...and a plot summary and a covering letter. It's in a big brown envelope and is about to go into the post. The final title:
Belinda: Never Too Old
Wish it luck.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Odin
Two summers ago a litter of cats was birthed in the tin shed in the garden next door. Strays. I considered briefly doing something about them, but not sure what that something was, I did nothing except leave out some water when the weather got really hot.
Then, last spring, we had new people next door, come in to refurbish the place and sell it. The cats were fully grown, and suddenly seemed to be hanging around much more. There were eight that I could see. I've always got on well with cats, so didn't mind that they had taken up residence on and under porches, in the sheltered places around the house.
I learned, just as the house next door was going on the market, that they had been feeding the cats. The woman concerned had been trying to just feed the one cat - the one with the milky eye, the one who couldn't hunt well. The one living under our holly bushes. The thing was, she had no idea how much one small cat ate, and so had been putting out enough food for all of them.
A month ago the people next door departed, and most of the cats went too, although a couple stayed in the ally to scrounge from bins. The cat with the milky eye seemed to be gone.
Then the ice storm came. It was bad. The cat with the milky eye holed up under the back porch. Tim gave it tuna after some discussion regarding the wisdom of feeding wild animals.
It took up residence on the back porch. I gave it some more milk and tuna one day when it looked particularly hungry (yeah, okay, you can read cute for hungry). Then today it was bold enough to sit on the porch all day. It only ran away when one of us was out there, and even then it didn't run far.
I gave it a box with a blanket. It has it's own dish. Tim named it Odin. It's hanging from the back door looking in at the window as I write.
I think we've been adopted.
Then, last spring, we had new people next door, come in to refurbish the place and sell it. The cats were fully grown, and suddenly seemed to be hanging around much more. There were eight that I could see. I've always got on well with cats, so didn't mind that they had taken up residence on and under porches, in the sheltered places around the house.
I learned, just as the house next door was going on the market, that they had been feeding the cats. The woman concerned had been trying to just feed the one cat - the one with the milky eye, the one who couldn't hunt well. The one living under our holly bushes. The thing was, she had no idea how much one small cat ate, and so had been putting out enough food for all of them.
A month ago the people next door departed, and most of the cats went too, although a couple stayed in the ally to scrounge from bins. The cat with the milky eye seemed to be gone.
Then the ice storm came. It was bad. The cat with the milky eye holed up under the back porch. Tim gave it tuna after some discussion regarding the wisdom of feeding wild animals.
It took up residence on the back porch. I gave it some more milk and tuna one day when it looked particularly hungry (yeah, okay, you can read cute for hungry). Then today it was bold enough to sit on the porch all day. It only ran away when one of us was out there, and even then it didn't run far.
I gave it a box with a blanket. It has it's own dish. Tim named it Odin. It's hanging from the back door looking in at the window as I write.
I think we've been adopted.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Triumphs and Annoyances
Jessica is in the shop again. I only just had a new master cylinder put in and she started making a peculiar noise - I think the fault lies with the fan belt, wherever it is, it looks like I'll be car-less for WUTA tonight.
On the bright side, I now have all the Christmas shopping done and posted. I may get a couple of little things to add to Teabringer's pile, but I'm essentially finished. Next week I'll do the decorations, once the cleaning is done. I'm feeling festive and the snow is very cheering, if a little lethal.
The writing is going well; I have another publication out (I think this week) in Kinships Magazine. It's Black Dust, for those who know it, which is well omened given that the novel length concept is going out at the end of the month. The Artist and I are working on Black's Magic as a comic. It's going fantastically well and both of us are very excited and working hard on it. I think we may spend a week working on it in January. The Artist also came up with a wonderful origami card for advertising, and I've worked out the art so it works upside-down and back-to-front.
This weekend is the concert at the Library. I'm due to tell a story there and need to finish it up and make it sound pretty, maybe do a dry run for Bertie and Lillian, so that I know what I'm doing. The story will be a weird puff-the-magic dragon/Celtic mythology cross. Perhaps I'll take it to WUTA tonight.
Plan for December: Finish Belinda. Market everything that is currently incomplete/waiting to be sent out again. Clean and decorate for Christmas. Complete the script for the first issue of Black's Magic.
Finger's crossed.
On the bright side, I now have all the Christmas shopping done and posted. I may get a couple of little things to add to Teabringer's pile, but I'm essentially finished. Next week I'll do the decorations, once the cleaning is done. I'm feeling festive and the snow is very cheering, if a little lethal.
The writing is going well; I have another publication out (I think this week) in Kinships Magazine. It's Black Dust, for those who know it, which is well omened given that the novel length concept is going out at the end of the month. The Artist and I are working on Black's Magic as a comic. It's going fantastically well and both of us are very excited and working hard on it. I think we may spend a week working on it in January. The Artist also came up with a wonderful origami card for advertising, and I've worked out the art so it works upside-down and back-to-front.
This weekend is the concert at the Library. I'm due to tell a story there and need to finish it up and make it sound pretty, maybe do a dry run for Bertie and Lillian, so that I know what I'm doing. The story will be a weird puff-the-magic dragon/Celtic mythology cross. Perhaps I'll take it to WUTA tonight.
Plan for December: Finish Belinda. Market everything that is currently incomplete/waiting to be sent out again. Clean and decorate for Christmas. Complete the script for the first issue of Black's Magic.
Finger's crossed.
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