Back In The Land of Cat Jokes

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November has shaped up to be a busy month. The developmental edit for Does This Collar Make My Butt Look Big? A Diet Book For Cats came back this week from my editor which means I am once again buried in cat humor. 

A developmental edit is basically just the editor going through the manuscript and pointing out what she likes, what jokes she thinks fall flat, what needs more explanation, etc. For example, I had written: While other diet and exercise books encourage a healthy lifestyle based on portion control and exercise, this book promotes the more feline-friendly approach of retching up most of your calories.

The editor's comment about "retching up" was "Is there a funnier, less gross term we can use here? I know there are a lot of funny slang terms for upchucking." So my edits this morning included sorting through options like "regurgitating, disgorging, heaving up, hurling, blowing chunks, yacking, ralphing..."

Seriously, I get paid to do this. It's awesome.

I'm also still NANO'ing. Today is the first day I haven't gotten up and written my 1700 words, which means I'll have to find time this afternoon. I suspect it will be harder and take longer to slog through the words this afternoon, but I'm also kinda-sorta (in a weird ralphing, upchucking, blowing chunks sort of way) looking forward to the challenge.

NANO has already taught me I can write quickly but I'm a little wedded to the idea that it has to happen FIRST THING IN THE MORNING OR ELSE I CAN'T DO IT. Starting to write at other times will show me that I can write fast, anywhere, anytime I have to. Again--I haven't worked up to good fast writing yet, but am trusting it will come.

Thanksgiving may present another writing challenge. My sister and her family are coming to visit and I can't WAIT as it's been years since I've seen them. I'll need to plan my days carefully to make sure I get the writing in. 

That's all for now. Need to get back to editing. What's a funny term for "litter clump?" 

Cheers,

Dena