Anna Carrasco Bowling's Blog, page 29

Typing With Wet Paws: Friday the Thirteenth Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. A lot of humans have been dreading this day, because apparently Friday the Thirteenth is not a great thing, but it’s been okay for me so far. Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben are both home, which is my favorite, because I love them. They are both doing computer things and sometimes talking to each other. On days like this, I like to nap on the bed, or on the cat bed that is between the bed and Aunt Anna’s desk. It is actually Aunt Anna’s old lap desk, which she loved, but it did not weather the vagabond days very well, so she put it on the floor, upside down, so the cushion is up, and I took it. It’s perfectly me-sized, and I can shed both my white and orange hairs on its blackness, so pretty good deal all around.

[image error]The blanket was Aunt Anna’s idea. Aunt Linda made it.

I also like the clickety sounds, which mean Aunt Anna is Writing Things. Uncle Rheuben is quieter, as he does a lot of reading and watching and studying. Sometimes, he takes a break to tell me how pretty I am and make sure my water bowl is full, which I like. I am really good at drinking water. I do not, however, like the new cat food Aunt Linda picked out (sorry.) I lick all the gravy off the meat and then leave it and complain about being hungry. Aunt Anna said we will get a different kind, that I have liked before. Aunt Anna is smart.

[image error]Not so smart, though, that it took her longer than she would like to admit to figure out this spot was original equipment, not her fault from me bopping her India ink pen.
Also, look at my claw.

Another way she is smart is to figure out new ways that put her in the writing mood. Scheduling writing in terms of “units” rather than words works for her, because the number is smaller, and not intimidating. That may change at some point, but that’s what is getting her making new pages now, so she is going to stick with it. It goes along with another thing she has found, and that is to have something going on a different burner of her brain, so to speak, and then she will switch between the two of them until she kicks into full writing gear.

This can happen either with longhand or on the computer, but longhand is best for composition, which is first draft kind of stuff, often in present tense and with a lot of cross-outs. I like that because I can bop her pen with my paws (she doesn’t like it as much, because I can still do that while she is actually writing and make marks she didn’t intend.) Either way, she likes to have some sound going, either podcasts or Netflix/Hulu, or YouTube. Sometimes, on the YouTube, she picks by the tone of the person’s voice who is talking, and doesn’t care at all about the content/what they are saying.

[image error] Believe it or not, this is a writing tool

When she is on the computer, the back burner thing she likes to do most is Sims, either playing, or more recently, designing. She likes a lot of custom content and exercising her inner control freak to micromanage her Sims and their surroundings. This kind of gets her ready to do that with words, too. Playing the actual game, that’s for another time. She says next time she makes our Simselves, she will make a SimStorm. I think that will be the best Sim ever. Woo.

As you can probably tell, Aunt Anna told me we can get back on the link thing next week. She is getting ready for tomorrow’s Capitol Region RWA meeting, which will be online (which means high chance of calico photobomb.) Last year, she wasn’t able to help with the member appreciation celebration because family emergency, but she is looking forward to getting back in that saddle for this holiday season, especially because it’s in a new format they have never done before. Let her get on the other side of that and she will be back in gear with Buried Under Romance and Goodreads and all that stuff.

Oh. One more thing. She is still figuring out the new printer. She can kind of get it to work, but it tells her it isn’t happy when she tells it to print something, so she unplugs it and plugs it back in and then it prints. Eh. Whatever works. I , however, am fine with any mistakes she makes, because I can sit on the papers she doesn’t want to keep. Win-win, I say.

Aunt Anna wants the computer back so she can write more, so Calico Got To Go for now. See you next week!

Headbonks!

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Settling In, and Other Stories

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There is no surer sign of settling into a new place, for a stationary aficionado, than figuring out where all the pens and papers go. For a writer? Same thing. Luckily for me, I am both, and this is our way of putting down roots. Today, I have the house to myself, the office is more or less in place, and spedning a few minutes to plot out the day goes a long way to eliminating the “too many things to do” feeling.

Since it’s November, this is the time of year when plans for the next year, for planning and for writing both, not to mention reading, c ome naturally to mind. As of right now, I am not sure what my planner situation will be for 2021. I do love my disc bound systems, and especially the metal discs (soooo smooth) but the further I get into storage, the more options I find. Besides the dis bound options, in four different sizes, no less, I have:

Traveler’s notebooksRing bound systemsbullet journal/bound bookpreprinted bound planner

Not to mention the good old fashioned three ring letter and half letter size binder. Which one is my favorite? All of them. Since our whole family is dedicated, especially now, to making good financial decisions, I want to challenge myself to, whenever possible, use what I already have. The reasons for this are several:

Everything I have has already been purchased or gifted.I already like it.Putting existing things in new combinations is fun.I don’t have to mask up and go out to use stuff that’s right here.I finally have a chance to dig in and use what calls to me, and equally fun, to pass the stuff I don’t love as much on to somebody else who will love it – which makes room for more stuff for me.

Okay, that last one doesn’t fit with a lower-spend philosophy, but pen and paper tuff is at the top of my gift list when such occasions arrive, because although I have a lot, I use it, which feels utterly amazing. Like how my once upon a time writing group facilitator, J, told us that we had to keep the pen moving once it hit the paper, during our timed sprints, and the process would beget the product. That’s turning out to be true as I set up the corner of the master bedroom that is my space.

[image error]the coffin of black pens

I have my cardboard coffin that holds black pens, both ballpoint and gel. These get a lot of use. Washi tape (actually just washi, as apparently “Washi” means “tape” so it’s like a “ramen noodles” thing where it’s literally saying “noodle noodles,” so “tape tape?”) comes in many flavors, but right now, I am focusing on blush and black. It’s an aesthetic, and I’m feeling it.

[image error]Also skinny metallic tape, because Christmas is coming

That fits pretty darned well, because it applies to writing. I write romance, yes, so it is all about the love, but I need the darker edge as well. What if a pirate, marooned on an uncharted island, somehow made it back to land and hunted down the mentor who left him to die? What if that opened the door to three generations of pirates?

What if medieval romance and post-apocalyptic romance had a story baby that was both of them at the same time? (News on that coming in the not too distant future) What if I stretched outside my comfort zone and told more stories in that world.? What if I unpacked stories, as well as physical items, that I had put aside for some nebulous time in the future? What if the future was now?

Those among us who are writers will know (or I hope you know) the feeling of finding an old notebook and reading the story skeleton you’d scribbled down once upon a time, and hey, this thing is pretty good. What f I brought it over to a fresh page/file and picked it back up again? That’s not a bad feeling by any stretch of the imagination.

As we keep looking through our stuff in storage, I am eagerly looking for my Alpha Smart, but I have more than enough notebooks, index cards, sticky notes, etc, to tide me over until I can incorporate that into the mix. Stay tuned for a closer look at the tools of the trade, as it were, because I can talk about stationery for fluffing ever.

Bit by bit, it’s all coming together, and there is probably going to be a moment (or definitely going to be a moment) when I slip over the line, and, like a kid kicking off the training wheels, hey, I’m doing it. Maybe I’m there. How about you?

[image error] Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: Results are on the Way Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Here in the United State, the humans are all waiting for the results of the elections. I am watching to see which of the boxes that the humans keep bringing into the house are staying and which are only visiting.l It is very exciting.

Another of my Gotcha Day presents, which was really a Christmas present from my Cousin Kristen (Aunt Linda’s brother’s daughter) but we did not have an apartment then has now been installed, and it is a second litterbox. It’s domed, with a lid to give me privacy and has a vent for fragrance relief, as my humans put it. I am not sure what to make of the too many bowls that are on my food mat at the moment, but a bunch of bowls came out of storage, so the humans have to figure out where to put them. Pictures to follow when they sort that all out. In the meantime, I am doing a lot of this:

[image error]No place like home

As you can tell, I am very much in favor of the flannel sheets and the new bed, and my current favorite other bed is the upside down lap desk that is between Aunt Anna’s side of the bed and her temporary computer desk. That way, I can be near her no matter what she is doing. Lately, that involves a lot of writing longhand and being on the computer stuff. That is all pretty good.

Today, Aunt Anna is kind of sleepy because of some medication (don’t worry, she is fine) so this will be sort of a fly by blog. I am needed to cuddle with her and purr as she reads in bed. We will probably both get some sleep. Uncle Rheuben went to school for politics stuff, so he is watching the election things closely> Aunt Anna went to the same school, but she studied how to teach people kittens, decided that wasn’t for her, so now she writes stuff. Which is looking pretty good these days.

On Wednesday, she and Aunt Melva had a Messenger call. Since everybody else was home, Aunt Anna took the call into the bathroom. She forgot that she is not allowed in the bathroom without me, so I yelled and scratched at the door until she let me in to join her. You’d think she would have learned by now. She’s pretty smart in other things, like picking out my gushy food. The call went really well, and they hashed out an actual wedding scene. Big surprise, romance writers love coming up with wedding stuff.

Also, I was in heat (I am getting my big girl operation soon, though) but I’m over that now. Boys are dumb. I like mousie toys.

We are also coming up on the time when Aunt Anna has to start making plans for the holiday season, as we aren’t that far from Thanksgiving. Uncle Rheuben wants to go out, but the aunts aren’t sure what all will be open on a holiday, and may try to convinvce him to go to Our Bodega (it is across the street from where they lived when Skye was kitty here, so I have never been there; I assume it has a real name) and get what they call bodega burgers, but still make the side dishes at home and finish with pumpkin pie. Christmas will probably be Chinese food if at all possible. I would like the tuna, please. This will be my first proper holiday season with these guys, and only my probably third overall (math is not my strong suit, but I’m young) so who can tell what can happen between now and then? Looking good, though. Just like me.

Headbonks!

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NaNo or NaNot, 2020 Edition

That time of year again, when the eternal question for many of us writer types is “do I participate in National Novel Writing Month?” I’ve thought about it a lot this year, probably more than most. I came down on the side of…kind of, maybe.

While some may say NaNo or NaNot, there is no “kind of,” that’s where i landed, and rather organically at that. I love the idea of going all in and, as a favorite aunt would say, going hell bent for leather toward a distinct goal. What to write, though, well, that’s where things get murkier. I love the idea of those who can dive in with no other idea than “I’m going to write something” and make it all the way to the end. That’s not me, and comparing the way I do things to the way anybody else does things is not ever going to work. Part of my day is set aside for putting on a podcast and getting on the bed with a bunch of sticky notes and/or index cards and setting out all the things I want to write in the next while.

For some things, it’s pretty clear cut. Come hell or high water, Melva Michaelian and I are going to get Drama King, our second jointly written contemporary, done and dusted, ASAP. Part of it is that we are eager to get to the third Love By the Book story, Queen of Hearts, but how flat out fun it is to combine snarky grumpmaster Jack and ray of sunshine Kelly (cue “Tomorrow” from Annie, which might be a reasonable choice for Kelly’s incidental music) and goodness knows we could all use any fun we can get this year.

There’s also kicking myself back into historical romance gear. I am taking my first step into indie publication, and exploring a new format -novella- and time period -medieval- and taking a wide angle view of the place where what I love to do best and what the market fancies converge. That kind of excites me, to be honest, and it also gives me a reason to play with stationery, which is my second instrument after writing. There’s also the desire to not write less about writing, but to write actual fiction and see the pages accumulate (hence the attempt to set up the new printer at long last after I write this blog entry) along with writing about writing. Maybe talking about it, too, because YouTube very definitely is partly responsible for me still being here (gestures in the general sense) after very definitively the worst year of my life.

Phew. Let’s take a break. First home decor photo I can share is below. Bit by bit, we are putting down roots and making this look like home. One of these throw pillows is not like the others.

[image error] purr-fect contentment, yes?

The new normal is still taking form, and I don’t want to rush it. I actually tend to get a lot more done, and the ideas flowing much more freely, when I set aside some time to play with pens or noodle around with Sims, some You Tube or podcast or TV show in the background, consciously working toward drinking x glasses of water a day, focusing more on getting story from brain to page, one day at a time, right now. I will probably give one of both Camp NaNos a go. That’s a tale for another time.

For now, this is Monday’s blog post, t he first one for November. I do have plans for less rambly, more focused sorts of posts, if you’re into that sort of thing. Types of stories I’m looking at writing, my renewed and boundless love for black paper notebooks and pens that write on them, planner lineups for the new year, and my reading plans for same.

The fun thing about NaNo, besides getting to cheer on all those who are officially participating this year or any other, is that the principles can be put into place at any time, and modified to fit the individual’s needs. Camp NaNo is one example, and writing, in general, is another. Writer friends are available at all times of year, and I am always thankful for mine.

Happy reading, and happy writing,

Anna

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Typing With Wet Paws: End of October Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers. I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Big doings this week, so let’s get started.

[image error] all of these boxes are mine….

The week started off as a momentous one with the humans all going at the same time to the storage unit, so they could get some special things – furniture. Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben now have a real bed, which of course I sleep on, too. Well, except when I am on Cat Bed #2, which is Aunt Anna’s old lap desk that did not survive the vagabond months very well, but the cushion is great and me-sized, and it’s between her desk and her side of the bed, so it is perfect, or Cat Bed #1, which is an actual cat bed, and on the floor at the foot of the human bed. Basically, I want to be where the humans are, so if they want me to be in that bed more, then they should be on the floor more.

Uncle Rheuben has set up his bookcase and a free standing clothes rack. He even surprised Aunt Anna with a bunchy of velvet covered wood hangers that are all the same, and they look very classy, so she is happy. The clothing rack was actually out in the hall of the storage unit with a “free, take me sign on it, so they did. Aunt Anna brought in one bookcase, that her dad made for her when she was a baby. There is another bookcase that goes with it, and she will bring that next time, along with her favorite extra special favorite books (they are by Bertrice Small) to go in it. Mostly, these days, she is reading on her Kindle, or the Kindle app on her phone, and she has moved the boxes with the rest of her books to an easily accessible part of the storage unit. Those, she can get as needed, but she wants the extra special favorite ones on hand at all times. The first bookcase is currently holding notebooks and planner stuff. That may change, but things are no longer on the floor, and that makes a lot of difference.

Another thing that is different is that yesterday, Aunt Anna went to Aunt Linda’s co-worker’s house, to look at a table for Aunt Linda’s sewing machine (that will come in a couple of days, and yes, cat costumes may be a thing that could happen; I am open to it.) Along with the sewing machine table, Aunt Linda’s co-worker had cats. Some of them live with her all the time, but the ones the aunts met were fosters, a mama and her four babies. Before yu get excited, I will point out that they all have homes lined up already, so I am not getting a sibling just yet, but I was very interested in smelling Aunt Anna’s shirt and learning about the kittens. In a word, (or a few of them) the kids are all right. I am not jealous or concerned, because I am secure in my place in the pride.

Speaking of reading, Aunt Anna has now hit eighty percent of her reading goal at Goodreads. Shockingly, she is currently two books behind, but this is the weekend, and she ahs her reading mojo back, so this should be fixed by the start of the new week. It’s also the time of year for historical holiday novellas, which will take care of that requirement quite nicely.

Aunt Anna is also back to watching TV on Hulu and Netflix and probably Prime as well, which is going to require a tracker, because she wasn’t able to watch anything for a long time (because lack of metaphorical spoons) and now it seems like A Lot, but probably really isn’t. Also, keeping track will help her track patterns on kinds of things she likes to watch. She will post more about that later.

For now, it is time for her to atten to the making of fiction, so I am required at my station, sending good kitty vibes and providing moral support.

Headbonks!

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Beautiful Mess

No picture of the new Stately Bowling Manor as of yet, as it’s all boxes and cat hair and furniture in the middles of rooms. Definitely not fit for public consumption, but I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Monday, the three of us spent hauling furniture and boxes our of our storage unit, and up two flights of stairs. We did agree that for some of the heavier pieces, like my beloved secretary desk, we should wait until we can find some strapping young people who can be paid in pizza, so we now have folding desks for both Real Life Romance Hero and myself, which double as nightstands, and our bedside lamps are Wal-Mart’s finest. We have the skeleton pillows a dear friend gave us a year ago, on the bed, along with burgundy plaid flannel sheets and a berry and white afghan Housemate knitted back in our first Albany apartment.

[image error] this blog post is Storm-approved

This is wildly different from where we were only a few short weeks ago, and there is a learning curve. I thought that the transition to apartment living would be pretty much plug and play, but it’s something else, and I am fine with that. I actually like the idea of a fresh start, and going through the stuff we put away for our next home is interesting when it’s the people we were who packed it but the people we are who are unpacking.

Right now, I am composing this blog entry because getting back on the metaphorical horse is paramount. RLRH came home early, and my first instinct was to ask him to make lunch, because I’m writing. That felt good. Having a desk I can sit at in the morning also feels good, and the fact that “writing plan” is in bold black ink on today’s space in my big planner doesn’t feel daunting, but exciting. I can go anywhere.

By my estimation, Melva and I are only a few scenes away from the first full draft of our second contemporary, Drama King, and something is afoot for an upcoming historical release. Still need to reconnect with Her Last First Kiss, which, for me, is going to mean talking it out with a writer friend who knows historical romance, the Georgian era, and my writing well enough to help me still the pinwheel in my brain. (Applications for the position are officially open.) I am not entirely convinced that a manuscript doesn’t have to be perfect in order to make a good book, but I am on the road there, one step at a time.

I thought about NaNo this year. It would make a lot of sense, and if I can comfortably produce one unit of writing (I count by “units” now, which for me is about 1 to 1.5 k words in a session) a day, then 16+k isn’t that much more, so not totally out of reach. Maybe when the first Camp NaNo rolls around in the spring. Right now, I am focused on taking the next steps and getting back to finding out what Current Anna can do.

What I know for sure is that she/I can tell stories. I love to tell stories. I don’t have to reach every reader, only my readers, and what my readers want is what I have to give, so trying to follow trends or be like anybody else, no matter how much I may admire their work, doesn’t make any sense. Making sure I connect with those readers, well, that is another thing, but not something I need to concern myself with at present, because books are the way to connect writer and reader, so making sure the books get written and out there is job one. That, I can do.

I’ll leave that here for today. I’ve missed blogging regularly, and now that I have one place to be, and a fairly regular schedule, my goal is to get back to the thrice a week posting, and am strongly looking at resuming the video blogs of yore, with perhaps a wider focus. We’ll see how that goes.. For now, time to help RLRH set up the clothing rack.I get adult points for that, right?

[image error] Anna

Now, Where Were We?

Hi. I’m Anna. I write stuff. Theoretically historical and contemporary romance novels, and I blabber about them a lot. I also love stationery, and there is a rumor going around that I do a thing called “blogging.”

I’ve been remiss on that last one for the past year and change, because there were bedbugs and then homelessness, motel rooms, car camping (do not recommend) hospital stays (not mine, ) panic attacks (mine) and a whole lot of uncertainty from day to day.

Now, it’s a different story. We are in our new apartment, and coming up on our first monthiversary of same. No pictures as of yet, because they would all be of boxes and cat hair, and we aren’t moving real furniture in until around the weekend, which also contains two deadlines and my birthday. I am, obviously, a glutton for punishment. Common affliction for writers, I believe, and especially for those who, like me, are getting back to normal (for me) after a year that was anything but.

[image error]the scent of home

I don’t know how much I’m going to talk about that stuff here, because I want to focus on what’s ahead of me, and what’s right now, and right now is a lot of making sense of what was. Which, again, common among writers, especially those who write historical romance. Even my contemporary ventures have some tie to historical romance, so who can tell? These things have a way of sorting themselves out, and I plan to let them.

Right now, we are well, we are housed, we are fed, everybody is working, and there will be book related news in the very near future. Having our own internet connection at home helps a lot, though I am writing this while sitting on the floor, the desktop I hauled around in the back seat of a car for a year, on a coffee table, which is not the most comfortable arrangement, but real furniture is coming in only a matter of days, so very, very doable.

Think I’m going to leave this entry at that, with a big THANK YOU to all who are reading this, whether new or still sticking around after the year of what the fluff. Thank you for those who contributed to our GoFundMe, who reached out privately, who prayed for us, thought of us, held us in the light, or did whatever it is you do. Thank you for text messages and DMs and Skype and Discord chats, for emails and pizzas and motel rooms, for meeting us in shady parking lots with gas cards and crudites, for buying books and leaving reviews, and all the rest that goes along with that.

Next evolution.

[image error] Anna

Typing With Wet Paws: And We’re Back Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers. I’m Storm, You’re Awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. We are now two weeks and change in the new apartment, and a few days past my very first Gotcha Day with these guys, and Aunt Anna’s birthday is coming. Last year, she got ME (a little before her birthday, but we are still counting it and crossing Birthday Kitten off her bucket list. You’re welcome.) so that’s going to be pretty darned hard to top, but we will see what happens.

Still getting settled here. Aunt Linda has the week of Aunt Anna’s birthday off, so that’s when she humans are going to get a truck and bring in the furniture. Except for the stuff they don’t feel like lugging up the stairs, and in that case, they will order that kind of furniture from a store and have it delivered in a box, and put together when it’s upstairs. I am all for this, because cats and boxes are a natural combination.

I am very much looking forward to Aunt Anna busting the new printer out of its box. She has a lot of things she wans to print. Some of those will involve pictures of me, so I consider that a worthy cause. There will probably be noise, though. I don’t care about noise much. I’m pretty well adjusted. Aunt Anna actually was gong to set up the printer earlier this week, but Uncle Rheuben did some extreme work activities, and was so sore that people vets were involved, and he had some sleepy medicine, but he is feeling much better and is back at work now. The point I was making is that the printer would have had to be set up in the bedroom and she didn’t want to disturb Uncle Rheuben while he rested.

[image error] greatest hits picture of me because Aunt Anna is still figuring out how pictures work on Uncle Rheuben’s laptop

Anyway, things are starting to settle down around here. We are all snug and comfy and ready to put down some roots. Personally, I find nothing wrong with all the boxes around the apartment. They are really fun to sproing in and out of at two in the morning, which honestly has nothing to do with Aunt Anna’s insomnia. They are two things that happen to happen at the same time. It, um, happens. The humans say they want to put a kitchen table (which I will not be allowed on) where the boxes currently are. Meh. I guess kitchen chairs will come with the table, and I can sleep on the chairs, so that’s one bright spot.

Another one is that Aunt Anna and Uncle Rheuben agree they need to get Aunt Anna a new laptop, because their room, which will also be Aunt Anna’s office, is cozy. That’s human for “small.” Also, Aunt Anna wants to use her antique secretary desk for handwriting and a laptop could be on the desk only sometimes and then somewhere else when she wants to do things with pens and paper. We will see what accomodations she makes for me during her writing sessions. Right now, I sit on the bed next to her if she is there, or under the coffee table when she uses the desktop there. Unless she has her legs straight out in front of her, under the table.

We will get back to regular updates next week. Aunt Anna has not been reading that much but getting back to it. She has, however, been watching a lot of European dramas on Netflix, especially postapocalyptic survival. : The Rain, Dark, To the Lake, that kind of thing. If you know any other shows like that, please let me know in the comments, and I will tell her.

Headbonks!

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Typing With Wet Paws: Let’s Get Moving Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. This past week was better for Aunt Anna, anxiety-wise, but there has been a lot of adulting, a very warm hotel room that would be quite cozy in winter, but it’s not winter (don’t worry, the owner/manager is on the case, and it will be back to normal soon; he is only making sure the place will be warm in winter.) and the newest thing: we may be able to get into New Apartment *sooner* than we had expected. Not official yet, but a strong possibility.

Coming back from bad anxiety can take a while, and it’s more a bunch of baby steps in the right direction until, oh hey there, she’s writing again. A lot of it was playing Sims while listening to You Tube videos. For this past week, a lot of it was from the channel Heart Breathings, which is where author Sarra Cannon shares how she does what she does. One of the things Ms. Sarra said was that having beautiful stationery makes her want to look at the pages more, which is exactly how Aunt Anna feels.

[image error]so we’re doing this now…

I should mention that the pages you see here are not from Heart Breathings, but from Aunt Anna’s Writing Helps Pinterest board. She did print out a bunch of stuff from M. Sarra’s board, though, and will talk about that more later. Big life changes affect writing a lot more than a human might like, so trying new things may be a good way to get back into a routine that works best for the writer a person is, now.

I should also mention that, at this time last year, besides not knowing me yet (we call that the Dark Ages) Aunt Anna thought the Happy Planner line was silly and ew, plastic discs. Then she got two for her birthday, and now she loves it, especially the notebooks,. and has found a use for every size they offer, from big to micro. She likes metal discs better than plastic, which is fine by me, because I think the plastic ones will be perfect for playing with in the new apartment. We all know that’s going to happen.

Anyway, there is a questionnaire she printed about how to reconnect with a story after time away, and boy does she ever need that one. Some of those questions are hard, but also look like they can pinpoint what went wrong and how to fix it. For Aunt Anna, a lot of the time, the big stumbling block is “I don’t know.” We are working on that and while it’s kind of scary, nothing can be as scary as the year just past, so she’s up for the challenge. NaNoWriMo is not a go but it’s not off the table, especially in an unofficial capacity. Right now, she’s counting progress in “units” which she will explain later, and seems to work pretty well so far, and, most importantly, does not need to be perfect. She is also kind of salty that she thinks she might like to try a writing group again, but NY is still taking precautions, so maybe online groups might be a good idea.

As you can imagine, this is one of those drive-by posts but Aunt Anna wanted to show signs of life, and it is Feline Friday, after all. More details to come as she has them, including a review of how these new tools work for her and the way she writes now.

[image error]Headbonks!



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Typing With Wet Paws: Second Week of September Edition

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Usually, Aunt Anna helps m out with the snappy tittles, but she had a rough anxiety week, so I will cut her a little slack. Do not worry; Nurse Storm is on the case, with my patented paws-on brand of purr-apy. That kind of makes up for the anxiety I caused her by chewing through her CPU’s power cord last week. I did not get zapped, which is good, but I am no longer allowed behind the computer, which is bad (according to me.)

Moving along…and speaking of moving, that is what is taking up a lot of Aunt Anna’s brain at the moment. Things went well with the apartment th Aunts saw, and the property manager likes them, so things went to the next level. That level is applications and deposit, and the property manager said to call him for something called a walk through. I like the sound of that.

Aunt Anna’s Goodreads reading challenge has been holding steady at six books ahead of schedule, That big lead from earlier comes in very handy in times like these. She does have a list of books she wants to read, and TV/Movies she would like to watch, when things are a bit calmer. Since both reading and watching are sedentary activities, I am all for them. I will try and sneak in a purr-apy session or two. I’m clever like that.

Anyway, the stats look like this: Aunt Anna has read sixty-eight out of ninety books, which puts her at seventy-six percent of the way to her goal. Not too shabby, especially in the midst of all the chaos going on.

For those wondering about Buried Under Romance, Saturday discussion is back, baby, and keep an eye out for new reviews, bound to make many TBRs get all that longer.

[image error]Aunts Anna and Melva’s favorite one-year-old

Hard to believe it’s been a year since these two crazy kids were unleashed on the world. For those thirsty for the next Love by the Book story, Aunts Anna and Melva have been chugging ever closer to Jack and Kelly’s HEA. After that, time for Heather and Rob in book number three.

[image error]Aunt Anna’s figure-out-historical-romance-stuff notebook
(and extra paper because she will need extra paper)

As for historical progress, Aunt Anna found one interesting thing about her manuscripts that are complete and/or near enough to completion to count as such. Most of her stories fall into the following three time periods:

MedievalGeorgian (up to 1799)English Civil War & Restoration

This doesn’t mean she isn’t interested in writing other eras, because she is (she will be all over the Tudor era someday) but for now, that’s a concentration that’s too strong to ignore. Apart from the medievals, and the pirate trilogy, the others aren’t directly connected, but — could they be? Is similar time period a strong enough connection for you as a reader?

[image error]zzzzzzzzzzzz…..

I already covered the most important me part with the stuff about the computer cord. I am not too pleased that I am no longer allowed to sit behind Aunt Anna’s computer, but they are getting me some new toys to make up for it, so I guess I still win. You can see how fitfully I sleep over this. Guess that’s about it for now, and there is a sunbeam calling my name, so say it with me…

[image error]Headbonks!