Our New Kitten!

This is Chloe, the new member of our household, adopted from our local Humane Society. She's an 8-week-old tortoiseshell who has revealed a quirky personality thus far. She makes a variety of noises including squeaks and purr-chirps. She's in oral fixation mode, which means she chews on fingers and toes (and her teeth are SHARP!) 

She is currently living in my room because I want to introduce her to the other cats slowly and keep the other cats from eating her kitten food. The other cats have been a little hissy at her, but they're hissy at each other, so no surprise there. 

Her belly is one big orange striped patch, unusual for a tortoiseshell. She doesn't mind having her belly rubbed, but she hates being picked up. 

I'm looking forward to watching her grow up. I'm also looking forward to her not biting my fingers. 

A Writing Manifesto

• I will write for myself regardless of how and where my resulting work will be shared.
• I will not doubt my imagination.
• I will not judge the quality of my work by where it's published, how many copies it's sold, or how much I've earned. 
• I will hone my craft for the sake of improvement.
• I will write from joy rather than from duty.

Too much of not much

It's deep summer, the time when I don't do much of anything.

Except put my classes together for fall, which includes voiceovers of all my lectures so we can spend our one day a week in-class doing hands-on things.

And try to get some plot confusion sorted out in Gaia's Hands.

And rewrite my other query letters to implement what I learned from an agent.

And grade some internship stuff.

In other words, I'm doing a lot for not doing anything. 

Setting up for Fall semester

Today I have to start setting up for fall semester. I don't normally do this till about the first of August, but I have to record some lectures because the students are only coming into the classroom one day a week (1/3 of the classroom each class day.)

Instructions for the classroom look like this:

• Be prepared for the class to go online at any time in case too many of your students (or you) are quarantined. 
• All students and faculty will wear masks if students are less than six feet apart. *note: I'm making them wear masks even if they are six feet apart, because the rows are stacked on each other.
• We will have seating charts for contract tracing
• No handouts/papers because of potential contamination
• Classrooms will be deep sanitized every night
• Faculty/students will sanitize rooms between classes
• No more than one student in the office at one time/appointments required/Zoom preferred

There's probably more here, but this is what I got out of the email from my department head. I don't like the idea of going back into the classroom, but I'll prepare for all possibilities. We shall see.

Rewriting a Query Letter

Saturday has me fixing my query for the next book to go out, the revised Apocalypse. An editor gave me advice to run my query through Manuscript Academy, where I had a chance for an agent to read, review, and suggest in a ten-minute review what needed to happen with it. This cost $50.

My reviewer, Caitlin McDonald, gave me a sound review and the advice that I needed to expand my discussion of the book to three paragraphs. I didn't realize that -- as long as I keep it at one page, I can do more with it. 

Here's wishing me luck. Hope springs eternal.

The Rainbow Bridge

Right after I thought Stinkerbelle was rallying, she had a major seizure and we had to put her to sleep. She was in pitiful shape, I see now, and we would never have been able to restore her to health.

I'm pretty stoic about things. I don't know if that is a good thing. I only get weepy when I think about the Rainbow Bridge, and I think that is because I would rather be at the Rainbow Bridge with all the cats than in the traditional conception of Heaven.

The Rainbow Bridge is a celebratory realm, where cats and dogs frolic, unravaged by age, illness, or neglect. They wait there for their owners, and then join with them as they walk up the bridge to Heaven. I would love to reunite with Cream Puff, Sandals, PJ, Kismet, Sasha, Opalina, Kitty, Belvedere the Kitten, Snowy, and Stinkerbelle. Yes, I am a crazy cat lady.

But once we make it to the gates of Heaven, what happens? I stand at the gates waiting to be judged and found worthy or unworthy. My poor cats are stuck waiting with me, which means they're probably chasing each other. And what if I'm found unworthy? I'm cast into Hell and the poor cats are left bereft.

If I make it there, the Bible says that we get into Heaven with all the other souls to perpetually sing Hosanna with the heavenly choirs. What in Heaven's name (I did that on purpose) is that all about? Unless I am stripped of all that is human, that's going to be really boring. My cats are going to be really bored, I think, and will need toys. 

The Rainbow Bridge, on the other hand, sounds like a perpetual picnic with gallivanting pets and grassy meadows, presumably without chiggers and mosquitos. I could dwell there forever, petting kitties and doggies and talking to the occasional macaw. I think I'd stay there. 

Notes on Life

Note 1: Stinky is still hanging in there. Every time we think she's a goner, she does something like eats again. Right now she's faceplanting in the couch cushions, but she's alive and somewhat upright. 

Note 2: I am struggling with my work in progress -- writing Gaia's Hands without it being a total downer is hard. 

Note 3: I am still struggling with my future as a writer. I have not had any luck after several rewrites and several sets of queries on my (four now three) books. I am wondering if it's time to self-publish, keep trying, or give up the writing thing entirely. Don't worry; I've gone through this before.