Fall Planner Revamp and Desk Setup

October 9, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

I like the way all this is going.

Typing With Wet Paws: Adopt-iversary Edition

October 5, 2024October 5, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This is also pretty much the time of year when we celebrate the day I came to live with these guys. My first human, Mama D, took really super good care of me from when I was a baby, which was super awesome. Now I live with Mama Anna, Papa, and Aunt Linda. Usually, I hang out with Mama Anna, keeping a close eye on her (actually both of them) like this:

I had convinced Mama Anna to work from the soft office in above picture (I smack her left elbow with my paw and then lead her to what I want. In this case, for her to be on the bed.) because she was under the weather this week. That requires close feline supervision. Like super close.

Anyway, back to the adopt-iversary stuff. We took an awesome year long camping trip to celebrate my adoption. We went all over Albany, and even back to the part of Connecticut where Aunt Linda comes from, a few times, and then we finally moved in here. For those wondering, yes I did get on the kitchen counter pretty much right away, but all of the hoomans made a big loud noise to let me know that was Not Allowed, so I have not done it again since. Which is okay. I have windows where I can sit, the big people bed is comfy, and so is Aunt Linda’s, though that one is smaller because there is only one of her. I have multiple chairs to sit in, lots of toys, and both crunchy and gushy food *every day.* It’s pretty great.

One of the things Mama D liked best about Mama Anna was that Mama Anna would let me help with her blog (Hi, Mama D. I am doing great.) and I am excited to get back to that. It’s super fun. Mama Anna has finally agreed with me that the current tv tray style desk she is using is not big enough, because I have recently come to the conclusion that me being on the desk is an important part of the writing and blogging process. Aunt Linda is helping her pick out a good desk. It needs to have room for a box or bed for me. Otherwise, I do things like this:

Overall, things are going pretty good. Mama Anna’s superpowers are getting their sea legs, and now that Aunt Linda is home during the days, I get that much more chance of daytime belly rubs. There are some rough spots, though, like this:

Here is what happened: It was back when Papa was just starting to get better. He asked for a roast chicken in the grocery order because he needed protein to get better. He put it On The Bed, Where I Already Was. He put the dish between me and the chicken. If I look like I am about to throw beans, it is because I was. Can you believe he did not give me any chicken? He did not. I did, however, get salmon gushy food, so it is arguably equal which is why he was not mauled by a tiger in his sleep. He said something about bones and seasonings, but blah blah blah. A chicken in every cat, that’s my philosophy. (Yes, I did jiggle the plate to remind him I wanted some.)

Anyway, that is about it for this week. We are all doing my favorite thing to celebrate my adoption anniversary: hanging out and chilling. What are you guys doing?

Headbonks,

The Actual Worst Reading Year of My Adult Life?

September 26, 2024annabowling 2 Comments

We are now in the “ber” months -September, October, November, December, aka the last quarter of the year. My Goodreads goal for the year is forty books. I have read eighteen. Goodreads kindly reminded me that such a number means I am eleven books behind schedule. That’s disheartening. Not impossible, but disheartening.

Trigger warning: discussion of homelessness (past) beneath the image.

A lack of interest in reading was the red flag needed to talk to my doctor about this particular flavor of depression and got me into the hands of Wonderful Therapist. WT had some excellent insights about the lack-of-reading thing. Did I use reading as a distraction during our vagabond year? My brain immediately flashed back to finishing Deposing Nathan by Zack Smedley in the parking lot where we were then camped, Storm in her carrier next to me, as the other adults were at their jobs and my job was to guard the car and our stuff. Fabulous young adult novel, which I highly recommend, and it’s a landmark in this whole reading thing.

I also think about reading fast during the daytime when we were camped, because night would be long and light would not be in great supply. When we were in a room or Housemate’s Mom’s house, of course, I could read any time I wanted, and I did. I couldn’t have my books with me, and while I will always appreciate the library system and my Kindle, the relationship between a reader and their keepers is a special one. Mine are still in storage, safe, but at the back of the unit, so I kind of wave at them when we make a drive-by visit. Soon, hopefully, soon. Even with the Kindle, reading at night, I had to gauge the battery because if we were camped, there was only one time to charge it during the day and that charge had to last.

So, there’s stuff. Wonderful Therapist is helping me unpack it, which is good, and it is happening. It’s coming along. Slowly. I didn’t expect to be this far behind. I don’t want to move the goalposts yet, but if I’m not closer to on track by the end of October, then I will. i don’t want a smaller “body count” for my books this year, but A) nobody cares, and B ) healing happens on its own time.

I know there are things that work. Vintage historical romance. Blindly stumbling around in the figurative dark to cobble together the kind of reading journal that works for me. Right now, that is a traveler’s notebook insert where I can make notes as I read, and a different book where I print out covers of books I plan to read, all top-tier favorites. The extrovert trait of “it’s not real unless I can talk about it” is true for me in this case. It’s annoying, and the only way out is through.

Vintage paperbacks are where I gravitate most these days. I have been poking eBooks with a stick, but they are not sticking (that will change) and audiobooks, which my brain says, “no thank you” at this moment. That also will change, especially as I have a twelve-book series (two six book series that go together) in my sights to start maybe soon, my umpteenth read of these books. I do not know why my brain has these format preferences, but she’s a tricky one, so I am not going to ask. One thing at a time.

All in all, I am not upset by the current situation, reading-wise. More like “yes, that checks out. That’s to be expected. It will come back.” It will. I find my current relationship with reading to be at an interesting point. Accepting it for what it is takes a lot of the reading-related anxiety and pressure away. Since talking about it is a good thing, that will happen here more often. I am looking forward to that.

How is you relationship with reading at present?

Typing With Wet Paws: Annnnd We’re Back Edition

September 16, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

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

Do not adjust your screens. Mama Anna is back to blogging and so am I. It has been a long, hot summer, with Papa not feeling that great (he is much better now.) As if that weren’t enough, Aunt Linda is now home during the day, so things are a little different. Well, except for when she helps Papa get to work. Also home from work. Or runs errands. Shockingly, she does not take me, even when she takes Mama Anna. I get to stay home with Koolio our air conditioner. I get to smell everything they bring back from their hunts, and then make it smell like us, which is part of my job as cat.

My biggest job, though, is to provide support for Mama Anna. We have moved into a new kind of routine, now that Mama Anna is getting ready to release a new novella, and I need to stick close. I am also here to supervise what she calls “unfluffing (actually, she says a word I can’t say, but Big Sister Skye used to say ‘fluff’ instead of the word I can’t say, so I will use ‘fluff’ as well.) the depression dungeon.” I am not entirely sure what that means but it does seem to involve boxes and trash bags and moving furniture around. I find this all very interesting.

One of those things she is thinking is trading in her current folding desk for a real desk, which would be normal sized (this one is too small) so that there would be room on it for not only her laptop and its stand, a place for seasonally appropriate beverages, storage, and most importantly of all, a dedicated space for me. A big part of my support services includes napping as close as felinely possible to Mama Anna while she works. Right now, I can do that in the dresser drawer that she opens while she works, but room on the desk itself, with a bed or box, would be great. In case you are wondering, one of the ways I sleep is like this:

Or sometimes, I look at her like this.

As you can imagine, I am very much looking forward to the upgrade, and I can definitely smell Mama Anna’s superpowers coming back. I think they are coming back for Papa, too. He is the only one who plays with string toys right. He is also my catnip dealer and the provider of gushy food. That is why I look at him like this a lot:

That is about it for this post. Papa and Aunt Linda will be bringing laundry home soon (the clean kind) and I will need to focus entirely on making sure it is ours and that it smells right. What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

Headbonks,
Storm

Title Goes Here

August 22, 2024annabowling 2 Comments

Hi. If you’re new here (which would surprise me, because it’s been a while, but stranger things have happened.) I’m Anna. I write stuff. For a while, I haven’t been, and I’m going to talk about that. For my gentle readers, trigger warning:

*anxiety
*depression
*PTSD
*homelessness (past)
*trauma work

After this post, I intend to get back to talking about reading, writing and pens and paper. I am feeling better now, and the first topic that came to mind for my first post back was why I’ve been away. Talk starts after stock kitty picture. (Storm is great; Google Photos is giving me guff.)

So. Yes, I did indeed fall off the face of the earth. At least that’s how it feels. Life is funny that way. Survive homelessness (it was thirteen months, several years ago, now, and we are very much secure in our current situation) and expect to pick up where normal life left off, or alternatively, do the hard trauma work then, but not in this case. When I asked Wonderful Therapist (WT) why it took me three years to fall into isolation mode, she said most likely because that’s when my brain figured out the security was probably going to stick and thus it was safe. Well okay then.

The presenting complaint when I first started seeing WT was that I love reading and I…couldn’t. Kind of important for a writer, especially one who plans on making that their career. I did manage to co-write two contemporary romances with my awesome contemporary co=writer, Melva Michaelian, and we have more in the works, but writing on my own, even getting back to the solo historical romance in progress, that I passionately loved and love, was a big NO. Want to, need to, but brain says NO.

Blogging, much as I loved and love it, was a HECK NO. Not because I didn’t want to, as I very much did and do, but because when I went to start an entry, there wasn’t anything there. Talking about writing felt like the same thing over and over again if I didn’t have a new release to promote. Not going to lie, getting very good rejections for the second two books in the Love by the Book series started with Chasing Prince Charming, was discouraging. Melva and I still love those stories and they will still be available to readers. That’s another topic. I felt like I was treading water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and my arms were tired.

At no point did doing bad things to myself come to mind, so that’s good, but there was still…a lot. Even so, the radio silence descended. I love taking pictures. I did not take many pictures (except of Storm, who will also be back to blogging soon.) I love chatting on social media. I did not engage much on social media. I love writing snail mail letters. I did not write snail mail letters. I did and do journal, though, and going forward, I will probably be adding more content on journaling, because that was the first thing to come back on my road back to me.

It’s a very interesting journey. I did participate in the April Camp NaNo, with weekly check in chats with an awesome former RWA chapter sister and came away with a full historical romance outline. Yay. I also outlined what could be a low fantasy romance or at the very least needing a fictional country. Those are both percolating. I am working on my first indie publishing venture. There is a plan. Next week is final final edits. Then Melva gets a pass through. Then I take care of any errata, and then off to the formatter and cover art form and all of that stuff.

I count this as, if not “back,” then close to it. As I’ve said, it’s a journey. There was the summerlong heat wave, or more accurately back-to-back-to-back heatwaves that mistook New York for a spit-roasted chicken. Not the greatest summer for Real Life Romance Hero, but he is also doing better now, and we have affectionately named our new portable air conditioner, “Koolio.” RLRH nixed the idea of giving Koolio googley eyes, though Housemate was on board with it. Kind of a three yes, one no on that sort of thing.

On top of it all, we are staring September in the face, which is the time of year my superpowers come back. That’s how reverse seasonal depression works. I can’t say whether future posts are going to be this rambly or touch this much on mental health but the main reason for making today posting day was to end the radio silence. The first step is often the biggest one, so here we are. Again. At last.

How are things with you?

As always (again) Anna

July, Week One

July 2, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Oof. It’s been a while. Everybody was sick in June, with a couple of heat waves thrown in for the challenge of things. The days kind of blended, and mental health, well, ahahahha. Anyway, it’s July now, one day after Canada Day, two days before Independence Day, and the only way out of a blogging slump is to blog, so here I am. Warning, I am going to babble.

At times, the dishes, trash, and laundry took on epic proportions, which we are conquering. Present tense. My beloved rose gold laptop developed a crack in the casing around the touchpad, resulting in her filling line after line with an endless stream of commas any time I tried to use her. While I am sure there is a way to rescue her, my research says that would mean welding or epoxy, which right now is a no. So, I now have a new lipstick red laptop, named Miss Scarlett. She can’t run Sims 4, but can run Sims 3, which I don’t mind because A) color wheel and B) open world.

One would think that a month of sick would be great for reading. It was not. It was great for watching YouTube. We will try again on reading this week. I definitely have enough books, both paper and electronic. Right now, I am sitting in front of a gorgeous turquoise retro-style fan, near an open window, in my comfy office chair. The desk is kind of chaotic, because this TV tray thing has reached the end of its usefulness, so I am small desk shopping.

But the writing, Anna. Are you doing any of that? In a word, yes. Last week, Melva and I roughed out the very loose outline for a romantic suspense we plan to pitch. I did indeed hit my Camp NaNo goal in April and outline a historical romance, which is still simmering. Next up is to whip A Heart Most Errant, my first post-apocalyptic medieval romance, into publishable shape. It’s surreal that I wrote the first form of that story ten years ago, but it’s been a wild ten years. Her Last First Kiss is slightly younger than that, but that’s up next. It feels like I’ve been on a loop of that for, well, forever, which is part of the reason I have been hesitant to blog.

So, what changed? My first indicator is to say I don’t know. The second is therapy. My therapist is awesome, and she’s a big reader. One of the first things we did was swap book recommendations. She is also very helpful when I want to bounce a story’s emotional dynamic off her. She’s also great at reminding me how far I’ve come from where I was when I figured therapy might be worth a try. In short, it’s a lot, and yes, it is worth writing about.

Journaling and planning have been an absolute rock for me in this time. I did not think to prepare pictures for this entry, so will share pictures later, but photography and photo editing are also newish interests. I am very much looking forward to pretty leaf season. We are 33% of the way through summer, so that is encouraging.

Anyway, that’s the interesting stuff for the first week of July. What are you all up to?

Typing With Wet Paws: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re At Edition

June 14, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers. I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It has been a while since the last entry here, so let me bring you pretty much up to date. First, I am still cute. Here is proof:

Let’s focus on the last couple of weeks. Here are the big points, bullet style:

There was a heat wave.
Aunt Linda got sick (big cold)
Then Mama Anna got sick
Then Papa got sick.
Then Mama Anna’s laptop died.
Then the plug for her earbuds broke off inside her tablet.
Then the fire alarm battery beeped for a long time. (Fixed now.)

Needless to say, there was not a lot of writing during that time, let alone blogging, but Mama Anna is optimistic, not to mention stubborn. She got a new computer pretty much right after the other one died (and she may look into getting the first one fixed if that is possible) and it comes with a year’s subscription to MS Word, which will make it easier for her to share documents with Aunt Melva. That is going to be a big help as they work super hard at getting books out to all of you. Well, the ones who want to read them. They aren’t going to force the rest.

Mama Anna is also researching both portable air conditioners and full room circulation fans (aka big fans) because she is not doing another heat wave like the last one, and guess what, another one is headed our way. It is summer and we live in New York. I am pretty comfy regardless, because I can find all the cool places. The bathroom floor tile is smooth and cool, and the bath mat is soft. Also, under the bed is pretty dark and chill.

Mama Anna is doing pretty good on the taking in story part of things. That means reading books and watching stuff on streaming services. Right now, she is liking the second season of From, and will be giving special attention to two of her favorite vintage historical romance authors, Valerie Sherwood, and Anita Mills, this summer. She is very much feeling the old school adventure and sweep and all that good stuff. Oh, also Yellowjackets. She is up to date on that TV show. Also the Walking Dead Universe. She is ready for more Dead City and Daryl Dixon.

That is about it for right now. Mama Anna gets to reward herself with a cool drink and a new episode for helping me with this blog, and she’s going to need a belly to rub.

What are you up to this summer?

Typing With Wet Paws: Pre-Summer Edition

May 24, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers. I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Okay so it’s been a minute. Mama Anna is not thrilled with that, but who can resist this face?

Yeah, didn’t think so. Anyway, hi. Summer is not Mama Anna’s favorite season, but she’ll handle it. If I didn’t mention it already, she did win Camp NaNo, even going over her planned 20k words.

She liked the experience, especially checking in with a writer friend who was not officially camping, but with the second camp session coming up, she is probably going to be focused on something else this time around. That something else is giving her post-apocalyptic medieval novella, “A Heart Most Errant,” one more look and then tossing it out on the indie market. She learns best by doing and that will teach her what she needs to know so she and Aunt Melva can do the same thing with Drama King.

Since summer is the time of year when my hoomans need more help from me than usual, I should probably update on a new trick I have added to my arsenal. There was this one day when Mama Anna had remembered to feed me, but not herself (I don’t understand that. Seriously.) She was napping, which okay, because it coincided with my nap, but it was also seriously mealtime, so I did what I had to do. I popped her on the mouth with one of my paws. Gently, of course, only the beans, not the needles. Once I got her attention, I led her into the kitchen. That’s where the people food lives. She’s a smart one, so she caught my drift and did the right thing.

So am I, so expect more helpful tips from me as we enter this new season. I also have to make sure Mama Anna gets Her Last First Kiss back up and running. High time and all that stuff.

What’s going on in your world?

Everyday Carry, Spring 2024 and Camp NaNo Progress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Typing With Wet Paws: Eclipse Edition

April 8, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It’s been a minute, and Mama Anna is kind of busy with the actual writing thing. It was a Life Happened kind of week, but the good thing is that she is making progress with her Camp NaNo story.

Speaking of which, she is not sure what is going on with Camp seeming a lot less…camp themed this time. This probably happened in the Before Time, and she has been inactive a while. You should see the stuff she has on lists to research. I also have concerns about her musical playlist for this story. The songs are all pretty good, but a lot of the songs are from the New Romantic era of music, and she is writing historical romance, but I guess it all seems to be working out. I call that good.

Oh, and she has ugly cried to Billy Joel’s “Turn the Lights Back On” song. Like, a lot. I think that means she likes it. Anyway, she listens to it a bunch, and then she writes. Sometimes while it is still playing.

She is also back from a trip to see Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian in CT, and she went to the big bookstore that is outside. She got a bunch of vintage historical romances, and found out that she likes something called bangers and mash, which is apparently Irish food. I will stick with crunchies and gushy food.

What else? The inspector guys. Mama Anna’s anxiety does not get along well with inspector guys (though these were really nice; they even said hello to me.) She had a big anxiety night before they came, but when they did, it was only to check that our smoke alarms were okay, so they were gone in minutes. Mama Anna’s central nervous system was ready to take part in a live show of The Walking Dead. Good thing she has me and comfy pillows and lots of books.

That is kind of where I was when we had the eclipse today. Did you guys know about that? It was wild. There it is normal daytime, and then BOOM, it’s dark. Yeah, I did not like that. Like, at all. Mama Anna stayed with me and gave me cuddles and pets and then the sun came back and I was okay again. Then Papa came home. I made sure to tell him all about it. He’s a pretty understanding dude. He gave me crunchies and scritches.

I also helped Mama Anna take pictures of the stuff that is in her stationery pouches and everyday carry planner. I will let her share those on her own, because when I try to get near them, it’s all “stop clawing that” and “what’s in your mouth?” and my personal favorite, “get out of that pie.” Not that she always has coconut creme pie but I think it is super interesting smelling but she says it is Not For Kitties.

Anyway, Mama Anna is currently shoveling sand into her metaphorical story sandbox, and having a pretty good time oing so. Updates to follow.

How’s your week going?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

personal