July 10, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Welp, we are one quarter of the way through July. I did not expect to be gone so long. It’s definitely summer here in New York state, and I am once again handling some caregiving duties, which should hopefully do the trick soon. Melva and I have some very good news as soon as I have the go-ahead, and we are both hard at work on joint and solo projects.

Today is more temperate than it has been, so I am able to drag myself out of the bog and post. This is definitely a low hanging fruit day. Sometimes, figuring out what that low hanging fruit is can be a whole thing on its own. For me, when in doubt, A) blabber, and B) journal (which is kind of blabbering, but private blabbering and I get to play with art supplies.)

I have wanted a custom watercolor palette for far longer than I care to reveal, so this is a win. My colors, picked by me, squeezed from teeny tubes, into teeny squares in a teeny box. I do have a way to go when it comes to neatness, but this is a watercolor palette, so that doesn’t count. I made this so that I could take my chosen colors on the road, and fiddle with the paints at odd moments out in the wild. When I am next out in the wild, I will give it a spin. For now, caregiving. I could play around with it her, but I have regular palettes and I want this to be for the road crew.

I gobbled an audiobook this week, Where Lost Girls Go, by Kody Keplinger. I won’t say much, as it’s best to go into this taut thriller blind, but we have our narrators, one before her captivity and one after, by one of the best crafted villains I have read in some time. What will a victim of narcissistic abuse do to keep what they have been taught is normal? I think I want to pick up a historical romance next.

Speaking of which, I also finished The Last Lady B, by Eloisa James. If you love James and want something a little different, grab this one. First person, gothic overtones, a delightful supporting cast, and maybe…ghosts?

I am staying hydrated, because summer and certain medications are not besties, so this is a good time to stay inside, drink water, and do book related things, both consuming and creating. Journaling fits here as well, both words and images. Usually with something in my earbuds. I have listened to two audiobooks in a row, and having a full book is a lot less labor intensive than having to find You Tube videos or podcasts when the current one finishes.

Storm is very much on the case when it comes to making sure I rest/she gets cuddles. Sometimes, she helps me watch videos. Usually of the journaling variety, or people reading Reddit threads. Fan edits for favorite ships from favorite shows are also a big part of my viewing. I am fumbling my way back to listening to music, which is something that has always gone with my best writing. I consider that a good sign.

How is July treating you?

Finding Joy in Vintage Romance: A Summer Read

June 10, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Today was one of those summer days (I know, the calendar says it’s still spring, but trust me, it’s summer) where it’s hot and humid and I am especially thankful for Koolio and the fan club, as well as access to drinking water. Storm is on self care patrol and lets me know when I need to take a break. My desk is next to the window, which is not great on summer afternoons. Now that this is my room instead of sharing it, I can move that, if I want to. We will see.

Photo by Anastasia Borozdina on Pexels.com

Originally, I had planned to take pictures of some selected art journal pages, because art journaling is getting me through a lot of the life adjustments going on lately, but this was a low energy day, and a stock image is better than an unwritten blog.

Anyway, it’s summer. This is the kind of day when. as a kiddo, I would have begged my mom for a few hours at the public pool. I do not know if there is a public pool near me now. I should find out about that. The next thing that comes to mind is settling into a seasonally appropriately seasonal reading nook with fan access, cold beverage of choice, and a vintage paperback. Also with a spot for feline companion. When I was a teen, that meant the brass bed in the guest bedroom, with a box fan in the window, aimed straight at me. My current bed isn’t brass, but it is metal framed, with a swoopy headboard, so I am going to call it close enough. Tomorrow is laundry day, which means fresh, flower=sprigged sheets. I am currently reading a vintage gothic romance on my Kindle app, but I also want to dig out a vintage paperback for the full experience. If anybody ever made a way to scent Kindles like vintage books, they would make a fortune.

Speaking of vintage paperbacks, if I had known, during the Bicentennial, that it was going to be this hard to find historical romance set around (as in before, during, and after) the American Revolution were going to be so scarce when it came to America 250, I would have asked my mother and aunts to stock up, for the sake of my future well-being. They were everywhere in 1976, but I was ten, so A) I was not in a place to be buying my own books, and B) I was still a year away from the fateful day I would snatch The Kadin, by Bertrice Small, from my mother’s nightstand, and fall head over heels with historical romance.

So, where is this going? I’m not sure, but written is written, and I stand by that. Fiction writing is going well, actually. I am in uncharted waters now with Her Last First Kiss, as this is one of the parts of the book that I changed, so getting all my ducks in a row is having an effect on the daily page count, but that’s okay. Weekends are for cleanup. Weekdays are for blabbering, and, so far, that seems to be working out okay. The Chasing Prince Charming reboot has now had a look-over and tweak from both Melva and myself, so now we are closer to publication. Formatting, cover art, uploading, boom. Melva is doing the first pass over Queen of Hearts, which is going to need some tweakier tweaks, but things are going well.

Next week will be six months since Real Life Romance Hero left us. I know he’d be my biggest cheerleader, though he never read my romance novels. Some days, it feels like it just happened, and some days, it’s like it’s always been that way. Weird, but apparently par for the course. I had already planned for my next new historical to go into discovery writing, to have both male and female leads widowed and finding love for a second time, but that was long before RLRH’s passing. This one is gong to be close to home, and I am actually looking forward to that.

Writing is my happy place. I would like to be doing more reading, which I have in the past done best when I have to talk about it to other people. Would you be interested in book reviews/impressions here? Possibly on TikTok or YouTube, but I don’t see a lot of representation for vintage historical romance, and I would like to chance that.

What’s up with you guys?

Typing With Wet Paws: Sunday Snoozy Edition

June 8, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws It’s June, which means summer, which is not Mama Anna’s favorite season, but she is glad it’s here because the next season is fall, which is her favorite. This is also the month where we observe the six-month half-anniversary of Papa going to Rainbow Bridge. I miss him, and I am doing my best to make sure Mama Anna is okay.

Writing is going pretty well over here, which makes me feel confident we are on the right track. Part of that, apparently, is me doing my weekly blogging duty. Since Mama Anna lets me have free rein of her office chair, next to Koolio, when she is not using it, I figure I can manage that. She is also my treat dealer. I know where the treats are, but they are high and in a drawer and I don’t have thumbs. I do have dewclaws, but they are not the same thing.

Anyway, the point of this post is that Mama Anna wants to update the graphics on this site, and one of those things is my signature photo. Big Sister Skye had a picture of her walking away, with her big floofy tail. I like sleepy pictures (I am great at napping.) Also, I am a sleek girl, so if I have a picture of me walking away, you would see the :ahem: Eye of the Storm as we call it. Which picture do you like? For those wondering, I did wake up and eat the treats that were right next to my head a few seconds after she took the picture.

In computer news, Mama Anna’s laptop caught a virus (she’ll be taking care of that ASAP) and her desktop is chugging along. The word she uses for it is “elderly.” This means that she is going to have to figure out how to turn Papa’s newest laptop into her newest laptop. That would have been easier if he had written down his password anywhere. Looks like Mama Anna is going to be on a first name basis with the computer guys at the computer store.

That’s about it for this week. What’s going on in your world?

June Reflections: Music, Reading, and New Beginnings

June 2, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Welp, it’s June. Safe and happy Pride to all who celebrate. The start of a new month is as good a time as any to hop back on the blogging horse. Storm will be back on the weekend. Today, you’re with me. That’s good timing, because I am feeling more myself today than I have lately. One big sign of that is that I am listening to music again. Since it’s been a long time, that means I get loads of new music to discover. Reading is coming back as well, and, no surprise, vintage historical romance and gothics are indeed my way back to reading.

As thrilled as I am to find one of my top three historical romance, and one of my top two gothic romance authors in KU (and paperback, for those so inclined) I do have to give preference to the original cover:

This book is The Stuff when it comes to finding an Anna-worthy read. The setting is 1720 New England (I don’t think the colony is specified, so insert your favorite.) Our heroine, Adria, is not fitting in with her adoptive Puritan community. For people who spend that much time in church, they might try reading their Bible, because I don’t think they have. Adria gets in big trouble, right off the bat, and her only way out is the choice arguably worse than death — the big scary house on the cliff, Wyndspelle. There’s a job for her there, caring for an ailing woman…and that’s all Adria knows. Adria is a quick study, though, and she can tell that creepy and unknown is better than certain death, so off she goes.

I have read this book, and the whole trilogy before, and I have never read a Vandergriff I haven’t loved. It’s been a while, though, so I expect a few jump scares along the way. I have one of her other reissues, Sisters of Sorrow, a standalone gothic, preordered for the end of the month. I am pretty sure I have a paperback copy of that one in my keepers box, which is regrettably in storage. I am definitely going to need my special books around me as I embark on this new chapter of life. Real Life Romance Hero’s half-anniversary of his passing is this month.

There is also art journaling, which is a load-bearing wall in keeping me together. Some days, it’s all words. Sometimes, like above, it’s no words and an assortment of images culled from any number of sources. Right now, I am focused on using what I have more than acquiring new things. I will repurchase things that I use to completion or have passed their usefulness, but I got all of these things because I wanted to use them, so I will. Discovering things I had forgotten about or neglected feels very on brand for life in general right now, and I am very sure that some of this will spill over to fiction writing.

Right now, thanks to the critique group found through an RWA program, I need to have thirty pages of new fiction by the end of the month. That felt like a lot at first, until, surprise, I hauled out a notebook and started to break things down. If I write five days a week for the next three weeks (the last one is a cushion) that is only three blocks of ten pages. That means two pages per day, or 500 words, if you prefer. I do have a tracker in my regular calendar, so I will report on how that does when I hit my goal. Melva and I are not only proofing the Chasing Prince Charming reissue, and diving into the final-final pass of Queen of Hearts, but have been tossing about some what-ifs for a new standalone, based off a long-ago writing prompt.

That’s going to be it for today, as I need to get my pages in, so talk amongst yourselves, or better yet, say hi in the comments. What’s a vintage author you think more people should be reading?

Sketchybooks

May 26, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Right now, the thing holding my brain together is a sketchbook. Technically more of an art journal, which I already have, but this one is different. This one is dedicated to filling as quickly as possible. I grabbed the closest notebook to me, and the closest art supplies, and went all the way through, making frames around every single page in the darned thing. No thinking at all, just frames with liquid watercolor daubers that are mostly on their way to the great supply closet in the sky. Forget concerns about paper weight. Forget asking if it would be good enough. Nope, watch sketchbook videos on YouTube and continue until every single page had a frame.

This picture is actually from a different sketchbook, but it’s mine, and the idea is the same. This was me trying out a soft pencil and blending stump. The “help” text is mostly there because it fit in the box. Still, it’s pertinent. I don’t have pictures of the sketchbook I’m talking about at present, and probably won’t until it’s all full. I am thinking maybe a flip through at a later date.

Improv session ended a couple of weeks ago, and the next one will be, I think, in August. Right in time for Real Life Romance Hero’s birthday, which I will appreciate. Next month will see the six month mark of his passing, and it’s taken me that long to figure out what I want to do for a very private memorial. It will involve some of his favorite foods and fond memories. Nothing formal, but it feels right.

Some of the lessons from improv are finding good use in my current sketchbook practice. Housemate shows me the cool tag from her new clothing item. Do I want that for my sketchbook? Yes, please. Straw wrapper from a local diner that has “biodegradable” printed on it? On the page. Random papery bits I find while I excavate the doom piles? That’ll do. No overthinking, very little thinking, and actually very few words. That both surprises me and doesn’t.

Time moves differently in grief. An hour can take forever and then three weeks can whoosh past so quickly that they knock a person off balance. I don’t make the rules. The practice of throwing images and colors and shapes on the page does things for the story part of my brain. I’m not sure how that works. I’m not sure I need to know. What I do know is that this new sketchbook lives in a hard shell case that travels with me, at home and outside. Spare minutes? Sketchbook. Waiting in line? Sketchbook. No idea what to draw? No problem. Not great at drawing? Shapes. Lines. Squiggles. Colors. Textures. Slap it down and move on along.

Do I know how this is going to carry over into writing? I do not. Am I confident that it is getting me where I need to be? Yes, I am. As with improv, blurt. Say the next obvious thing. My challenge for this sketchbook is that I have to use things I already own, preferably only things within the case, plus found objects, such as the straw wrappers and clothing tags.

That’s where I am going to leave it, because it’s late, and I have commitments in the morning. This, too, is blurting. Plopping whatever is in my head into the blog, slap a picture down and hit “post.”

What’s your next obvious thing?

Mermay

April 30, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

So, tomorrow is May. I’d ask how that happened, but life is like that. For us planner and journal people, this becomes one of the highlights, because it means new themes, chances to play with our pretty things, etc. For this month, the theme is easy: Mermay. Mermaids. I love mermaids. Back when I was but a wee princess, someone gave me a book of British folklore, from the UK. We had a few family friends who were from the UK, so it may be from one of them. I was probably ahead of my peers when it came to knowing the difference between mermaids, sirens, and selkies. Also the whole manatee theory (yes, that is a nod to How I Met Your Mother. Still love the show, apart from the ending.) I don’t remember the name of the standup comic (likely from the UK as well) who talked about finding an old fur coat in the attic, then her dad got mad and nobody ever saw her mom again, but I very much got the joke. If you know, you know.

I am doodling more these days, largely when whatever is going on in my brain says “absolutely not” to sleep. That means time to watch some scripted drama and slap some shapes and colors on the page. I can sort of doodle mermaids, as in the tail half at the top or bottom (or side, come to think of it) going out of frame. We will see how that goes as the month progresses. Back when I was a teen, I used to doodle a lot more, often faces, not with any great detail, but it was fun and maybe a good thing to bring back into my repertoire.

Reading is, thankfully, back, which means May is a great time to take another look at some sort of reading journal…of which I have no idea how I want to set up. Probably watch a bunch of videos how other people do such things, make a couple of false starts and then hit my stride. Things usually work like that. My current romance read is Just in Time For a Highlander, by Gwyn Cready, the first in her Sirens of the Scottish Border series (nope, no mermaids, just time travel.) I love that the historical period in her time travels appears to almost always be the eighteenth century, but a little disappointed that there are no new titles since 2016. I am happy that I correctly guessed the heroines in the second two books, so looking forward to those.

Perhaps what has me most excited for May is that one of my top tier favorite historical romance and gothic authors, Aola Vandergriff, sadly no longer with us is now on Kindle Unlimited. Since some of her titles are very hard to find, and pricey, this is very, very, very good news for those interested in finally getting to read those. I have House of the Dancing Dead preordered for a May 8th release. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I will be dropping everything else to read this as soon as it arrives on my device. I also plan to reread the author’s Wyndspelle and McCleod Daughters series, historical gothic, and American historical romance saga, respectably. Probably all of her books, to be honest, because she is one of my top top top favorites and it has been a while.

That’s about it for today. I have a planner to prep for the new month, and Netflix and art journal sounds wreally really good right now. What are your plans for May?

Typing With Wet Paws: Proof of Life Edition

April 23, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

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

Mama Anna says I have to apologize for the radio silence on this blog. I have been doing Very Important Cat Things, most of which include taking care of Mama Anna, now that it is just us girls. A lot of that involves sitting directly on Mama Anna because she is not that great at knowing when to rest, and I have magic healing purr powers. Also, the new bed is super, super comfortable, which should be very good for sleep. Well, it is for me. Mama Anna, well, she is still working on that.

Right before Easter, Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian were here, with my Cousin Skye, who is a dog. They did not come actually into the apartment, because the apartment is cozy, and Cousin Skye is a big dog. That is okay because they gave me a big bunch of cat toys, all of the catnip variety. When Mama Anna came home, I tried to climb into the gift bag, because that is where my toys were. I went straight for the ones shaped like fruit slices. Mama Anna is saving the others for after I have killed all the fruit slices. She calls Aunt Mary and Uncle Brian my nip dealers.

Koolio, our air conditioner, is not on yet, because the weather has been indecisive around here. That is what we get for living in New York. Right now, there are flannel sheets on the bed, but there are pink flowery cotton ones to go on next time we change the sheets. Aunt Linda’s window is open sometimes. I like to sit in it and watch the birds.

Speaking of watching, the other day, Mama Anna put on an awesome movie specifically for me. I think it is called Aquarium. There is a blue fishie, and he swims. There is a yellow fishie, and she swims. Then there is a white triangle fishie, and you will never guess what they do. They swim. There is a squiggly eel and some plants and rocks and stuff. It’s pretty great. I sat up straight and paid super super close attention. It kept me busy while Mama Anna had to do something else. I suspect she knew that would happen.

Normally, as a cat, I am not the biggest fan of change, but there are a few up sides to the changes that are going on over here. One, the new bed is pretty awesome. My big bed fits on it, and I get my own side. Sometimes, I climb on top of all of the pillows and watch Mama Anna sleep. Also, when she moves stuff, I find interesting things like toys, hair ties, and earbuds. Sometimes, I am the one who finds the fun stuff, and sometimes that happens during human sleep time. Sometimes that turns it into human awake time.

Anyway, I am very busy supervising, because Mama Anna is doing something called a “destash.” This means finding new homes for stationery stuff that she is not using but will be of great interest to other people. We are a smoke free house, but she does have to say that we are animal friendly. Some people who have pets and do destashes mention that their pets do not plan. Mama Anna cannot say that, because there is picture proof to the contrary.

That is pretty much it around here. Mama Anna did finish reading one library book and started another, which is progress. She can rub my belly while she reads, which works out really well for me.

How are you guys doing?

Four Months

April 16, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Today marks four months since Real Life Romance Hero passed. This is not going to be one of those upbeat posts, so I totally understand if you would prefer to catch the next one. This is an Anna post, not a Storm post, because she is a kitty, and I am feeling especially human today.

Grief is strange. One day, you’re dealing, then riding the ceiling fan of anxiety because tax times and you were not the one who did that, but then again, you were not the one who did a lot of things. The weight of partnership feels extra heavy when it isn’t there.

I am fine. Having a lot of thoughts, and this is where they want to go, so here they are. Today, Housemate and I got laundry down to the car before we hit a mutual NOPE and went to lunch and errands instead. Laundry can be tomorrow. Adulting things are depending on hearing stuff from professionals, but our apartment is nice and safe.

Throughout the day, I was keenly aware of what time it was, and what was happening at that time on that day, the one when RLRH died. There was a quiet voice in my head, in one of those compassionately impartial tv presenter tones: this is the time we went into the conference room. This is when the Catholic priest came for RLRH’s sacrament. This is when the non-denominational chaplain came to be there for me. This is when I told the team I wanted to touch him as long as possible, look at him as long as possible, because this would be the last time. Somebody kept pointing out the bereavement tray, which was bags of snacks, and all I could think of was “my husband is dying; why would I want potato chips?” I did hold his hand until the end, and I remember the gap between the actual death and the official time of death. We had the opportunity to stay in the room for up to four hours, but I wanted to be with him, not it (the body.)

When we walked home that night, it was dark. Today, at that time, it was light, and temperature was in the seventies, if not eighties. There was sweat. The contrast is/was big. RLRH loved spring. I am more of a fall/winter girl. Housemate and I have been discussing when to turn on Koolio, our air conditioner, now adorned with a handlebar moustache sticker. I had joked about putting googly eyes on Koolio, to which RLRH was opposed. I told him he’d said nothing about handlebar moustaches. I could put the googly eyes on now, but I don’t think I will.

So, where does this go from here? I don’t know. I wanted to write about this, and so, I did. Evening is here now, so time for a scented bath, a good book, and then kitty belly rubs. New day tomorrow, bringing laundry and writing. The day after that, improv class. Also getting back to social media. I am now on Tik Tok as anna_log_writes, and would love to connect.

How was your day?

How It’s Going

April 9, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

Blog coming at you on Thursday instead of Tuesday because meds adjustment has me in two modes: loopy and asleep. This will only be for a few days. I am fine. Bestie and Mr. Bestie came to visit this past weekend, with my fur niece. We all wore ourselves out in the park. Having my loved ones around me when a major holiday :salute: Real Life Romance Hero loved rolled around without him helped a lot.

The more I use this pocket rings setup as my everyday carry (EDC) planner, also my main planner (I have another at my desk, for scheduling video chats/meetings) Planning and journaling is what my brain has honed in on, and I have a couple of A5 rings setups that are wholly based on vibes. Right now, British Isles and nautical/mermaids. There is indeed some overlap, and there is already some fairy overlap in the British Isles book. Are either of these going to turn into bases for future romance novels/ Probably.

A big influence in my journaling right now is the You Tube channel WordLayout. Her commonplace book videos have absolutely lit a fire under me, and that is not a complaint. This is probably going to go a long way in chucking out the old way of creating novel notebooks that I then never use. Lots of splashing about in the shallows.

Storm has been focusing lately on being my purr-sonal assistant, but is ready to return to blogging duties if she remembers where her treats come from. She has a bunch of new catnip toys from Bestie and Mr. Bestie, and may or may not have tried to climb into the actual gift bag to get at them before I could present them properly.

So far this week, I have been to the park twice. No, three times. The waterfowls are back and doing their thing. The big gander and his Mrs. have checked me out and determined me not to be a threat. I find this reassuring. Dogs are out in abundance, which is always fun. There is a dog park within our park, but dogs can be anywhere-anywhere. This is a good thing.

This Saturday, I will be starting back with Improv classes. I am interested to see what I have to bring back to the process now that my life is very different from where it was when I started the last iteration of the class.

Nothing up yet, as I am still observing, but I am caving and joining BookTok. Drop any favorite BookTok people, authors or readers, in the comments, and I will give them a look. Also, if there’s anything you’d like to see me make content about, drop it below. I am open to suggestions.

That’s about it for right now, as I am exiting the loopy stage and drifting to the sleepy stage. Pet your pets, read good books, indulge in a beverage of choice, and I will see youu next time.

Bed Time and Other Stories

March 25, 2026annabowling Leave a comment

I am starting off with a cat picture because it’s been a while, she’s cute, and there is never a time when a cat picture is not a good thing, so hi. March sixteenth was the three-month mark of Real Life Romance Hero’s passing, and it hit hard. That was also the day that Housemate and our building super, Maintenance Dude, helped me get the old bed out of the apartment, and the next day, Housemate and I, with Storm’s help, put together the new bed. Lovely new memory foam mattress, and pink floral sheets I have wanted since I was but a wee princess. It’s comfy, it’s pretty, Storm has her big bed on it, and with my lap desk, the soft office is back in action.

new standalone (for now) novel from my contemporary cohort

New books are always a good sign. I am delighted for Melva over the release of Angel Whisperer, one of her solo titles. I would call this cozy romantic suspense with a dash of something extra. Melva wrote the first draft of this in our longstanding critique group, so I am very happy to see it out in the world for all to see. Review coming soon.

Spring does seem to be a season of new life. We are working on the reissue of Chasing Prince Charming, and doing some adjustments to the current draft of the third Love by the Book title, Queen of Hearts. Future Love by the Book titles are currently in discussion, so stay tuned.

Besides those, late spring or early summer will bring my first independent historical romance, A Heart Most Errant, which means that I need to get my ducks in a row for A Heart Most Ardent (I will get the hang of this series thing yet.) Thanks to the Write Stuff program in Romance Writers of America (RWA) I have been matched with a fabulous historical romance critique partner, Roma Cordon, which means back to work on my Georgian era Her Last First Kiss. If you like Georgian era Scottish historical romance with a little something extra, definitely give her a try.

This brings me to the newest news, that being my interview on Roma’s blog. This was super fun, and she asks great questions about writing with a partner versus writing solo, and about Drama King in particular.

Here is the point where I like to loop around to close where I started, so back to bed we go. I fully expect that having a comfy and lovely bed will indeed help make reading more comfortable, and dare I say even romanticized. The briar rose linen spray and lily shaped lamp definitely help in that regard. Tea will probably fit in there, but I need to get milk first, and possibly a petticoat or two of shortbread

How is your spring starting?

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

possibly pointless blabbering