’twas the Week Before Christmas

December 19, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Storm’s Christmas tree is now the family tree, in the kitchen, so it is bottle brush tree for the desk. It rests on a decorative box that holds m y photo printing paper. I am feeling a lot better these days, though not one hundred percent. It’s the week before Christmas. I am not sure how that happened. No, actually, I do. I was sick for the two weeks I thought I would have, and I am salty about that. Nevertheless, I put my fairy lights up around my desk (more difficult when I don’t have a hutch, but it works.) I have another set that may go up around my reading nook.

Last night, I finished my re-read of We Are Okay, by Nina LaCour, which means I have met my Goodreads goal for 2024. It was hard going for a while there. I do wish it had been a higher number, but when I think how hard I fought to get to twenty-five books, that’s a good reframe and I am proud of myself. Fun fact, Marin, the protagonist of WAO, also found it difficult to read fiction after dealing with loss and depression. I felt seen there.

Now the thing is to pick out a next paper book to read. That task still feels big. I don’t know what my 2025 goal will be, but 25 does feel like an appropriate number. A link to my year in books (so far) if anyone is interested in that, is here. I have a notebook packed with large sticky notes, to guide my future reading. More of a wine cellar inventory than a TBR though it is that as well.

Writing-wise, I am looking forward to the new year. The first quarter will see my first independent historical romance release. Do I wish this were a traditional publishing venture? Eh. It would be nice. I am also genre-savvy enough to know that this isn’t the best time for medievals in the trad pub world, though the readership for such is strong. I am also a new author yet again, as in new to indie publishing, new to medievals, and it’s been a while since my last release. As an indie author, I need to do all of the jobs normally left to the pros. It’s also exciting to try something new, and I do like having the final say in my decisions. We will see how that sorts out.

In the meantime, this is the week before Christmas. Housemate and I made the final round of online orders. I have some letters to write. Tomorrow is final day of in=person shopping. Real Life Romance Hero will be cooking for Christmas. We are doing stockings for the first time in years, which means buying a cat-scaled stocking for Storm’s use. No snow at the moment, but we have some days yet. I love the holiday notebook I set up to hold not only practical plans but diary entries on various holiday things; memories, preferences, observations, etc. I may want to do that for other holidays. We will see. In one week, we will be in the tucked-between week, my favorite week of the year, and then the new year comes, bringing all of the new planners and journals, always a huge event for the planner and journal community.

That’s about enough for today. I have laundry to put away, and family will be home in a matter of minutes. It feels good to have a blog entry written on the day I planned, rather than drawing an arrow to the day after. Hopefully there will be more of that this year.

How’s your week going?

Typing With Wet Paws: Unsupervised Saturday Edition

December 7, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Today, I am unsupervised. Mama Anna is down with her traditional bug. Papa is having a long winter’s nap because he works super hard, and Aunt Linda is far into her knitting, so there is nobody watching as I write this blog. That means I can do anything I want.

The trees are not up yet; that will probably be tomorrow, so I have energy to spend. It’s snowing today. Not much, but enough to still count. Mama Anna looooooves snow. Right now, she is mostly concentrating on sleeping off the bug (I highly approve of this) and I have time on my paws.

As you can see above, I found the AI picture thing. The splootches aren’t right, and I do not own a tuxedo, but if I could play an instrument, it would 100% be an upright bass.

my favorite video game

Mama Anna first learned of this game with Big Sister Skye, who loved it. Big Sister Skye also liked variations on this game with mice, strings, and lasers. The one with toys wasn’t around when she was, but I bet she would have liked it. I do. The fishies are a classic, though. I love when Mama Anna picks a video I would like, and then we watch it together. I still watch her kinds of videos, because those are fun, too. Maybe I can convince her to install the Sims 3 pack with pets in it (she owns it but only put a few packs on this computer) and ask her to make a Sim Storm. Then I can watch myself. That should be fun.

Since this is on Mama Anna’s site, I should probably say something about what she is doing, other than that she can be grouchy when she is sick. I think she needs some tea. She is putting together a journal tote that she can take into Aunt Linda’s room for when we girls are all hanging out in there. Mama Anna calls it parallel play, because sometimes, we are all doing our own things but doing them in the same place. Usually, Aunt Linda plays with strings (she calls it “knitting” or “crochet.”) or looks at her glowy box. I don’t know what Mama Anna wants to put in her journal tote, but I suspect a journal, some pens and some ephemera might be included. I will, of course, investigate and report back, or ask Mama Anna to do a bag tour.

Okay, that’s enough. Papa is up from his nap and doing interesting things on the computer, so I need to observe. Headbonx!

Balancing Holiday Chaos: Tips for Planning and Productivity

November 25, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

This is technically last week’s post. This week, besides dealing with Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, I am focusing on the final details on getting ready to pull the trigger on putting A Heart Most Errant out there. Real Life Romance Hero is making ham for the holiday, and I am chomping at the bit to put up not only the family Christmas tree but Storm’s as well. Since Housemate and I shopped an early Black Friday sale online, that initiated the launch sequence, and we are now in Holiday Prep Mode. This does, of course, include my desk.

The three-drawer unit in the wooden crate has dot markers (dual tipped) in the top, Tombow brush markers (also dual tipped) in the middle, and then the bottom has my favorite size lined sticky notes and glue runner refills. My small black pouch in front of the laptop is currently a lot more Christmassy-looking, because the blues and purples were making me cold. I live in New York. I’m already cold.

The end of this week is the start of December. How did we get here this quickly? Do I want to know? Since I am on the last month of the year in my planners and journals, that means time to think about next year’s lineup, as I want to be prepared for the coming sales and temptations, because I love all the formats. Bound books, disc bound, rings, traveler’s notebooks, spiral bound and wire-o, twin loop, reporter style, all of it. It’s easy to get dazzled, lost and overwhelmed. How do I sort it out? I go back to preschool.

Let me explain. I went to a Montessori school for preschool, and I loved it. I studied early childhood development and education in college (where the most important thing I learned was that I am not suited for that career) and once in a while, it does come in handy. What do I find myself naturally gravitating toward? What do I reach for first? What do I actually use? When I get in a groove, what is going on that helps me stay there? It’s been a while since college, and even longer since preschool, (and Early Childhood Education students also worked in the college’s preschool) but I am still going to call the method to my madness Montessori-influenced. Providing I remember it right, that is, but Maria Montessori started out with cats, and I have a cat, so I fgure I am on the right track.

Anyhoo, there is probably a video in this, because that feels more natural than blabbering here, but refer to the opening paragraph about this being last week’s entry. Domestic tornadoes do happen this time of year, but everyone is fine and bonus points, we have a mystery pumpkin that showed up on our stoop around the same time our downstairs neighbors left.

Some of my discoveries:

Even though I love my A5 rings, I am mostly in disc bound planners this year. Folding the pages over is a must, and I need to be able to move things quickly when Storm decides it is time to supervise.
I love my everyday carry traveler’s notebook, but don’t need a weekly calendar in it; all it’s doing is copying what I have in my desk planner. A monthly insert will be fine.
The bells and whistles, aka accessories, aka dashboards and charms and tabs and pen loops and pouches, et al, are part of the planning process.

Some of those bells and whistles actually serve a practical purpose. Since I am visually impaired, I need high contrast. If the lines are light, they may as well not be there, and my eyes generally view dot grid (unless the dots are dark) as “blank.” The solution? Line stencils. Pencil or fineliner, stencil, and we are in business. The decorative tapes at top and bottom aren’t just for pretties, either. They help anchor my sight on the page.

green inside border was already on the paper

Okay, I do also use the borders as a visual signal what section I am in, for multi section notebooks. I also like the process of preparing the page. I like the whole stationery process. Case in point, the current state of the EDC or at least the pouch and TN cover:

Pouch could probably be more Christmassy, but we’ll see.

That’s enough rambling for one week, especially since I need to stay on track with the whole publishing thing. I have forms to fill out and a release date to pick. I am waffling :;mmmm, waffles:: on whether I need a pre-order, but probably not, as this is a re-entry which means I am basically new again. Can we spot the overthinker? Yes. Me. Got it in one.

My reward for posting this blog is a cup of tea and some shortbread, so time to wrap this and move on along with the day. How’s your week looking?

My 2024 Reading Goal: 25 Books and Beyond

November 12, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

My reading goal this year is down to twenty-five books, which is down from forty, which is down from fifty-two, which is down from, well, you get the picture. These things happen. The thing is that I would prefer they not happen again. That is where I want to take the reins early, and that means now, before 2025 is upon us and I have new releases and two blogs to manage and all of that good stuff.

Enter the current iteration of reading journal. The cover is by Dyan Reavely, and made of canvas. It fits very nicely into a small canvas bag, along with whatever paperback I am reading at the moment and has two inserts at present.

Insert one (needs cover embellishment, but the faux leather cover is textured) is from Pen + Gear, and is for my daily logging. Right now, that is date, title, and what page I started reading. If needed, that’s also where I can put notes. The faux leather cover is refillable, so when I fill this insert, I can slip another right in there. I haven’t decorated these pages yet, but I know me, so I probably will at some point.

Second insert is a hardcover notebook by Archer and Olive (similar) and is for long-term planning. I find I work best visually for this aspect, so here is how I am keeping track of my long term TBR:

My goal here is to group books that I want to read together: series, the works of particular authors, specific settings, etc. I am still working out the exact information I want to record for each book, but this is not a place for in depth reviews; more like the essentials I want when I need to jog my memories. So far, this is working pretty well. I want to say the book tape is from Paper Studio, but it might be Archer and Olive. Having a visual representation of future reading probably does scratch some of the browsing a bookstore shelf itch.

These days, I get most of my books electronically or from a similarly inclined bookish friend. I still want to dig my books out of storage, because yes, I can get most of the books I want elsewhere, but there is something about having one’s own books on hand in physical form. I am working toward that. I will also be leaving space for group reads chosen by some of the historical romance reading groups I follow on FB. Discussion is a good motivator.

In the meantime, the next float in this parade is to make a regular, consistent reading routine. I am looking forward to that. My reading nook is almost ready for its closeup, and it’s pretty darned comfortable. I don’t know yet what my reading goal for 2025 will be, but I do want to set one. I am fairly confident I won’t need to move the goal posts any more before the end of this year, especially as I am trying out audiobooks to multitask with when doing other things. I’ll decide closer to the start of next year.

How does your 2025 reading look?

Indie Publishing Journey and Current State of the Desk

October 29, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Right now, there is a possible cover for A Heart Most Errant sitting in my in-box. Am I writing this blog to postpone actually looking at it because it is exciting but scary? Yes. Absolutely. Wil it be okay? Also yes. It is an intermittently blustery day here in NY’s capitol region. There is a cat (Storm) on my desk, formatting and uploading forms sitting in my hard drive, and have hauled our grocery delivery upstairs and put it away. The only thing left on my schedule today is publishing prep and this blog.

My birthday was last week, and it went really well. Many expressions of love both in person and online. I had lunch out with Housemate, received some lovely stationery gifts, and Real Life Romance Hero got me both a glass dip pen (yes, with ink) and a gorgeous hourglass with black sand, perfect for timing breaks when using a Pomodoro inspired schedule.

Keeping nothing but the necessities on my desk is working well. Cup is for tea. Today it’s vanilla chai. The new addition is an unfinished wooden crate turned desktop bookshelf for my most used planners and notebooks. Though I love the A5 rings format, I am mostly in disc bound right now, because folding them in half makes it a lot easier to prop open the particular page and refer to it as needed. Right now, this is the lineup for planners and notebooks:

daily planner
household planner (month/week)
writing planner (month/week)
Poison box contains 20 count Crayola Supertips, pastel edition
Current historical projects notebook
??? Love the cover but still need to decide on fillings and purpose.

I am planning some Anna Log videos to go through the above and my favorite pen pouches and the like. I find what works best for me is when I can pick up everything I need for whatever project, so if I need to pick up and take my show on the road, it’s one thing, and I don’t have to reach or search for anything.

Now that I am effectively my own (and my and Melva’s) publisher, there is a learning curve and a lot more work, which means it’s an excellent thing I am good at organization. It’s fun. Taking something from chaos to order, it’s not that different from taking a bunch of wild squirrels of ideas and snippets of scenes and turning it into a kickline of chorus dancers. Maybe that’s not the best analogy, but I am sticking with it.

One of the things on the forms is the name of the series. While Melva and I plotted out the ongoing Love by the Book contemporary series together, this is the first time I have intentionally set out to write connected historical romances. I had decided that all stories in this series will follow the pattern of A Heart Most _______. Picking “errant” for the first blank-filler was easy, as the hero is a knight errant. After that, though? :blink blink blink: Ummm….

Now, I have settled on “Ardent” and “Wicked” for the next two , which do capture the spirit of the respective stories. The plan is to put all three together in an omnibus, with a bonus short story, probably holiday themed, when they are all out, which will be another project altogether. All together, they are the Ravenwood series. Trust me, it’s better than “Heart Most” series or “Medieval Hearts” because I am new at this series naming thing. Right now, I am looking at what is on my plate at this moment, which is The Forms. Organization is essential for me to keep track of this sort of thing. I know what I need to do and when I need to do it. One thing at a time, not DO ALL OF THE THINGS RIGHT THE HECK NOW.

Yeah. Long story short (hah, pun unintended) I am entering new territory here. Do I know what I am doing? Ehh, sometimes. That’s okay. Everything anybody is good at, they did for the first time once. This, for publishing, is mine.

Indie pubbed writers, share your wisdom. Readers of indie pubbed romance, what are your favorite aspects/pet peeves? Drop them in the comments for possible discussion in future posts.

Fall Planner Revamp and Desk Setup

October 9, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Thanks to Amazon Prime Big Deals, I now have a real desk headed my way in the extremely near future. This means I have a concentrated amount of time to take apart the makeshift bookcase I made from two wooden crates and an end table from Housemate’s old house. That table and a couple of other things need to go into storage because the desk is coming. I have been using a “foldable desk” which Housemate measured while I was asleep a few days ago (Real Life Romance Hero was present, so I assume he was aware of this) and it’s about half the size of the desk that is on the way. This is going to bring a lot of changes.

First of all, I will have twice the room I am used to having. Think of the current setup as typing with elbows flush with ribcage, with intermittent cat between me and keyboard, New desk will have space for a box/bed/space that will be for Storm (we will see if she agrees) and three entire drawers, the lowest of which is suited for hanging files. I have a lamp/pen holder/phone storage thingamaboo all ready to go. The big question there, is what pens do I put in it?

Secondly, pertinent to the image above, we have the revamped planner lineup. Here i s a fun fact about Housemate: she likes the mystery boxes/grab bags Michaels sometimes does. There were a few in our local Michaels this past weekend, and it happened to be a buy one, get two free deal. So, we got three. Inside, there were two Happy Planners, both dashboard layout. One dated, one not. I will be destashing or giving away the undated one, but the dated one has replaced the horizontal blank boxes A5 rings I had been using, but not reaching for much at all this month. For those who are new here, I do have a visual impairment, and blank pages are not my friends. Nice, dark lines, however, are my favorite. I will share the layout and a sample spread later.

I like having my planner shelf coordinated. I like the pink, the gold, the black and white. This is probably not the final form of the shelf, but it is what works for now. After the long hot summer, fall is here and my superpowers have returned. I have tentatively mapped out my writing schedule for the near future, and I’m excited about it. This includes first steps into indie publishing and some exciting new things for MelvaandAnna.com.

Also, we have reached a true sign of autumn. We have put Koolio on his winter break. He will be wintering in Housemate’s closet, along with his bestie, Oscillating Fan. The heat is not on yet, but we have freshly laundered blankets, plural, and Storm is always up for a good cuddle. We have reached the time of year when I run on tea (vanilla chai today, out of my Jolly Roger mug) and if this weekend isn’t The Weekend for foliage photography, it will be the next one. I finished reading a vintage historical romance last night, which means I now get to pick out another. Daryl Dixon: The Book of Carol is off to an excellent start.

I like the way all this is going.

Typing With Wet Paws: Camp NaNo Progress Edition

April 22, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are three weeks into this version of Camp NaNo, and Mama Anna is happy to report she is doing pretty well on it this round. Not quite at goal, but close enough to call it good, and, most importantly she is having mostly a good time doing it. Here are a few reasons why:

She is writing by hand
She is writing in only one book (so far; more on that later)
She prepares each page beforehand, with washi borders on the top and bottom of each page.
She planned in non-writing days, for when she is being domestic warrior queen
This draft doesn’t have to be perfect, or readable to anybody else. It’s only her shoveling sand into her sandbox. She wanted me to say that it is her sandbox, not mine, because we have very different sandboxes. Nobody wants to play in my sandbox.

Mama Anna wanted me to say more about the mostly writing in one notebook thing. If you have ever met Mama Anna, or read even one of her blogs, you know she has a thing for stationery, including notebooks. Normally, she likes to set up a designated notebook before she starts, but this time, she grabbed a random notebook that was full of stops and starts, with paper that was just okay (she got this before she knew about GSM) because she wanted to get the ideas down, and, well, she kept going. Now, there are only five two-page spreads left. As her purr-sonal assistant, I am fairly certain she is going to fill those before the end of Camp, and that means she will start another one, where she can do the post-camp work. After she lets it sit for a while, to sort itself out.

Part of the reason she wanted to do Camp for this session was to prove to herself that she can still do it, and what do you know, she can. There’s some confidence that comes with that. She doesn’t know if she is going to do the other Camp this summer (though maybe yes, because this approach is actually fun, and fun is important) but she does know that going back to the WIPs that have been on pause (not paws, though my paws are on pretty much everything she owns) isn’t quite as scary anymore. Maybe she will even take some aspects of this experiment into those works.

Whatever she does, be assured I will be heavily involved in it, and probably sitting heavily on it because I am that determined to be an integral part of the process.

How’s your April going?

Everyday Carry, Spring 2024 and Camp NaNo Progress

April 16, 2024April 16, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Welp, it’s spring. I have the window open as I write this. My ensemble for the day is a sleeveless shift dress with an unzipped oversized hoodie over it. My home office is an absolute mess because of spring cleaning. Next week means a trip to the storage unit, to put away things we aren’t using a at the moment and get out some things we’d stashed for the winter. A couple of days ago I (finally) set up an actual bookcase to hold the vintage historical romance novels that are te focus of my current reading. I have a lot to say about the whole vintage romance thing, but that is another topic for another day.

Today is the day to share my everyday carry. It all fits in this pouch, which lives in my purse and can go out on its own.

The main pocket holds a traveler’s notebook with three inserts (agenda and two notebooks) and the zip compartment looks like this:

I am currently going with a green theme for spring. We’ll see if I want to make a change at the start of the new month. The flowered notebook has perforated pages, which makes it double as a notepad or come in handy when somebody needs a piece of paper out in the wild. There is an additional zip pocket in the back, which holds a selection of Crayola SuperTips in pastel colors.

Skinny washi tapes are from Tim Holtz. The two blue items are a correction tape runner and adhesive runner, and the tin with my favorite Golden Girl (Dorothy Zbornak is an integral part of my final form) holds ephemera, including tea tags, stickers, washi samples and miscellaneous things that catch my fancy. There is also a growing collection of enamel and pinback pins, not pictured, as I am still moving them around.

It’s not perfect (what is?) but it feels right for right now, as does this entry staying pretty much as it says on the tin (of the title, not the actual tin.) Camp NaNo is going pretty well at the halfway point. Not perfect but doing its job. Not at goal, but close enough. What I set out to do was to prove to myself that yes, I can (still) do it. So far, so good. Here, we see the puzzler in her natural habitat, dogpaddling in a sea of unset gelatin, grabbing onto floating ideas as they bob past on fickle currents, and…I like it.

I don’t know all of the story yet. Most of the characters have placeholder names. the stately home where most of the story takes place is still under construction in more ways than one but that’s fine . At this stage of the game I am shoveling sand into my sandbox with all the enthusiasm and precision of a toddler on her first day at the beach.

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?

Typing With Wet Paws: Adventures in Leatherwork Edition

October 13, 2023October 13, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Tails Up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I have been very active this week. Always one hundred percent chance of Storm activity around here. Today, for instance, I sat on Mama Anna’s phone and tail-dialed Papa at work.

That’s not the only spicy thing I have done this week. Of course there is the daily help with making the bed and weekly changing of the sheets, but the superpowers are back, so I have to sep up my game as well. If you have been around here any length of time, you know how much Mama Anna loves her notebooks and planners. I love them, too, mostly lying on the bed. Open, closed, doesn’t matter. She has it, I am on it.

Usually, that is okay. Then there was this time. Mama Anna was feeling productive, and gave both of her leather traveler’s notebook covers a leather treatment. She even gave the B6 size, Christine (the name came on the notebook, so that is the notebook’s name and I will be calling her that) two treatments, because Christine was looking kind of dry. Christine had been taking a rest, but Mama Anna wants to get her back into use, and thus sprucing up is in order.

Well. The thing that they don’t mention on the bottle of the leather treatment stuff is that it smells really good. I mean really, really good. Tantalizing. Tempting. Irresistible. So irresistible, in fact, that I did not resist. Mama Anna had put the two notebooks on the bed just for a minute while she got the box that had inserts that fit Christine out of where she keeps it, and I, well, I had a moment. If you want to make Mama Anna’s head spin around super super fast, do the pricky pricky pricky thing with kitty claws on just-treated-twice leather. Uh huh. Mama Anna was Not Pleased. Apparently this kind of notebook is something called “expensive.”

One would think that Mama Anna would be happy that I took an interest in one of her hobbies, and tried my hand, well, paws, at it myself. She was not. She was also not too mad, because A) I am a cat, B) she is the one who left the notebook on the bed and turned away, and C) I am cute. There is also D) this really does make the cover more one of a kind and gives Mama Anna a reason to say she needs another cover in this size, and her birthday is coming in a couple of weeks, so there is really not a lot of harm done. I no longer get to be alone with leather goods, but that is a small price to pay.

What do you think of my adventures in leatherwork? What should I try next?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

Notebooks