Inbox cat says spend your time napping when you can.
I’ve been pondering the fact that life usually doesn’t go as planned. In my twenties and thirties, I sold stories—I had an agent for a while. The agent proved a bit shady, so I dropped her. I wasn’t overwhelmed by offers of publication.
Here is the fierce predator Onion in her natural environment. She’s stalked and killed a roll of toilet paper, having started the morning by taking down a votive candle.
I’m sad to tell you Onion is an only child now. Her sister Potato was lost a while ago on a grand adventure, begun by popping out a window screen. Potato started her quest at night, or I might have stopped it. She’s now with Bast, or wherever cats go when they take off. I miss her.
My first editor is a demanding one. But I’ve been writing! I’m nearly done with a draft of the third book!
Potato, who as we see is practicing to trick-or-treat as Queen of the Fey, is looking through my costume supplies to see which fairy wings suit her best. Although she’s not above gnawing on the wings either.
As for me, I did my reading (of The Deer Stalker, in Seattle), and attracted a small crowd, and people bought books, and that was good!
Now I’m trying to figure out the next book. I’m sort of ruminating on or rolling around in research about ancient Sumer (again)—sort of like Potato and her wings.
Here is my beautiful Onion girl, and my to-do list. I’ve just finished proofing the galleys for the second book. I’m trying to find the right time for a book release party.
It looks as if The Deer Stalker should be available around the first of August. I’ll provide details when everything’s for-sure locked in.
I won’t lie — I’m pretty excited.
It’s been a quiet last week here at the homestead. Here are Onion and Potato demonstrating cat chillery. I camped out an evening for the Fourth, but returned to the cats the next afternoon.
The final proofread version of The Deer Stalker is with the publisher, and layout for book should be done shortly. I’ll have a publishing date soon! The book will come out around the first of August: Lughnasadh.
After my morning witch-practice, I often leave my deity and ancestor candles burning a while for connection and in their honor.
This morning, after I was done, Potato decided to sit with my ancestors and deities too. If Cat-Mom does it every morning, maybe it’s useful for cats…?
So glad Mercury is going direct! It’s been a hard one, this Pisces retrograde. For me, it came as the return of old sorrows—old relationships snuffed out, things that will never be mended.
But luckily, it turns out, at least I won’t have to bother myself with writing any more. Potato has taken over the author’s chair.
Here is Potato with the latest New Yorker, giving her opinion of the literary establishment. Unlike me, she and her sister consume magazines starting at the corners, leaving frilled and bitten edges like lettuce.
I incorporated my beta readers’ comments into book two. This has been a hard last bit. Snow stayed, hard-crusted on the ground—we still have icebergs of it dotted across my backyard. Winter also stayed, with short days, and Daylight Savings was just an insult. I am prone to seasonal affective depression, but usually not so bad as this year.
