New kitty!

My husband and I have not adopted cats since we've been married; they've adopted us.

Before we married, I adopted four cats, three of which remain at my parents' home in California. They lived with us at my husband's parents' home until we moved out and got an apartment much too small for so many outdoor cats, so back to my parents' home they went. We lived closer to them, so I got to visit them whenever I wanted until we moved to Alaska.

While living with hubby's parents' we met many strays, bums who came to eat and sleep for a while before moving on. One wild cat hung around so long, he got used to humans and discovered he loved being petted. He'd crash his head into your hand so hard, like he never knew how wonderful it was to be petted before. We called him Snaggletooth because of the one tooth sticking out his mouth.

The two who adopted us permanently are with us here in Alaska. Asuka, the little girl, just appeared on the back porch one day. When I opened the door, she didn't run or hiss or anything. She just mewed at me, so I brought her in.

Dusty was crapping on the deck where I'd feed the cats, and we had no idea who was doing it. Until one day, when he jumped onto the deck with a thump while I was feeding. It was like he said, "Here I am! Feed me, love me!"

These two get along all right, except Asuka is a bit temperamental. She doesn't really want to play with Dusty, or cuddle with him, though occasionally she'll tolerate is attentions. So we discussed getting a third cat for Dusty.

We never really had to go out and adopt a cat because they seemed to be finding us just fine.

But here in Alaska, things are different. We've only seen two cats since we moved to our house almost two years ago. Both were clearly owned by someone else in the neighborhood. If we were serious about adopting another cat, we would have to go out and find one.

This past Sunday we went to PetZoo to pick up some dog food. That's all we went in there for, really. But we discovered they were having a big sale (they even had someone walking around in a dog suit handing out sample bags of Yummie Chummies). In the back, there were cages where Clear Creek Cat Rescue (I think that's their name) had some of their adoptable cats. Hubby said I can't go over there, and I said, "Over where?" because I hadn't noticed yet. So of course he led me over there himself. (I turned my hubby into a bigger cat freak than I am!)

We talked to the nice lady of CCCR about our home situation, the other animals we have, and what we were looking for. She introduced us to Daisy, this pretty little tortishell, mostly brown with orange flecks, who snuggled in our arms without any problems. The lady told us about how she loved to play and had lots of energy. She was estimated to be 11 months old, not a kitten, but not a full adult either. We decided to go on with our shopping and discuss it.

We'd just gone on to Fred Myer and all we could talk about was this sweet little kitty. When we were checking out, we decided to take her home, so hubby got $60 from the ATM and immediately walked over to PetZoo while I took the groceries to the car and drove back. He was worried she would be adopted before we got back.

Of course there have been problems since we brought her home. Asuka hates her, and Dusty seems bewildered. Daisy didn't eat, drink, or potty the whole first 24 hours. The cats get into tiffs if they get too close to each other.

Now, on day four, they still get into small tiffs, but I'm usually standing over them when they are near each other. But Daisy is eating, drinking, using the litter box, and has her favorite cubby hole on top of the washer/dryer behind the hanging clothes. I brought some toys home, and she plays with them. She's investigating the house, she's talking to us all the time, she loves attention. The dogs don't even make her twitch.

Right now it seems impossible that the three cats will ever get friendly with each other. But at least we can now live (relatively) quietly and happily together. And maybe some day Daisy and Dusty will be playmates. I pray for this every day.

Here is the link to Clear Creek Cat Rescue. Daisy's profile was still on there at the time of this blog posting. http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/AK43.html

Every time a cat gets adopted from them, they can rescue another cat from being put down at the shelter. For those readers living in Alaska, please consider these kitties for adoption.

Heading Home

Tonight I hop on the plane to head back home to Alaska. I was kind of hoping it would be pouring down rain today so I wouldn't be leaving such gorgeous sunshine behind. Ah, well.

I've got my hair tied back for the first time this week, since the nasty winds are blowing at home. I still have all my hair; I haven't decided whether I'm going to cut it off or not. The weather here in California is so mild, hair length is not the issue that it is in the Mat-Su Valley. We shall see what I decide later.

It was a week packed with delights. I finally reached a point where I felt like a normal person. I mean, I would eat and feel satisfied. I teach so many exercise classes I'm usually in calorie deficit, so I'll be full but still hungry most days.

Of course, my diet has been horrendous and I haven't exercised a bit. Monday is going to be hell. I'll be subbing for a lot of classes and practicing my new routines when I get back.

I got to see a lot of my family and friends. I managed to reign in my spending this year. I'm hoping my husband and I will be able to visit home together this summer. We may actually be able to use our companion ticket for the first time.

I'm extremely grateful that the weather was so nice while I visited. But it will be nice to return to my hubby, home, animals, and "normal" routine.

Normal. >snort<

Wowza! Oh, and California, too.

That Japanese monster hunter tale I submitted back on the 14th gave me a real surprise. The website said to allow three months before querying, so I had that written into my spreadsheet and fully expected that time frame before knowing whether they liked it or rejected it.

And I got an acceptance email in two days. Which means I am officially going to be a published author. Can I scream now?!

I sent the contract in last week. I think I'm still in shock. I think I will continue to be in shock until I see it in the printed anthology. And then it will just morph into a different sort of shock.

Right now I'm writing this from California, using my parents' computer. The sun is shining outside the window, quite a change from the single digit temps and gusty winds of home, or so I've been hearing. When I first arrived in California and my best buddies picked me up, it was raining hard. That turned to snow by the time I was walking up the driveway to my parents' house. Dad met me halfway and I said, "Look what I brought with me, Dad!"

Very early spring here is like summer in Alaska. The difference is amazing.

I brought a notebook with me in my backpack. I wasn't able to bring much because you no longer get a free checked bag on the airplanes anymore. The first bag costs $25 to check, so I just brought what I could fit into my backpack and my guitar. That means I'm now behind in my Write 1 Sub 1 process, but I haven't stopped writing completely. I began plotting another story in my notebook last night, and wrote the first scene today.

I'd forgotten how quickly the hand starts to hurt when one is used to typing on a computer keyboard as opposed to handwriting.

I also miss my Scrivener program, where all the formatting is done for me, there are files for research, word count, and a bunch of other things.

But the nice thing about the notebook is that it's just you and the pen. No computer distractions, like Internet or games. The story seems more vibrant written that way for some reason.

By the time I get back, I will be behind a story and two submissions, but I plan on catching up very quick. Publication is quite a motivation when you get your first taste of it. I have no idea when the anthology is coming out, but I'm practically screaming with impatience.

Oh, wait, no I'm not. I'm acting very professional and serious.

I think I better go eat another piece of cheesecake ...

Happy Less than Three Day!

That's <3 for the uninitiated, heeheehee!

Hubby bought me chocolate, of course. What cracks me up is that instead of buying the heart shaped box of Ghiradelli chocolates for $10, he bought the regular old bags and got twice as much chocolate for the same price. Smart man, well trained.

So here's the lowdown on how Write 1 Sub 1 is going for me. I was falling slightly behind during the last week of January because I was frantically making some mini bear nuns and priests as gifts for the hard working crew people in our Nunsense II production. If I could have, I would have made one for every person in the show, but my fingers would surely have fallen off. As it was, I got no writing done that week.

I've caught up now and I'm right on schedule. I've had a couple of rejections and an honorable mention for one contest I'd entered. Out of 366 entries, one was the winner, and ten others (including mine) got the honorable mention. I was bouncing off the walls the rest of the day when I read that. I mean, someone read my stuff and noticed it! Not only noticed it, but liked it enough to give it a mention! Woohoo! It's a little like gambling: you may only be getting nickels, but the fact that they're pouring out of the machine is a total trip. Not much but it's something!

My husband was reading over my shoulder while I was working on a Japanese monster hunter tale. He actually looked surprised with what he read. He always though of it as a hobby for me, that I wasn't really serious about it, but he really liked what he read. He was impressed. Now I know there are professionals out there that would say it doesn't matter if your husband likes it because he's your family. Of course he wouldn't really criticize it. But anyone who knows my husband would know what a big deal that reaction was to me. He inspired me in a way nothing else could have.

I just submitted that story today. I also made a Resubmissions spreadsheet so I can keep track of what stories are already out being considered, and what has been rejected so I know I can send it somewhere else. Sure, some places allow multiple submissions, but most don't. So I'll just do them one at a time.

I'm really enjoying this writing journey. I mean, the story that got honorable mention, I thought it was bad. I didn't like it much. But I could spend eternity rewriting something and never be happy with it. That taught me something about my abilities. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad story! I gotta keep going, keep trying, keep learning.

Okay. Back to writing.

Lookie, lookie!

I'm blogging on my Nook. Just because I can. And I'm blogging while sitting in bed. Again, just because I can. Wi-fi at home is a wonderful thing.

First week down, 51 to go ...

Posted my progress on the Write 1 Sub 1 blog: finished one story and submitted it to a contest. Finished writing a second story, but it needs revising and cutting down, since it's 17 words too long for the contest it's intended for.

Writing in the short story format is proving to be quite difficult. Normally for novels, I get a single burning great idea, and I can spend years on that one novel. (Heck, make that nine years. That's how long I've been working on Sparkless!) With Nanowrimo, I now have at least four novels that need finishing/revising.

I decided this "write one, sub one" idea was the perfect thing to get me to sit down and just WRITE. Something different every week. Something that I can sit and read through in a small amount of time and quickly revise. It's so hard not to spend days or weeks revising something I've written. I know I'm impossible to please with my own stuff, so the "submission" part is helping me with that. My main goal with this is to learn how to write good short stories and get some great feedback from publishers in the field in the process. If I get published along the way, that's a bonus.

But coming up with ideas is hard. I usually get my novel ideas from dreams, but I don't remember my dreams often enough to do a short story a week with it. Nor do they always make enough sense to lend themselves to story writing. These first two stories I've written I think I've made as interesting as I could, but there's nothing really new about them. One is based on a newspaper article I read about a local woman who killed her husband. The second is based on a theme for a contest about something important being lost and then found by someone else. Again, the same problem: I think I wrote it well, but the idea isn't new.

I think I'm frustrated by the constant pressure from the outside world to write "new" stuff, ideas that haven't been done before, concepts that haven't been explored. But is there really anything left in the world that's new? For heaven's sake, we've come to sparkly vampires as popular entertainment. I got really ticked off when I read "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." I mean, if all I had to do was take an old novel and thrust a few zombie scenes into it, then why didn't all those books on writing say so in the first place?!

Granted, I'm not writing because I want to be a famous author or make tons of money from it. Heck, if I wanted to be famous, I probably should have run off to New York and tried to make it on Broadway. I think I'm a better singer than I am a writer.

I want to entertain people. I want people to love what I write, what I sing, what I make as much as I love other writers' work, other performers' songs, and other artists' creations. I don't want to write like Tamora Pierce, I just want to make others feel the way I feel when I read her Tortall novels. Performing in Nunsense II this weekend, I was exhausted to the core, but I relish the laughter I get from the audience and the fact that some of them are crying as I sing my goodbye song. The moment I step on stage, the energy comes racing back. (Though it does desert me once more as soon as I step off the stage!)

Whew. Okay, that was kind of heavy!

I know one of my faults as a short story writer is that I've read very few short stories in my life. Most of them were read in college in English classes. I'm not sure why I can't get into reading more of them. I love novels so much, why not shorter versions as well? Maybe I just haven't tried hard enough. Maybe I need to put down "The Count of Monte Cristo" and read some shorts instead. (On page 508 of 1,058 of that, BTW.) There are just so many, it's hard to wade through the info and find a place to start.

Starting to get the desire to revise my second short story. Please excuse me.

First Write, First Sub!

So my first week of Write 1 Sub 1 went pretty well. I wrote a story, spent a day polishing it, and finally submitted it to a contest yesterday. My reflex is to spend weeks polishing a piece, but I know myself; I'd find something to change every single time I read it, and it would never be good enough. So this time I reigned myself in. I won't really learn anything until I start putting my stuff out there for people to read. I keep telling myself that, anyway.

Nunsense II opens tonight. Eek! We had our first audience last night (preview), and it went fantastically well. A lot of laughter and people joining in and having a good time. My biggest panic was the bingo game. I had to cover my mouth when the whole audience started murmuring, and then everyone yelled "Bingo!" at the same time. I had a hard time holding back a smile. When I got off the stage, I started dancing like a loon, pumping my first in the air. I got huge laughs for some of my lines, again trying to keep a straight face. At the end of the show, several people came up and told me I was their favorite character. I was also told of several audience members who were seen crying during my sad song. I love entertaining people.

I was thinking maybe I should write a series of short stories based on my theatre experiences. I mean, small town theatre presents a lot of entertaining moments that the audience never gets to see. Could turn out to be an interesting string.

Anyway, I'm still half asleep after a very full day yesterday. I've got a long night ahead of me, and another long day tomorrow. I think I better get a nap in.