"A Cat's Little Book of Self-Help" - Agent Listing

My newest cat humor book is now listed on my agent's website. In case it's of interest to anyone other than me, my parents, and my always encouraging husband who nods enthusiastically when I promise that someday I'll strike it rich writing about cats, here's the link on Martin Literary Management. Scroll down the page and you'll find the book description and my bio.

Lucy In Tunnel

So the new hot spot in our home is the multi-colored tunnel in the middle of our hall. Lucy has taken to napping there during the day. This is the cat who jumps a mile when the air-conditioner clicks on but yawns with boredom when I accidentally almost  step on top of her daily. 

Can you hear the thought process involved in the following photos?

Why are you down on the floor with me? Can't you see I'm gazing into the distance thinking important thoughts?

Huh. You're still here. Well, I shun you.

You bore me. I'm leaving.

A Chapter A Week

I am a woman on a mission. I mentioned that I have a 30,000-word book by the end of the year. Me being me, I of course drew up a timeline, to-do list, and flight plan to ensure everything occurs on time.

So far, so good. The plan calls for me to write a chapter a week which sounds intimidating, but each chapter need only be 3,000 words each. Which breaks down into 600 words daily. It's still an aggressive schedule, but breaking it down into baby steps makes it doable.

I'm three chapters in. On this schedule, I'll "finish" writing the book in November, which gives me a month to go back through and polish and tighten and add humor wherever possible. I'm almost spooked by how well the writing is going at this point. Like, since it's so natural it must be really, really BAD writing and I just haven't realized it yet.

The master plan calls for me to spend my morning hours on the book - say 7 AM to Noon. As I'm writing this blog at 9:43 AM you can see how well I'm sticking to that plan. I still have the hardest time saving e-mail, blogging, and social networking sites until the afternoon. E-mail especially. I still hold out hopes that someday soon I'll sit down to work in the morning without first checking to see what's arrived during the night. Willpower. That's all it takes.

Afternoons are for "work" work - magazine assignments, corporate work, etc. What I'd like to do is also start setting some afternoon or evening time aside to work on my growing-cobwebs-in-the-corner novel. It's a challenge--too much computer time and I run screaming from the room. But I'm wondering if I might do a little pen and paper writing for the novel, just to mix things up.

I'm falling behind on PR tasks. I need to add a calendar or "appearance" page to my website. Sounds ego-based, but it's all in the name of platform. I have a number of speaking engagements lined up and it's good to be able to show potential publishers of my book that look, people come to hear her talk! And she has bookings! Maybe we should publish her book! It's all in the pitch...

Speaking of websites, I need to update mine... and start work on the magazine class I'm teaching in October... and prepare for my radio interview next week... 

Hope you're having a productive week.

"There's Lucy Poo Waiting For You"

There are many ways for a man to show his affection for the woman in his life. Some women get flowers, others candy. A lucky few get gems that sparkle. Me? I get cat poo.

I came in from this morning's trail run and saw there was a message blinking on the answering machine. I punched the button and heard Blair's voice: "Hi honey. Listen, I wanted to let you know there is some Lucy poo in a plastic baggie, sitting on a towel in the guest bathroom. Okay? Love you. Bye."

Back off ladies, he's all mine.

Okay, in his defense, we've been trying to get a stool sample from Lucy since Saturday. Our cats share a litter box so we pretty much have to catch her in the act right after we've cleaned the litter box, to make sure we're taking the correct cat's poo into the vet. Apparently Blair struck gold this morning and I just wasn't there to see it.

So lucky me gets to transport Lucy poo to the vet this morning. But who knows? Since I'm giving away my prize, maybe Blair will surprise me and show up with flowers or chocolate this evening. 

Who says romance is dead?