Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 168

2015 February birthdays

Since I'm scheduling this post before taking the rodent gang over to the new place, and my internet time is quite limited at the moment anyway, I decided to make today's post about a couple of birthdays that happen in February; the birthday of a family member, and the birthday of a furry friend.

It's the sixteenth birthday of our nephew, Devon (Kelly's sister's son) on Wednesday. I know he won't read this, but I figured I'd say happy birthday to him on here anyway. So... Happy birthday for Wednesday, Devon!

I also forgot to say happy birthday to Rita's kitty, Karma, at the start of the month. Though I did remember to send her a birthday package of some treats I know she absolutely adores. Karma was ten on February 5th - which you'll know if you read Rita's blog, but probably won't if you don't read it. Anyway, belated happy birthday, Karma... Hope you're enjoying your treats as much as you usually do!

Furkid Friday - February 20th 2015

Hellooo everyone!

This is Baggins the gerbil; taking a break from my current digging project to say "hi" to you all.

I LOVE to dig! My brother, Bilbo, enjoys digging too, but he tends to be more interested in constructing burrows that are pleasing to the eye, where as I dig for the pleasure of digging.

The humans say if I keep it up at the rate I'm going, I'll break the gerbil digging world record. I'm not sure what that means, but I haven't broken it yet... At least, I don't remember breaking anything... *Looks confused*

Anyway, when I'm not digging, I like to have a good nibble on whatever's to paw; even if it's just the metal bars of our cage. Never under-estimate the feel of a good bar between your teeth!

If I'm not digging, nibbling, or bouncing over to say "hi" to whichever human - or degu - comes close enough to the bars of my cage for me to know they're there, it's because I'm sleeping.

OK, I'm no good at staying still, so I'm off; got more digging to do if I'm going to make my daily digging goal!

Squeak soon,
Baggins

Wednesday's writing related ramblings - February 18th 2015

In case you missed the announcement...

My latest book - a poetry collection called "Rodent Rhymes And Pussycat Poems" - was officially released yesterday!

It's a small collection of short poems for and about our gerbils, degus, and rats, as well as a kitten named Cara, which some of you may remember us having for a few months a little over a year ago.

If you haven't done so already - and like that sort of thing - you can grab yourself an ebook copy from places like Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and a few other ebook retailers. If you want to, that is; which I hope you do, obviously.

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I spotted an interesting post about ramblings on the writer's quest the other day, so you might want to go check that out; especially if you're a writer too.

Rodent Rhymes And Pussycat Poems

Rodent Rhymes And Pussycat Poems

Genre: Poetry

Description: "A small collection of short poems, all written for some of the various pets my hubby and I have had.

The pets mentioned in this collection include 5 degus, 2 gerbils, 2 rats, and a cat. All poems are captioned with details of the pets they are about."

Publishhed: 17th February 2015

ISBN: 9781310269943

Buy it from Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

Available elsewhere soon!

Rodent Rhymes And Pussycat Poems - officially released today

"A small collection of short poems, all written for some of the various pets my hubby and I have had.

The pets mentioned in this collection include 5 degus, 2 gerbils, 2 rats, and a cat. All poems are captioned with details of the pets they are about."

As you might have guessed, the above is the description of my latest book, and the book in question is a short collection of poetry. The poems are for Luna, Jacob, Jasper, Jenks, Joshua, Cara, Baggins, Bilbo, Skye, and Star.

The book is already available from Smashwords in all formats they offer, as well as from some of the other ebook retailers who carry my books, and will be available from the other retailers who carry my books soon.

Monday's random mutterings - February 16th 2015

We got the keys to the new place on Friday, during a long lunch at one of our favourite cafes with our landlords.

Almost everything is packed, and some of it is even in the new place already. Plus, I've sent my new address to everyone who I know has my old one, and made what I could - with it being the weekend - of the change of address phone calls to utility companies and such.

The official move is next week, with the phone and internet switch-over happening on February 26th, but we're taking the rodent gang over early so they have time to adjust to the new place, and can stay out of the chaos of the moving truck moving the bigger items. I'll be sleeping over there with them, because I refuse to leave them there by themselves. Luckily the people who just left the place left me a comfortable sofa to sleep on while I wait for the bed to be delivered.

I'm not going to be online much between now and when the internet gets switched over to the new place, so I've scheduled some posts for you to read while I'm gone. I mean, I'll be coming on to check e-mails from time to time, but that's about it.

I'll tell you about the move and the new place properly when we've moved in, because I don't have much time right now; I still have calls to make, and a few last minut things to get packed up to take with me when I leave with the rodent gang.

Furkid Friday - February 13th 2015

Um... Hi everyone. This is Skye.

I'm a very nervous rat, but I'm going to be brave and do this anyway; even though I already want to go and hide in one of the nests I make. Nests like this one:


Sometimes I hide because I'm afraid of something I heard, smelled, or possibly just imagined. Other times I want some peace from my sister, Star.

You see, I love my sister, but sometimes she can be a bit of a bully. She knows I'm more nervous of her, and that I'm not as big as her, nor as strong, so she takes advantage of that sometimes. The humans tell her to let me be, but she doesn't listen. She's been a bit nicer since we got our bigger cage and I can stay out of the way while she burns off some energy bouncing all over the place though. She says she's trying to toughen me up... But I don't want to be toughened up!

But try not to be too mad at her, because she isn't always mean to me; sometimes she can actually be really nice and will groom me, and share things with me, and cuddle up with me for a nap, which I love.


Like I said, I love my sister... Even though she's a bit of a bully sometimes.

Anyway, I can't take any more of this big wide world, so I have to go hide now.

Squeak soon,
Skye

Wednesday's writing related ramblings - February 11th 2015

I've not had much writing time in this past week, between packing, trying to keep up with e-mails and such, and working my way through a stack of books I was given in exchange for reviews. If you'd like to see some of those reviews, head over to my Goodreads page and click on my "read" shelf (no, you don't need to be on Goodreads to take a look; only to comment and such).

I did another author interview in this past week though. If you missed it, I posted about my author interview with Leyla Atke yesterday.

Speaking of interviews... Did you see my post about Yua's character interview on Sunday?

If you already read both interviews, I hope you enjoyed them. If you didn't, I hope you will take a few moments to give them a read, and that you then enjoy them.

Either way, don't forget - as it says at the bottom of Yua's character interview - you can still get “Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt” for 80% off at Smashwords until February 17th 2015 by entering coupon code ZG28A at checkout.

The book's Smashwords link is http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/492449

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Check out these great writing activities for kids - and grown-ups too; some of them look like they'd be great fun regardless of your age!

Some of them could also be used as writing prompts if you're struggling with writer's block.

There are also plenty of writing prompts and exercises - as well as various writing tips - on Writing Forward, which you may like to take a look at.

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Before you go, please spare a moment to do an author friend of mine a favour. It won't cost you more than a few moments of your time, and I assure you he deserves it.

David Staniforth's book "Alloria" is a finalist in the Bookbzz.com Prize Writer Competition, and he needs your vote!

You have my personal assurance that the book deserves the vote; it's an amazing read! I'm not just saying that because I know the author either... It really is a fantastic book!

So, please click here to vote in the Bookbzz.com Prize Writer Competition, and give "Alloria" by David Staniforth your vote!

You'll find "Alloria" in the Fantasy catagory.

If you voted... Thank you from both myself and David!

Interviewed by Leyla

I was interviewed by Leyla Atke of leylaatke.com recently.

You may remember me mentioning Leyla a little over a week ago? She's the author of that very touching cat story "Charm: An Amazing Story Of A Little Black Cat" and my post about her can be found by clicking here.

Anyway, my interview with Leyla went live today (February 10th 2015) and you can read it at http://leylaatke.com/2015/02/10/come-and-meet-my-blind-reviewer-and-author-of-multiple-childrens-books-victoria-zigler-books/

Monday's random mutterings - February 9th 2015

They - whoever "they" are - say there's no such thing as a stupid question. But I disagree.

There is a stupid question, and that question is "can I ask you a question?"

"Why is it a stupid question?" I hear you ask.

Well, it's quite simple.

First of all, and most importantly, by asking that question you've answered it yourself; if you can ask whether or not you can ask me a question, then you've just proven - both to yourself, and to me - that you are, in fact, capable of asking a question. A process that could have been avoided by you simply asking the question you really want to ask in the first place.

Secondly, that question isn't an accurate vocalization of what you want to know. What you want to know is whether I'll answer a question if you ask me one. So, why not just ask "if I ask you a question, will you answer it?" I think that would make much more sense, as well as actually giving you an accurate answer to what you really want to know. Alternatively, just ask your question, and see if I answer it or not.

And that, my friends, is why I say that the stupidest question anyone can ask is "can I ask you a question?"

What do you think? Do you agree? Or do you think there's a question that's even more stupid?

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So, apparently I'm not getting the replies to my comments from those of you who reply to comments on your blogs via e-mail.

I suspected as much, but it was confirmed for me this morning.

I know how to fix it with a standard Blogger account, but I've got a Gmail/Google account, which is set out differently.

Any idea how I fix it so I get the replies I'm supposed to be getting?

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I spotted an article on Facebook the other day about how Iceland are to build the first temple to the Norse Gods in 1000 years, which I happen to think is really cool!

I would really love to visit it when it's finnished, though I doubt that will ever happen. I mean, I live only a few hours away from Stonehenge, and I still haven't visited that yet... Would love to, just haven't had the oppertunity.

Still, I can dream, can't I?

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As you probably know, last Monday was Groundhog Day. It was also Imbolc, though you might not have known that, since I forgot to mention it in my post for last Monday, and not everyone has Facebook.

Anyway, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, and predicted six more weeks of Winter last week.

Good news for my chances of snow, but not such good news for those who appear to be getting my share of the snow as well as their own.

Actually, it did "try" to snow on Thursday. It was one of those short five minute snowfalls where you just have time to register that it's snowing, and then it stops, and if you weren't outside at just the right time, you'd never know it had happened. Luckily for me, I happened to be sticking my head out of the door to check for the "scattered snow showers" the radio said we were getting at the time, so I didn't miss it. I didn't miss the later attempt either, though that didn't last much longer, and was more like sleet than snow.

Though I really want snow, I have to admit that I do have a reason to be glad we haven't really had any to speak of.

You see, we're moving some time in the next couple of weeks.

Yes, really!

You may remember me mentioning back in November - if you were reading my blog at that time - about my landlord's death on Halloween? It doesn't really matter if you do or not, but... Well... Originally the property was to be kept by his nephews while they did some repair work on it, then sold later; once all the work on it was done, which would have taken a while, since there's quite a bit that needs doing up in the house part of the building, and a few things that need doing down in the basement apartment we live in too. They were happy for us to stay put while they did the work, so we didn't worry about it. Except they were forced in to a sale, so we were told we have to move out after all.

We'd have preferred not to have to deal with a move - especially this time of year - but what can you do? Sometimes these things can't be avoided.

So, yeah, we're moving very soon, and - despite my love of snow - we could probably do without it right about now, if I'm honest.

I'll give you the actual moving date closer, and warn you now that I could have a couple of days where I can't get online at all during the move. I'll schedule my blog posts ahead of time though, so at least you'll have those. Like I said, I'll give you the actual date of the move a bit closer, and tell you about the new place when we're in it.

But right now I have to go, because I have a lot to organize, and someone being sent by the estate agent to look at everything to see what needs repairing or replacing. I can hear him upstairs, and he'll be coming down here when he's done up there... Which could be any moment.