personal

Typing With Wet Paws: Organic Pest Control Professional Edition

annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This is a big week, because I got to host a professional conference right here in our home. The hoomans call it a pest inspection (spoiler alert, there aren’t any) but Mama Anna was quick to mention that our family has a resident organic pest control specialist in-house. The hooman woman who came in first immediately knew Mama Anna mean “kitty,” and she called her partner, a male hooman, from downstairs to come see me. Not only did they praise my inherent good looks, but the woman person asked Mama Anna if I ever stared at any odd places along walls or cabinets. Mama Anna said no, and that if I did find any pests, I would kill them and bring them to her. She is right. I would, but there aren’t any so far. The man person told the woman person that was a really good question to ask, because we organic pest control specialists can pick up things that the hoomans miss.

Here you see me with Nyx, Mama Anna’s new Archer and Olive blackout journal. She loves it. I will let her show Nyx to you. Mama Anna sometimes names her things, and sometimes they have genders, but not always. I thin Nyx is a girl, but I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that when she is ready to take N yx out of the box for real and have her live in the bookshelf instead of the box, that box is mine. Mama Anna says she will use it to store stickers or cardstock but we will see about that. I am a cat. It is a box. Do the math. I am still lobbying for her to get one of the same company’s journals that has black, white, and kraft pages, because that will then be her calico journal.

I will let Mama Anna show the inside of the book when she wants to, but she has found that keeping regular journals is essential to her creative process. Right now, she likes the A5 Exceed journal, lined, with 100gsm paper. She is also thinking about getting a stencil to draw lines on pages that don’t have any, so that she can make any journal a lined journal. She’ll do it, too. Either that or figure out a way to deal without them. She’s smart like that.

Today is one of those days when having a built-in fur coat comes in really handy. Papa and Mama Anna are both home but they have to wear sweatshirts and big socks and that kind of thing, and all I need is me. I also like to sleep on the afghan Aunt Linda made them a while back. It is ivory colored, and has cables like an Irish fisherman sweater, and we all love it a lot. Mama Anna says that after lunch, she may snuggle under a blanket (maybe that one, maybe another one) with some journal stuff, a mug of tea, a vintage historical romance novel, and, of course, me. Papa might join us. He likes to look at his glowy box a lot, but he reads books sometimes, too. That would be super warm if it was all three of us.

That’s probably it for this week, apart from Mama Anna admitting she owes a blog from yesterday. She does have stuff in mind to talk about, so it’s really in her best interest to get to them. How is your week going?

Typing With Wet Paws: The Big Oh-Four Edition

annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It’s been a wet everything off and on today, because it rained sometimes. Other times it was just cloudy. Papa did not have to go to work today, so he stayed home with Mama Anna and me. She has been drinking a lot of tea and is now taking care of some writing stuff. She was going to do some in depth overhaul of her desk area but she will do that when Papa is not home. Our home is cozy, which means that it’s easy for the big humans to get in each others’ way. I, being the Calico Comet, can dart in and out at will. Also top speed.

Anyway, on to the important news or should I say mews. February fourteenth, what humans call Valentine’s Day is also the day when we observe not only my birthday but big sister Skye’s. I am very proud to share an observed birthday with her. My first mom, Mama D, didn’t say when my birthday is, and I am not sure she knows, so Mama Anna and those guys don’t know either, but February fourteenth is a pretty good guess. Happy purr-thday to me. While my exact birthday is shrouded in mystery, it is safe to say that as of this birthday, I have hit the big oh-four. I got lots of pets and belly rubs and Mama Anna is always good for bringing out my red dot when I ask her.

As a newly recognized four-year-old, I have learned a few things. Here they are, in no particular order:

  • Calicos can shed on every color of clothes, furniture, etc. This includes patterns.
  • I am an indoor cat. Never mind the awesome yearlong camping trip these guys took to celebrate my adoption. I did get out once, on my own, and I regret that. I had a few days living under a parking lot with the skunks and the possums. It was Not Great and pretty scary. 0/10 would not recommend. Indoors is where it’s at, and where I am, as well.
  • All furniture is cat furniture. No need to explain.
  • If you can’t find it, it’s probably in one of my stashes. Maybe you’ll see it again, maybe you won’t. Depends on how I feel.

I know more, but Mama Anna wants the computer now. Something about novel work. Or maybe Sims. Possibly both. Whichever, she is going to need my su-purr-vision. How’s your weekend going?

Headbonks!

Pre-Spring Stationery Rambles

annabowling Leave a comment

Another Thursday, another blog. We are now past the midpoint of February, and I am not at all sure we are going to get smacked by winter this year. I am not sure how I feel about that. To be determined, I suppose. One way this reflects is in the way I handle my stationery, because stationery is life. Though I didn’t manage to get the pastel Christmas theme this year (but I did get a start on it for next year) I figured that pastel winter would do as well, but then it wasn’t clicking, so I am now in a themeless wilderness. I will probably keep the Bloody Valentine theme for the rest of the month and then we will see. March, for me, suggests RWA conferences, though we haven’t been for the last few years for various reasons. I’m sure that will pick up again in the very near future. In any case, full speed ahead.

In full stationery nerd mode, I am currently fiddling around with my everyday carry (EDC) aka what’s in my bag. With spring in the offing, I want to stretch myself into going out more. Ever since we got this apartment, after our year of vagabondage, I have bene more of a homebody than I would like to admit. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I am an extrovert, I work at home, and I live in a city. There are people out there. :gestures to window: Part of this means doing some of my journaling and possibly discovery drafting outside of the house.

Not going to lie, nifty stationery goes a long way toward that end. Right now, I am sorting things out when it comes to my EDC. Pictured above is a leather traveler’s notebook from Chic Sparrow, in the size A6. This size is new to me, so I didn’t have any inserts that size, wasn’t sure where to find them, but I found a bound sketchbook that looked like it might fit. I popped it in, and oh my mercy, it’s great. The shiny things in the first picture are plastic dashboards, also from Chic Sparrow, which I can fill with whatever strikes my fancy. I moved the pocket sized inserts I had been using into a pocket-sized cover from another maker. Do I want to carry A6 with me, or pocket, and what about my B6? The good news is that as a writer, I absolutely am going to write in all of these books, so I’m not worried.

Here you see my very first Archer and Olive journal. That’s a silver spiderweb on the front cover, black linen with dark blue sparkles, and black dot gridded pages. I am challenging myself to make one spread per day. No theme, no plan, but throwing stuff on the page as I will, which I will probably show later. Right now, we are getting to know each other, and I am definitely planning on getting more, but definitely will wait until they go on sale. Go figure I finally discover this brand when they phase out the lined books. Eh, it’s fine. What I do know is that I am all about the GSM these days. I always suspected, but now I know.

For the rest of today, I get to transcribe that scene, send it off to Melva, and then tidy my desk area. I am excited to get back to historicals and seeing what I can do with that genre now, both with stories that have been on pause for far too long and new stories yet to come. I am eyeing Camp NaNo in April, which will no doubt get a notebook of its own.

That’s about it for that for the time being, so I will move on along to the transcription and then it’s desk tidying time. When we renew our lease in May, I want to get my secretary desk out of storage, because I want all the nooks and crannies. what notebooks are you using this season?

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Tales From the Deep Freeze Edition

annabowling Leave a comment

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?

Typing With Wet Paws: Kitty on the Keys Edition

annabowling Leave a comment

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.)

Headbonks!

Storm

Planning Planning Planny Plans (reading and writing related)

annabowling Leave a comment

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.

How’s your new year looking?

Forest for the Christmas Trees

annabowling Leave a comment

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

annabowling Leave a comment

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: Resting Queen Face Edition

annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws.

This picture was taken by my awesome cat sitter, Neighbor N. Mama Anna doesn’t know yet how Neighbor N wants to be credited for their photo yet, so we are saying Neighbor N for now. They wanted to capture my “Queen Face” but said it was hard because I am flat out too cute. What do you think? The two can’t be mutually exclusive. I can be both.

Anyway, on about Mama Anna. She was going to write her own post (and still is) but later. A big thing happened this week and that is that she and Aunt Melva finished writing the first draft of Queen of Hearts, the third book in their Love by the Book series. the first one, Chasing Prince Charming, came out and then, well, live happened, A lot of life happened. They wrote another book, too, Drama King, and now they are editing both at the same time. This means Mama Anna is going ot need a lot of help from her Mews, so I am ready.

She is also back to working on Her Last First Kiss, doing some fixing to the second half, because babbling to one of her friends about the events that were keeping her stuck. This is where history can super help out when a historical romance writer isn’t sure what to do next. Because that’s one of the fun things about historical romance. It’s kind of like fantasy or science fiction, I guess, because the rules of the world matter to what the characters can do within the story. That’s how “augh, this thing is far too complicated, but I have to make it work can turn in an instant into, “wait, this other thing was totally legal back then; they could just do that. Boom.”

This is also the time of year when people who like planners and that kind of thing are getting ready to get next year’s planners and journals and stuff in order. That also means that it’s time when their cats get to sit on oh so much paper and play with the pens and sticky notes and clips and pompoms and…as Mama Anna would write, “happy sigh.:

In other updates, I got a new scratchy thing. That’s a thing made out of cardboard that goes on the floor and I can shred it with my claws. The humans tried to hang the new one from a doorknob. Can you believe that? I am, o course, completely ignoring that and still scratching the old one. I think they’ll get the picture soon enough.

What’s up with you guys?

Headbonks!

Storm

Annual NaNo Rambles

annabowling Leave a comment

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.

Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com

But anyway….

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.

Anna