Anna Carrasco Bowling's Blog, page 15

Typing With Wet Paws: Bye-Bye, July Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Sorry for no blog last week, but I was on very important fur nurse duties. The humans were all pretty flat due to the heat, but stayed hydrated and we even got a new fan. I was perfectly fine, because I can find the super comfy places that are too tight for humans to fit. Plus, I have my windowsill. Lots of bird action, I can tell you that. Net week looks to be another hot one, but next week is also August, which means that halfway through, we get Papa’s birthday, and then at the end of it, we will have September. That means fall, which means Mama Anna’s superpowers come back.

always on the lookout

Mama Anna and Aunt Melva are clipping right along on Queen of Hearts. They haven’t written any big holidays in the first two books they have written together, but in this one? So far, three are scheduled. I guess it works like that sometimes.

When it comes to the historical stuff, Mama Anna still hopes to do better, and maybe that will happen in the fall, once this draft of QoH is done. She’ll probably talk about that later, but one thing she’s thinking about is paying more attention to the realm of medieval romance in the current market. There will definitely be some medieval romance in her reading over the next few months. Well, actually right now, as she is reading a medieval or medieval adjacent romance right now.

new reading journal incoming

This weekend, Mama Anna is setting up the first month in her new reading journal, and one of the oboks on her TBR list. Well, TBRR, actually, meaning To Be Re-Read, because she read this book a long time ago. Aunt Mary lent Mama Anna this copy, after Mama Ann recommended this author. Fun fact, Ballenrose, also by Mallory Burgess, was Mama Anna’s favorite historical romance read of our vagabond year. Her favorite YA read of that year was Deposing Nathan, by Zack Smedley. She would very much like it if both of these authors had new books out in the near future.

Since we are at the end of July, that means the stores (where I am not allowed to go, for some reason, but whatever, I have two water bowls and a new big fan) are now selling new stationery things. That makes Mama Anna very very happy. Pens, paper, notebooks, page flags, pastel highlighters (not the bright ones) and that kind of stuff come into our home and I have the very important job of scenting it all. Our stuff has to smell like us. That’s a fact, and I intend to carry out that duty to the best of my ability. Also, I get boxes to sit in, bags to crinkle, and all in all, it’s pretty decent.

How’s it going for you?

Headbonks!

Storm

T-Rex Arms and Dinosaur Noises

oh so many color options

So, I’m back in an A5 dot grid notebook for use as a reading tracker. I do love Goodreads, but I also know me, and I need to touch paper. while Melva and I are moving right along on the contemporary front(this fall, we hope to have two contemporaries to shop around) I am keenly feeling the lack of historical romance. Which is a problem.

I am woefully behind on reading and writing historical romance. By my GR challenge above, i can tell that I am, by my schedule, a whopping fourteen books behind on my 2022 reading goal, which is not okay. This has never happened before, and it is not going any farther. As I told my friend, M, during our weekly chat, when it comes to historical romance, both writing and reading right now, I feel like I am flailing with T-Rex arms and making dinosaur noises. Which very much describes my attempts at reading journal-ing lately. I have a Kindle full of historical romance, shelves full of delicious-looking books, and yet I….haven’t. Which definitely takes a toll on the writing.

I know one way to handle is it “maybe historical romance is over (for me.)” Which I know that it’s not. It’s calling me, both writing and reading wise, so I need to do some stuff about that. Especially about my own favorite flavor of historical romance; big, sweeping sagas with adventure and swash and buckle and stories that play out over years before a triumphant HEA. :happy sigh:

cover page, August 2022

Considering that i am highly stationery motivated, and/or visually oriented, going back to a reading tracker is the obvious step. I’m not sure if writing tracker will be in this same book or another. I am letting the whole planner and notebook situation work itself out organically, which is probably how the historical writing thing is going to work, including blabbering about it here. That may sound for a while like dinosaur noises that don’t make a lot of sense, but by looking at the books I’m reading and figuring out what sticks out about them for me, both positive and otherwise, ideas are bound to conceive..

that’s a bookcase on the top of the second page.

I didn’t want to make the first month too ambitious, but I did have to make a chart to track how many pages I read per day. Going by tens this time. On the facing page, that will be a bookshelf image, where I will color in each individual book as I read it. I will probably go month by month on that, and then later move everything to a bookshelf for the whole year. At some point, I intend ot be making sense. Until then, ten pages a day is a lot better than zero

How’s your reading/writing going?

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Cat Days of Summer Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. It’s fully summer over here in NY’s capitol region, which means that windows are open, and box fans are on. It’s actually super comfortable, though the humans have talked some about air conditioning. That’s pretty cool (hah! See what I did there?) and I remember it being pretty nice, from when we were travelling, but honestly, hard to beat what we have here. Also, did I mention that I have TWO water bowls? Yeah. Big flex in the cat world, trust me on that. The other awesome thing about this time of year is the thing that makes Mama Anna super happy, and that is back to school sales.

If you know Mama Anna at all, you know she is kind of gaga for all things stationery. That means she gets really excited for this time of year because it means that there is new stationery stuff everywhere, and it means that the autumn is coming, when her super powers return. Also when we can celebrate my adoptiversary, as well as Mama Anna’s birthday. Lots of things to celebrate. Mama Anna usually likes to celebrate with stationery. For me, that means lots of new things to inspect and put my stink on, because it’s not really ours until it smells like me.

these three notebooks are all Storm-approved. The black cover has Mama Anna’s mini Happy Planner. Christine is the one with the mermaid tail, though Mama Anna moved that charm to a different book and Christine now has a camera charm. She’ll get a picture of that later. The bottom cover has a dot grid Exceed notebook inside, which Mama Anna is using to figure out how to best use dot grid paper, because she is gearing up to pull the trigger on an Archer and Olive book. She’s not normally into white paper or dot grid, but there are also black, kraft and Neapolitan (that means white, black and kraft in the same book. I say they could call it calico) options, so she’s thinking. Besides, she’s seen a lot of videos using this brand as a reading journal, and she wants to try that. For me, I am all about the box. Their notebooks come in boxes. I’m sold.

Mama Anna is super interested in a reading journal (which she might combine with a media journal, about the things she watches on streaming services) because the more she journals, the more she does the things she journals about. She’s also wanting a place to put notes about the books she is reading, and things that inspire her to maybe use in her own books someday. The way I see it, more notebooks means more boxes, which means I win.

What do you think?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Back on Track Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. If you’re wondering where I have been, I’ve been right here, but on nursing duty, as first Pap was sick and then Mama Anna. They are both okay now, so I am back to blogging. As you can see from this week’s picture, I am heavily involved with Mama Anna’s getting back to business, which does of course include supervising the use of stationery. In this case, we are talking about making her new traveler’s notebook, Christine, all chonky. It’s a tiring job, which is why I need to nap during it.

Journaling is super important for Mama Anna, because she has a LOT of thoughts in her head, and putting them on paper, especially paper that loos nice, is a big help in getting it all sorted out correctly. Of course this means that i must be intimately involved in all such proceedings, investigate all tools, and make sure they smell correctly…aka like me. Mama Anna figures that doing some pre-writing for blogs as well as fiction should help her be as productive as she would like, and that includes keeping a special section for stuff about me.

This book pictured above is probably going to be where Mama Anna works out how she wants to set up a reading journal. The pens were a “feel better” gift from Aunt Linda. I am happy to say that they worked.

One of the topics she put in the section for my blogging is three human foods I like but am apparently not allowed to have, because they are “bad for kitties.” Hmph.

Sausage. The humans are rather fond of sausage, including as a pizza topping. One day, there was a very interesting smell coming from the pizza Papa had ordered, and he was busy on his computer, so I saw my chance, and I took it. Meaning that I nabbed a piece of sausage right off his pizza, and that got his attention away from the computer. Not saying if he got it out of my mouth or not, but suffice it to say, we now don’t leave pizza where I can get at it no matter what the interwebs is offering. Bleu cheese dressing: Once again, this is from one of Papa’s dinners. Mama Anna immediately looked up online and found out that this is a food that is Very Bad for kitties, but Papa is super smart about foods, and told her that what I had slurped was basically buttermilk with slight flavoring, but once again, now all condiments are capped if not being actually used. Salami: Mama Anna was sick when this happened, so she doesn’t know anything about it, apart that she saw something round in front of my gushy food dish (it was not gushy food) Interestingly enough, the salami slice was exactly the same shape as my dish, and close in color, so maybe I was playing a matching game? Papa claims no knowledge, but please refer to the above incidents. Suffice it to say that there is now a rule about unattended cold cuts.

So, that’s about it that’s happening around here. We should both be more active on here in teh days to come, so thanks for sticking around. What are you guys up to this week?

Storm

Camp NaNo, One Book July, and Other Stories

Still room for one more sticker in that lower corner

:clears throat:

:blinks:

Wow.

July.

:fidgets:

Well.

Let’s jump into a Q and A, shall we?

Q: Hey, Anna. Where’ve you been?

A: Uh, yeah, about that. Home, mostly. I did go to CT for a weekend, for a family celebration and a papercraft expo. That was cool. A bunch of craft stores. The garbage/recycling area about a billion times. Anxiety, depression, insomnia. For the last two weeks, shingles (not fun, but better now.) Before that, Real Life Romance Hero was in the hospital for a couple of days. He’s home now, doing fine.

Q: I meant writing. Which includes blogging.

A: That wasn’t a question.

Q: Still answer it, please.

A: Well, you did say please. Writing. I am doing that. Melva and I are clipping right along with Queen of Hearts. Over 40k right now, probably more. We are laying groundwork for what comes next, and we will be off and running when she gets back from her family vacation next week. Blog hiatus was not intentional. It just kind of happened and it’s just kind of over. Probably.

Q: Mmhmm.

A: Still not a question.

Q: Historical?

A: That’s a word. Okay, though. Guilt. So, so much guilt. I love writing historical romance oh so very much. This month, I’m going to try something new; instead of whipping myself for being a slacker, I am going to try…wait for it…actually writing historical romance. I will be drafting friends for accountability partners/readers/permission to kick me in the bumbum if I sleep on it any more than I already have. (Volunteers can drop me contact info in the comments.) My awesome friend, Mary, from CT, sent me home with two huge bags of historical romance classics, which is turning out to be highly motivational, especially when we can gab about them.

Q: Are you doing Camp NaNo this year? Camp NaNo is great for that kind of thing.

A: Ehhhh, no. Yes? Kind of? I didn’t sign up for the official thingamaboo, but I am writing in July. I’m counting that. Also every day journaling is a huge, huge help.

Q: How about One Book July, then, for the planner/journal side of things?

A: Ahahahaha, no. I thought about it, and was even looking forward to it, but then, boom, when I got sick, I watched a ton of stationery videos on You Tube, and now I want to Use All The Things, even things I thought I wouldn’t be interested in before. I’ve been browsing Archer and Olive a lot. I don’t normally go for white paper or dot grid, but 160 gsm and those covers…That’s probably a whole post in itself, so I’ll put it on the list and work on that.

Q: Sounds like you’re right on track for All The Books August.

A: In oh so many ways.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: I finished a journaling insert in my traveler’s notebook in one month. Turns out I really like watercolors. I thikn they like me, too.

Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Papa Smells Like People Vet Edition

Tails up, storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I know it’s been a while, but stuff has been kind of real-life-y lately. For the first week that I missed, that was because they don’t allow kitties at StampCon, which is a stupid rule, and then after that, well, Papa ended up smelling like People Vet. Apparently the Humans have some kind of law about medical information, so I will say he is back at work now. Also, Mama Anna and Aunt Linda visited Aunt Mary, which meant they got to see my Cousin Aidan, who is a dog. Anyway, I am glad that everybody is home now, because I don’t like it when my humans are not all in one place.

relieved and curious me. Photo by Mama Anna

Mama Anna came home with a LOT of books from her trip to Aunt Mary’s, and then got a new notebook on one of her craft store runs with Aunt Linda. Yesterday, she started a system to keep track of her TBR mountain, which I think is a good thing because wow, is she behind on her Goodreads challenge. She’ll rally, though. She always does. She is getting her writing groove back, aided by watching some stuff on streaming TV (I help. I catloaf and watch with her.) and spending time with her stationery. Sometimes she forgets that the stationery serves her; she doesn’t serve the stationery. She’s also super in to tidying the apartment, so I have a lot to supervise. Bags to sniff, things to sit on and all of that good stuff.

Christine guts
(well some of them)

Mama Anna is getting hardcore into her art journaling stuff, and she said she might be willing to share some of that here in days to come. Apparently, art supplies are largely not for kitties. Okay, the paints and markers and stuff likely not, but nobody can stop me from sitting on any notebook left in my range of vision. She has some watercolors now that she even takes on the road when she goes out. There is a brush that has water inside it, which I think is pretty cool. That stuff dries fairly fast, so I’m not tracking it anywhere when I walk across it, so that’s a win.

Part of this weekend, Mama Anna will be spending in shelving the books she got from Aunt Mary and then working on her plan to get back into the historical romance groove which means both reading and writing. Don’t ask me how, but something special happens when she puts stationery in the mix. For my part, I am thankful that it usually involves paper I can lay on, which is sometimes but not always what she is currently working on at the moment. I’m not the type to purposely hinder my human, but I do require a certain amount of belly rubs, specifially from Mama Anna.

How’s your summer going so far?

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Introducing Christine Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Now that we are at the official unofficial start of the summer season, we hope to see more action from Mama Anna on this page. A good friend of hers once said that when she’s not okay, she goes all quiet. Fair enough, but she is doing okay right now, though she is working on finding the way blogging works best for her now. Mama Anna and summer are not best friends, but she’s got air flow, multiple fans, and lots of liquids. She also has me, and that’s the most important part.

this is Christine. The notebook, I mean. The kitty is me.

As you might expect, there is a lot of journaling involved in working things out, and part of that is trying out new ways of writing for herself, and even new formats of books in which she writes. Originally, Mama Anna had planned to use this Chic Sparrow traveler’s notebook to hold her mini Happy Planner, but the back cover of the planner and the back pocket of the cover do not agree on anything, so now it’s going to be what she calls a fidget book. She hasn’t put much of anything in it as of yet, though there are two lined and two dot grid inserts in there, to give her an idea of what she might like. She has started making her own coloring pages with stencils she already owns. She will probably write about books in the lined pages, and may make or buy some sort of calendar so that one of the inserts can be mostly functional.

I, of course, have been on the job, making sure Christine (the name came embossed on the front cover, so Mama Anna said that must be the notebook’s name; it was very thoughtful of her to tell her name righ tout of the gate) smells right, and has cat hair on it. Can you believe it came with no cat hair at all? I gues that’s because the previous owner did not have cats. Well, I fixed that. It has cat hair now. You’re welcome. Aunt Linda says I am not allowed to make pricky marks on it with my claws, but Mama Anna says that is part of having a cat (she’s right) but will not give me a lot of opportunities to make that happen.

Christine is going to need planner charms, dashboards, a pen loop, some pretty paper clips and probably some other stuff. Mama Anna isn’t sure yet exactly what. She’s going to figure that out as she goes, which is basically what she does with creating the framework of a story, so this is pretty much normal for her. There may be a reading journal in there, but it has to be Mama Anna’s way, because trying it other people’s way doesn’t work that great. Usually what works best is to just blabber, which she can also apply to her blogging here. At least that’s the direction I’m planning to nudge her in; I can do that with headbonks. I am super great at headbonks.

Okay, I forgot one thing. If anyone is wondering, Christine is a B6 size. You can get an idea for that on this page B6 is the green one. Mama Anna will be giving updates on how Christine progresses, so if you are into traveler’s notebooks or stationery in general, drop some recommendations in the comments about what kinds of inserts you like to use. Maybe large capacity pen cases, too. Especially when they have elastic loops to hold the pens in place. Oh, and pen loops that stick on to the notebook. She likes those.

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Unofficially Summer Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I don’t know when the people calendar says summer starts, but the windows are open, the fan in Mama Anna and Papa’s bedroom is on, Mama Anna has brought out the pajama shorts, and birds are chirping outside the window, so it’s basically summer over here. Not always Mama Anna’s favorite season (okay, never) but this year things look better than they usually have, so that’s good.

I should mention that the humans have been ordering some things that they need (and/or want) so that means that there are a bunch of boxes coming into the house. Mama Anna calls them “cat traps,” because I have to sit in every single one of them. It is my duty as a feline. I also sit on crinkly paper, envelopes, and other packing materials. I am multi-talented, but boxes are my true love in this matter.

photo by Mama Anna

Mama Anna has been making noises about moving her desk (it is foldable, so she can do that) so that it is closer to the window, and the fan in the window, for the summer. That will also give her more light as the days are longer for now. Yesterday was a super good writing day, and a good talk with Aunt Melva about their shared work Now Mama Anna has to apply that same energy to historical romance writing. I have faith in her. She’s pretty good at that. She is also now up to date with This Is Us (still doesn’t like Kate and Toby splitting, but she can deal with their new partners. Also, she is very much in favor of Kevin/Sophie.) Now she is working her way through getting current on The Walking Dead universe. That one is pretty big, so that may take her a while.

photo by Mama Anna

This is not exactly what this part of Mama Anna’s office area looks like at the moment. She has spent some time reorganizing it, so not exactly the same, but pretty close. She is going to need more fairy lights. Also maybe more crates. Here is a fun fact: the weathered looking ones, like the one at the bottom, is a little bigger than the untreated ones. I can’t measure, so I don’t know how much of a difference it is, but it’s worth noting.

Mama Anna is still growling when I bring up her Goodreads challenge, but her latest library haul looks promising, and there are more coming, so I think she is going to do okay, especially since summer is a good time for plopping herself in front of a fan with a good book or ten. Wait, is that a run on sentence? I t hink Mama Anna may be rubbing off on me. Makes sense. I rub on her pretty often. Mamas and babies should smell the same. I don’t make the rules. Oh wait. I’m a cat. That means that I do. Sweet.

headbonks!d

Storm

Typing With Wet Paws: Pre-Mama’s Day Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Thins area especially exciting around here because we are coming up on Mama’s Day. While I have a present for Mama Anna (Aunt Linda helped me, because they don’t let cats in stores. Dumb law, amirite?) I still remember Mama D, who was my first people mama. I am sending her motor purrs. Mama Anna said they will 100% get there. So, we’ve got all that sorted.

photo by Mama Anna

Which is not to say everything is in perfect shape. Right here, on Papa’s desk, for instance, the window is only partially open. I’m talking like a crack. Sure, I can smell some things, but where is my ledge for sunbeam-sitting? I need that. I need a few of them, actually. I have been asking the humans, but they all say, “not yet.” Humph. Maybe they are still salty about that one night I tried moving my food bowl in the general direction of Aunt Linda’s room. Hey. Mama and Papa were asleep, and my food is in a container in a closet in Aunt Linda’s room. Sometimes a girl has to feed herself. Sure, I don’t have thumbs, but maybe I can order some online? Anyway, Mama woke up enough to catch on to what I was doing and put my bowl back where it belongs. Also, I have convinced the humans that I am okay with my water bowl being on the placemat they gave me, but not my food bowl. That needs to be on the bare floor.

photo also by Mama Anna

In case some of you were wondering what I can see when I sit in Mama Anna’s desk chair (or what she sees, for that matter,) here it is. Yes, she does use all of those notebooks. She says the stuff in the tote is all wrong, and she needs to redo the whole thing. She probably will do that this weekend while watching shows on streaming. The Wilds is back, and she really really really likes that show. Kind of like Lost but with teenagers, and some Lord of the Flies mixed into the roux. she will probably have things to say about it when she watches the whole season this weekend. She is also up to “Katoby” in her This is Us watch, and I have been told to be on hand for emergency belly rub therapy.

I would talk about Mana Anna’s reading here, but she just growled when I asked her, so we’ll save that for later. I will say that she has added reading a paper book to her pre-bed routine and that does seem to be helping.

As for writing, that’s coming around, too. She had a good talk –well, two of the, one with Aunt Mary earlier this week and then one with Aunt Melva last night– about being afraid to write and how the only way to get through that is to write anyway. Since the video chats help her a lot, she is looking at having more video chats in the week. Naturally, this does mean more opportunities to videobomb said chats. Who doesn’t love Surprise Calico visits? Mama Anna is purr-fectly willing to move the laptop to give a better view when needed.

Okay, I think that’s about it for this post. Mama Anna has been working in her writing planner today, which means I have to go sit on it. No spread is ever done unless there are white, black, and orange hairs on it. Fortunately, I have all three.

Headbonks!

Storm

Typing with Wet Paws: Back At It Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Pretty decent week around here. Mama Anna and Aunt Linda went out stuff-hunting earlier this week, and they brought back some super interesting bags, and even some crinkly paper for me to sit on; I appreciate that. Oh, and Aunt Linda got a box in the mail (I am waiting for her to take the shoes out of it) that looks like I would jusssst fit. Mama Anna says she plans to store stationery in it, but I am planning on storing me in it first.

who could say no to this face?

Mama Anna did not go out stuff-hunting every day, though. She has been writing, and also moving stuff around in the apartment and getting rid of stuff we don’t need. By which I mean trash and recycling. I, or course, have to supervise. It’s exhausting but I’m worth it. I am not planning on a lot of leisure time this week, because a funny thing happens when Mama Anna hits the right stuff she needs to get some decent sleep (please note, I often sleep on her, so this does affect me purr-sonally) – she can get more stuff done.

What seems to work best for her is to keep things super organized and preferably with actual pen and paper. Maybe that is part of her being a historically oriented person. Right now, she is five books behind on her Goodreads challenge, but that is not a big problem. She can come back from five behind. Here’s her strategy:

Re-reads of historical romances she already knows she likesnovellas; they are short, but still countYoung adult contemporaries – she reads those fast and there are a bunch of new ones outaudiobooks – she can listen to those while doing anything else, but probably not while composing new fiction

We will see how this works along with her decision to binge This is Us this weekend. She still isn’t happy about the Kate and Toby thing, but the Kevin and Sophie thing gives her hope and there’s a Miguel episode coming, so she wants to be there for that. Stay tuned for her reactions. Either way, I will be on hand (okay, realistically on hip, because when she lies on one side, that’s my favorite place to sit and purr while I help her watch or read.

That’s going to be about it for now. I have to make Mama Anna take pictures of stuff (mostly me) because she needs to get back on Instagram, and who doesn’t love calico cats? I’m a sure thing.

Headbonks!

Storm