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Typing With Wet Paws: Jailbreak II: Hallway Boogaloo Edition

annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We’ll start with the mot important stuff. Aunt Anna says that means that she had a good writing week, but I have to disagree. Ther important stuff is about me, obviously.

First and arguably the most important thing is that the humans are reasonably sure that I am not pregnant because I am now in heat. That mostly means me slinking around the room, doing my very seductive (to boy cats, at least I hope) trilling calls, and being super lovey. It also involves me wanting to go find boy cats.

Yesterday, as we moved into a new room after a night of camping (during which there were zero opportunities to make a break for it) I did not throw away my shot (Hamilton reference for the win. Hm. Lin-Manuel Miranda, here’s a suggestion. Hear me out: Catmilton. Like Hamilton, but with cats. Eliza should totally be a calico girl. Think about it.) and while the aunts were concerned with getting their things inside, I went zoom through the barely open door.

That was when Aunt Anna told me to get back there, and I did not listen, but the other humans very much did. Uncle Rheuben shut the hallway door (never do that unless it is an emergency, and a kitty on the loose is an emergency) and Aunt Linda hurried after Aunt Anna in case Aunt Anna needed backup. As for me, I trotted down the hallway, with my happy tail high, making my super seductive boy cat call, but there were no boy cats.

There were no other cats, period. Actually, there was nobody except the aunts following me, a lot of closed doors, and carpet, carpet everywhere. I did see a set of stairs, but I don’t really know how stairs work, because I’ve never used them before, so I ignored them and kept going. Aunt Anna kept up with me and told me I wasn’t going anywhere. I kept going.

That’s when she pointed Very Sternly in the opposite direction, toward our new room, and she told me I had to go that way. I knew Aunt Anna meant business, so I turned right around and went that way. Aunt Linda laughed, and Uncle Rheuben made sure I got back in the room, and then I got food. Now the humans put a suitcase in front of the door, so I am less likely to slip through. It’s tough to be a kitty.

Plague Doctor freebie sticker from Jen.erating

For those who like to see where Aunt Anna does her writing and blogging stuff, this is what it looks like for this current stay. As Aunt Anna said while lugging the CPU and monitor up the stairs, it is time to either get one of the old laptops brought up to scratch, or get a new one. She’ll put that on the list of stuff to do while we are settled. She is happy to do the lugging, though, because that helps her move forward with the whole writing thing, which, this week, has included:

  • looking into hiring an editor/formatter/cover artist for one of her unreleased titles
  • made a short list of places to query her two out of print titles
  • started setting the framework for the follow-up to the book at the top of this list
  • given some long overdue attention to an Aunt Melva scene from Drama King and started making notes on her own scene to follow
  • attended a cyber-meeting of her local RWA chapter, which had a great workshop on how to get unstuck, and putting some of those methods into practice

All in all, pretty good. It appears my mews services have been effective. I will continue in that vein. Aunt Anna is also back reading, and is very happy to be participating in the Historical Romance Readathon, Weekend Edition. Same idea as the regular flavor, but downsized for today’s fast paced lifestyle. Aunt Anna is starting off her TBR list with two titles:

She’s keeping the list small for now, but if she finishes both during the weekend, she’ll add another. I don’t remember how long it was since she read anything, but that’s the way it goes. Reading slumps/droughts hit, and then they end, as abruptly. Aunt Anna is okay with that. She is still looking for a YA contemporary to tickle her fancy, and there is a fantasy collection, The Grand Tour, by E. Catherine Tobler, that she expects she will devour.

That return to reading will be the topic of Aunt Anna’s next blog entry at Buried Under Romance, which she expects to get up by tomorrow morning. One of the things she is working on right now is a social media planner, so she can keep better track of what she means to post, and when. Part of that also includes making sure her Instagram has the proper number of pictures of me, so I fully support that effort. Apparently she’s going to shoot for one-third pictures of me. Eh, it’s a start.

Finally, Aunt Anna would like to unveil my brand new signoff picture, which she might try making into a sticker. That, I want to see. Guess that’s about it for right now, so until then,

Headbonks!

Things They Don’t Tell You About Writing While Homeless

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In a word: everything. I went into this knowing nothing about how being between permanent addresses would affect my writing. Since we are getting ever closer to getting to the next permanent address, hopefully in the near future, here are a few things I’ve learned from this experience.

  1. It’s hard. Writing rituals, routines, or schedules? Buh-bye. Gone. Not there anymore. It’s uncomfortable and disorienting, and feels like adding insult to injury, when the questions of the day include things like “where are we sleeping tonight?” and “are we eating?” Writing fiction doesn’t seem like an important thing when basic needs are on a case by case basis,k especialy in the not-wanting-people-to-know stage.
  2. Writing groups/dates and memberships in professional organizsations may lapse. Conferences may be off the table, especially in this time of social isolation, because getting food on the talbe and a table upon which on can place that food, is top priority. There will be days when a write can’t. This does not, by the way, indicate failure.

2) It’s necessary. I have stories inside me, and they want to get out. They need to get out. For a long time, when our vagabond days just started, the only writing I had brain for was journaling. Oh so much journaling. I depleted the stash of notebooks I had on hand and went back into storage for more. Brain dumps, no filter, whatever was in my brain went on the page. I still do that, but I did that before, and I don’t see it going away any time soon. It primes the pump and clears the brain space for actual writing-writing things. (Fiction counts as writing-writing, for me.) Some screaming into the void, bits and pieces of my much-beloved, much-neglected historical and contemporary romances, sometimes all of the above at the same time. It happens.

Besides fiction, my own blog, and my still-feels-new position as head gal in charge of Buried Under Romance all suffered greatly, adn I am not okay with that, but I would also be the first person to tell somebody else not to feel guilty, so something to think about there. That’s the worst of it, really, the wanting desperately to connect with the works in progress, and not…quite…reaching. Sometimes it was because getting to pen and paper was an issue, or because I didn’t have enough me left in me to do that kind of thinking. Some times, the closest I could come to productivity was to remember. Remember that scene? Remember when that character did that thing? Or what I intended to write when they would do that thing? sometimes that’s enough.

3) It’s essential, which is not the same as necessary. I say this for me. I am not saying that any writer going through any kind of big life change absolutely must write, because that is not the case. If putting a thing aside is what yo need to do to be okay, absolutely do that. For me, writing in general, and writing romance in particular, has been a lifeline. Not only does the romance genre remind me that every story in this genre has a happy ending, no matter how dark the black moment may be, and that love (platonic and family as well as romantic; pick the ones you like and leave the rest) it’s that immersing myself in a good story, whether I am the one reading it or the one writing it, allows me to not escape, but gain respite.

Reading or writing fiction is a place I can go when I don’t want to be where I am. Yes, I did just quote my own character, Dominic, in Chasing Prince Charming, and when I do have to put down book or tablet or pen and paper and deal with things in the everyday world, I’m stronger.

There’s more to it, of course. This isn’t a one and done sort of topic, and I don’t want to be a downer here, but, in the words of Sir Elton John, I’m still Standing, and those of Ms. Gloria Gaynor, I will survive. I shall close out with the wise words from Mr. Elvis Costello…every day, every day, every day, every day, I write the book.

Typing With Wet Paws: Seeds of Discord Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Don’t worry about the “Discord” in the title of today’s entry. nobody is angry. Aunt Anna is actually pretty happy because…

HIMYM Wait For It GIF - HIMYM WaitForIt Barney GIFs
https://tenor.com/view/himym-wait-for-it-barney-funny-gif-12243212

…she now has her very own Discord server, for the discussion of historical romance, from both a reading and writing perspective. she is still settling in there, so pardon the dust, but if you want to take a look, search for Lion and Thistle on Discord, or leave a request for a link in the comments, and I will pass that on to her.

Also exciting news is that earlier this week, Aunt Anna had a “fluff this” moment and pushed herself over the edge on finally starting her Patreon.

she finally did it

Do you want a chance to become one of her very first patrons? Wish you know when she was next offering her Play In Your Own Sandbox, Keep All the Toys workshop? Get carefully curated recommendations of historical romance or contemporary young adult fiction? Have an idea of something else related to the writing or reading of romance you’d like to pay her to do? She is open to suggestions. Follow the link above, or here:

https://www.patreon.com/annacarrascobowling?fan_landing=true

For those wondering about Buried Under Romance, yes, she is still active there, and will be getting back on track ASAP.

As far as Goodreads is concerned, she throws her body over the keyboard when I even suggest looking at the reading challenge, but the new Kindle Fire arrived a couple of days ago, and her sigh of relief nearly blew me over. I will give her this one week grace period, and then there better be some activity, and I want reviews.

Uncle Rheuben helped Aunt Anna a lot in setting up her Patreon, which she really appreciates. There may be some changes as she gets settled in there, but having it up helps her feel more Anna-y. Is that a word? She says that it is. Anyway, that and editing, and getting back to blogging all make her want to get back to the business of writing, which includes :ulp: girding herself to wade into the waters of indie publishing. Right now, she’s thinking of starting with A Heart Most Errant. This includes querying indie editors, scouring cover stock sites, and making idea soup for at least two companion stories, which is definitely new for her, but I am fairly sure there will be cats. Eating plague rats and all.

now for the part about me

This week, it’s been pretty nice, not only because Aunt Anna is pretty much back to work as it were, but because Aunt Linda and Uncle Rheuben went out for errands one time and brought home Red Dot!!! I missed Red Dot SO MUCH but he is back and I chase him and stalk him and run like crazy, and it is The Best. Also the paper bag that is not trash, thankyouverymuch, it is my bed. So is Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben’s bed. I am trying to set a reasonable bedtime for them, but they are not listening. Maybe I need toknock over more things.

Also, Aunt Anna was in a Zoom meeting last week, and I crashed it. Meeting, xchmeeting, I needed cuddles. I am not sorry, and I’ll do it again. Probably tomorrow, when her local RWA chapter has their monthly meeting on the interwebs.

Time for me to supervise Aunt Anna’s editing, so I’d better sign off for now, but I’ll see you all next week. Calico got to go!

Headbonks!

Typing With Wet Paws: Too Much Adventure Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Aunt Anna says thank you for your patience while we deal with some interesting life situations that we hope to soon have under control, many thanks to all who have shown up to help in practical and encouraging ways. If you click that link, you will see a picture of Aunt Anna, Uncle Rheuben, and Aunt Linda. You will not find a picture of me, because I was on an adventure of my own. 0/10, do not recommend. Here’s what happened:

This past Saturday, we were camping in the car, and while the aunts thought all the windows were closed, they were not. I squiggled through a space that was just big enough for a curious kitty, and in a single sproing, I was outside, by myself, for the first time ever. Basically what happened was that I went from “woo, I’m outside,” to “crap, I’m outside” in no time flat. Turns out that outside is really, really big. Like super big. Too big for me. I wanted to go back to my people, but how could I get there?

After a while, the people woke, and they had loud voices and sounded super upset (okay, yes, because they could not find me) and especially Aunt Anna, because we are working on getting me a special letter that says I help her when she is having a tough time. This was a very tough time. Sorry about that. Long story short, I looked for someplace safe to hunker down until my aunts could come find me.

Portrait may consist of: This be feline
my hidey hole, under a parking garage

That place turned out to be really secure, as it took the aunts five whole days to finally nab me. There were two other cats who live near the parking lot all the time, and a nice human comes by to feed them every couple of days. My aunts want to help this human, because they were very nice and helpful and promised to keep an eye out for me. They also said that the longer I was outside, because i am not yet spayed, that the chance of me coming back not alone inside my skin, shall we say, is higher. We don’t know quite yet, but Aunt Anna knows what to look for, and I should be heading to a vet very soon. You would think she’d be satisfied that a whole morning of rubbing me with a damp washcloth and sequestering me in a while bathroom proving I did not come home with fleas would be enough, but humans, am I right?

Portrait may consist of: This be feline
back where I belong

The aunts had already decided that Wednesday would be The Day, as in the day they nabbed me, no matter what. Aunt Linda would be at work all day, and Aunt Anna was prepared to hang out under the garage, pretending to ignore me, until I came out on my own, then scoop me into my adventure cave and make tracks. What actually happened was that Aunt Linda helped Aunt Anna into the place where she would wait, and then I came strolling out of the greenery like it was No Big Deal.

This made the aunts really really happy, and while I was headbonking Aunt Anna’s ankles, Aunt Linda grabbed me and scooped me into the adventure cave, and before I knew it, we were back in the room. Well, bathroom for me and Aunt Anna, who was determined to make sure I was okay and get my white fur back to its usual whiteness. I got a lot of food, which was awesome, and tons of cuddles from everybody. Uncle Rheuben was super duper happy to see me again, and now he is not allowed to go to the bathroom without me. I even let Aunt Linda cuddle me now, which she says is an improvement.

In short, I’m back, a lot of people are helping real life be less stinky, and if anybody gets a message from Aunt Anna that looks like a bunch of random letters and symbols strung together, that is me saying “hi.” Also “thank you.” Now that I am back to pick up the slack and provide emotional support, expect Aunt anna to resume activity in the very near future. There is the whole tablet saga, which is ongoing, and news also on writing and such. There will be videos coming, and I am even working on a new sign-off for my blogs, because my gotcha day is coming up in October (the humans don’t know when my birthday is, and I don’t remember, which is kind of like the whole did I meet a boycat thing. It all kind of blends.) and we need to mark that somehow.

Okay, that should bring you up to date on the whole me going rogue brouhaha. Not planning on doing that again anytime soon so back to regular mews duty go I.

Headbonks!

Signs of Life

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Hello, all. Anna here, breaking radio silence for a bit. Hopefully Storm and I will be back to a semi regular blogging schedule, along with writing-writing, but here’s where things stand at the moment.

It’s been a rough several months, ever since the bedbug incident, and the time that we thought would be only a couple of weeks between apartments is now at month number ten. It’s been a combination of motel living, friends, and the occasional impromptu camping for short periods of time. As one can imagine, not great for mental health, but yay church family and yay modern medicine. With the COVID outbreak, this did affect Real Life Romance Hero’s line of work, as he’s a front of the house restaurant dude, and there has been no front of house for a wile. He’s looking into options, especially as restaurants begin to reopen, so there will be good news on that front soon. We’re also working with some pros to help us navigate the system, which takes some time, but will get results.

Last week, Real Life Romance Hero was in the ER twice (he is okay now) and, at the same time, my tablet died, which made blogging and social media on the go a lot more challenging, but not insurmountable.

I have long been a paper and pen writer, and the stories still need to be told, so that’s a good thing. Transcription time is also editing time, and there will be a chunk of that when the dust settles. Right now, RLRH and I are sharing a laptop, and I have been using that for social media and Simming. (Also planning a return to vlogging in the near future. First on my list: old school romance reviews.) Playing Sims stretches those storytelling muscles, and, as I dive deeper into custom content and mods and editing screenshots, I like the energy it brings. My old school Kindle is still going strong, which makes me immensely grateful that I can carry an entire library with me anywhere I go.

Deciding what to put here can be a tricky thing at times. Is this a writing blog? Is this a romance genre blog? Is it a personal blog? The answer to that is that it’s all of those things, because it’s all part of the journey. Right now, the writing life is more chaotic than I would like, but it is still happening. Number one on the list is getting Drama King, my second contemporary romance with Melva Michaelian, and getting Her Last First Kiss to the end of its second draft, which may involve some reconstruction, but I have done that before, with Orphans in the Storm, which I also wrote during a challenging time and didn’t remember selling until I got the request for the final-final manuscript from the publisher. That book, along with my first historical, My Outcast Heart, is back in my hands. Still weighing the options when it comes to traditional versus indie publishing, but these titles will be back out there as soon as I can make it happen.

For those whose most pressing question is “where are the dang kitty pictures, woman? You know that’s what I’m here for,” here you go:

Storm is doing great, and she will be back to her regular blogging duties hopefully next week. We definitely have us a travel cat, and she has taken beautifully to coming along on certain errands, when we can pop her carrier into a shopping cart and push her around while we shop. She is definitely getting that kitty stroller when we are settled, and a kitty friendly backpack/kitty Bjorn sort of thing is also a possibility. This cat is definitely going places, and so are we.

I’ve also picked up a freelance editing gig that is super fun, and something I would be very happy to do more of in the future.

A couple of days ago, while checking out the social media links for a favorite Simmer, I semi-accidentally created a Discord account. Of course being me, my immediate thought was “I wonder if there are any historical romance themed Discord servers?” and my second thought, “if not, I bet I could start one.” Not taking on the second part of that right away, but if you kno of any romance reading or writing themed Discord servers, I definitely want in.

As I’ve noted in this blog before, I have long since known I do better in my original writing when I am actively involved in a fandom. In the past, that’s usually been TV shows, but I haven’t been in a TV mode much in the last few months. Right now, it’s Sims and my favorite brand of historical romance: rich and intricate and emotional. I fully intend on steering into that particular skid.

That’s about it for the current update. TLDR (too long, didn’t read) version: things are progressing and should stabilize soon. Writing is happening. Cats are good. I love romance novels, Sims, and all of you.

Summer of Love (Stories)

annabowling 2 Comments

Back before the whole vagabonding thing began, I had planned a Skye-athalon. I would re-read not only my all time favorite historical romance novel, Skye O’Malley, by Bertrice Small,

Always. :sigh:

but the entire two series that flowed from it, first to last, top to bottom, no interruptions, and blog about the whole darned thing. From Tudor era Br4itish Isles to the high seas, Northern Africa, and back again, up through the Restoration that followed England’s Civil War, this is an epic. I love epics. That’s no surprise.

Ah, notebook, we will meet again one day

I was super hyped for that, bought a special notebook and washi tape to keep all my notes in, picked a dedicated pen, and even had the namesake of my favorite novel, Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling, the kitty, not the book, to cheer me on while I read the book, not the kitty.

Fur-ever the queen.

Then life happened. Then it happened again. Then it turned into a dumpster fire, and while all my O’Malley books are safely in storage, my O’Malley books are in storage, so getting to them and the notebook and washi would take some doing, but I still like the idea, so why not do a similar thing with a different series by a different author? That, I can definitely do.

This means I am now in one of the fun parts (spoiler: they are all the fun parts) and that’s picking which series I want to read and share with all of you. I love watching deep dives and readthroughs on BookTube, and t his may indeed be a natural way to jump back into video blogging.

While most of such vlogs I’ve seen are dedicated to some of the brightest stars of today (Julia Quinn, Tessa Dare, Lisa Kleypas, et al) I would love to bring that treatment to some of the grand dames of historical romance, some of which may actually be new to newer readers of the genre. Since I am still vagabonding, I cannot, unfortunately, do this with actual physical books, but that also opens up the whole wide world of the e-reader, and all of Kindle Unlimited is at my disposal. If this works out well, I’ll want to do the same thing with an indie author’s work, and see where things go from there.

So. Which books? Here are a few peeks at my shortlist of possibilities:

30814690
The DeMonteforte Brothers – Danelle Harmon

5.5 books, including novellas, Georgian England. 1770s. aka what the British were doing during the American War For Independence.

Gather the Stars (Culloden's Fire #1)
Culloden’s Fire
Kimberly Cates

5 books. This series is also called the Jacobites, which should give a clue as to the setting, but there are also a few surprises. British Isles

1224327
Fire series
Anita Mills

Also 5 books (I am seeing a trend here) and this one’s medieval, and follows more than one generation.

These days, my cheering section looks like this:

#calicolovestorm

and I am still much more likely to do a thing if I have told the internet I am going to do it, so here we go. I will be reading/listening to all books on my Kindle Fire, through Kindle Unlimited. Shoutout to Lisa at Buried Under Romance for telling me about text to speech so every book can be an audiobook. This will greatly help, as I have found listening to historical romance while playing Sims 4 is my sweet spot.

Which of the three above would you most like to see me cover?

Anna

Summer Planning, Part the Second

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All rightyroo, time for the part two of my summer planning lineup, drifting into the world of notebooks. Let’s take a look at the lineup we’re dealing with here.

does anybody see a theme here?

Back to front, we have a mini Happy Notes, mini Happy Notes journaling notebook, and micro Happy Notes, which has gone through a lot of incarnations and will probably have a few more before I figure out how it’s best suited for me.

nothing says commitment like a new notebook

This notebook is technically from the wedding collection, but I’m using it to write romance, so that’s actually appropriate. I am a longhand first type of writer, and this size, 4.5 x 7 inches, hits the sweet spot for the story stuff that falls out of my brain and onto the page. It lays flat, fits in my purse, and I love the feel of the paper.

Since we’ve been vagabonding, I have fallen, hard, off the bullet journal train, and as with anything else, the longer away, the longer the road back. Still, as I’m herding cats to get my stuff back together, I do better with structure, so back to bujo it is. When I saw a Happy Planner set up for bujo users, I had to give it a try. Still figuring that out, but take a look at the first thing I made in it, my TV tracker. (TV being Nexflix, Hulu, etc)

these viewing choices may say something about me

The boxes were preprinted on the pages, which went a long way into helping me figure out what I wanted to do with them. I will probably let the other boxes on other pages lead me. Not all the pages have boxes on them, so we will see what I do with those.

work in progress

Mu latest plan for the micro size is that I may use the first section of it (I made the dividers myself, as well as the pirate-y page finder) is to use them for my daily plans, as my current mini planner ends at the end of this month. This is as far as I have got to date. Right now, the only thing I do with those pages is make a plain bullet list, which is functional, but not me, so the quest continues. I do have another micro notebook, that I use as a Sims journal, where I need to take pages in and out on a regular basis, as I use it for rotational play.

Phew. This will probably be it for the notebook/planner show and tell for this month, but as a dear aunt often said, never say never. We’ll move on along to what goes inside the notebooks, namely writing and notes on reading, because writing in these notebooks about what I’m reading and writing brings up some interesting patterns, and is a big help in crystalizing what I want to be doing with my writing life. We’ll get to that later.

Summer Planning Part the First

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Welp, it’s that time of year again, when last year’s eighteen month planner is about to be over, and this planner enthusiast comes to the inevitable question, what’s next? This is already both exciting and frustrating during the best of times, but throw in 2020? Yeah. First world problems, for sure, but in stress times, planning is my happy place, for writing and family life alike. Add to that the fact that we are still vagabonding, and that adds a level of difficulty…and the need for planning in the first place.

18 month Happy Planner mini

Last year, I flitted around from traveler’s notebooks of various sizes to ring bound planners of various sizes, was snotty about Happy Planner, because plastic discs. Then I got two Happy Planners for my birthday, and the snottiness (in that aspect) dissipated. I really do like this size, this format, and I even came to find my own comfy zone in the horizontal format. The only thing I didn’t find was a 2020 18 month planner to replace it.

This is easily remedied, because a) I have alternatives, b) I know how to make my own, and c)trying new things can be fun. So can dusting off old stuff that I can’t stop thinking about. As a subscriber to several Instagram accounts dedicated to planning, inspiration is a daily resource, and this time of year, my brain is tuned to blush pink. Which describes this A5 size planner from Carpe Diem.

A5 six ring binder, Carpe Diem

This is probably my favorite ring bound planner, because of the color, and I like the way it feels in my hand, plus the rings inside are gold, not silver, though I usually like silver better. This way, though? Love it.

Insert repurposing?

Okay, this needs some explaining. The pages you see here are actually from inserts in a different planner (Agenda 52?) that were already outdated when I bought it, but I didn’t want to let them go to waste because pink, and with only a little bit of correction tape, a little washi (the month is not listed because I know what month it is, and may change inserts for July, anyway) boom, back in business. Which is what I am going to need for wrangling the three ring circus that is family and writing and day to day chaos.

The page finder is actually back to back paint chips from Home Depot. They’re the right size, the right shape, easily hole-punched (I have not yet tried with punching for any disc bound systems, but I will try that in the future.) and cuts down on waste, so win. If I like the way my planner looks, if it feels like me, I am more likely to look forward to using is, and stick to what I write in there. I don’t know yet if I am going to switch to the A5 for my everyday carry, since it is larger than the HP mini, but being back in the binder that made me go all heart-eyes the first time I saw it feels right. Other sections are set up to be a reading tracker and some…sort…of…writing…tracker (more on that later) and there are a couple of different types of art paper in another section, just in case.

Happy Planner/Notes gang

Ever since October, I’d been in my same classic Happy Planner, which was bright, fun, empowering women illustrations, and I love it. I also accidentally packed it and now have no idea where it is. This gives me a chance to try a different theme and layout, plus the discs in the Glam Girl classic are metal (lavender metal, super pretty) and it’s makeup themed, and I think we will get along together rather well. The other two are Happy Notes notebooks, though the one with the leaves is actually the cover to a Homebody mini planner, though I swapped its cover for the Homebody Happy Notes cover. So, planner cover outside, notes pages inside. That’s for morning pages, and some writing notes.

Lined vertical layout? Do I like this?

Not sure what I think about that green bit up at the top, but I will figure it out. I like the color scheme, and if I count down three lines from the green part, I can neatly divide this layout into my preferred vertical. Vertical pages are also good for plotting, which is going to come in very handy as I put up the framework for the next few projects. I do a lot better with a roadmap (I will plan anything, seriously) if I want to get from where I am to where I want to be going.

Speaking of which, off to adult for a while, and then I come back to play with my imaginary friends (aka write) and then I am allowed to Sim. Stay tuned for part two later this week. Much writerly planning stuff will ensue.

Typing With Wet Paws: Summer’s On Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Even though the calendar says summer does not officially start until later in the month (I am only two, so I don’t know a lot about calendars) for Aunt Anna and the other humans in my family, this counts as summer. It is Aunt Anna’s least favorite season, but our basecamp, as Aunt Anna calls it, has air conditioning, so the summer really doesn’t bother her or Uncle Rheuben at all. They have also found that they share a desk really, really well. If I am feeling especially sproingy, we can all three share the same workspace. That’s what I call efficient use of space.

Even though summer is usually Aunt Anna’s worst time when it comes to productivity, she had a super good writing day yesterday. It all started with hauling herself over to the computer with the promise that if she could write some notes on the stinkybad movie in Drama King, and then send it to Aunt Melva, then she could play Sims. Aunt Anna is super easy to bribe with Sims, especially since she had to reinstall stuff when the latest patch broke pretty much everything (whoops) and she had to start fresh. Surprisingly, she did not mind that at all.

Aunt Anna says making this stuff helps her think

Starting from scratch was actually kind of fun, and she got to use one of the premade families to test out some new gameplay features, fiddle with custom content, and maybe a mod or two. If you think that sounds kind of like writing fan fiction, you are not wrong. Aunt Anna sees that, too. As a matter of fact, Aunt Anna had Sims stuff open in the background while she read a lot of Wikipedia articles about movies (stinkybad or otherwise) to know what kind of information goes into such a thing, laughed a lot while using name generators to get over herself already, slap down a placeholder and move forward, and refresh herself on the recipe for a romantic comedy movie, plus all the ways one could go wrong.

In the middle of doing all that, she also had Scapple open. It is kind of like a whiteboard on the computer. If you don’t know what Scapple is, click here to read about it on Ginny Frost‘s Apps For Writers blog. (Miss Ginny also writes contemporary romance for The Wild Rose Press, so check out her books while you’re over there.) While Aunt Anna had the seeds of a scene on her mind, she might as well get a few things down where she would be able to easily access them.

That’s when something clicked open, and a whole bunch of stuff came out of her head and onto the screen. It’s kind of messy, mixing tenses and Aunt Melva (who has a PhD in English) may have a headache from switching from script form (many of Aunt Anna’s first-first drafts of dialogue are in script form when they fall out of her head) to dialogue and narration but then again she knows how Aunt Anna works and still wants to write books with her anyway, so there’s that.

That stuff is now in Aunt Melva’s hands, so Aunt Anna is now turning her hand to writing a faux Wikipedia article for a different fictional movie, and getting ready to do the same thing with Her Last First Kiss, but there won’t be any movie stuff in there, because there were no movies in 1784. Probably no YouTube mouse videos, either. It was the dark ages.

Speaking of mice, Aunt Anna and Aunt Linda got me some! Uncle Rheuben stayed behind to give me pets while the other humans went for groceries, and they found themselves in the cat toy section. Ever since my red dot died, I have taken to going to the corner near the door and giving big kitty eyes, to indicate that I really need a new red dot. Well, the store didn’t have any (the nerve!) but they did have a package of three catnip mice. Aunt Anna figured they’d see how I liked them, so she threw me one as soon as she got back, and I LOVE IT. I call them all “Prey.” When I bring Prey to a human, the human is to throw Prey, which I will then chase and CATCH, and then I have no idea what comes next, but a nap comes after that, and the whole thing starts over again.

Before I fur-get (hah, see what I did there?) Aunt Anna was at Buried Under Romance this past Saturday, with a topic that comes to a lot of readers’ minds this time of year (or so I have heard. Again, I’m two.) and that’s weddings. Are they really needed in cotemporary romance? If that is a topic that interests you, read about it here, and pull up a chair in the comments to chime in with your opinion. Aunt Anna already talks to herself enough. Trust me on this one. Part two will be about historical romance, and probably will go up Saturday but might be Sunday because she just got done being sick and is running a little behind.

Okay, I think that’s it for now. No Goodreads update, because mostly Aunt Anna read a little bit of stuff and fell asleep and then her loans expired, so she is starting new books now. Maybe I will start telling you when she starts reading a book and then what happened to it. First, though, this Prey isn’t going to chase itself.

Headbonks!

Typing With Wet Paws: Almost June Edition

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Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This was a quiet week for blogging, because we had a small family emergency last week (all sorted now, everyone is fine) and then Aunt Anna picked up a gross bug ( the people sick kinds, not the fun six legged hunting kind) which means I am on nursing duty, which means I yell at her when she is up for too long. I have also been diligent in making the very best use of Uncle Rheuben’s butt warmer (he calls it a laptop. It is a butt warmer. Good thing he’s cute.)

Things Aunt Anna has been super good at while sick:

1) naps (I coach her)
2) staying hydrated (once again, I lead by example)
3) watching You Tube videos mostly about Sims and Degrassi.
4) feeling really really guilty as she looks at her unmoving reading tally (and usually falls asleep next to a good book.)

On the one paw, there is nothing to feel bad about because this is how healing happens. On the other paw, the library does want their e-books back after a certain amount of time. On the other other paw, Kindle Unlimited is a thing, and she has a ton of books in her Kindle already. On the other other other paw, there are all those great stories waiting for her, and reading makes her want to write more, and writing more helps her feel better, so those things all feed each other and she really does tend to overthink things like this too much.

That’s okay, though. Taking a catnap with an actual cat is beneficial for everybody involved, and text to speech means that there is always a dependable robot voice ready to read a tired human a story. Not to mention the small notebook Aunt Anna keeps at hand, to write down stuff for when she’s able to keep a thought in her head already (her words, not mine.)

One thing that helps her a lot in both reading and writing is accountability. On the reading front, she is way way way ahead of the game, and on the reading front, she is reading The Pirate Prince by Gaelen Foley, along with Aunt Linda. It looks like this:

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Aunt Anna doesn’t know much about this book, except that there are pirates in it, and it’s got a pretty good reputation, so she is optimistic. If she can stay awake for anything, she can stay awake for pirate. Also belly rubs. I do require my belly rubs. More regular posting coming next week, toebeans crossed.

Headbonks!