Typing With Wet Claws: In The Pink Edition

February 26, 2016annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. I look grumpy in today’s picture, because Anty took my picture while I was washing. I think that was not the most polite thing she could have done, but she is dominant, so I guess it must be okay. She might also still be somewhat cranky herself because I, um, did my stuff after everybody was in bed, so she had to get out of bed to clean it. At least I let her know I was doing stuff. I am considerate that way. I am also considerate in talking about her writing things before I talk about anything else. Well, except for what I already talked about, because I already said that.

Anty had two posts at Heroes and Heartbreakers this week. First, she talked about what happened with Ichabod and Abbie, on Sleepy Hollow. Can you believe the monsters of the week got to have smoochy times before Ichabod and Abbie do? Talk about a scary episode. That is here, and it looks like this:

Then, she wrote about what happened between Michonne and Rick on The Walking Dead. Anty says that show is not really about zombies, but about people and human relationships. This episode, it is especially so. That post is here, and it looks like this:

Anty has a lot of articles and posts on other sites, like her weekly discussions on Buried Under Romance. Last week’s discussion was on multicultural romance. Anty thinks books about lovers from different backgrounds can be very interesting, and both couples in the shows she recapped this week would fit into that subgenre. It is here and it looks like this:

She is working on a new page that will have links to all of her posts on other sites, so readers can find them easily. I do not think Anty will mind if I say she is not the most technologically minded person, so please be patient with her.

This picture shows what Anty sees when she is working from her comfy chair. I need to come around to between the Starbucks cup and the notebook and aim my big green eyes over the edge of the desk if I want her to see me. If she does not pay attention to me there, then I go around to the other side, which you cannot see from here. When I go to the other side, she knows I really want her attention. It is usually for food, but sometimes, I want a scratch. That is one thing about writers; they can work pretty much anywhere. When Anty works at home, she is often in her comfy chair, with a special desk that fits in her lap. Sometimes, she will write in longhand at the kitchen counter. When she does that, I like to be a ninja kitty and get reallyreallyreally close, like actually on her feet close. Then it is always a big surprise when she moves. I run away and come right back. One would think she would be used to this by now.

Please note the pink earbuds in the above picture. Anty works best with music playing, and her music is different for each project. Because Anty has different devices on which she listens to her music, it makes more sense to have a different set of earbuds that stays with each device. Anty did not mean for her electronics to (almost) all be pink, but that is how it turned out, and she’s going with it. The pink earbuds stay with the pink laptop, but before she had those, she had a set of earbuds where the tiny speaker part was pink and the cushions (I do not know what they are called) are black, like the cord. The tiny speaker parts have tiny skulls on them, so Anty really really likes them. She uses them for her phone now, although the phone is white (she will get a case for it, and then it will agree with her pink laptop and pink tablet.) Well, that is, when there are cushions on both speakers. This week, there were not cushions on both speakers.

Anty looked everywhere for the missing cushion, and even took everything out of her computer tote (no small task, that) but could not find it. She had a spare pink cushion, but it would bother her if one cushion was pink and the other was black. Do not even suggest that Mama lend her one of her spare orange cushions. Anty is not a savage. Anty very reluctantly switched those earbuds out for the white earbuds with pink cushions that came with her pink tablet. That all brings us back to my introduction to today’s post. Remember when I told you Anty had to get up to tend my stuff in the middle of the night? That is where the two threads come together.

Because I am a considerate kitty, I pee next to the green chair of evil. It can only be stopped with cat widdle. The previous owners did not have a cat, and they are no longer with us. You do the math. Anty had to move the chair to clean the widdle, and there, in a completely dry and unwiddled portion of the floor, was her missing earbud cushion. You’re welcome. Anty has her cushion back now, but playing with it was fun while it lasted. Do not worry, I will find another toy. I am resourceful like that. It is an important attribute to have, to be a good mews.

Anty needs the computer back now, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain, very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: This Was Uncle’s Idea Edition

February 19, 2016February 19, 2016annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for a slightly later than usual Feline Friday. Anty has had an unusual day, partly because Uncle had the day off. She had laundry to do, and then they went out to lunch together. They did not take me, because I am an indoor kitty, but I got fish jelly and treat, so I do not mind. Also, it is cold and windy out. Despite the fact that I have a super fluffy coat (actually, two of them, because I am a Maine Coon mix) I have no desire to be outside in cold, windy weather. Anty tried to set up at her usual coffee house, but the locals must have figured out that it is her favorite place to work, because all the seats were filled by the time she got there. It is okay, though, because it is only a short walk to her other favorite away-from-home place to write, and that place has refills on tea. Anty likes refills on her tea. She drinks a lot of it.

Anty has three articles she is working on this week, possibly four, depending on how things go on tonight’s Sleepy Hollow. For one of the other articles, she has to…uh, she means gets to…read a bunch of historical romance novels, so she can talk about how they all work together. Anty will talk about that later. She is also working on Her Last First Kiss, which she says seems to be finding its stride.

My blog this week is going to be a little different from the usual fare. This week, Uncle has an idea he wants me to talk about. Earlier this week, Anty looked at her sales figures from one of her publishers. Uncle thinks that was a mistake, because looking at those figures made Anty very grumpy. Then a conversation like this happened:

Uncle: Have you ever used your blog to tell people where they can buy your books?

Anty: Uh…..

Uncle: Like put up a link or something?

Anty: (something about websites and internets and monies and bookshelves and human stuff; nothing about feeding kitties, so I stopped listening.)

Uncle: Right, but none of that means you can’t put a link in a blog entry.

Anty: Uh… (Anty did not really have a good answer for that.)

Uncle is very smart, and I would do anything for Uncle. So, I will put in the links. In case you like Anty’s (or my) blogs, or her articles, then maybe you would like to read the books she has out already.

Here is where you can find the books she has from Awe-Struck E-Books. There are two of them.

Her first, My Outcast Heart, is set in colonial New York. For this book, Uncle asked Anty what sensuality level the book would get for its rating. Anty said that, because she does not go into great detail about how humans mate, the book would be classified as “sweet.” Uncle asked if this was the same book where the hero puts his hand in the fire on purpose, to cover the brand that marked him as a thief, and where the heroine sticks her grandfather’s body in the barn for the whole winter, because the ground is too hard to dig a grave. Anty said that it was. Uncle’s response was, “And they’re calling that “sweet?” Boy, are they going to be surprised.” Also, there are kitties in it. The dogs get more attention, but barn cats always make a book better. Just saying.

Anty’s second book from Awe-Struck is Orphans in the Storm. That book could have used more kitties, but it probably would not have changed what happened to the bad guy, because kitties are good judges of character. The heroine in this book finds out that she is not who she thought she was, and travels from the Isle of Man (note: that does not mean it is an island with only men on it. It is, however, where Manx cats come from. I am not Manx. I have a big, floofy tail.) to Holland, where those loyal to the English king fled during the English Civil War. Her hero works for the crown, and the heroine holds the key to releasing monies that will help the cause, only somebody does not want that to happen. The love story is most important, though, as with all of Anty’s books. The cover is by Kathleen Underwood, who captured one of Anty’s favorite scenes.

Anty also has two novellas with Uncial Press. Her first one there, Never Too Late, is set in Edwardian England and Italy (aka Downton Abbey times, and she wrote it long before the TV show was on the air. My Anty is a trailblazer.) Her heroine in this book is a fifty-year-old widow, who decides she is finally big enough to go after what she wants, which, in this case, means the love of her life, whom she once let get away. I will give you a hint: this time, she does not let him get away again.

Her other title there is Queen of the Ocean. I will share a bit of trivia with you; the story was originally called Frances, Queen of the Ocean, but that would not fit on the book cover. This is a reunited lovers story, with smugglers and pirates and a shipwreck (well, technically more than one) and a cave full of treasure. I do not have to tell all of you how much Anty loves pirates. She had a lot of fun writing this one.

None of Anty’s books are related to each other, so they can be read in any order, or by themselves. Anty did not figure it out until I told her, but Never Too Late and Queen of the Ocean kind of fit together, because they are both reunited lovers stories. Maybe Anty could write more like that and then they could all go together. Anty likes reunited lovers. Purr-sonally (see what I did there? Just kidding. I do not purr. That does not mean I am not a happy kitty, because I am. I show it in other ways.) I recommend them all.

Ravenwood does not have a home yet, but it is a medieval love story, where a heartbroken knight errant must escort a headstrong maiden from a plague-ravaged city, to a haven that may or may not exist. Anty will probably change the title, because it does not say much about the story. Maybe Her Errant Heart would be better? Huh. Maybe she could write other stories with “heart” in the title and put them in a loose grouping.

That is about it for this week, because Anty needs to research her articles and work on Her Last First Kiss. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye OMalley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Not a Doggie Edition

February 12, 2016annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. Since Anty says I have to talk about her writing first, I will do that before we do anything else. This week, Anty recapped an interesting episode of Sleepy Hollow. It was all about Ichabod looking for Abbie, who is someplace else. This was different for Anty, because it was all about the feelings, even though one of the people was not really in the episode at all. It is here and looks like this:

Anty had a really good writing day yesterday, and hopes that continues today. She has two more articles to write for Heroes and Heartbreakers, and they are about books, not TV shows this time. Anty is very excited to write more about books

She would also like to be reading a lot more books, but life has had other ideas. That is okay, because the library will still have those books, even if Anty has to give them back for a little while. This week has been a mixed bag for Anty, which means that she could probably use some time dedicated purely to amusement. Usually, that is a good thing, but, yesterday evening, she found a site called what-dog.net, and then she did this:

Anty, that is not funny. I am a kitty, not a doggie. I am a very smart girl, though. It took me less than three days to learn my name, I have a big vocabulary (that means I know a lot of words) and I can follow hand signals. Although my favorite toy is paper (and I need to re-learn how to play every once in a while) sometimes, I get my own toys, that are not really toys. If you see some of Mama’s yarn where it is not supposed to be, that was probably me. I like to watch my people, and sometimes TV. I would watch out the windows, but they are all very high, and I am a floor girl who does not like being picked up, so I can only see outside if I look up. I do not bark, but I do talk. I make chirpy sounds and trills and I chitter when I see birdies, or my humans take too long in getting my food ready.

Well, Anty is not the only one who can use that website. I can use it, too.

I do not think Anty will be angry with me. First, I am cute. Second, I love her. Third, they are not wrong. Anty does like to talk, a lot. She talks to me all the time, which is how I learned how I could make sounds, too. As for the herding others part, Anty tells me that the term I mean is that she has leadership skills. “Bossy” is not a nice word, though being the boss can be a good thing, and doing a thing like a boss is also good. Stephen “tWitch” Boss is a very good dancer. Anty says that if she can write as well as he can dance, then she would be very happy. So, I do not see where “bossy” is a bad word.

Being independent-minded can also be a very good thing. Some people say “stubborn.” (Anty and Uncle saw a cooking show on TV once, set in Norway, where there was a motorcycle gang whose name translated to “Stubborn.” They thought that was funny.) Anyway, thinking for oneself can be a tricky thing sometimes, but a useful tool for those who want to write. It’s easy to get caught up in “should” and expectations, but thinking differently is a big part of making new things. It also helped Anty think that being called a collie was funny, and not bad. I do not think collies are bad. Bailey is very nice and he is a pretty boy. Maybe Anty really is part collie, and they are related? Anty is adopted, so we cannot say that she is not. Hm. This could explain some things.

Anty tells me that people cannot be part doggie (except in some stories, but that is only make-believe) so that means she is not related to Bailey. I can only imagine how she must be taking that news. Apparently well (though it is disappointing) because she is getting ready to start her writing session for the day, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Mostly Writing Edition

February 5, 2016February 5, 2016annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. Lots of stuff going on this week, so I will get right down to business. No pawing it for me on this one, which is good, because I was running out of ideas.

First, Anty is very excited for February sweeps on TV. That means she will have more recapping to do, as more shippy moments happen, to pay homage to the month dedicated to romance and attract more viewers to the various shows. Last night’s The Big Bang Theory was one of those episodes. Anty recapped big romantic doings for Sheldon and Amy, and Raj could be the point of a love triangle? That is food for discussion, for sure. Anty’s recap is at Heroes and Heartbreakers here, and looks like this:

When Amy Met Meemaw…

Tonight, Anty also gets to recap the new episode of Sleepy Hollow. I cannot put a link to it here, because it has not happened yet. Anty will share the link on Facebook and Twitter when the post is up tomorrow. Anty hopes Ichabod and Abbie can find each other again, because that is kind of the whole point of the show. The rest is really framework.

Speaking of framework, Anty is wrestling with her Scrivener. Miss N spent all of Tuesday morning showing Anty how to use Scrivener more efficiently, which Anty greatly appreciates. I also appreciate Miss N very much, because she has four kitties in her house. Well, her and Mr. N. He lives there, too. But this is not about the kitties. This is about Anty and Scrivener. Those who know Anty very well joke that she needs a tech manual to operate a butter churn, and that is not too far off. Her Scrivener setup had become a big fuzzy mess (and not the kind I make, either) so she needed some help. I think Anty needs to talk to Miss N again, because, while Anty likes the idea of starting a fresh document with only the files she will actually be using, she somehow found a way to botch the setup of what she sees on her glowy box screen.

Here is what Anty would like her screen to look like, and what all her other documents look like already:

See the index card at the top of one side of the screen, and the nice pink box at the bottom? That is what Anty wants the new document to look like. That is not what the new document looks like. The new document looks like this:

See the big white box at the side of the screen? Anty does not like the big white box. First, it is a big white box. That makes her nervous. Second, she does not remember how it got there, or how she can make the index card and smaller box (she knows she will have to make it pink; it will not be pink all on its own. She is okay with that.) go away. This is why Anty prefers to write longhand, but she needs to use the glowy box because that is how things work in the writing business, so she is going to have to figure this out. I would help, but there is a reason there are no computer manuals written by cats. I do not think I need to explain that, so we will leave that there.

Anty did not know, until Tuesday, all that she could do with Scrivener, so, since Miss N helped her, it is like she has a new toy. Knowing where all her files are makes Anty a lot more confident, and she will not be distracted by lots of things that she does not need any longer. This will also make it more fun to write, and that is very good for everybody. I do not need to tell regular readers of this blog what having Grumpy Anty means. Nobody wants to have Grumpy Anty. Happy Anty is much, much better.

If setting up files this way works out, Anty will move some of her other manuscripts to this new format, and then maybe have an easier time dealing with those. She is excited about that prospect. Since it is time for Anty to get the computer packed to go write at the coffee house (probably with some real index cards, color coded, along for backup) that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Creative Differences Edition

January 29, 2016annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. Anty and I are having some creative differences this week. There was a topic Anty had suggested for me to write about, but I had to exercise my duties as a mews, and let her know (gently, because this insomnia thing makes her grumpy) that her idea was not very interesting, which it was not. Fridays are my day to blog, and Anty needs to trust me to do the job she asked me to do. At the moment, she is too busy chair dancing to “You’ll Be Back,” from the Broadway musical, Hamilton, to put up much of an argument anyway.

One of the things Anty has come to realize about days when it is difficult to focus is that she probably needs more stimuli. New music is always a good thing, and when it comes highly recommended by people whose opinion Anty values, that is a good sign she may want to have a listen. Anty has not seen Hamilton, but she loves when things people may not think go together -the American Revolution, Broadway, and rapping? What?- do go together, and not only work, but work far better than one would expect.

So far, Anty is only a few songs into Hamilton, but she has already listened to this song five times. No, wait, it is six now. When Anty finds a song that clicks with her, she is going to listen to that a LOT of times in a row, and she does get something new from each listen. I think it has something to do with that whole more layers thing. I probably should remind Anty that she has her DVD of Idlewild sitting on the DVD shelf in her office, and the combination of Prohibition and hip hop probably is going to jog something loose in her brain. Movies and art journal time are very good for things like that.

Anty has also never seen A Knight’s Tale, but that is on her list, too. She did not see it when it first came out, because it had too much of a modern slant – fighting for the honor of the queen, sure, but to the music of Queen? Uh, no, they did not have Queen in the middle ages, thankyouverymuch. Anty’s outlook has changed some since then. Now, she is more concerned with the feel of the story world, verisimilitude instead of strict accuracy. People who lived in other centuries wanted the same things as we do today, but the ways they got them were different.

Now that Anty thinks on it, some of these creative mismatches are the truest of all. Anty loves Elton John and Tim Rice’s version of Aida. Did I mention how one of Anty’s favorite-favorite tropes is star-crossed lovers? Well, it is. It is probably her favorite of all. Anty’s best definition of historical romance, the way she writes it and likes to read it, is a love story worthy of history. She thinks “Written in the Stars” has to be one of the greatest star-crossed lovers songs of all time. I will give you a spoiler here: Aida and Radames do not get a happy ending (well, not in this life) but in a historical romance novel, they absolutely would. I should amend Anty’s favorite trope as “star-crossed lovers who make it work.” She cannot get enough of that stuff, so she has to make more, of her own.

When Anty finds it difficult to put out story, then it is time for her to take some in, to fill her well. What well needs to be filled can vary from time to time. Sometimes, she needs an infusion of emotion. Other times, it is a grounding in the world of the time of the story. That does not mean facts and dates, which may surprise some. For Anty, it is the way the world felt.

Anty’s favorite research session ever, she thought was going to be a very boring one. She had gone to Old Mystic Seaport, with two other writer friends, who were excited to use the research library, and the people who could help them find the books they needed. When Anty got to the library, she felt like the walls were closing in, and didn’t know how to answer the person who asked how he could help her find what she needed. She didn’t know what she needed from all those books, so she told her friends she had to take a walk. It was cold and very, very windy, and Anty soaked it all in for hours.

She stood at the shore and watched the tide come in, walked through the completely deserted shipyard and inhaled its scents, picked up shells from the tide pools, and picked the brains of every costumed interpreter she encountered. There were not many of them, because it was really cold and really windy, but Anty did not mind. When she read, in her pamphlet, that an to talk about what life was like for a house slave in that era, she ran to the right building, so that she would not miss anything. By the time her friends met her for lunch, Anty was full of ideas and stimuli, and couldn’t wait to get all of it into her story. The story she was working on at the time -and hopes to again, in the future- was not set in the time or place of the museum, but that did not matter. What mattered was that they were near the sea, and there were the skeletons of ships, and that was the same centuries and an ocean away. Getting the feel right, knowing why a certain character loved ships more than anything else, that was what Anty had come for, and she got it.

That all feels vaguely subversive, but Anty likes it that way. It has been said that well behaved women never made history. Maybe the same thing applies to writing historical romance, as well. What is it some humans say, play by the rules, miss all the fun? I am not sure Anty is not having a little too much fun, listening to Hamilton. “Helpless” is playing, and this degree of chair dancing cannot be safe on that kind of chair. That had better be about it for this week, so, until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Scribbling Furiously Edition

January 22, 2016annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. I am pawing it once again in regard to topic, because Anty is hard at work on Her Last First Kiss. Now that she knows she has an assignment to turn in to Miss N on Tuesday, she is not about to let anything stop her. This can be both a good and a bad thing.

The good thing is that a writing Anty is a happy Anty. She knows where this book is going, and she has the new opening roughed out, so it is now time to smooth that out and show it to an actual other writer human, in person. A writing Anty with a deadline is also a very focused Anty. When Anty does not have a tight focus, she will try and write in the living room, because that is where the glowy box is when she gets up in the morning. The problem there is that the rest of the family has access to the living room, because it is for everybody, not only for Anty, and they want to use the room, too. Since Anty is focused, she is doing more of her at-home work in the office.

The view from Anty’s seat

That room still needs a lot of work. You can probably see the big glowy box screen behind the pink glowy box. That screen goes with a glowy box that stays on the desk (well, next to it) but is too old to run the Internet or, more importantly, Sims. Anty is figuring out how to get a better big glowy box in there, but for now, Anty brings the pink glowy box into the office in the morning, makes a list of what she has to get done, and then she will come out when it is lunchtime. Specifically my lunchtime. Until then, she can put all her attention on the book, stick those pink things in her ears, so only she can hear her music, and get to work. What comes out of Anty’s head at first is very rough, and needs several passes before she can show it to anybody. With this scene, she grumbles a lot about too much happening inside Heroine’s head. Even I think she is going to have to fix that, and I am a kitty, so I can only imagine what other humans would have to say.

Besides the first scene, the other thing Anty has to do is make a list of all the characters in her book. When they make their first appearance in a scene, Anty has to write their name down on a separate paper (probably in a notebook, or copy it to a notebook from the scratch paper) and then write who they are and what their relationship is to the other characters. She can also put anything else she wants about the characters in that description, but that brings her to a place where she does not want to go.

I do not think I like overthinking.

I am talking about overthinking. Anty is really, really, really good at overthinking. She can think about one thing so much that she gets paralyzed in her thoughts and cannot go any farther on that topic. That has meant some miscarried stories in the past. She does not want to go that way with this book, so she is trying new things to make sure that does not happen again.

One of those things is writing her first-first pages in present tense. For example:

Skye sleeps in the sunbeam.

Rather than:

Skye slept in the sunbeam.

That way, for Anty, the story is something that is happening now, and she can alter it as she goes, rather than something that has already happened, and is set in stone. She did not know she was thinking that way until she talked with some other writer friends, and started reading books for almost-grown humans. Those are sometimes written in present tense, and it is a good way for her to get her brain working and moving forward. It lets her take in more of the scene that is in the movie in her head if it is happening “now,” so it is like noticing rather than remembering.

Once she has that on the page, then she can go back and revise what she has already written. She can put the present tense into past, and see if she can get things out of characters’ heads and into action or dialogue. That part can make her edge over to the crabby side, but it is all for a good cause. She will be better once she has the revisions made and can get some feedback.

Anty needs the computer back, because it is story time, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Story Brain Edition

January 15, 2016January 15, 2016annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. Anty did not tell me what to write about today, so I am going to have to wing it, or, in my case, paw it. I do not have any wings, because I am a kitty; only paws. I use them for walking. Only birdies have wings. Also bats, and some insects. Maybe also Pegasus (I do not know the plural form of that word, but it is a horsey with wings. I am not sure if they are real or fictional, but I do not want to find out by meeting one. They sound scary.) I think Anty letting me say whatever I want today shows a great deal of trust. I will try to show her she did the right thing.

Most of this week can be divided into domestic tornado management and writing. Anty also found time to get to the library, along with Mama, and bring home a bunch of books. Eight of them, which is a lot, even though Anty says it is a reasonable amount. These are the books:

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Anty picked them all. Mama did not find any books she especially wanted to read, but she wants to read some of the books Anty picked, when Anty is done reading them. So far, Anty is close to mostly through one. One. Anty needs more reading time. I would suggest that Anty try using some of the awake-in-the-middle-of-the-night time for reading, but the last time I did that, she looked at me like this:

That is not something I want to go through again, so that was the last time I will make that suggestion. Anty is doing laundry at least once tomorrow, so that is two hours of potential reading time right there. If it does not turn into writing time, that is. Which it might. One important thing to know if you have a writer in your life is that pretty much any time can turn into writing time. That comes with the territory, and does not only happen when they are in front of a computer or have a notebook at hand (although Anty usually does have at least one notebook within reach.) Many writers, including my Anty, do not have an off switch. Sometimes, it would be useful if they did, but they do not. At least mine does not.

We do not have any pictures of the Anty Has Story Brain look, and that is probably a good thing. Mama and Uncle and I have learned to recognize it, though, and I think some of the humans who work at the coffee house. Twice, this week, Anty has had a coffee house human remind her that her tea is right in front of her and she can sit down now. Some of them know it because they are writers, too, and give the gentle prompt as a matter of professional courtesy. The best way I can describe that look is sort of blank, staring off into some place that is not there. Maybe I should say it is something non-writers cannot see, because merely because something happens inside a writer’s mind does not mean it is not real. Making things in their heads become real is a big part of writers’ jobs, so it is no surprise that it happens when it happens. Sometimes, often in the car, Mama will notice Anty is too quiet, and ask “are you writing?” Almost always, Anty says that she is. Once, Mama asked, “How are Hero and Heroine?” Anty laughed, because that was where her story brain had gone.

a very small portion of story brain

Anty says that, at least for her, story brain is a sign that she is on the right track, and the characters are doing their parts. It is like a movie in her head that plays itself and she has to get it all down. Maybe it is somewhat like recapping TV shows, except that there is no remote to pause things and she has to do it all in her head. I think the inside of Anty’s head is probably very messy, filled with pictures and sounds and bits of movies and snippets of songs, remembered smells and parts of ideas that started out as something else, but took on their own form after they swam around with all the other stuff for a while. I can imagine it is very easy to get lost in there at times, and that is why it takes Anty a little while to come back from it when she has to do things like go to the grocery store or figure out where Uncle’s sweater went.

Story brain is a lot better than lack-of-story-brain. Anty wrestled with that for a long while, and it was not pretty. I am not sure that story brain is that much prettier, as her office looks like a tornado hit it. More books are coming out of boxes and going into her bookshelves, moving around so books she wants easiest access to, like the library haul, above, are the ones she can get to fastest, and books she never ever looks at can get ready to go to new homes. Right now, she needs books that will help keep her moving forward in telling Hero and Heroine’s story, and those that don’t, need to go away. She says I can share pictures when she gets things neat again, but not right now.

Right now, Anty needs the computer back so that she can write more about Hero and Heroine, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: New, Old, Hot and Cold Edition

January 8, 2016annabowling 2 Comments

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. It is also Frozen Friday. Our furnace is down (oddly enough, it has nothing to do with fur, although “fur” is right there in the name. Talk about misleading.) and the Heater Human is down in the basement now, working on it. This has been going on for a couple of days (do not worry, he goes home and hunts for parts and things and does other jobs and then comes back; he is not a prisoner.) and we are all ready to be warm again. Although I have a built in fur coat (maybe it is called a “furnace” because it is for humans, who do not have fur, and therefore need an external source of heat?) the humans do not, so they are wearing layers of clothing, wrapping themselves in blankets and drinking lots of tea.

Normally, lots of tea makes Anty happy, and it still does, but it is better when it is a choice and not a necessity. Anty is used to having cold times once in a while; we do live in New York, after all, and Anty has lived in the northeast most of her life. Uncle is from California, so this is a little different for him. I think he will be happiest of all when it is warm again. Heater Human says that if he cannot fix things on this try, he will get another Heater Human to come and help. Things will be back to normal soon, which is a good thing. While Heater Human is still on the job, he has to ring the doorbell when he wants in. The doorbell is loud, and I hide under the bed when I hear it, in case it is the catpocalypse. (That is like the apocalypse, but aimed specifically at cats. So far, I have avoided it.)

Snuggled under blankets, with a cup of tea, is a comfortable state for writers, especially those, like Anty, who write about times long ago. To them, this would be normal. Cold weather means extra layers of clothing, gathering around the fire (I am sure that kitties made certain to get the prime spots in front of the big fireplaces when there was such gathering to do) and telling stories, making music or playing games. Also art. Anty has found that waiting for Heater Human to report his progress is a good time to take care of tasks she can do with frequent interruptions (writing is not one of those) and not much brain power.

One of those things is going through some art supplies she inherited from her papa and seeing what can still be used. These tubes are a kind of paint called gouash. They are older than me. A lot older. They should be a very thick liquid, but they are solid. Anty did some research and found out that gouache is a special kind of paint that stays alive even when it is hard, so she had to find out if that was true.

It took some boiling water and some patience, but most of the paint can still be used if she adds some water to it. Now, the challenge is how to get it out of the tubes. Maybe the humans at the art store can help her with that. Getting these paints to work mean that Anty has another thing she can use in her art. The orange page below is painted with gouache, and is now ready to have other things up on top of that.

Anty is also trying out some pencils, both colored and the regular kind, that were in the same box with the paints and her fountain pen. She thinks of these things as buried treasures. They might have been created a long time ago, but she can use those older things to make new things, from her own imagination now. It is the same way with writing. Sometimes, an idea or a character that did not work at one time, but also did not go away, can come to life at a later date. Sometimes, they can be even better when rediscovered than they were when they were first put away.

Now I have a confession to make. I stopped a lot during the writing of this blog, to investigate the heater below the window seat. It smelled interesting. Very interesting. That is because Heater Human really is a super hero, and made the furnace work again. It is also something older that worked when something new was added to it, which fits with this week’s theme nicely. I could not have planned that better. Now we are toasty again, but I think Anty will still consume the same amount of tea.

That is about it for this week, so, until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Pocket Full of Candy Corn Edition

November 13, 2015annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. It is halfway through November, almost, and that means the holidays are almost here. Well, Halloween is a holiday, and so is Anty’s birthday, so I suppose that means we are already in the holiday season. That is a good thing to keep in mind when things get hectic, because they certainly are.

First, Anty has a new post up at Heroes and Heartbreakers. She said I have to put her new posts up first, or I will run out of room when I get talkative. Her Heart to Heart on last night’s Sleepy Hollow is now live. It is here and it looks like this:

Anty is slightly grumpy that the show is going on hiatus until February, but she is glad to know that it will be back. It will be on a different night, Fridays, instead of Thursdays, when it was originally aired on Mondays. That is a lot of change. Kitties are not very big on change. Humans can handle it somewhat better, and it is good to try new things once in a while.

For a long time, Anty could not remember if she liked candy corn or not. Most years, she did not care about that. As long as she has gummi bears, she is pretty much content on that front, but this year, she had to know. Uncle thought she did not. Mama could not remember, either, but she does not like candy corn, so maybe Anty did not, either. Anty wanted to find out for herself, so she tried some.

the great experiment

Mama and Anty got some candy corn that was on clearance, from a maker whose other products they have liked, and brought it home. The box said it was made with real honey. Anty was surprised to see that as an ingredient, as she never thought honey had anything to do with candy corn, but maybe that was a point in its favor. She gave Mama a piece and then tried some for herself. Then she remembered. She did like candy corn, but it has to be from a good maker, and there is a right way to eat it. That would be by color, from the top down, in case you were curious. Anty did not rush out and buy three pound bags of the stuff (three pound bags of cat treat, yes, but candy corn? That would be a little much.) but it is good to know there is something fall-themed on which she can nibble while she works in her office. They also fit nicely in her sweatshirt pocket for cold days when she needs to wear that while she works.

Anty’s office is undergoing a lot of change, the same as her writing and reading. I think it is all related, but do not quote me on that. The bulletin board is down now, as is the string of fairy lights (some people call them Christmas lights, but Anty likes to have them up all year) she used to drape around the frame of the bulletin board. She still wants to have the lights up, but now needs to find a new place for them to live. Even Anty cannot drape fairy lights around a poster that does not have a frame (basically, a piece of paper) so she must think of other ideas. She could put them around the closet doorway (it does not actually have a door; it was like that when we moved in, so do not blame Anty. Or me.) or maybe get some hooks to go around the poster and try to display them that way. She could also get the poster framed, which she probably will do eventually, but for right now, she likes the airier feel of having more visual room in her workspace. She will take a picture and share it later, once she gets things the way she wants them.

Having a work environment that reflects the work Anty does is important to her and it does help her stay focused. The one big Union Jack does more for her than a board with small bits of ephemera scattered around it, so it is going to stay. She has some Georgian-era reproduction prints that her papa had in his house. Those are in heavy frames, so she needs to find the right sort of supports to hang them, that will not damage the walls. Maybe they will end up leaning on a shelf, if the frames are too heavy, but she has always wanted them in her special space, and now they are there. All she has to do is find out how they can best be displayed.

That is a theme with Anty these days. Take what she loves and find the best way to use it. That will generally provide the best result. For right now, the best result will be for her to feed me, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Until next week…

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Scary Stories Edition

October 30, 2015annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday. Here I am, practicing my begging face. Are my eyes big enough? I am next to the refrigerator, so that Anty will know I want food. My food is not in the refrigerator; that is where they keep people food. My food is in the pantry, but I figured Anty was smart enough to make the connection. Today is also the day before young humans put on costumes and go begging for treats. I beg for treats every day (and I get them) so I feel sorry they only get to do it once a year.

I was not born yet when this happened, but I have an interesting Halloween story to tell about Anty. This happened back when Olivia was our family’s kitty, and Anty worked in a place called the mall. The store where Anty worked sold accessories, which was very fun for Anty. They also said that workers could wear costumes for Halloween if they wanted. Anty thought that sounded fun, but she was also very busy that year and did not have time to put a costume together.

That is not the end of the story, though. While Anty was at work, people from the mall gave her a prize for wearing an especially imaginative costume. Anty was very confused about this, because she was wearing her regular clothes. Well, regular for Anty, that is. She had on a long patchwork skirt, suede boots with zippers, a pirate shirt and a black vest. She also had a Star Trek: The Next Generation style communicator pin that she wore as regular jewelry. The mall people said that they loved Anty’s costume as a member of a Star Trek landing party in disguise. Anty figures it was very creative of them to come to that conclusion, and maybe she had subconsciously worked in that direction, so she thanked them and accepted the prize.

She also went back to sorting through the pretty toy coins the mall people gave her to hand out to trick or treaters (they could not give out eating things because of rules) because those were not toy coins at all. Anty did not know how the mall people got those coins, because those coins were from a big big party called Mardi Gras in Louisiana, and the mall was in Connecticut. What Anty did know was that some of those coins could make parents of the trick or treaters angry, because some of those coins advertised places and activities that are not okay for young humans. Places where only grownups can go, to get drinks that are only for grownups, and places where grownups can watch other grownups, um, I will say dance. I do not mean ballroom or ballet, if you catch my drift. Anty took those kinds of coins out of the basket and did not give them out.

Those are really the only two Halloween stories I know, but I know a lot about being scared. Anty likes TV shows like The Walking Dead and Sleepy Hollow. Those are only pretend scary. I will tell you what is really scary. Research is really scary, at least according to Anty. Her first book, My Outcast Heart, was set in the town where Anty was a people kitten. Her hero was a hermit and her heroine was a subsistence farmer. That meant that the expected income for that job was food. That sounds like a very good job to me. I like food.

For this book, Her Last First Kiss, Anty is not on such familiar ground. That means she has a lot of research to do. Her previous books have had what some might call outliers as main characters. That does not mean they were very good at not telling the truth. That means that they were not a part of mainstream society. The heroine of Never Too Late started out as part of society, but she left, so she falls into that category, too. Anty says I do not need to know what a mistress is, but she needs to know how one got paid and how much and how much it would cost to keep somebody in a special hospital in 1784, and what her boy story people would have studied at Oxford and how far it is from Point A to Point B..and C and D and E, and how long did it take to get a special license to get married and other things as well. I am pretty sure I heard the exact moment her brain broke yesterday. That was a very scary moment for a kitty, because Anty was the only human at home, and I still needed food. I think she is better today, but she has a big binder out and is muttering something about something about maps. She is irritated with the Romans for putting London all the way at the bottom of the country, because that does not leave her a lot of room for characters to — Anty says I should not be talking about things like that before she has them firm in her mind.

One thing Anty has learned from all the books she has started to write but did not make it all the way is that she needs to have the foundation in place, and research is part of that. When she wants to know what her people could do in that time, she can look at what people actually did in that time. Anty is writing a romance novel, not a textbook, but she also needs to know what her people’s world was like and what they could do. If she does not know what her people could do, then she gets overthinky and that scares even Uncle, so she has to find these things out.

Anty needs the computer back, so that is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Until next week…

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

Typing With Wet Claws

Typing With Wet Claws: In The Pink Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: This Was Uncle’s Idea Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Not a Doggie Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Mostly Writing Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Creative Differences Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Scribbling Furiously Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Story Brain Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: New, Old, Hot and Cold Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Pocket Full of Candy Corn Edition

Typing With Wet Claws: Scary Stories Edition