Notebooks

Typing With Wet Paws: Tales From the Deep Freeze Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are staying nice and snug here in NY state, even though the temperatures are in the single digits today. Don’t worry about us, though. we are keeping warm. Mama Anna has fleecy clothes on, and I have a built-in fur coat, so we are good. Also, she drinks a lot of tea. I mean a lot. As long as it keeps her warm and happy, I guess it’s okay.

Anyway, it’s Friday again, and that means I get to take over the blog for the day. We will start with my most recent pictures.

Ahem. That is NOT me. That is part of Mama Anna’s everyday carry (EDC) traveler’s notebook (TN.) I guess I may as well talk about that for a minute. Mama Anna would be lost without this thing even though it’s not a planner. Seriously. Her planner is a different notebook. This is one notebook she writes in every day and then two others she hasn’t written in yet, but is holding onto because she will at some point. I don’t get humans. She actually has a lot of TNs, in different sizes (and wants more; whatever, I can sit on them and make them my own with claws and such) and only today figured out that the rando sketchbook she picked up at an art store is actually the size of book that is supposed to go in this cover, which is A6, not the pocket sized things she has had in there all this time. She does have a pocket sized book on hand so she tried moving the pocket size stuff into that one and then putting the A6 book into that cover, and then….well, she doesn’t have any other A6 inserts, so she did some checking around, also looked into making her own, and then :deep breath: figured out that if she put that A6 book in the A6 cover, she can’t carry as many pens at one time in the pen loop and back pocket, so it’s back to the original arrangement.

Now, this is me. Yes, I look a little rough here, but that’s only because I just that minute got up from a nap and Mama Anna put a camera in my face. She’s getting back into the whole picture taking thing and I seem to be her number one favorite model. She has good taste. I do question her thought process when she says I can’t walk across her keyboard while she is using it. I am trying to help here. Okay, I may or may not have deleted part of a PDF she was working with, and I did butt-dial a friend on Discord, but really, are those things so horrible? Counted against the sheer amount of cuteness I provide, these things can be swept under the rug with all of the missing earbuds and hair ties.

Speaking of earbuds, Mama Anna is trying out a new thing this weekend: wireless earbuds. She suspects that they will soon be reclassified as “cat toys,” which I think is very progressive of her. Everything is a cat toy when you’re a kitty. Anyway, things are going pretty good over here. Mama Anna and Aunt Melva expect to be sending Queen of Hearts off to their editor very very soon, and Mama Anna will be back in historical mode. I like historical mode. There are lots of cats in historicals, or there should be. Thinkn of it, all those birds and mice and other vermin. Who you going to call, hoomans? That’s right. Cats. You’re welcome.

Also, I have a new sign off picture. How is your week going?

EDC, A&O and other stories

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Planner covers, string lights and other pretties meet my gaze when I look over the top of my laptop monitor. I feel very much at home here (good because it is in my home) Right now, I am ticking off the things on my to do list for the day, most of it writing related, and household chores relegated to any time left after the writing things are done. This has been the goal for a while now, and now it’s here. Check in the plus column.

Yesterday, while I video chatted online with a friend, I turned over my everyday carry (EDC) to all new for February. Brown leather traveler’s notebook (A6 size, with pocket sized inserts) and for the first time, the delightful excess of accessories that I have always wanted. Yes, I still need more. Though I don’t usually do themes in my planners/notebooks, February doesn’t hew to pastel winter (and let’s face it, most pastel winter things I can find are actually pastel Christmas, and I don’t want to see Santa in February or even January. It’s his naptime.) The February theme presented itself rather than me going looking for it.

The theme for February is My Bloody Valentine. Yes, partly after the Machine Gun Kelly song and partly because I have enough elegant spooky stickers left over from October to make it work. This is the only Machine Gun Kelly song I know, and don’t know anything about him personally (except he is engaged to Megan Fox, maybe?) but the thing presented itself, so I am taking it. Is should mention that even my mug is in line with my theme for the month.

I will share a tour through my EDC for another post, possibly in video form, because it’s a lot and I am pretty happy with it. After trying out a lot of planning and journaling supplies, I am moving into the period of knowing what I like. Some of that means I am moving in the direction of what works best for me. On that note, I am now waiting the approximately two weeks for my very first Archer and Olive order. It is this one, black dot grid pages with a silver spiderweb on the front. I fully expect to fall in love with it, and will likely watch their pssst section for other pages and sizes. I’m normally a cream/ivory page gal, and the standard A&O color is white, but don’t knock it until you try it, I say in my mother’s voice. Besides, I have a source for the ivory lined journal of my dreams. I’ll give a tour of the current lineup later.

All of this focus on planning and journaling did indeed help my writing goals for 2023 to fall into line, and of course into their own notebooks. Right now, the plan is to deal with what’s on my desk at present: A Heart Most Errant, Her Last First Kiss, and then the pirate trilogy. After that, we will see, and Melva and I plan to put our heads together again in late spring or early summer to commit more acts of collaboration.

These guys are on top of the crate that holds the covers posted above. Plush Plague Doctor, gargoyle pencil holder, and the Tudor Rose ornament that never made it to the tree because I want it where I can see it every day. I also meant to mention FaRoFeb in the initial letter salad in the title, but then it slipped my mind until then. I don’t know much about fantasy romance, though I am curious. At any rate, I plan to read at least one fantasy romance during the month of February, which is also African American history month, which means I will also read at least one African-American historical romance. Other than that, i am focusing on reading the kind of thing I love to write – epic historical romancc, and for pity’s sake, take notes aas I do, because that stuff is important to me.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at this Thursday afternoon. One last last last look at the Queen of Hearts manuscript before it goes off on its merry way, and then I am fully back in historica mode. How is your week going?

Planuary

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Right now, we are getting snow here in NY’s Capitol Region. I have a hot cup of gingerbread tea in my pink gingham mug. If I could summon any snack in the world to appear it would be swirly butter cookies with a kiss of raspberry jelly in the middle. I had a toasted English muffin with butter and grape spread. Kind of close but not the same. Maybe time to find a lower sugar recipe I can make on my own? Anyway, I have new fairy lights along the bookcase over my desk. These are multicolored, and steady, and I like the feel they give me. I will probably grab more from end of season sales, because the lights are very me.

Photo by Sena on Pexels.com

I am very much into the whole hygge thing. Last time Housemate and I made our weekly craft store run, I got a box of candle wicks so that I can melt down the remains of past jar candles into new candles. I love that whole idea, and the thought of the process and might even try making my own labels for the “new” candles. Part and parcel of January, it would seem. Last night, I finished listening to Bronson Pinchot read Jennifer Roberson’s Shapechangers. I will probably read or listen to the others in time. I am more of a Tiger and Del gal when it comes to Roberson, but it’s all good.

January this year is turning out to be a lot like November was, in that I want to experience it for itself, not as December’s hangover. We haven’t had much snow this month so far, and I am usually okay with the rain, but the promise of snow, that’s something special. My contemporary co-author, Melva Michaelian and I, have finished edits on our two most recent contemporary manuscripts. One will go to The Wild Rose Press for consideration, as they have right of first refusal, and the other may be ina revise and resubmit situation, or it will begin on a journey to find its home elsewhere. We’d like all of the Love By The Book books to be together, so that’s our hope.

This brings me to a place where I haven’t been for a while. My main focus for this quarter is solo historical romance. Pause for a short moment of running in circles, screaming, when Facebook wanted to know if I would like to remember that I had started Her Last First Kiss seven years ago. Seven. Years. I hate stops and starts like this, but I still love the story, and big changes to the second half do make that part of the book pretty much like a new work. I don’t know how this is going to shake out right now, and that’s okay. What I do know is that it’s time. I. Am. Doing. This. I’m not going to tell myself it’s too late, I’m too old, the market is too different, etc, etc, etc. None of that. I’m not doing that anymore.

Photo by Happiness Maker on Pexels.com

What I am doing is, well, writing. Doesn’t matter what at present, just as long as ink is coming out of the pen and onto the page. Journals, letters (remember letters? I love those.) and getting back into reading the stuff I love the very very best. Those seven years between the start of Her Last First Kiss and now have been big ones. I am proud of getting through them. I have co-written three contemporary romances. One of them is out in the world now, and then the other two are on their way to joining it at the right time. Tehre’s a balance somewhere between things I have always wanted to write and things that might be fun to try now. Getting back to regular blogging is a part of that.

One of the fun things about being in this kind of phase is discovering new things and steering into the natural rhythm. I am thinking of trying Archer and Olive journals, though my preference is for lined over dotted pages and ivory over white. There are kraft and blackout options, so I might try one of those. I like most notebook sizes, mainly A5, B6, and pocket. I love the idea of the heavyweight paper and would love to fit one into a leather cover, either folio or traveler’s notebook. Recommendations glagly accepted.

Anna

Forest for the Christmas Trees

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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:

Photo by Valeria Vinnik on Pexels.com

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.\

Headbonks!

Storm

Early December Dithers

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Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

Hullo. It has been a hot minute since I last sat down to blog like this. I’ve missed it. why the hiatus? Mm, life. Low gradde depression, because not doing things that bring joy is one of the things that happens with that. Not that this has been a big depressive episode, but more like one of the quiet ones. we are, as far as I know, doing fine. Housemate got a new car less than a month ago, which is awesome, though it happened at exactly the same time a dear friend had a surprise life adjustment.Melva and I are currently in the process of editing not one but two of our collaborative contemporaries (alliteration for Melva’s sake; she would want that in there) and then after we have swapped edits and sent things where they need to go, we get to turn to the start of the new year with a focus on our individual projects, before plotting out book number four (four!) together.

I have dearly, dearly missed writing and reading historical romance as part of this quiet spell has been reading habits that best translated to “meh.” I did complete my Goodreads Challenge though, which I like. The fact that it’s half of what I had hoped the final target would be, eh, I’m not thrilled but I’m not mad. It is what it is. I am not yet sure what my goal for 2023 will be. Right now, I am looking at my winter reading plans which mostly will involve reading soem favortie classic historical romance authors. Always go back to the well, right? That’s what I’m thinking.

NaNo did not happen, and I am fine with that. We writers do things as we do, anyway, all year round. Melva and I finished one book, we re editing that one and the previous one, and I am now re-plotting the second half of Her Last First Kiss, because sometimes how they did things back in the olden days actually works out better for us modern people writing the story than what we had assumed they would do, Do your research, old timey writer people. It helps.

The lovey journal above, I had meant to be a reading bullet journal, only when I got down to it, my brain said not so much. I am going to use the darned thing (the book, not the brain, but that too. The problem there was in attempting to emulate a favorite You Tuber’s work, when, while though gorgeous, is not how I do things. which is fine. I’ll find my own way. Not, however, by staring at a blank wall and not socializing because please. Have you met me? I need to blabber and play and make messes and then I will sort it all out when the thing is ready for sorting.

Surprising no-one, I have no agenda for this post, but to make it, because that’s the hardest post to write, the first one after a long time of nothing. The same with reading (Pick one book. Read it. Yay.) and socializing (Hi, Friend. Me. Alive. You?) and a lot of other small but not unimportant regular things. Right now, it is five-eleven PM. It’s totally dark out. I love this time of year. NO tin the holiday spirit yet, but I will be. Right now, I am in love with the black velvet night and the glow of the streetlights and the feeling of being tucked inside for the night, warm and safe, with loved ones nearby. Later tonight, I will probably be playing in a journal while I watch You Tube or maybe see what’s streaming, drama-wise I have a Sim about to delivery his alien baby in my current saved game. I am loking at making my own save file in the year to come. Eyeing 1899 on Netflix, the only thing I know about it being that it was made by the same people who made Dark, and I love Dark.

I kind of want to rewatch Dark, come to think of it, and also Into the Night. I have so far watched zero holiday themed programming, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t. Leave your suggestions in the comments and maybe I’ll take a peek. Maybe something more European/British Isles based? Holiday themed episodes of TV shows are awesome as well. Might even help me start mmm, baking or something. Cookies would probably be a good thing.

So, what’s up with you?

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Welcome September Edition

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Tails up Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Today was awesome, because Papa and Mama Anna were both home. Papa let Mama Anna get a nap that she really needed, and I supervised. He also did some of the tidying, which was very interesting. The most interesting thing, though, is that we are now in September, which means that Labor Day is Monday, and that is the start of fall in this family. It is also when Mama Anna’s superpowers come back, so we are all excited about that.

A calico cat sist next to a box advertising a pair of pink glittery cat ear headphones. She looks less than pleased.
photo by Mama Anna

Mama and Aunt Linda went hunting yesterday and they bought some headphones. I am not sure how I feel about Mama Anna getting cat ear headphones. I appreciate the effort, but please the ears should be half orange and half black. They are pink and glittery, though, so they are on brand. Mama Anna has two settings: blush pink and black. There is no in between. Sometimes she is both at once. As a calico, I fully support this. I also fully support Mama Anna and Papa and Aunt Linda using headphones, because as a kitty, my hearing is better than theirs, and can you imagine the noise? Yeah.

Anyway, it’s easy to tell around here that autumn is right around the corner. For one thing, mama Anna is wearing flannel pajama pants today, with the black zippered sweatshirt where the zipper doesn’t work, but she refuses to get rid of even so. The big fan is off and Aunt Linda is right now on her way back from laundry, where she washed a big bunch of flannel sheets. As you can guess, Mama Anna likes flannel.

Mama Anna is also back in the planner groove. She was right; all she needed was a break. She’s narrowed planners for now down to two Happy Planners: one big (letter size) planner, and one mini planner, both with the same information. The big one lives on her desk, and the mini in her purse. She also has her B6 size traveler’s notebook, Christine, but Christine is not a planner. She’s a notebook. I will let her post about that kind of stuff but please know that I am sitting on all of them. Not at the same time, but in my dreams, you know I do.

Profile closeup of a calico cat, showing the orange side of her face
photo by Mama Anna

Around this time last year, some of Mama Anna’s cousins came to visit. One of them wanted to see that both sides of the fur around my eyes are different colors. As you can see, they very much are. One of the perks of being a calico.

Profile of a calico cat, showing the black side of her face.
photo by Mama Anna

I only saw Mama Anna’s cousins from the window, but they seemed nice. I hope they come back soon. I love meeting new friends. Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian visited this past weekend, but my humans went to their hotel room instead of them coming here. That was okay by Mama Anna because the humans are still digging out of August, which was pretty much divided between heatwaves and being sick. Everything is much better now.

I think that’s about it for this week. Aunt Linda will be home soon with laundry and dinner, and that means I have a lot of stuff to put my stink on. It’s very important that all of our stuff smells like all of us. What’s an important rule in your house?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Claws: Grumbling at Printers Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. The heat wave seems to have broken this week, but Aunt Linda is still recovering from it, so I am on nurse duty. Papa and Mama Anna seem to be doing better. Well, except for Mama Anna and the printer. I know I said printers in the title, but she’s only mad at the one. Writers do tend to need their printers to work, for the most part, and for the most part, hers hasn’t been, lately. She was going to have Aunt Linda help her, because Aunt Linda is usually good at fixing things, but Aunt Linda isn’t feeling all that great so Mama Anna gave it a whack herself yesterday.

Photo by Anete Lusina on Pexels.com

Obviously, that is not Mama Anna’s real printer, but it’s close enough. The only difference is that a printed document is coming out of that printer. Mama Anna had got it working yesterday, but then she tried to use it again today, and it has no idea what she is talking about. The screen on the printer has an exclamation point on it, which means it needs her to do something, but it won’t tell her what. She is grumbling a lot. She needs to print stuff. I’d help, but, well, I’m a cat.

With the heat wave over, Mama Anna is doing a lot better and is spending a lot of time with her journal to figure out how she can best get back on track. So far, she is doing pretty well. Except for the printer. Oh, and she tried to play a new scenario in Sims 4 last night, and failed at it, because the Sim she had to keep alive froze to death while dumpster diving. So that’s a thing. She did think about printing out some screenshots for her Sims journal, but again, the printer thing. She has been muttering about taking a jump drive to the library. That may be a wise option. Also, how cute am I in Sims?

A screenshot from the Sims 4 video game. A calico cat woalks on the counter, and eyes a platter of grilled cheese sandwiches.
A screenshot from The Sims 4 video game: a calico cat eyes a platter of grilled cheese.

Stinking cute, am I right? The splootches (that’s what we call patches of colors on pets’ coats) are off, but I say it’s the purr-sonality that counts. Here, have another one.

A screenshot from The Sims 4 video game. A calico cat stares out the window.
A screenshot from the video game, The Sims 4. A calico cat stares out a window.

This is a very good approixmation of what I do every time Mama Anna leaves the house. She says she is planning to take trash out tonight. Trust me, I will be watching while she does.

Screenshot from the video game The Sims 4. A calico cat stands atop a metal framed bed, covered in blue flowered bedding.
Screenshot from the video game The Sims 4. A calico cat stands atop a metal framed bed, covered in blue flowered bedding.

Yeah, this one is extremely accurate. I love getting on the bed. It’s actually about my favorite place. Especially when Papa or Mama Anna are on it. Best of all, when they are both on it, and I am between them, and they are both rubbing me. That’s the good stuff. I like snuggling with Mama Anna while she reads or writes longhand. Sometimes that’s in her journal, but a lot of the time, it is fiction. Exactly as she expected, starting a new reading journal and tracking her reading helps her read a lot more.

I should probably mention that, despite all her talking about not doing One Book July for her planning, she has decided that she has been too overwhelmed with multiple planners lately, and only did one planner this week, and may continue that through August. She also got a lot of stickers for days and dates, so my best guess is that she will be redating any stuff she doesn’t end up using, which I think is a pretty smart move. I have shown my approval by sitting on the sticker book. I like to be helpful that way.

Hm what else? Mama Anna has been talking about adding a TBV section (To Be Viewed) for streaming shows and movies she wants to watch. Not sure where that kind of tracker will go, but I do know that if she’s going to be watching stuff, that is prime cuddle time, so I foresee many belly rubs. Doubly so if she is going to be writing about the stuff she watches, which she probably will. I better start training.


Headbonks!

A calico cat sleeps in the middle of a grey cat bed

T-Rex Arms and Dinosaur Noises

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Two Artist's Loft series two notebooks are side by side on an Irish fisherman knit afghan. One notebook is a wine-colored faux leather cover, and the other is sage green cloth, with "ideas" stamped in all caital gold letters.
oh so many color options

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 for the month of August. A framed label reading "August 2022" sits atop a botanical printed shee tof scrapbook paper.
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..

two page spread with reading tracker on one side and bookshelf image on the other
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

How’s your reading/writing going?

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Cat Days of Summer Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It’s fully summer over here in NY’s capitol region, which means that windows are open, and box fans are on. It’s actually super comfortable, though the humans have talked some about air conditioning. That’s pretty cool (hah! See what I did there?) and I remember it being pretty nice, from when we were travelling, but honestly, hard to beat what we have here. Also, did I mention that I have TWO water bowls? Yeah. Big flex in the cat world, trust me on that. The other awesome thing about this time of year is the thing that makes Mama Anna super happy, and that is back to school sales.

If you know Mama Anna at all, you know she is kind of gaga for all things stationery. That means she gets really excited for this time of year because it means that there is new stationery stuff everywhere, and it means that the autumn is coming, when her super powers return. Also when we can celebrate my adoptiversary, as well as Mama Anna’s birthday. Lots of things to celebrate. Mama Anna usually likes to celebrate with stationery. For me, that means lots of new things to inspect and put my stink on, because it’s not really ours until it smells like me.

Three leather/leather look notebook covers, in shades of brown and black. The black one had a metal tag reading "Not all who wander are lost" by C.S. Lewis. The light brown on has a mermaid tail charm, and the largest has tooled leather in a design that coordinates with the celtic knotwork metal button.

these three notebooks are all Storm-approved. The black cover has Mama Anna’s mini Happy Planner. Christine is the one with the mermaid tail, though Mama Anna moved that charm to a different book and Christine now has a camera charm. She’ll get a picture of that later. The bottom cover has a dot grid Exceed notebook inside, which Mama Anna is using to figure out how to best use dot grid paper, because she is gearing up to pull the trigger on an Archer and Olive book. She’s not normally into white paper or dot grid, but there are also black, kraft and Neapolitan (that means white, black and kraft in the same book. I say they could call it calico) options, so she’s thinking. Besides, she’s seen a lot of videos using this brand as a reading journal, and she wants to try that. For me, I am all about the box. Their notebooks come in boxes. I’m sold.

Mama Anna is super interested in a reading journal (which she might combine with a media journal, about the things she watches on streaming services) because the more she journals, the more she does the things she journals about. She’s also wanting a place to put notes about the books she is reading, and things that inspire her to maybe use in her own books someday. The way I see it, more notebooks means more boxes, which means I win.

What do you think?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Back on Track Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. If you’re wondering where I have been, I’ve been right here, but on nursing duty, as first Pap was sick and then Mama Anna. They are both okay now, so I am back to blogging. As you can see from this week’s picture, I am heavily involved with Mama Anna’s getting back to business, which does of course include supervising the use of stationery. In this case, we are talking about making her new traveler’s notebook, Christine, all chonky. It’s a tiring job, which is why I need to nap during it.

a black, white, an orange calico cat sleeps atop a manila folder, various papers scattered around her, and a coupon on top of her.

Journaling is super important for Mama Anna, because she has a LOT of thoughts in her head, and putting them on paper, especially paper that loos nice, is a big help in getting it all sorted out correctly. Of course this means that i must be intimately involved in all such proceedings, investigate all tools, and make sure they smell correctly…aka like me. Mama Anna figures that doing some pre-writing for blogs as well as fiction should help her be as productive as she would like, and that includes keeping a special section for stuff about me.

Eight Clickart markers, in summery bright colors, rest on top of a Celtic-tooled leather journal cover.

This book pictured above is probably going to be where Mama Anna works out how she wants to set up a reading journal. The pens were a “feel better” gift from Aunt Linda. I am happy to say that they worked.

One of the topics she put in the section for my blogging is three human foods I like but am apparently not allowed to have, because they are “bad for kitties.” Hmph.

  1. Sausage. The humans are rather fond of sausage, including as a pizza topping. One day, there was a very interesting smell coming from the pizza Papa had ordered, and he was busy on his computer, so I saw my chance, and I took it. Meaning that I nabbed a piece of sausage right off his pizza, and that got his attention away from the computer. Not saying if he got it out of my mouth or not, but suffice it to say, we now don’t leave pizza where I can get at it no matter what the interwebs is offering.
  2. Bleu cheese dressing: Once again, this is from one of Papa’s dinners. Mama Anna immediately looked up online and found out that this is a food that is Very Bad for kitties, but Papa is super smart about foods, and told her that what I had slurped was basically buttermilk with slight flavoring, but once again, now all condiments are capped if not being actually used.
  3. Salami: Mama Anna was sick when this happened, so she doesn’t know anything about it, apart that she saw something round in front of my gushy food dish (it was not gushy food) Interestingly enough, the salami slice was exactly the same shape as my dish, and close in color, so maybe I was playing a matching game? Papa claims no knowledge, but please refer to the above incidents. Suffice it to say that there is now a rule about unattended cold cuts.

So, that’s about it that’s happening around here. We should both be more active on here in teh days to come, so thanks for sticking around. What are you guys up to this week?

Storm