The Maestro says it's Mozart but it sounds like bubble gum

Here's today's progress on my southern noir about a woman whose memories and identity erode, only to reveal hints of another person entirely: a detective who vanished on the day she was born in 1959; now with BONUS moonshiners and revenuers, small-town governments with big-time crooks in office, cops both corrupt and courageous, and one hell of a paranormal twist:
Project: Shouting Distance
Deadline: March 1, 2015
New words written: 2353 (much better)
Present total word count: 14,050



Things Accomplished in Fiction: Did some clean-up on previous chapters, along with some rearranging; started what will become the last chapter of this sample content.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: (since oh, say, Friday) Neighborhood jaunts with dog; went to an old friend's birthday party; did lots of laundry; went grocery shopping; did a bunch of yardwork - cleaned up a massive ton of dead leaves I should've tackled years ago; now to see if the city will send the big vacuum truck around, or if I have to bag them; mended a sweater and two shirts; cleaned out my closet; cleaned out my drawers and repaired the drawers (bottoms were falling out); cleaned house; went to Petsmart and got some pet supplies but did NOT come home with a fluffy Pyr-mix puppy, sorely though we were tempted.

Other: This is the home stretch of the sample content (I hope to finish the draft tomorrow), then I'll set it down for a bit with the new synopsis. I'll let them cool off for a week or so, then go back and start polishing them up for my agent's perusal. Meanwhile, I might hypothetically have something else to start developing, but it's so far off in the horizon that there's no sense in talking about it yet.

Cat Other: The cat situation is deteriorating again. We're back up to 3 rounds of CAT SONG a night (at least) with near-constant yowling from 6:30 or so onward. We're trying a few other tricks, but she's due for a checkup/booster shots in March, and at that time we may need to discuss something stronger than the kitty Valium.

Dog Other: SOMEONE has an appointment for the groomer on Thursday. He needs it, badly. His foot-fluff/nails are growing out, and he's having trouble sliding around the house. Also, he smells like a butt.

Number of fiction words so far this year: 22,349


"Henry" was outside, waiting for us again today. You guys, these two are SO CUTE. Henry just hangs his head over the stone wall and whimpers until Greyson runs up to give him a head-butt and a smooch. It's bromance, is what it is.

(As an aside, yes - I swear to God, Greyson is wearing a collar and a leash. He's just hella-fluffy.)