I didn’t intend for a color theme, but I lump my morning stuff into “pink grapefruit,” as it’s all pinks and oranges and I can work with that. I, for the record, have never cared for the taste of grapefruits of any hue, but I do love a good theme for my stationery, and halved grapefruits topped with halved cherries (I do appreciate a good cherry) were standard breakfast images in the media of my childhood. I do not know why this is. I don’t remember either of my parents having grapefruit for breakfast, and it was never offered to me.
Right now, I am very much attuned to the traveler’s notebook format. Discbound is probably my number two format at present, but I am sorting out what works in the various sizes of traveler’s notebooks I have going. Part of it is the covers. Leather or vegan leather, the strings that give me options of what inserts to include (a benefit also afforded by discbound systems, and the process of getting all tactile as well as functional. I don’t strictly need the decorative elements, but I like them.
Then there’s this baby. Have I introduce Nyx yet? My very first Archer and Olive, with black dot grid pages. Do I have a purpose for her that sets her apart from al the others? Nope. Do I love her intensely? Yes. Am I planning on just tossing anything onto her pages just because? Also yes. I’ll figure out some sort of order maybe halfway through, which is okay, because…wait for it…I can buy more. We clicked when I stalked the clearance sale, so we are going to make this work. Also, Tiny Anna always wanted to write in white in on black paper, and y’know what? I am going to make that kiddo’s wish come true. It’s me. I’m the kiddo.
I am also blabbering. I completely and cheerfully admit this. When I sat down at the keyboard this afternoon, I had two options. Option one: throw some words on the screen, even if they don’t make sense. Possibly a bold move, but worth the risk. Option two: post nothing and feel guilty for the next howeverlong. I don’t like option two. Option One it is, then. Same as Monday morning was the first time in a long time that Her Last First Kiss was the story on the front burner (and wowzers, have I missed that story)
Option One for completely ripping out the second half and redoing it to take advantage of a historical thing that would make the second half oh so much better, felt scary, but Option Two, putting it off and feeling guilty, yeah, I don’t like that one. It doesn’t work, and it doesn’t get books written. I’m not sure if I actually went with Option One or if this counts as Option Three: get the big furry discbound notebook currently holding pieces of things, ignore any files on the computer, and physically write out what Happens Now that we are doing the historical thing. I am not entirely done with that phase, as my weekly call with Melva to talk contemporary doings happened when I was about on page…. I want to say seven. Going past that will involve looking at maps and making some lists and bouncing ideas off fellow writers of historical romance fiction, but…yeah.
With a projected 100k wordcount, the part that is staying as is sits at 55k, which is over the halfway mark, so yay me. My What Happens Next pages are literally just that. X happens, okay, what happens after that? And after that? And after that? Lather rinse repeat until HEA. Once we get there, go back and expand as needed until done, and then off to first readers it shall go. I do know where I am going after that with my first all new historical ms in neveryoumind years. This also involves a friend with roots in the country from which said hero hails, and this is the very first time I am planning on books being linked from the start. I normally think in standalones, which I can still do, but this is also commercial fiction, sooooo…..
Yeah. That’s where we are on this fine March afternoon. I am probably going to noodle an doodle in Nyx after I get done here, and/or stick my nose in a physical book, because I am back in reading mode with a vengeance, thanks to an influx of classic historical romances. I will no doubt be talking about those later on, because I have thoughts.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I’m a little late on posting here, because, well, naps. Anyway, I’m back now, and ready to help Mama Anna conquer the new year.
This year, Mama Anna is scaling back her reading goal on Goodreads, in hopes that it will encourage her to read more. What she wrote in her reading journal (I will let her post pictures. I can’t work the scanner because I have paws and don’t feel like reading the instructions) is “Drop and Give me Fifty (Two)” referring to the weeks of the year. She can do a book a week. Actually, she did two last night, one audiobook historical romance and one contemporary YA romance. She has also found that reading before bed, with me providing cuddles, obviously, helps her sleep, so she is going to try making that part of her evening routine. I, of course, help by sitting in the drawer nest to her desk. Of late, I have begun walking across the desk, and sometimes the keyboard, to let her know when he has been on the computer Long Enough. Needless to say, Mama Anna is not always delighted when I do this kind of thing. Can you believe that Spotify has no results for the search, “iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?” If you’re looking for a name for your musical act, maybe try that.
Mama Anna has been doing pretty well on the writing front so far in January. If all goes well, she and Aunt Melva will be submitting Queen of Hearts to The Wild Rose Press. After that, they are going to use this quarter to focus on their individual projects. For Mama Anna, that means historical romance. She is looking ahead to Camp NaNo in April and thinking about, if she were going to start a new historical romance, what would that be? What would be fun? She has enough to keep her busy until then and probably beyond, but Facebook thought she might like to remember when she began working on Her Last First Kiss, and no, she did not want to know the number of years that was. It was before I was born. Yeah. She has co-written three books in that time and also had a lot of life happen, plus getting me, obviously the best part.
Christmas was pretty good. I got a robot litter box. The humans have not yet put it together, ahem, but that will happen soon. I don’t know how it works, but as long as it does, that is all I care about. I also did get that promised red dot, aka my death ray. I LOVE it. It lives in Mama Anna’s nightstand. I have to see her take it out and put it away. It’s her toy and I get to play with it. Sometimes Papa helps me play with it, so maybe it is really their toy. Eh, as long as I get to play with it, does anything else really matter? I don’t think so.
That’s it for this week, or at least until naptime. Believe it or not, a roll of toilet paper (Aunt Linda had it on her bed to clean up one of my hairballs. I fell asleep on it before she oculd put it away, so now it’s my nap pillow. That’s how it goes. I don’t make the rules. Oh wait, I do. I’m a cat.)
Well hello there, 2023. The planner and pens pictured above are from 2020, the Year That Shall Not Be Named (but I’ve named it, haven’t I?) My first experiences with Paper Mate Ink Joy gel pens, and disc bound planning. I still have the pens (many times over) and have filled several disc bound planners and notebooks since then. As for the page finder, if anybody sees this particular page finder in the wild (woman image. leaning against the margin) please tell her Mummy misses her very much, and she can come home any time, no questions asked.
In reality, she is probably in storage. When I say that planning and journaling have been a godsend, I am not exaggerating. Blogging is, for me, the digital version of that. I’d like to be doing more of it in the coming year, as well as that whole making up stories thing. Right now, I am dealing with the Martian Death Cold that smacked us over the holiday season. Combined with the fact that my contemporary co-author, Melva, and I have finished first edits on our second and third novels together. Next, we submit and then we get to turn our main focus for the first quarter of the year to our individual efforts.
For me, that is historical romance. While writing contemporary with Melva is super fun, I have missed the historical realm, and so that’s where I’m headed back now. Plan A is to redo the second half of Her Last First Kiss, because it is big enough to ride the bus by itself now. Then I need to make some decisions about A Heart Most Errant. As for Plan B? That’s more in the realm of “what do I want to try next?”
I have no dearth of projects that have been on hold. My brazen widow who finds the love of her life with the nameless pawn of wretched nobleman. The blacksmith’s daughter who becomes a duchess by way of the London stage. Three generations of pirates, my first planned historical series. The once and future lovers who each thought the other was dead (whoops) and a family member that loves one of them too much and not in the right way, but I tried to shoehorn into the wrong time period. (It happens.)
Then there’s new stuff, because that’s what we writer types do. Since a dear friend’s birthday overlaps nicely with my beloved tucked away week between Christmas and New Year, that meant a visit to a sprawling used bookstore. That, of course, led to me coming home with a bunch of both beloved and new to me classic historical romances and historical fiction. There are vague ideas spinning around in that place where infant ideas go. I would love to write a family saga within historical romance. Would the type of historical romance I love the best fit better in today’s market if there were a paranormal/fantasy aspect? Whata are some fantasy books that read like classic historical romance that I might like to try?
No secret that the year just past was horrible for reading. Still figuring out what all contributed to that, but I do want to read more this year, and figure out what needs to happen for that to happen. Is vision part of it? Undoubtedly. Magnifying glasses, pages, bookmarks, etc, can help with that. I definitely need a place in our apartment that is for reading and is not our bed or my desk or the kitchen table. We are working on that one.
Right now, I am finishing this post and ticking it off my to do list, so I can take some cold meds and head back under my weighted blanket. I have vague plans to turn that into Netflix, fever and chills but there’s also falling asleep to Reddit threads on You Tube. Either way, I get time wtih my purr-sonal assistant, and that can’t be anything but good.
Tails Up, storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re Awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This is coming to you in the prevening rather than morning because it’s a recovery day around here. Aunt N (upgraded from Neighbor N) has been around a lot, which is super cool. The more the merrier, I always say, which definitely applies to Christmas trees around here. Well, it kind of does. Let me explain.
Okay, so, irst of all, we have some math:
Number of Christmas trees we actually own: Four. Number of Christmas trees the humans can locate: Three. Number of Christmas trees technically in place: Two Number of Christmas trees that Mama Anna has not yet located: One. Number of Christmas trees the humans still need to put up and decorate: One. Number of Christmas trees they actually intended to put up this year: One. Number of Christmas trees I have knocked over so far this year: Zero.
To be fair, the number of Christmas trees I have ever knocked over is probably also zero. I was with Mama D for my first Christmas, because I did not know Mama Anna yet. I was really young then, though, so I don’t remember what went on with Mama D’s Christmas tree, though I want to say we did have one. I don’t remember if it was a big tree or a smaller one, but of the Christmas trees I can remember, They have all been tabletop or smaller. Mama Anna says that we will get a big tree when we are in a bigger apartment. I am okay with that.
Out of the trees we have, Mama Anna knows exactly where three of them are. It’s the tiny pink brush tree that she’s only sure of where it generally is, but she will probably track it down tomorrow, and then it can go on the windowsill where it belongs. Out of the trees technically in place, there is the miniature ceramic Christmas tree that has its own lights. That one is on top of Mama Anna’s desk hutch. It’s about half the size of the green ceramic one that her mama had when Mama Anna was a people kitten. It’s also pink. The newest one came tomorrow, because we are helping Aunt N move. This one is another tabletop tree. It’s cone shaped and made out of green tinsel. It doesn’t have any lights on it, but Mama Anna might put some on, later.
The Christmas tree that isn’t up yet is the rose gold tinsel one that was going to be the only tree, until the other trees happen. Now, Mama Anna is well on her way to the Christmas tree forest of her dreams. When Mama Anna was a people kitten, she spent some awesome Christmases with her Aunt S and Uncle G, who had three trees: one big one in the living room a small one in a different room, and then another one outside. The living room one was the one with the presents. Aunt S and Uncle G had cats, but Mama Anna doesn’t remember any of them climbing the tree. Eh, I can look it up on You Tube. “How to Climb Christmas Trees for Beginners” should be a good search term, right? I want to be ready when we get one of these bad boys:
One thing Mama Anna has already decorated is her everyday carry traveler’s notebook (EDC):
Mama Anna is really, really, really into the whole traveler’s notebook thing, and decorating her notebooks and planners for the holidays. She plans to be done with the journal she keeps in this book by Christmas (pocket size or A6 hardcover; lined paper, ivory preferred.) She doesn’t really know what she’s doing with the blank insert she has in here, but it does take watercolor well, and her usual thing is to carry around an insert blank for a while and then she’ll know what to do with it when the time is right. I have learned to stay out of the way for this kind of thing, apart from sitting on open packs of paper. That never gets old.
I should probably say something here about Mama Anna’s writing. She and Aunt Melva are on track with their editing goals for Drama King and Queen of Hearts. When they are done with those, they will swap edits, probably say “looks good to me” on both counts, and then to the editor things go. That will put them both where they need to be for next year, where the first quarter is set aside for their solo writing. Aunt Melva will work on a humorous memoir, and Mama Anna will return to the world of historical romance with Her Last First Kiss. She is trying a new thing this year with a special writing planner/tracker, which I think is pretty cool. I’ve sat on it. It’s comfortable.
Anyway, about time for me to go stare at Mama Anna and wait for her to do the right thing and set up that last Christmas tree. It’s going on a table, which has chairs I can totally get onto, and once I am on the chair, that tree will be mine. Bwahahaha.\
Hullo, all. Another week, another blog entry. Could this be the start of a streak? We will have to see. No real pan for this post, but to have it, lest I need to share with Storm tomorrow. She does like her spotlights. And sunbeams. And her new fuzzy tent.
Typing fast, as I have Storm bapping me with her paws. That is the official signal to wrap things up on the glowy box and get to bed because it is bedtime. Wherein I read an e-book (hopefully) or fall asleep listening to a You Tube video (likely) Storm did well with her cat sitter, but she is thrilled to see us, especially me, home.
The wedding itself was gorgeous, and it was my first time in a Greek Orthodox church. Lovely ceremony, happy couple, gorgeous foliage, but we got super lost, events transpired, and we did not end up making the reception. There was a panic attack involved, but not mine this time.
Anyway, we are back home now, (mostly) unpacked, and I am giving my calendar a side-eye because who gave it permission to be the second half of October? I’d planned to give some version of Prep Tober a go, and while I probably still could (it would give me a reason to use a new planner) part of me says there isn’t enough time to wrangle something like that.
Once again, I’m looking at the whole NaNo thing, and not sure how I want to handle it. Maybe I’ll be a rebel, and maybe I’ll do my own thing. We will see. One thing for sure, I will be writing. Melva and I are closing in on The End for our third book together. After that, we get to edit books two and three, and see what’s what on that front.
When I think about NaNo, though, my brain goes straight to historicals. It’s been a while. Two years now in our wonderful apartment, three years with one very sproingy calico cat, and I’m getting an itch to get back to my first writing love, which is historical romance. Big, sweeping, epic, angsty historical romance. Ideas are not the problem. Hoo boy, do I have ideas. Hoo boy, do I have partial manuscripts. That’s the thing. I want to get past the partial thing. A Heart Most Errant is looking at me, but there are things, and there is a part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and open a new document into which to go wild. Throw a bunch of things in there and see what sticks. That’s got to be either genius or insanity. Maybe both.
I have noticed that the more I delve into my love of pen and paper, the more I end up noticing that it’s all about finding out what works for me. That can be a messy process, but if what comes out of it is a functional routine, then that’s a good thing. I haven’t had much to do with historical romance at all lately, and I am feeling the lack.
I love the idea of a clean slate I love the idea of clear horizons. I love the idea of having that new book feeling once again, of diving into another place and time, and tell a love story worthy of historical record. I also like the 50k goal (wait, did I say that?) because it’s not that huge, really. If I’m looking at a big thick doorstopper, we’re talking somewhere about halfway. If something shorter, then more than that. If a novella, it’s the whole thing. My considering NaNo this year isn’t about productivity, though. It’s about fun. It’s about grabbing for that brass ring and rediscovering the love of the game.
Not that I don’t love writing the contemporaries with Melva, because I do, but Melva-and-Anna is a different writer than Only Anna, and Only Anna is feeling a bit … itchy? Is itchy the right word? Or waking up from oversleeping and wanting to get back to the normal routine. Maybe ‘routine’ isn’t the right word, but yeah. I did manage to read some vintage historical romance on the ride back from the wedding, and I hit a spot of “oh, I remember this. I love this. I want to do this.”
Soooo….I’m doing it. I don’t know yet if I will do official NaNo. I don’t consider this in any way pushing aside Her Last First Kiss, because I’m not. I need to stretch before a run, that’s the best way I can think of to put it right now. Goal for November: write historical romance. That’s it for now. Nobody ever has to see it. It’s okay if it’s not perfect. Maybe it will be a stinker, and that’s okay. Because maybe I’ll have fun. Maybe I’ll want to do more of that Maybe I will rediscover old passions and find new ways to make it to The End.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Sorry for no blog last week, but I was on very important fur nurse duties. The humans were all pretty flat due to the heat, but stayed hydrated and we even got a new fan. I was perfectly fine, because I can find the super comfy places that are too tight for humans to fit. Plus, I have my windowsill. Lots of bird action, I can tell you that. Net week looks to be another hot one, but next week is also August, which means that halfway through, we get Papa’s birthday, and then at the end of it, we will have September. That means fall, which means Mama Anna’s superpowers come back.
always on the lookout
Mama Anna and Aunt Melva are clipping right along on Queen of Hearts. They haven’t written any big holidays in the first two books they have written together, but in this one? So far, three are scheduled. I guess it works like that sometimes.
When it comes to the historical stuff, Mama Anna still hopes to do better, and maybe that will happen in the fall, once this draft of QoH is done. She’ll probably talk about that later, but one thing she’s thinking about is paying more attention to the realm of medieval romance in the current market. There will definitely be some medieval romance in her reading over the next few months. Well, actually right now, as she is reading a medieval or medieval adjacent romance right now.
new reading journal incoming
This weekend, Mama Anna is setting up the first month in her new reading journal, and one of the oboks on her TBR list. Well, TBRR, actually, meaning To Be Re-Read, because she read this book a long time ago. Aunt Mary lent Mama Anna this copy, after Mama Ann recommended this author. Fun fact,Ballenrose, also by Mallory Burgess, was Mama Anna’s favorite historical romance read of our vagabond year. Her favorite YA read of that year was Deposing Nathan, by Zack Smedley. She would very much like it if both of these authors had new books out in the near future.
Since we are at the end of July, that means the stores (where I am not allowed to go, for some reason, but whatever, I have two water bowls and a new big fan) are now selling new stationery things. That makes Mama Anna very very happy. Pens, paper, notebooks, page flags, pastel highlighters (not the bright ones) and that kind of stuff come into our home and I have the very important job of scenting it all. Our stuff has to smell like us. That’s a fact, and I intend to carry out that duty to the best of my ability. Also, I get boxes to sit in, bags to crinkle, and all in all, it’s pretty decent.
So, I’m back in an A5 dot grid notebook for use as a reading tracker. I do love Goodreads, but I also know me, and I need to touch paper. while Melva and I are moving right along on the contemporary front(this fall, we hope to have two contemporaries to shop around) I am keenly feeling the lack of historical romance. Which is a problem.
I am woefully behind on reading and writing historical romance. By my GR challenge above, i can tell that I am, by my schedule, a whopping fourteen books behind on my 2022 reading goal, which is not okay. This has never happened before, and it is not going any farther. As I told my friend, M, during our weekly chat, when it comes to historical romance, both writing and reading right now, I feel like I am flailing with T-Rex arms and making dinosaur noises. Which very much describes my attempts at reading journal-ing lately. I have a Kindle full of historical romance, shelves full of delicious-looking books, and yet I….haven’t. Which definitely takes a toll on the writing.
I know one way to handle is it “maybe historical romance is over (for me.)” Which I know that it’s not. It’s calling me, both writing and reading wise, so I need to do some stuff about that. Especially about my own favorite flavor of historical romance; big, sweeping sagas with adventure and swash and buckle and stories that play out over years before a triumphant HEA. :happy sigh:
cover page, August 2022
Considering that i am highly stationery motivated, and/or visually oriented, going back to a reading tracker is the obvious step. I’m not sure if writing tracker will be in this same book or another. I am letting the whole planner and notebook situation work itself out organically, which is probably how the historical writing thing is going to work, including blabbering about it here. That may sound for a while like dinosaur noises that don’t make a lot of sense, but by looking at the books I’m reading and figuring out what sticks out about them for me, both positive and otherwise, ideas are bound to conceive..
that’s a bookcase on the top of the second page.
I didn’t want to make the first month too ambitious, but I did have to make a chart to track how many pages I read per day. Going by tens this time. On the facing page, that will be a bookshelf image, where I will color in each individual book as I read it. I will probably go month by month on that, and then later move everything to a bookshelf for the whole year. At some point, I intend ot be making sense. Until then, ten pages a day is a lot better than zero
Still room for one more sticker in that lower corner
:clears throat:
:blinks:
Wow.
July.
:fidgets:
Well.
Let’s jump into a Q and A, shall we?
Q: Hey, Anna. Where’ve you been?
A: Uh, yeah, about that. Home, mostly. I did go to CT for a weekend, for a family celebration and a papercraft expo. That was cool. A bunch of craft stores. The garbage/recycling area about a billion times. Anxiety, depression, insomnia. For the last two weeks, shingles (not fun, but better now.) Before that, Real Life Romance Hero was in the hospital for a couple of days. He’s home now, doing fine.
Q: I meant writing. Which includes blogging.
A: That wasn’t a question.
Q: Still answer it, please.
A: Well, you did say please. Writing. I am doing that. Melva and I are clipping right along with Queen of Hearts. Over 40k right now, probably more. We are laying groundwork for what comes next, and we will be off and running when she gets back from her family vacation next week. Blog hiatus was not intentional. It just kind of happened and it’s just kind of over. Probably.
Q: Mmhmm.
A: Still not a question.
Q: Historical?
A: That’s a word. Okay, though. Guilt. So, so much guilt. I love writing historical romance oh so very much. This month, I’m going to try something new; instead of whipping myself for being a slacker, I am going to try…wait for it…actually writing historical romance. I will be drafting friends for accountability partners/readers/permission to kick me in the bumbum if I sleep on it any more than I already have. (Volunteers can drop me contact info in the comments.) My awesome friend, Mary, from CT, sent me home with two huge bags of historical romance classics, which is turning out to be highly motivational, especially when we can gab about them.
Q: Are you doing Camp NaNo this year? Camp NaNo is great for that kind of thing.
A: Ehhhh, no. Yes? Kind of? I didn’t sign up for the official thingamaboo, but I am writing in July. I’m counting that. Also every day journaling is a huge, huge help.
Q: How about One Book July, then, for the planner/journal side of things?
A: Ahahahaha, no. I thought about it, and was even looking forward to it, but then, boom, when I got sick, I watched a ton of stationery videos on You Tube, and now I want to Use All The Things, even things I thought I wouldn’t be interested in before. I’ve been browsing Archer and Olive a lot. I don’t normally go for white paper or dot grid, but 160 gsm and those covers…That’s probably a whole post in itself, so I’ll put it on the list and work on that.
Q: Sounds like you’re right on track for All The Books August.
A: In oh so many ways.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: I finished a journaling insert in my traveler’s notebook in one month. Turns out I really like watercolors. I thikn they like me, too.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Pretty decent week around here. Mama Anna and Aunt Linda went out stuff-hunting earlier this week, and they brought back some super interesting bags, and even some crinkly paper for me to sit on; I appreciate that. Oh, and Aunt Linda got a box in the mail (I am waiting for her to take the shoes out of it) that looks like I would jusssst fit. Mama Anna says she plans to store stationery in it, but I am planning on storing me in it first.
who could say no to this face?
Mama Anna did not go out stuff-hunting every day, though. She has been writing, and also moving stuff around in the apartment and getting rid of stuff we don’t need. By which I mean trash and recycling. I, or course, have to supervise. It’s exhausting but I’m worth it. I am not planning on a lot of leisure time this week, because a funny thing happens when Mama Anna hits the right stuff she needs to get some decent sleep (please note, I often sleep on her, so this does affect me purr-sonally) – she can get more stuff done.
What seems to work best for her is to keep things super organized and preferably with actual pen and paper. Maybe that is part of her being a historically oriented person. Right now, she is five books behind on her Goodreads challenge, but that is not a big problem. She can come back from five behind. Here’s her strategy:
Re-reads of historical romances she already knows she likes
novellas; they are short, but still count
Young adult contemporaries – she reads those fast and there are a bunch of new ones out
audiobooks – she can listen to those while doing anything else, but probably not while composing new fiction
We will see how this works along with her decision to binge This is Us this weekend. She still isn’t happy about the Kate and Toby thing, but the Kevin and Sophie thing gives her hope and there’s a Miguel episode coming, so she wants to be there for that. Stay tuned for her reactions. Either way, I will be on hand (okay, realistically on hip, because when she lies on one side, that’s my favorite place to sit and purr while I help her watch or read.
That’s going to be about it for now. I have to make Mama Anna take pictures of stuff (mostly me) because she needs to get back on Instagram, and who doesn’t love calico cats? I’m a sure thing.
Typing With Wet Nails 