Teeny Tiny Kitten Revisited

It has come to my attention that many people find this blog by searching for "teeny tiny kitten image". I wondered why, so I searched myself and lo and behold, found this photo of Peanut, our first newborn as the first thing Google finds:



Here he is with the Big Hairy Dog who actually found him on our walk in October of 2006:



So I thought I'd go next door and take a picture of him now, which I just did a few minutes ago:


(He's a little camera-shy.)

Peanut lived with us until he was about six weeks old, and now lives next door with Amy, Steve and Maddie (who will join us sometime in May!). He is now a happy, healthy (and fixed) adult cat. It is very hard to raise a newborn kitten (I've done it successfully twice - see the post of March 13, 2007 for our other success story who now lives happily in Southern California), so if you are faced with this situation, get as much info as you can. I've posted my winning recipe for kitten glop on the left hand side of this page in case anyone needs it.

Most of you know that we foster kittens for the animal shelter during the summer. Kitten season will be in full swing in just a few weeks, and I'm dreading it as much as I look forward to it. Things have been crazy here lately, but rest assured that I made sure that there was a space for the kitten cage in the new mud room.

Fix your ferals! I'd love it if the animal shelter never needed us again.

On this date: In 1970, Apollo 13 was launched.

Cell Phone Challenged

Under duress, I got a cell phone about a year ago, and I've actually carried it half a dozen times since then. I don't really like talking on the phone anyway, and I really hate doing it out in public. The last time I had my cell phone on me, it rang right at the beginning of a talk by Patricia Polacco and everyone stared at the idiot who forgot to turn off her phone. Turn off the phone, turn on the phone, - way too much to remember. One time I was in the bathroom at Target and this woman was in the stall next to me talking loudly on the phone about her plans for the evening. Do I have to mention that it is very echoey in bathrooms? I wondered for the rest of the day if the person on the other end of the phone knew where that lady was.

Agent E actually called me today and left a message on my home machine and then said she was going to try my cell phone. Now, smart gal that she is, she actually said on her message that she was pretty sure I didn't have it on me and that it would be weeks until I got the message. She was wrong, I picked the message up today (after I found the phone and plugged it into the charger because it was dead as dead gets). And it's a good thing I did too, because there was a message on there from March 31st that I hadn't gotten. Sorry Sheila.

Good news is starting to roll in on the book front, so I'm going to make a real effort to remember to keep it charged, keep it with me and keep it on - except when Patricia Polacco is speaking.

On this date: In 1970, Paul McCartney announced that the Beatles were breaking up.

Visual Musak

So hard to work today for so many reasons. It's finally spring here so I'm sharing it with all of you. Enjoy!






On this date: In 1939, Marian Anderson sang at the Lincoln Memorial (I love the book When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan)

Now What?

The past two mornings a couple of guys have come to put really stinky stuff on the hardwood floors in the new kitchen. Even with all of the windows open, the house still smells of chemicals. I was sitting in the middle of it when I came up with some great title ideas, so it can't be all bad, although my contractor says he can't recommend it. Only 71 more hours until I get my washer and dryer back.

One of the best parts of writing is thinking up the next project. Things just sort of float around in the air so that you can grab them, turn them over, and see if there is any there there. The past few days I've been thinking up angles for the new book which may or may not be the mid grade I've been toying with. I still like the concept of the YA Triplets that I wrote a few months ago, but I think the focus needs to change a bit. Agent E came up with some juicy suggestions that I'm mulling over. Apparently, even in the midst of writing about a rampant psychological disorder I can come up with a good romance, so I may head more in that direction next. I have to say, I got all squeee writing this one (and it was a blast), so I might not be able to say no to some more manufactured teenage love angst.

It's a lot more fun write about it than it was actually experiencing it - this time around I can make things come out how I want them to. Not so for a few boys who shall remain nameless in the little beach town where I went to high school. I was 5'10" at the age of 12, so you tell me what my adolescence was like. And people wonder why I became a writer...

On this date: In 1994, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain is found dead.

Into the World...

The new YA is taking its first steps out into the world tomorrow and I'm so excited I can barely sit still. It's like taking your baby out for the first time and have total strangers tell you if it is a thing of beauty or hideously ugly. Making it real hard to concentrate on my web writing, and I have to write articles on the 4th of July and Maypoles before the end of the week. I suppose I could start on the next book, which is a boycentric mid grade, but I'm not sure I can focus until this baby is put to bed.

T and I were sitting here after school and he started singing "We the people...in order to form a more perfect union..." a la Schoolhouse Rock. He told me that they'd been watching episodes in school, so we launched into choruses of "Conjunction Junction" and of course the perennial favorite, "I'm Just a Bill". Good to know they're teaching quality stuff in second grade these days. And that my brain cells still remember the words.

On this date: In 1770, William Wordsworth is born.

Fast Forward Two Weeks

WHAT? I'M SORRY, WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE FLOOR SANDER!

It is sooooo loud here the past two days I can barely hear myself think. The floor is going in as we speak and then it's just a matter of putting everything back together starting Thursday of next week. See:








I sent the revisions for the YA off to Agent E this afternoon, so now I just sit and wait with fingers crossed. It was actually not very hard to revise - the whole thing really seemed to write itself - and I got done even more quickly than I'd said. Hopefully, things will move on it pretty quickly and I'll know soon what's going to happen. DH was saying last night that he just wants to fast-forward a couple of weeks so that the kitchen will be done and the book will be on its way.

I was thinking the other day that one of the best things about writing is that every day brings a new opportunity for a surprise. You never know when you get up if this is the day that you will get a phone call from your agent saying that the book has sold, or from your editor saying that the picture book is finally going to be on next spring's list. I don't think I can ever quit writing or submitting, because then I'd miss the excitement. Granted, most days don't bring a surprise like that, but it only takes one to change everything.

On this date: In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

Lousy Excuses

Someone in my real life (hi Dad) mentioned that I haven't been blogging as much lately. I'm sure you're all disappointed ;) Truth is, I'm just trying to get through the remodel (which is going very well thank you - photos to come), recover from a Spring Break spent at home and work on my revisions for the YA. I'm having to really focus on them to the exclusion of everything because some fun things are happening behind the scenes.

The funny thing is, I have such a narrow focus that I didn't even realize that one of my favorite things is this Saturday - a writer's conference! Yay! Not only do I get to leave the kids with DH and spend the entire day by my lonesome (and this conference is in Davis - over an hour away), but I get to soak up the writerly atmosphere and hook up with some friends. Just don't eat the tuna salad - they put grapes in it. Yech.

I also just got an email about another writer's conference in Berkeley in October - the best thing is that Agent E is going to be there! She's speaking at our local conference, which means we get some face time to talk about husbands, families, vacations and stuff. Oh yeah, books too maybe.

On this date: In 1902, the first American movie theater opened in LA.