The Revision is Done!

Hey! How are you today?

Well, it's Friday. The 1st of September. The first day of spring. And the coldest day we've had for a while.

I went for a nice and long walk earlier and the wind chilled me to the bone. 🥶

Anyway, enough about the weather.

This turned out to be another busy week for me. The final read-thru usually is. It's when I sit down with my Paperwhite and read the story from start to finish. Doing this always highlights repetition, sentences that are too long, or awkward wording. Things that don't add anything to the overall story. It's when I end up cutting a lot of words and replacing even more.

I don't know why it happens, but every story has a handful of particular words that somehow appear a hundred times. LOL. This time it was: focus, accept and heart. I had to make sure there wasn't too many of them. The great thing about weeding out repetition words is that when I replace them, the new word choice ends up strengthening the sentence. Or encourages me to rewrite it completely.

Like I said, it's the nitty-gritty stage that sharpens the dialogue and narrative. The draft that enforces the emotional depth and develops the character connections even more. With this particular novella, I also had to re-read the sexy scenes a few times because they add a new layer to what's going on. 

I actually finished finalising everything late last night and ended up cutting roughly one thousand words. But a tiny addition that makes a big impact came to me during the day. So I added the few sentences this afternoon, and now it's really done.

The final word count is: 46,580.

I'm very happy with this novella.

It's a story that started as a way for me to deal with the unexpected loss of our beloved Loki. Losing him earlier this year hit us hard, and I didn't deal with it very well. He was my writing buddy, spent all day with me while I created stories. In many ways, he kept me in check. Without him around I tend to take less breaks, and sometimes even forget to eat. I miss him a lot and writing this novella helped me deal with how much his absence has affected me.

From the loss came a spark. An idea that stemmed from my own thoughts. And from that, I now have a completed manuscript about grief, love, and accepting what was there all along. That it turned into so much more and took my characters to places and situations I didn't expect, is a plus. 

It's been an emotional ride, but I'm glad I followed through and let my imagination run wild.

August turned out to be pretty busy. I finished writing a 30k novella, edited another one that will be published later this month (15k), and revised this one (46k). Yikes.

Well, that's pretty much all I wanted to say today. Just an update to mention that this novella is DONE. Yay!! 😊🎉

I'm going to enjoy the weekend with my husband and then take a week off writing. After that, think I'll get stuck into another lot of revision for this novella.

Take it easy and have a good one!

A little writing...

How are you?

I can't believe it's already June! Yikes. 😳

In Oz, this means that winter is here. As you might already know, I'm not a big fan of winter. I don't like the cold and definitely have a hard time adapting to shorter days. But this year, I'm trying not to let it get me down too much. I'm also trying not to concentrate on the rising Covid numbers. I mean, no one else seems to care anymore, right?

Also, not having Loki around makes me sad because he used to get really affectionate during the colder weather. It's been over three months since he passed away and I still miss him every day. We used to spend most of the day together, so it's hard sometimes. There are a lot of reminders around the apartment, and I can't seem to shake the sadness whenever I think about him.

So much, that I ended up spending the last few weeks writing a story that first came about because of how much his loss is affecting me.

I think it's easier to add the tweet I posted about it because it explains what I mean:

Yep. In mid-May, after waking up from a horrible dream that made me so sad I spent quite a bit of the morning crying, my subconscious decided to do something about it. I wasn't thinking about a new idea because I was so distracted by the sadness, but my writer brain decided to present me with a new story concept. One that would probably be hard to write because it dealt with the loss of a cat, but that could help me get through this in the longrun.

I ended up writing the first chapter on my phone one night, but didn't get stuck into it until late May. I didn't want to put any pressure on myself. Even thought it might end up being a one-chapter writing exercise and that's all. And I was fine with that.

Well, this attitude sure helped because after a slow start, I spent the last two weeks writing the first draft. I didn't put any pressure on myself to add new words if I didn't feel like it, and started slow. But then I began to lose myself in the story, couldn't stop thinking about it. I picked up the pace and couldn't wait to get back to it every afternoon.

My head was full of ideas and situations. Problems the main character needed to overcome in order to move on. I was gripped and the words were pouring out of me every time I fired up my laptop.

I actually finished the first draft last night. The word count is: 45,078. During most of the writing, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a novelette or a novella, and didn't care. As long as the story kept coming, I kept typing.

So, what started out as a personal exercise to work through my own feelings of loss, turned out to be SO much more. This story, characters and world surprised me. A lot. What begins as one woman's grief after losing her pet companion, became a very involved tale about self-acceptance. About facing what she'd tried to avoid for years. It ended up being deeper, more emotional, pretty violent, and even a lot sexier than I expected.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. And the process really was cathartic. It really did help me, and I look forward to returning to it when it's time for revision. But right now, I'm going to enjoy the fact my sadness was able to produce a whole new (unexpected) story.

Besides, it's a long weekend right now and I'm going to enjoy it with my husband.

Have a good one!

Saying Goodbye to Loki

LOKI

2007 - 2023

I've been meaning to write this post for almost a week now, but couldn't bring myself to do it because it was too sad and very painful.

Last Monday we lost our beloved cat, Loki. 😥💔

Calling Loki a cat doesn't seem right. He was my writing buddy, our companion, a little comedian, our familiar, and a sassy boy with a huge attitude. He was the king of the castle. He knew what he wanted and because he was so cute, adorable and loud, he always got his way.

He turned 16 last month, but shortly after that he started changing. Loki was always an active kitty who loved to run around and jumped onto most surfaces. Even after he became a senior cat, he had a lot of energy. But he lost that spark recently, and when he started withdrawing, we got worried because he loved following us around. Especially me.

After he stopped eating, that was when we knew there was a serious problem. Eating was his favourite thing to do, so ignoring his food was not normal.

This was all very strange because he had blood tests in late December that confirmed nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Either way, we made an appointment with his usual vet. Who cancelled an hour before we were meant to go because their main vet was on holidays and the one covering wasn't sure she was up for the challenge. 🤬

It was frustrating, and we scrambled to get him an appointment at another nearby vet hospital. Fast forward to last Monday, and we got the bad news. There were too many problems. Age had finally caught up with him and there was nothing left to do but to put him out of his pain.

It was hard to let him go because even though we suspected things were dire, when the reality hit it was unbearable. But there was no other way. He was wasting away before our eyes. We were not going to let him suffer for the sake of keeping him around.

I'm glad I held him until the very end. Saying Goodbye to our sweet boy was horrible and there were many tears. There still are. Not having him in the apartment has created a strange void. We miss the everyday routines we had with him, and it's strange—and feels so wrong—to not have him around.

Even writing feels weird without him. He always sat nearby while I was on my laptop and reminded me when it was time for a break. I'm a little lost without his presence.

The apartment sure is empty without him. But we have to get used to this. I hate it and wish he was still here, but the wooden box of ashes is all that remains of our precious kitty. 

I'm glad we've got so many happy memories of him. As well as hundreds of photos taken during his long and happy life. We loved our little guy.

I miss you every single day, Loki. And will never forget you. xxx

Weird Week

I took this photo of Loki a few days ago. Isn't he gorgeous? :)

 

It was early in the morning and shortly after sunrise. He always tries to avoid the camera (I mean, phone) but I managed to snap this one a few seconds before he looked away.

It's a very pretty pic of my handsome boy. ;)

 

This week turned out to be a weird one.

 

After the DASH proof didn't come in on Monday or Tuesday, I decided to read and plan my upcoming Writing Projects. I didn't want to get stuck into revision or write anything new. Not until I get DASH completely finalised and ready for publication.

 

Problem is, I didn't get as much reading/planning as I wanted to. I've been feeling pretty crappy. I kinda feel like the flu is trying to grab a hold of me but because I had the flu shot last year I don't think it can grab me fully. So, instead of a full-blown cold it attacks my nose and throat. My rhinitis and nasal drip problems flare up.

 

It's a condition I (unfortunately) developed several years ago and have to live with. I have a supply of nasal sprays to help, but when the seasons change it gets so bad that eating becomes a chore because I can't swallow properly. And since it's supposed to be summer but the weather feels more like winter right now, I'm not surprised I'm feeling crappy. I hate feeling like this. It's scary and makes me nervous, anxious, lightheaded... which soon becomes a panic attack. Before I know it I'm so exhausted all I want to do is go to sleep.

 

It sucks. And this is how I've been feeling the last few days.

 

Seems to be better this morning, but just writing about it is making me anxious. So let's chat about something else...

 

I mentioned DASH. Well, the proof came through this morning so I'll get started later. I'm looking forward to reading it as a clean PDF. Always exciting when I'm this close to being done. Next week I need to contact a few places to schedule some interviews and blog stops.

 

As far as the writing planning goes, I printed out some inspirational pictures and will soon pick a notebook to start taking notes, adding research, and brainstorming a new book idea that's been hounding me for a few years. It's set in a very dark and gritty world. It's going to be a bit of a genre mesh: SF elements, UF attitude, heartbreak, futuristic setting. Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one.

 

My reading has been going well. I read an awesome YA fantasy book the other day. It's called RED QUEEN and it totally blew me away. It was fantastic! Then I made an executive decision and stopped reading THE MARTIAN. This was a book I started loving, before the shine started to wear off. After stalling for weeks, I just couldn't bring myself to finish. It's my first DNF of the year. Hope there aren't too many of those. O.o

 

Now I'm reading an ARC that I am enjoying and hope to finish during the weekend. It's moving a little slower than I thought it would, but I know it's building up to something huge. So I'm looking forward to everything exploding on the page. LOL.

 

Well, that's about it. I thought I'd pop in for a bit of an update since I didn't have the energy or motivation to post much of anything this week.

 

Have a great weekend!

I am Groot

Okay, so my plan to blog more often kinda didn't work out. It's been several weeks since I last posted an update. O_o

 

Oh well. I'm here now, LOL.

 

Over the weekend we went to watch GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. The movie doesn't officially come out in Australia until this weekend, but we purchased advanced tickets. We'd been looking forward to this movie for ages. Ever since the first time we watched the trailer, LOL.

Anyway. We went, we watched, and we all fell in love!

 

GotG has a bit of everything. It's filled with all the elements that make a movie worth watching over and over again. Actually, we're already making plans to go again as soon as the crowds die down a little. It really is an amazing rollercoaster ride full of fun and mayhem. With a lot of heart and terrific characters. There's something about GUARDIANS that really hits you. Something that hasn't left me since I saw it days ago. I really did fall in love with the setting, the characters, the world--everything. This is the kinda Sci-Fi I absolutely adore.

 

I am Groot.

 

Speaking of Sci-Fi, did you read about my awesome RECAST news? In case you didn't, my super cool editor contracted the fourth instalment in my ongoing saga about the lives of very different people who have all somehow been affected by the cruel Jenks Maine and the Recast Arena.

 

This is my Robot Love Story. :)

 

What else have I been doing? Well, I've been watching the days go by much too quickly. There's always so much to do that the weeks are just whizzing past. :/ There really aren't enough hours in the day.

 

I did, however, finalise that short novel I mentioned a few weeks back. You know the one that I mentioned was a secret? Yeah, it's done and with my editor. So, fingers crossed.

 

The one thing that's fallen behind the last week is my reading. I have a bunch of books that I really can't wait to read but with the finalizing of the 50k story and sorting out my stationery trunk, plus trying to schedule some promo spots for next month, I just haven't had time to read. Boo.

 

That will have to change this week!

 

Also, we had a bit of unexpected trouble with Loki late last week. The poor kitty got blocked and we had to take him to the vet a few times. :( The vet knew exactly what was going on and took care of him, plus gave us some medicine for him and he seems to be back to normal. We were lucky to catch it early, and that his urine test came back normal. Phew. I was so worried about him. I really hope he's fully recovered now.

 

Anyway. That's it for now. Just thought I'd post an update. I won't bother to say that I want to make a habit out of this, because every time I say that it doesn't happen. So, how about I just see how I go? ;)

 

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Loki!

My beautiful kitty turns 7 today.

 

 

Happy Birthday Loki! 

Loki's 6!

That's right. My baby kitty's growing up.

It was his birthday yesterday. :)

 

So, as you've probably noticed I've been a little slack with the ol' blog lately. :/ I have gone out of my way to post reviews as I finish reading books, though I haven't done much reading this week either.

 

My editor got Sierra Fox #3 back to me really fast, so I spent most of this week working on the second round of edits for On Pins and Needles. I'm so excited about this story, especially since during the editing process Holly has helped me make everything super shiny. She's an awesome editor! So glad we were matched up. :)

 

I finished up on Wednesday, and took yesterday off. All I did was read! It was so good, and the book I read was amazing! Today I got a bunch of smaller things out of the way--including the review for the book I read yesterday. As well as some other stuff on my to-do list.

 

Well, my daughter goes back to school next week. On Wednesday. I can't believe she's starting high school! It kinda hit me the other day... she's actually going to start Year 7 next Wednesday. Yikes. The years go by so darn fast. But you know what's strange about that? I can still remember my first day of high school, I can still remember what it was like during those strange years. Hopefully that'll help understand my daughter a little better as she starts the next stage of her life...

 

Anyway. Not much more to report. Just thought it was about time I posted some sort of update here, LOL.

 

Have a great weekend! We've got a long one because it's Australia Day.

NaNoWriMo: Done!

Isn't Loki cute? I took this photo last week, after I set up my writing area and was about to add my laptop to the mix. Guess where that was supposed to go? Yep, exactly where he's sitting in this picture. LOL.

He cracks me up! He sat there and waited until I saw him. Such a cutie.

So, today is not only the last day of the month, but also the official last day of NaNoWriMo. Yay. Did you make it? I verified my novel--well, a scrambled 55k-word version of it which I saved at the time--early this week. This is the sixth time I've taken part and won. Awesome!

 

I also finished the first draft of Sierra Fox #4 on Wednesday. I'm so excited about it. The word count ended up being 83,573 words, but I know that'll change during the revision drafts. There are already things I want to add during the second draft, lol. Still, the exciting thing is that Book 4 is written. One more to go. :(

 

I'm now going to take next week off. I need a little time to recharge my battery, I think. So I'll just tackle the to-do list I've already started. Yeah, I might not be planning to write a first draft, revise, or edit next week, but there are still a lot of things I need to do.

 

It would also be nice to squeeze in a little reading, because I just haven't had the desire to read these last few days. I think I'm just mentally exhausted after finishing Sierra's novel. Probably needed a few days of no reading/writing.

 

Oh, and today I'm guest blogging over at Elise Hepner's blog.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

Why so serious?

Yeah, that's the question I'd love to ask Loki. He looks so serious in this picture, doesn't he? Maybe it's because my daughter forced him to pose with a Care Bear. ;) LMAO.

 

Anyway, TGIF!

This has been one strange week. Now that I think about it, 2012 has been a very strange and kinda bittersweet year so far. There have been some good things, some awesome things, and some not-so-great stuff too. It's also been a mixed bag of something-something as far as my writing goes. O_o

 

Like I mentioned the other day, this week was all about taking it easy and catching up on some smaller jobs I had listed on my current to-do list. I did get most things done, but there's one pesky thing I haven't tackled yet and keep procrastinating on: my newsletter. I've been meaning to send one out for ages, but something always comes up. And even this week, when I had the time, I just couldn't go back there. Strange, huh?

 

I think I just need to overhaul it. Get excited about it again. Maybe it's just the lack of writing news and being in a state of limbo that keeps me from sending anything out. Not sure yet, but I'll get there. Someday soon. But it won't be next week. Next week, I'm going to tackle the third/final draft of Sierra Fox #3. The story's written, revised, and very close to done... but I need to add/tweak a few final things before I can really call it done. I would love to have it done & done by the end of this month, so I can concentrate on planning for the fourth (and penultimate) book in the series.

 

Can't remember if I mentioned it here yet, but I would love to write the first draft of SF#4 during NaNoWriMo. :D Fingers crossed.

 

Well, I'm really looking forward to another weekend with hubby, daughter & kitty. We've gotta buy a few last minute things for my daughter (she's going on a school camp next week, and the school keeps adding stuff to what they need) but I'm determined to have a great few days!

 

Have a great weekend...

Sunny Spring

I love this picture of Loki. I took it several weeks ago, and I love the look on his face. What a cutie! ;)

So. Another weekend is over. Boo! We had two awesome days. Got out for a little while on Saturday, went for some nice, long walks both days, hung out, ate some yummy meals, and even slept in yesterday. Yeah, it was a great weekend. Of course, not long enough because there were other things we wanted to do but didn't.

 

Maybe next weekend.

 

I originally planned to spend this week working on the third (and final) draft of Sierra Fox #3, but changed my mind. Last week was pretty packed with things to do, so I decided to take a break this week. I'll be working on a variety of smaller things I have on my to-do list, as well as catching up on some reading, and spending time getting to know my Galaxy Note better. LOL. Nothing too involved.

 

But next week, it's time to finish that book! :) And to be honest, it's probably a better time to do it. My daughter goes away on a school camp next week--from Wednesday to Friday--so I'll have some extra time to myself while hubby's at work. Time that I can easily use on Sierra & Co. It'll also help keep me focused on work, rather than how much I'll miss my daughter while she's gone. This is her first camp. Actually, her first time away (overnight) from home. :/

 

After that, she has two weeks off. Yeah, school holidays are once again around the corner. They sure come fast, don't they?

 

Well, that's about it for now. I'm hoping that this beautiful spring weather continues all week. It's been a lovely start to the new season, which makes me very happy. :D

 

Have a good one!

Happy Birthday, Loki!

That's right! Today is Loki's birthday. Yay.

Look at him. This is what he looked like when we first adopted him in March 2007. He's always been a cheeky cutie. We fell in love with his antics at the RSPCA right away. He was so friendly. And he became part of the family very quickly.

We love the little guy. I just can't believe he's 5 years old now! Wow.

Time sure flies. Though I really shouldn't be surprised because my daughter will turn 12 this October. Yikes.

Anyway. I hope he has a great kitty day! ;)

I'm guest blogging today. You can find me at Ren Thompson's blog. I'm chatting about mixing genres. You know how much I love to do that, right? ;)

I've also noticed a few reviews for CLASH:

Library Journal

LovLivLife Reviews 

They're both great reviews, so I'm very excited.

And, don't forget that you can pick up the prequel novella for my upcoming The Hidden series from ImaJinn Books. For Free! ;) If you do read it, I'd love to know what you think. :) I'm very excited about Trina Martin finally being out there in the world...

As you can probably tell, January has actually turned out to be super busy so far. Seriously, I've had my daughter home all month and still managed to tackle one novella full edit, the first round of edits for a novel, reading a bunch of books (I'm up to 8 right now), trying to get back into the swing of working out, and sorting out some promo. Phew. Yeah, I guess it's no wonder I'm so tired, lol.

This week is going to be a little wonky, but good. Hubby's only working three days, then it's a public holiday, followed by an RDO, and the weekend. Effing awesome! Oh, and on Friday night the three of us are going to the MCR concert. Can't wait! I've been trying not to get excited until the day, but with it being so close, I can't help it. :D

Oh, and did I mention that CLASH will be released tomorrow? OMGosh!

Have a great day.

'Twas a dark and dreary day...

But this gorgeous picture of my cat, Loki, should brighten things up. :)

Seriously, isn't it beautiful? My daughter took it. We surprised her last month and gave her a digital camera for her 11th birthday, and she loves it. She takes heaps of excellent photos, but most of them happen to be of Loki. Lol. She chases him around the house with the camera, waiting for a cute pose. And well, since he's pretty much always doing those... you can imagine. I call her the 'Loki Paparazzo'.

As you can probably tell from the title, we've been having a pretty dark and rainy start to the week. Boo! It pretty much rained most of yesterday, and I found myself walking in the rain when I dropped and picked my daughter up from school. I have to admit it was kinda nice during my walk in the morning--I like getting the river path all to myself--but in the afternoon it was a bit of a drag. Oh well.

I just hope it stops soon. I don't mind a few days of spotty rain, but nonstop rain for more than that starts to make me twitch. I need me some sunshine during spring. ;)

So, I actually had a great day yesterday. I didn't have any tight daily deadlines, but worked on research and updating my Sierra Fox Series Bible for most of the time. I even spent the morning listening to music while I read about some myths and legends. I've now (finally) cleared something up about one of the villains in the second book, which I'll have to fix during the final draft. And have found/figured out which calendar moon cycles I'm using. Never mind about that, though. It's mostly background stuff that I need to know in order to make sense of the timeline.

I'll be doing more of the same today. I've got an ominous name to choose, the interior of a house to figure out, and some werewolf/full moon research to do. I've also got to read a little more about crime scenes and might even need to eventually pop into the local police station to ask them a few precise questions about certain Australian procedures. I don't usually have cops in my books, but these two popped out of nowhere while I was writing--just like the unplanned scene they were in--and now I need to make proper sense of everything. Yeah.

OMGosh! I found out the other day that MCR is actually doing one sideshow in Sydney when they tour as part of The Big Day Out next year. They're going to perform at the same place as 30STM did, when we went to see them live last year. We're gonna try and get tickets. I expect this show to sell out real fast, but I'm certainly gonna try to get hubby, daughter and myself there. :D

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to get a few things done before my daughter wakes up and it's time to get on with the day... Take care!

Surprised!

Yeah. Hubby surprised me yesterday.

I was minding my own business during the day when someone buzzed at the door. It was a delivery from UPS. Okay, strange, but cool... what is it? Turned out, it was from Amazon UK. I instantly thought it was a book my daughter ordered and is very impatiently waiting for.

However, when I opened the box, I found THIS!

The hubby knows I love The X-Files and have wanted the boxset for a while now. Except, I had no idea that he'd ordered it. Wow. It was so exciting! He's such a sweetheart. :) Made me smile. I was SO surprised. In the most awesome of ways.

Oh, and as soon as I took them out and Loki spotted the box, he jumped into it. (As you can see from the photo, lol.)

Anyway. Super cool!

Well, school holidays might be over but I've got my daughter home for the next three days. :/ Yeah. See, Year 5 and 6 are going on camp and we decided she's too young to go. She doesn't mind. She's just happy she's staying home, but we've insisted she spends a chunk of the day working on some mathletics, reading, times tables, etc. I don't want her slacking off for three days lying around doing nothing. I just think that 10 is way too young to go away on camp. Next year's a different story. By this time next year, she'll be 11 going on 12, and in her last year of primary. She totally agrees, which is cool.

So I don't expect the next few days to be too productive on my end. Then again, I'm still feeling the effects of last week's super editing rush. I'm really tired, a little unmotivated, and with my heel being so sore, distracted. I've been taping my heel for the last few days and even bought some cushioning inserts for my sneakers. With the amount of walking I do, I guess this was bound to happen. :(

Today, I'll just be happy with getting my revision projects sorted out for the rest of the year. I also have to seriously consider if NaNoWriMo is an option this year. On one hand, I know I can't waste the time because I need all the revision time I can get until the end of the year. But on the other hand, I've been taking part since 2006 and love getting stuck into a new story... I'll see.

Now, it's time for yoga.

Have a great day!

A bit late, but oh well

<--- This is a pic of Loki. I took it several weeks ago with my phone camera. Which is why the quality isn't the best. Still, as you can see, when he sits on the desk right in front of me, I can't see a darn thing.

I know he does it on purpose, too. And this makes me laugh.

It seems like only yesterday--oh, okay about 4 years ago--when he could lie down across the desk and comfortably go to sleep on it. He's just too big now, and only does this when he really wants to get my attention. 

Anyway.

I've been busy today. Busy writing up a storm. Seriously, I'd written over 6k words by the time I headed out to meet hubby and daughter at her school. Then, later on, hubby went over to my MIL's house to help her with something and took my daughter too. I decided to add some more words, and ended up with 2k more. After dinner, hubby got stuck into watching the footy and I just had the epilogue left to write, so I wrote it.

All up, I added 10,234 words today. I think I might have beaten my own record. ;)

I couldn't help it, though. I was at a bit in the story where it was all playing out really fast inside my head and I was totally in the zone. So I let my fingers go nuts on the keyboard and got it all out. Now, I'm not going to look at it all weekend, but on Monday I'll read the last four chapters to make sure that it all makes sense, lol.

Word count is now up to 90,263. Not a bad number!

Phew. I'm so darn tired. Managed to squeeze in a weights workout tonight, too.

Now, I think it's time to take it easy. And then get some sleep soon!

Have a great weekend...

A little Loki update:

I took this cheeky Loki pic with my phone camera the other day while he was sitting inside a new box.

Yep. We got a package and as soon as I opened it and took out the contents, he jumped in. Oh, okay, he actually jumped in while the stuff was still in there. LOL.

Anyway. We got up early this morning and made our way to the RSPCA for his follow-up appointment.

The vet took a swab of both ears and checked them. The infection is no longer there. Yay! She cleaned them out to make sure any residue from the drops was gone, too. Then she checked his teeth and said they're not looking too bad. They're not 100% but are certainly getting there. We need to keep giving him the prescription food and then move onto the oral care stuff.

That's not so bad. :)

We're all very excited. It means our little buddy is back to normal. Well, almost. He's still got that bald patch on his back. :/ But it looks like the fur's already growing back.

This is a great start to the weekend.

Oh, and if you'd like to read my latest interview... I'm over at Rachel Brimble's blog. It was a fun interview and I'm chatting about my upcoming Eternal Press 'alien' novel, Shade of Grey.

Have a good one!

Sigh

This morning started out like any other morning: I got up at 7AM, gave Loki something to eat, did yoga while he sat nearby, then got breakfast ready for everyone. We had brekky and were getting ready to head out for a walk when hubby noticed some of Loki's fur on the bathroom wall!

I was like, what the hell? Anyway, we had a look at him and found a bald spot on his shoulder. And the skin looked red and irritated.

I'd noticed that he was scratching his ear a bit while I was getting dressed, but I thought it was because of the ear drops. Nope. Turns out he gave himself a bald patch. So we rang a few local vets and were able to take him to one of them. He took a look and put some ointment on the irritated skin, which helped right away. We got a tube of it and need to put it on twice a day for about a week, as well as the drops.

The vet said there were a few reasons why he might've done that to himself--the area where he got the shot could be itchy, or the drops are annoying him. Basically, it could be any of the changes we've had to make during the last two days. Still, those changes need to stay. So I hope he'll be okay now. He's been pretty relaxed since we got back home.

It's so strange, when we put him in his carrier and put him in the car he starts to cry. He cries all the way there, but when we're heading home he sits all quiet and cute. Almost like he knows he's going back home so he's okay. Loki loves routine. If anything's done out of order he doesn't like it. He's quite a peculiar little kitty, and I know these changes are bugging him.

I feel so bad that all these things are happening to him at once. :( But I'm glad that we're getting them looked at. *sigh*

Well, it's Monday. It might be the start of a new week, but I'll be tackling a goal that's carried over. I calculated that if I can get 30 pages done/day I can get this second draft done by Friday. Of course, rewriting means that the word count goes up and down every time I tackle a new section, so it feels like I'll never get to the end. lol.

I suppose I should get started. Daughter and I have to head out for a walk in a few hours, and need to stop by the grocery store for some bread. She goes back to school tomorrow.

See ya!

Let's talk about Loki and some other things

If you read my blog, then you know that I have a cat called Loki. He's three years old and spends so much time with me that he's become my 'writing buddy'. He's such a cutie, too.

Well, yesterday we took him to the vet for his annual checkup and vaccine. Overall, he's a healthy boy and everything's fine but the vet did find a few things--teeth and ears.

I didn't expect the teeth, but she said it could be easily fixed by switching the dry food we give him at the moment from indoor to oral care. We grabbed a small bag that's prescription diet and when he's done with that we need to get his teeth checked again. The ear issue is something he's had since the day we adopted him. She gave us some drops for him, which he's had before. The prob seems to go away after the medication but comes back eventually. I think it's an infection he might've gotten as a tiny kitty when he was with the other tiny kitties, but I'm not an expert so I have no idea. That's just a guess.

He doesn't like the drops in his ears, but he's enjoying the new food. So that's cool. I'm just glad that it's nothing serious, but like everything else, if it's not treated now it could become a serious issue. Poor Loki.

Well, it's Sunday morning and I don't usually blog on Sundays, but today hubby and daughter have gone off to the pool for a little swim. I know I could (or is that, should?) be doing other stuff, but I think I need to finish off the weekend without pressure. I've been putting plenty of that on myself during the last two weeks, while trying to get through the second draft revision.

So I'm fifty pages behind... big deal, I'll just tackle it tomorrow. Right? I'm so used to piling on the goals and pushing myself to meet them that the few times I don't, I get all worked up. *taking a deep breath*

Besides, I intend to get the second draft of The Hidden #5 done by the end of this week. Then I'll put it aside for a few weeks before getting stuck into the final draft. With my daughter going back to school I should have more time.

One thing I did do the other night was start taking notes for a new idea that came out of nowhere on Friday morning. Actually, on Friday night I picked up a pen and notebook and wrote the first four pages by hand. Like I said, it came out of nowhere but when an idea is this pushy... I love it!

Well, that's it for today. I hope you're having a great weekend.

Hello, we've hit the end of the week

And you know, I forgot to mention that my short story, WAKING FROM NIGHTMARE, will be published in the next issue of Ethereal Tales. Yay. How awesome is that? And it happens to be the sequel for the story that was published in Issue Six. Can't wait to see the cover. :)

Doesn't Loki look comfy in the box that is too small for him? It doesn't stop him from trying to get in though. He's got a thing for boxes. You can't put one down anywhere without him trying to get in. lol.

Well, my daughter and I popped into the library yesterday. We hadn't been in ages. Mainly because I've got so many of my own books--and books to review--that I've tried to stay away. Anyway, I ended up borrowing two books, and this book is one of them. I've had my eye on this one for a while, so I couldn't pass it up. ;)

But first, I'm reading this one. It's one of the two books left on my TBReviewed pile. I started it yesterday and I'm pretty close to page 100 already. It hooked me in right away. I'm really enjoying it. Can't wait to get back to it, but that won't be for a while because it's time to concentrate on my own story first.

Yep. The revision is still going. Last night I hit my target (well, I went 3 pages over, yay!) and am now sitting on page 117/390. The word count's 77,235. Even after the amount of words I deleted last night, it still managed to creep up a little. Which is cool. I'd still like to reach/cross 80k by the end of this draft. I think I can do it. Well, I hope I can.

Today I'm aiming to reach page 152 before the end of the day. I should be doing that right now, but thought I'd squeeze in a blog post first. I find that most of the time, if I don't blog before getting stuck into things, I either forget or time slips away. So, here I am. :D

Better get started before I cave into more reading...

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!

I think I missed a day...

Yep. I did. :/

To make up for it, I'm posting a very posh pic of my kitty, Loki. I forgot to mention that he turned 3 last month. He's still a young man. lol.

Which reminds me, yesterday I was interviewed by Meankitty. So, if you'd like to read it, you can here. There's another Loki pic there, too.

I'm still very excited about the news I shared on Monday, and today actually got my cover. I know, already. How's that for awesome? The cover's awesome too, and I'll be sharing it soon. I just posted it at my Bits & Pieces Group first. They get to see all the upcoming covers first. Unless I'm slack that week, of course. ;)

Anyway. Yesterday I started the second draft of what started out as a 14k novella, and is now past 16k. It's set in Alyce's world. Okay, who am I kidding? It's about Alyce and Ross. And that's all I'm saying about it. :) I'm moving at a nice pace too. Already hit 58/70 pages, and if I push myself tonight after I tuck my daughter in, I might be able to finish it. Maybe. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Well, that's it for today. I'm feeling very chipper this evening. See ya!

We just got it!

Yep, we did! We just bought a copy of THE BEATLES ROCKBAND, and can't wait to play it. I think it'll be fun and the previews I've seen of the way the game actually looks, have been great!

You know, for about 20 minutes, Loki was MIA. *scratches head* I still have no idea where he was hiding, because I checked everywhere and he wasn't where he usually hides. He got spooked by something and hid somewhere new. I wonder where?

We live in a unit (apartment) that's a good size but definitely not big, so there really aren't that many places to hide. Yet, the sneaky cat managed to find somewhere knew. WTH?

Well, I'm really into AMERICAN GODS at the moment. I have to say that the story - so far - has totally grabbed me. It's a little intoxicating, just how much I want to keep reading this book without taking a break. I've almost reached page 150 and would love to get halfway through sometime today, though I doubt that's going to happen. The ride is a good one and I'm looking forward to seeing how new things unfold. So far, some pretty freaky things are going on and I think I might know who Mr Wednesday really is. Though, with Neil Gaiman's awesome imagination at play, I could be way off. Lol.

Today is also my last take-it-easy day. Next week, I'm getting stuck into some revision. Yay! I might even plan out the rest of the month for myself. And have to grab a calendar because my daughter goes on school holidays sometime next month. I know, again! They get waaaay too many holidays, if you ask me. ;)

I'll also need to take a few moments to remember all of the poor, innocent people who lost their lives on this day in 2001.

I hope you enjoy your weekend!