shipping

Typing With Wet Claws: Post Thanksgiving Edition

annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. Today’s picture is of me at the old house, because Anty’s camera batteries died yesterday right before Uncle asked Anty to take a picture of the Thanksgiving table. (That was because they died taking a picture of the snowy tree in front of our house, which Anty had a picture of already but it had a lot less snow on it and Mama wanted the really snowy picture. Mama did not know that would kill the batteries, so do not be mad at her.) I am sorry about that because there were a lot of food bowls on that table and a table full of food bowls is a beautiful thing.

Another beautiful thing is Anty’s new business cards. They came last week, and she is very happy with them. Here is one of them, used in the new notebook she is still altering.

i1035 FW1.1

Could use a frame, don’t you think?

Anty had a new post at Heroes and Heartbreakers this week. In case you missed it, you can click the link below and read it now. Anty loves to get comments and talk to readers, so feel free to chime in. Her post was on the first part of Sleepy Hollow‘s fall finale. She says it is about ships, but I watched the whole episode and there were no boats of any kind. Must be a  human thing. You can read about it here; if you know where the ships come in please let me know.:

Sleepy Hollow: Ichabbie Heart to Heart: knowledge is power

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which means there was a lot of food everywhere. I still got my regular cat food and Uncle gave me some extra treat, so my tummy was very happy. Anty was less happy when I tried to wrap my whole body around both of her feet while she was carrying one of the platters from kitchen to dining room, but who can blame me? There was warm birdy smell and I wanted to be near her. Isn’t that a sign of devotion? I know full well I do not get people food because people eat people food and kitties eat kitty food and I am a kitty, but it was the principle of the thing.

Our family did not go Black Friday shopping, but Anty did get to spend some time this morning chasing me around the apartment, asking to see what was in my mouth, and I did not want her to see that. In case you are wondering, it was shed fur. She did not seem happy to see me eat it, but if my shed fur is that important to her, she does not have to worry. She will see it again when I am done with it. She did succeed in picking me up twice in her efforts to get the fur away from me, but I still got it down and then she had to give me food to soothe my nerves from being picked up. I like to be close to my humans, but not be picked up.

Anty says dealing with cats is good practice for dealing with characters, since we both are supposedly subject to our writer humans but end up doing our own thing anyway. I think she may be on to something there.

Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling

(the kitty, not the book.)

The Moment and The Month That Was: May 2014

annabowling 2 Comments

Another month, another adventure begun, so let’s review the Month that was May, 2014:

Writing: 

Yesterday, while copying some information about the current ms into a new notebook (notebooky post coming soon) I had a Moment about the dreaded sticky part of the book that seemed like I’d need to train poodles to jump through hoops of fire to make a certain plot point make sense, and then make those same poodles balance teacups on their noses while dressed in period costume to bring a satisfactory resolution. 

Then, Micron (yes, the kind of pen is important, but pen post coming soon as well) poised over magenta line on white page, I had the Moment. What if I did B instead of A? Well, duh. That…might…work. In fact, it would give the poor (figurative) poodles a break, increase the stakes and mean I didn’t have to write the drudgey parts to explain stuff because stuff would already make sense. Well allrighty, then. Several pages of Micron-ed notes later, I left the coffee house with a springier step and I’m excited about going through the existing ms and tidying my loose ends. This will require some story surgery, yes, but it fixes what had put me off this ms when I made my first pass on it, years ago. Commence work on Pinterest board (still puny, but growing) and let’s do this thing. I’m very happy to have found the right groove for Ember and Gareth, two characters who have been more than patient with me…at least so far.

May was a pretty good month over here. I’ve started hosting Saturday discussions at the Buried Under Romance blog, which is huge fun, and May sweeps meant lots of shippy moments on TV, to blabber about at Heroes and Heartbreakers. Links below: 

Heroes and Heartbreakers: 

Buried Under Romance:

Reading:

I’ve been lazy about keeping track of reading, which I need to remedy, but I’m thrilled to have discovered Alison DeLaine‘s  historicals, starting with A Gentleman ‘Til Midnight, and am re-listening to Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby. Third time listening to the audiobook, and I’ve read the paper copy at least twice. I don’t think it’s possible to reexperience a favorite book too many times. 

Watching: 

This was the month I finally gave in and started watching Mad Men. I’d resisted, because, basically, my dad had Don Draper’s job in that era, but boy is it brilliant, and boy is it gorgeous, so there will likely be more blabbering about that soon. 

Also endeavoring to rewatch How I Met Your Mother from start to 9×22, because the finale does not count. 

Okay, June, bring it on.