Typing With Wet Paws: February Snowstorm Edition

February 24, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We have had a big snowstorm here in New York (we live in a city, but not that city) which made it an especially good weekend to stay home. Normally, this would be Mama Anna’s time to blog, but she says I owe her, so I am taking this spot for now. That’s fine. I am at no loss for words.

Mama Anna has been taking care of business around here. Part of that was getting Papa’s phone ready for its next adventure. No surprise, most of the pictures were of me. Mama Anna also found a digital camera with a full memory card. She hasn’t looked at those images yet, but that’s probably mostly me as well. Right now, her plan is to get a new card and use the camera herself, probably also mostly for pictures of me. I do not blame her. They both have excellent taste in subjects for photography.

Watching Mama Anna work on stuff around here is super fun. The other day, she found some ribbons she had given Papa to choose from (for wearing something around his neck; he didn’t like chains) and that meant we got to PLAY. I smacked that ribbon. I chewed that ribbon. I showed it what-for and showed it what’s what. We are going to do that again.

Aunt Linda is doing some research on the kinds of people food she and Mama Anna might like to buy and make. They will also be donating the wrong kinds of cat food they got by mistake. One of the nice things about living in a city is that there are humans who make it possible for us to get things we don’t need to humans and kitties who do. I want to go on record that the wrong cat foods taste fine, but I am not a pate girl. Also, turkey is no bueno for my tumtum. Enough said on that.

Back when the humans lived in their first NY apartment, when Skye was the kitty, their downstairs neighbors were a troupe of steppers. That doesn’t just mean humans who walk. It means the humans perform rhythmic movements and sounds. It also means they had to practice a lot because they did that for monies and to compete with other humans who perform the same thing. By the time they moved, my human’s (okay, Skye’s then; I wasn’t born yet) had learned some of their routines.

I mention this because with Mama Anna working on her first standup set in a very long time, she is practicing it. At some point, I will probably be able to learn the whole thing. This is not a complaint, only an observation. We cats are great at recognizing patterns. I am keeping a very close eye on all the things she is doing, be it environment stuff, writing, journals, or anything else. I am also strongly interested in the food thing. Cat food has to be in there somewhere.

Snowy Days and Journaling: Embrace the Indoors

January 28, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

I can describe the weather around here can be summed up in one word: snow.

This means it is perfect weather for tucking in and fully committing to the great indoors. Normally, reading would be great, but depression and grief say otherwise. Thankfully, journaling is an option. I have been watching a bunch of You Tube videos on analog bags (or, in this case, Anna Log bags, and yes, the videos will resume soon) and how to use items I already have, I am very interested in using what I have before I acquire much more.

The video that lit a fire under me on this latest endeavor was this one from Abbey in Archive on You Tube. For bonus points, she has a page about Empire State Plaza in Albany, which is a familiar sight. She includes pastel pages, which is definitely relative to my interests. Right now, I am loving Morandi colors, a dusty pastel palette and making kits for individual projects, so I can pick up one thing and take it wherever. Bedroom, kitchen, cafe, library, etc.

I am writing longhand, a lot, in different journals, on a few different projects. Melva and I will have good news on Drama King very, very soon. We have seen and approved the final cover, and the only thing left is uploading. Then we are officially indie published. A Heart Most Errant will not be far behind. This is exciting and a little scary.

Anyway, back to the particular journal at hand. I am not sticking strictly to commonplacing, as in a place to collect information, but still close enough. I have one section started to create wiki-like pages for the leads in my current projects, for easy reference, so people don’t change eye color, age, or place of origin willy nilly, as has been known to happen. This can be especially useful when collaborating.

this looks **much** brighter than it really is

The actual pagers are not this cyan in real life; more of a soft, powdery periwinkle. Ditto with the highlighter used for the bands at top and bottom. Stickers are from a kit by Cora Crea Crafts.

That’s about it for this week. Hoping to have good news about Drama King very, very soon.

Journal Writing During Family Emergencies

December 15, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Yesterday was a gorgeous snow day in NY state. We are not in the city, but I saw plenty of such pictures from those who were, and it was everything I ever would want from a NYC snow day. I did get to see the snow from the waiting room outside where Real Life Romance Hero is staying right now. Yesterday was a good-ish day. The day before, not so much. We are still figuring out a few things. I am not using my planners much right now, as days are pretty much the same – days are for hospital, then home for dinner and sleep. Housemate is handling domestic matters.

Journals, though, I am using a lot. Hospital journal. Personal journal. Notes on writing stuff. Not notes about blogging, because I am winging it for now. This is a time for blurting. What is on my mind is on the page. We are one day at a time-ing it over here. This is my favorite time of year, and yet this year, we are outside of it. That is what it is. I am setting up for 2026, though. I like the focus. This does include writing things. The need to write is strong. Fiction the most, because that’s my big creative love. I am interested to see what my writing will do in and after this season.

Storm is definitely doing her job. When I get home from the hospital, she meets me at the door. She leads me into the bedroom, and insists I lie on the bed, so she can jump on me, loaf, and purr. I pet her. She is warm and soft. She insists that Housemate and I give her gushy food when we have our dinner. She has a new tilted food dish that is only for gushy food. She deserves all the treats and many belly rubs.

Housemate comes with me most days now. Having the company helps a lot. Yesterday, she sat next to me and crocheted, explaining her stitches and such, even though I do not myself crochet. I like the rhythm of her stitches. I tell RLRH about what is happening at home, the weather outside, share memories and inside jokes. I write in my hospital journal, notes on RLRH’s care, and thinking on paper, much like here, whatever is in my brain. I know I need and want to be reading, though my brain is not quite there yet. I haven’t listened to Christmas music; I want to, though. My usual Christmas movie re-watches — Love Actually, The Holiday, About A Boy— I have waved at from a distance. I love them, I think about them, and I can absolutely watch them at any time of the year. Same with Christmas/holiday books, foods, etc.

Family emergencies are tough. Holidays can be tough. Combine the two, and it’s something else altogether. Like I said, we are one day at time-ing the whole thing. That is good enough for now.

illustrated image of a redheaded woman writing in a journal as her calico cat observes. — *as always, Anna*

Typing With Wet Paws: Plague House Edition

November 18, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers. I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are in a plague house, according to Mama Anna. Papa is Patient Zero, and all of the humans are down with a cold. The middle of November seems to be a reasonable time for a pre-winter cold. The humans will be fine in a couple of days. In the meantime, Mama Anna says I have to do the blog for her.

I, of course, am fine. I spent most of yesterday afternoon investigating and playing with this awesome bag from when Mama Anna and Aunt Linda got takeaway. Trust me, the bag smelled amazing. I got to sit on it, inside it, and bunny kicked the heck out of the bottom. The only thing I can think of to make it perfect (or purr-fect) would be to add either treat or catnip (or both.) Mama Anna said something about proof of life, so I get to have today’s blog.

Some of the coming attractions: Mama Anna needs to set up the planner for 2026, which she will be making from scratch (I will be helping, as I am great at scratching) She has plenty of undated and easily re-date-able planners to take over if need be. For today, I am on nurse duty, watching all of the humans. I plan to do a lot of lying on top of Mama Anna, while she either reads or listens to YouTube videos about historical romance, because she finds she has a lot to say on the subject.

Holiday plans are now going into effect. Yesterday, Mama Anna and Aunt Linda picked up what will be our Christmas stockings, a tradition Mama Anna is bringing back. Stockings will hold snacks and diversions to keep us busy until Christmas dinner. For right now, though, Thanksgiving comes first. Mama Anna is salty that Thanksgiving often gets skipped over between Halloween and Christmas. Plan A for Thanksgiving is that Papa will cook. Plan B is they will go to. I am not allowed to have turkey, because it makes my stomach unhappy, so I will probably have tuna. Also Temptations. I love Temptations. (not a sponsored post, but, Temptations, DM me.)

Back in the day, Mama Anna had a tradition of getting herself the new Maggie Osborne historical romance novel to read the day before Thanksgiving. There is a problem with that since Maggie Osborne retired some time ago, but thankfully (or Thanksgivingsly) there are ways around this. Libraries, e-books, and secondary markets mean Mama Anna can find copies of Maggie Osborne books to re-read, or she can find a vintage historical that she hasn’t yet read.

I am going to wrap this early because I have triple nurse duty today. If I can herd Mama Anna into bed, Papa is there already and that makes two humans in the same place. Much easier to tend. i am fairly certain I can convince them to agree to a whole family nap.

How is your week going?

Typing With Wet Paws: Mama Anna’s Birthday Week Edition

October 30, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. October has been a quiet month for the blog, but that’s not because nothing is going on. It’s actually the opposite. Super powers are in full swing, and Mama Anna is not idle. I will say, though, that she is slow on the uptake on one thing.

Her favorite week of the year is what she calls the tucked away week, from December 25 to January 1, aka between Christmas and New Year’s Day. She has only this year acknowledged that there is a second (or rather, first, as October comes before December) tucked away week, and that is between October 24th (her birthday) and October 31 (Halloween.) Start and end with a holiday both times, special foods and customs, seasonal decor, friends and family, you get the drift. Which is quicker than her in this case. That’s okay. Not everybody can be a cat. I am, though, so I lucked out on that one.

Anyway, Mama Anna’s birthday was great. Social media people showed up with good wishes, Aunt Linda took her to lunch and the art store (Mama Anna loves the art store) and Papa got Chinese food for dinner and they got to hang out at home. I gave her cuddles and headbonks and we played red dot, which was super fun. The next day, the party kept going.

This is Cousin Skye, who is a dog, and different from Big Sister Skye, who is a cat (Rainbow Bridge) and her lobster toy from all of us. That is the only picture of said lobster toy, as she loved it to death. Literally. RIP, Lobster. We all knew that going in. Next time, Kong. That’s Uncle Brian with her, who is married to Aunt Mary, who makes the bestest pina colada cake (I have to take the humans’ word for it, because apparently it is Not For Kitties) I stayed home with Papa, because I am not great on my own for whole afternoons. They did go thrifting and I got to inspect the results of that. I approved everything.

Here I am, with a paper bag that passed inspection with flying colors. Very crunchy, smells great. Papa said I did mostly great on our afternoon, playing with him, getting treats and cuddles. I did pace for the last hour-ish, but as soon as I heard Mama Anna come home, I was all better. I have been sticking close to her ever since. She had to help Aunt Linda do something out of the house on Monday, which is too soon for Mama Anna to go out after being out already, but she brought back interesting bags and I got catnip. I forget what happened after the catnip, but my paws are amazing. I have switchblade fingers.

For those wondering if I am going to dress up for Halloween (if your question is do I let Mama Anna put things on me, like hats and capes, the answer is yes) wait no longer. I will be dressing as an ice cream sundae. Dark fudge and chocolate on vanilla, to be exact. It is the traditional dress of my people, the Calico. It is also the same as my everyday look, because it’s just that good.

What are you up to this tucked away week?

Exploring Changes in Local Libraries: A Personal Experience

October 22, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Yesterday was a full house day (not the tv show) meaning that everybody was home. Real Life Romance Hero likes his alone time, so Housemate and I headed out for some shenanigans. One shenanigan was making a library stop because A) we had library books to return, B) we wanted more library books, and C) our area has a lot of libraries. We picked a particular one we hadn’t been to for a while. It was an experience.

Once upon a time, we’d known our way around this library, but sometime in the past year, or maybe two, they changed things. Now it’s much more open plan, with stacks clearly labeled (which is helpful) but all in identical off white metal shelves, which made it seem, to me, like a warehouse. I don’t know if they are in the middle of decorating/renovating, but it was overall very low-contrast, which is not great for my impaired vision. That’s fine, though. My general modus operandi for library browsing is to find my desired section and drift through, seeing what catches my eye. This time, it was not what I expected.

I headed to romance first, because that’s my favorite, though I felt more stranger-in-a-strange-land-ish than I generally do in such an environment. Most of the books were trade sized paperback rather than mass market. Not revolutionary; bookstores are like this, too, but it stood out. This also tells me we are looking at mostly newer releases. The majority seemed to be contemporary, many on the rom-com side, which also applied to a not insignificant amount of the historicals I noticed. Is it possible I missed several examples of exactly what I was looking for on this particular day? Absolutely. Is it probable. though? I don’t think so.

Though this may sound like a complaint, it isn’t coming from that. It’s coming from a place of observation. Libraries need to focus on what the majority of their readership wants. That is often not going to match the wants of certain individuals, sometimes including me. That’s not a bad thing, just a thing. I am quite sure that at least one reader in the recent past has seen exactly the same setup with exactly the same books and hot diggity dog, load up the truck, Grandma, we’re going to town.

Most of the historical romances I did see were set in the nineteenth century, which is currently super popular. There were a few examples of other eras, but those were the outliers. No, I did not take home any romances from that visit, historical or otherwise, but I did appreciate their new YA room. There, books are shelved by subgenre, with a sign at the start of said section explaining what one might expect in said subgenre. For instance, fantasy is where you’ll find wizards, fairies, myths, things that can’t happen in the real world. Realistic fiction means that these things can happen in the real world. Historical means before living memory (around 1920s) etc. If you’re curious, I came home with one realistic YA and one horror YA.

Okay, so, let’s get to the point where we summarize. The sad part was that I didn’t feel represented in this particular library’s selection on this particular day. First world problem. Also first world solution, because librarians exist, and they love to help patrons find the books they want. Asking them is a fabulous way to get the book you want but don’t see, if not part of the permanent collection, through interlibrary loan. If the book can be gotten, the librarians will get it for you. There are also things like Kindle and Thrift Books and used bookstores (less common now in the brick-and-mortar variety but online is a different story, pun intended.) There is also the private library option, where I could read books I already have but haven’t read. There are also the ones I have read; the good ones always give me something new every time I go back to them.

Even when the stories are historical (or futuristic, etc) commercial fiction is written for the contemporary audience and that is going to affect what publishers buy, which affects what librarians can buy, which affects what patrons can borrow. Trends come and go. Don’t like the “in” trope or cover treatment or whatever? Wait five minutes. Something else will come along, and we are at a point in bookish history where there is more variety than ever before, so one library trip is not the end of the world.

Anyway, that’s what’s on my mind for today. What’s going on at your libraries?

Writing Planner Setup: Organizing for Fall

September 2, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Yesterday, a worker at Wal-Mart told me I looked “very gentlewomanly.” I will absolutely take that. For those who wonder, my outfit of the day was a baseball t-shirt, leggings, and hot pink Croc style shoes. The reason for my visit to that emporium was, of course, office supplies/back to school. Now that we are in September, back to school will be giving way to Halloween, so pouncing on the back to school deals is of the hour.

I have recently bought into the hype on composition notebooks, which are a lot more versatile than I originally thought. My preference is heavyweight paper, wide ruled, but I am flexible. I have also discovered that there are a lot more bold ballpoint pens than I thought. The Paper Mate Profiles above have a 1.4 mm point, which my strained eyes greatly appreciate. The Bic Cristal and Glide pens are my favorites when it comes to ballpoints, with 1.6 mm points, but I needed a pack of different colors, to live in the book sleeve with my landing pad notebook.

I have also found that there are more sizes than the standard (B5) composition size. The Staples notebook, above (black) is a B6 size, about the same as a Happy Planner Mini. I normally prefer gel or fountain pens, but for composition book paper, ballpoints are working well. I have seen the Pen + Gear notebook above used with fountain pens before, so I will probably try that.

My contemporary co-writer, Melva J. Michaelian, has her latest nonfiction book out now, available in both e-book and paperback. Thanks For The Memories chronicles Melva’s journey through the changes her husband, Jerry’s, Alzheimer’s diagnosis affected him, her, them, and their family. They found a place called The Memory Cafe, where other families dealing with memory issues gather for activities and community. Many of the events Melva describes, I have seen play out in real time. I said more on that on our blog together, at Melvaandanna.com.

While I’m here, a quick bit of housekeeping. I don’t have Facebook on my writing computer (can’t fall down a FB rabbit hole if I can’t get onto it in the first place) so subscribing here on the site is the best way to make sure you don’t miss any entries. Storm will be posting more regularly now that summer is but a memory. Until then, here is a taste to hold her fans over.

After I post this blog today, I get to spend the rest of the afternoon putting away spring and summer planner/journal things and getting out the fall team. There is indeed a separate winter team, which comes out the day after Thanksgiving. Right now, I am all browns and yellows and reds and oranges, in anticipation of the foliage soon to come. Here’s a peek at my writing planner, before the pen:

With my vision, I need high contrast, and clearly defined sections. Using washi and water based markers helps my eyes know where to rest. It’s also pretty, and who doesn’t want to look at a pretty page? Setting up the pages gets me in the right mindset to get the right information down. I like to use the section covered by the sticky note for a bit of art. Maybe ephemera, maybe a doodle, maybe something else, but purely decorative all the same.

I also finished reading a wonderful historical romance, A Lover For Lady Jane, by Virginie Marconato. It’s book number five in her Welsh Rebels series, though never fear if this is where you jump on board; I had read only the first book, A Husband For Esyllt, before this one, and I only found my appetite whetted to get current on the others.

All in all, it’s been a decent week. Writing is happening, and we draw ever closer to a release date for A Heart Most Errant. I can’t wait to share Aline and John with all of you.

How Improv Techniques Enhance Fiction Writing

August 27, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Bloggity blog time. Insomnia has been kicking my backside this week, though I had decent sleep by this afternoon, so I am going to blabber at you and fair warning, this will not be perfect.

Stock image, okay, that’s good. Anyway, hi. No plan for this entry, which fits, because that does jibe with my original plan, so maybe that works. Let’s go with that. A month or so ago, I had mentioned in an online group I’m in, where the topic was how we express ourselves. I mentioned that I am a novelist and blogger, and that if an acting opportunity were to drop in my lap, I would jump on it.

Well. As so often happened, I not long after that found a notice in our local subreddit, offering a free four week improv class for adults, very close to where I live. I did indeed jump on that. I hadn’t had formal improv training in decades, but the second I entered the room, it was like no time had passed. Here are the top three lessons from improv (which I love and one thousand percent intend to pursue more in the future) that I am applying to my fiction writing.

Yes, and…; this is the first rule of improv. Take what your partner offers and add to it. You had it in mind that your character would be an astronaut, and your partner offers that you are driving a tractor in a cornfield. Instead of refusing that, “yes, and” might look like finding a way to combine the two. Yes, they are driving a tractor in a cornfield, and they are also astronauts. What are the odds that they got assigned to the first corn farm on Mars?
Blurt: this goes directly against my innate urge to overthink, but it works. What the instructor suggested was that if we go for the funniest thing, we’re going to overpopulate our brain and then we can’t make any decisions, and the scene dies. Blurt out the first thing that comes to mind and trust that your partner will add to that. This definitely works when writing in collaboration, and it does work with solo writing as well. As Nora Roberts once said, “I can fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank one.” I need to remember that. In the case of solo writing, for me, my characters can count as my partner in such cases.
The Next Obvious Thing: This one met with the most resistance from me, but I am warming to it. Reference the overthinking from above. The overpopulated brain bit does resonate. Case in point, let’s say we’re doing a scene. My partner starts with “Hi, Dr. Jones. Thanks for responding to my request for a consult. My patient is over here.” What’s the next obvious thing? Dr. Jones would want to see the patient, so, as Dr. Jones, I would go to where my partner indicated the patient is. If my partner doesn’t offer anything, like name a symptom or ask me to look at xyz, the next obvious thing might be to ask questions. With no offer given, I have no restrictions, so I can have some fun. Why is the patient upside down? So, they are complaining of ABC? This patient again? This is the third time this week. Anything. Refer to blurt, above. When there are too many options, what is the next most obvious one?

These are not the only lessons that improv has taught me, which I can bring over to fiction and blogging, but they are the — you guessed it– first most obvious ones. There are others, which I may go into later: celebrate failure, make your partner look good, be observant. Most importantly of all, there is this: when you take the stage, you have everything you need to complete the scene. I may need to make a sign for that one. What do you think?

Typing With Wet Paws: Papa’s Birthday Eve Edition

August 14, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Tails Up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are still in the cat days of August, which are mostly me lying in front of our air conditioner, Koolio, during the day and doing most of my cat stuff at night. Mama Anna had her special talking vet appointment yesterday, and tomorrow is Papa’s birthday. We are going to do whatever he wants, which will probably be at home, because he is a homebody. That must be where I get it. He will probably ask Mama Anna and Aunt Linda to go get cannoli, because he likes that better than cake (which is still good.) I think the Italian side of the family must approve.

this is about what I look like during the days

Mama Anna is chugging along with the writing stuff. When the sun is on her desk chair, she can go to the soft office, which is the big bed. She got a lap desk she can pop on the big bed and work with her laptop from there. It also works for writing longhand, which is where she does the most of her composing. I like to be on hand (or paw) to supervise and inspire.

Since my “days” begin at night, one of my favorite parts is when Mama Anna comes to bed after her bath and watches an old English tv show on her tablet. It’s like The Walking Dead but in the 1970s in England, and there are no zombies, but lots of farm animals. Obviously, she likes it a lot, and it inspires her to do more world building and character lore development for her medieval post-apocalyptic stories. Zombies aren’t a problem in this show, or in her books, but questions like “crap, where are we going to get salt?” and “oh no, the sheep ate the wrong grass; does anybody know what we do now?” are super big deals. Mama. Anna. Loves. It.

Reading is kind of not happening right now, which she is not liking, but the Talking Vet gave her some tips that she will try. That happens sometimes. She has plenty of books, so that is not the problem. My suggestion is to keep watching stuff and give me belly rubs.

We have Papa’s presents ready to go, and he gets to pick what dinner will be. Yes, I will be getting a special treat as well, because I always do on holidays. Usually, we share a can of people tuna.

What’s up for your weekend?

Intentional Writing: Writing a Holiday Romance

August 1, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Finally, it is August, and I am doing what many of my romance writer comrades are doing- writing a holiday romance novella. This one will center around Christmas, for a planned collection my contemporary cohort, Melva Michaelian, and I have in the works for 2026. While we have written a novel with holidays in it (Queen of Hearts gets three holidays plus a wedding) this is the first time I have set out to write a story where the holiday is the whole point. Never mind that it’s technically a few days before the holiday story and most of it takes place in a car. (forced proximity, yep, plus second chance at love)

This time, I am being very intentional in my pre-writing, and paying attention to what works for me now. For new people, hi. I’ve been through some stuff and it kind of affects this writing thing. Anyway, this time around, I am leaning into the way that makes the most sense for me. This also plays into my desire and intention to use the good stuff because I am worth it, dangitall.

Part of that is setting up the sections I can envision myself reaching for/turning to, which I figure out by putting the blank dividers in, with filler paper that has nothing on it, and then see what I would like to have there. If that doesn’t make sense, that’s fine. It only has to make sense for me. Results may vary with others. Right now, I am working on my character lore.

Normally, when I am the only person writing the story, A) I am writing historical, and B ) I stare at the screen, making noises like “huh” when I run into something I don’t know. This time, I am going at the character lore (or backstory; I will use the terms interchangeably.) in a different way. Part of that is influenced by the improv class I started taking this past week (awesome, loved it, will probably blog about it more later) — think of the next obvious thing.

If my classmates noticed the lightbulb that popped up over my head when the teacher mentioned that, well, they rolled with it because that’s what one does in improv. When researching a historical romance, for instance, I have a framework of where I need to look for what I need to know about the people, places and things in my story. Contemporary, though, has always been different. It’s now. I live now. Shouldn’t I know about now?

Well, yes, but I am me. I was born where I was born, brought up the way I was brought up, and my characters are different people. The hero (I am Gen X; I’m going to say hero and heroine) has a different career than he did when the heroine knew him. Okay. How did he get to be a Career One Guy? What degree did he need? Where could someone who grew up where he grew up get one of those? When he changes to a Career Two Guy, not only why, but how? What does he need to do to get to do that? Commence searching. In most cases, a few clicks gives me what I need, because this story is about a couple (re)connecting and not their professional CVs.

I won’t go into all the questions I have been asking myself and/or the interwebs, but my goal is to create a master character sheet that I can use for all my projects, historical, contemporary, or otherwise. Things like birth order (it’s more than just first, second, third, etc) and enneagram, MBTI, archetypes, etc. I have books on all of those things, as well as history, and my beloved books of names from the dark ages to today, in various specificities. I don’t want e-book copies (though I may acquire some) and I don’t want to take out library copies (though I may, if absolutely needed) and I would prefer not to buy new copies. I want my copies.

The issue with that is that they are in the back of the storage unit, where we have not been since we started the dang thing. I don’t know exactly where I drew this line in the sand, but there I am, setting up the binder for this story, and I’m working on what I need to know about my characters, and I Want My Existing Books. This is not negotiable. This will involve blocking out a day or days to haul furniture out of the unit (it’s indoors, climate controlled) locate the research books and my top tier keeper classic historical romances, and Bring Them Home. (cue Alfie Boe’s “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables)

There’s probably something symbolic about this, and I will be mentioning it to Therapy Dude at our next session. For right now, though, I will be taking it at face value, yes-and-ing the heck out of that and doing the next obvious thing. Behave as if. Tell the story I want to read. Hopefully, you’ll want to read it, too.

When do you, as a writer or reader, start thinking about holiday romances?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

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