I am still alive in 2019!

Sharing some of my art, because I feel like some graphics
are needed.

Well, hello there!

Ummm, so yeah. It's been ages since I last posted! I'm probably going to be saying that for every future blog post I do, until I someday get back into the swing of posting regularly. I'm not sure when/if that will happen, but I still have a big soft spot for this blogging community so I hope it does.

I think one thing that's affected my blogging here is that I'm in touch with a lot of bloggers I met here via other means - on Facebook or Instagram namely. I'm also not really writing or editing at the moment. Things are very busy (again) with the cat rescue, and it's that time of year again when we have to prepare our financial documents for the annual audit. So that's taking a lot of focus.

I have many story ideas churning away in the back of my head, but really do want to concentrate on editing what I already have. The same old problem that I'm always tackling!

On the music front, my bandmate is already working on new songs for the next Woody's A Girl album, and he has asked me to send through songs that I'd like us to work on as well. I'm still working on narrowing down the list, but one problem I've run into is that some songs are missing tabs - I never recorded the tabs at the time I originally wrote/recorded the demo versions of the songs. So that's a slight spanner in the works. Still, I have enough of a list to send through to him as it is.

Elsewhere, I'm still a part of the little critique group, and comment on other members' shared excerpts when they're posted, etc. But I haven't posted anything new myself in quite some time.

Another thing that I'm getting off to a slow start with this year is my GoodReads Reading Challenge. I'm something like 7 books behind schedule, partly because I read some really tedious books that took ages to get through. I'm hoping to get some good reading time in to catch up. And speaking of reading, I'm part of a workplace book club that meets every 6 weeks or so (I think). We've already read one book, and we're currently reading the second. So I'll be checking out books I probably wouldn't usually as a result of that.

Anyway, I'm hoping that once the cat rescue stuff calms down again, I'll have more time for my creative pursuits. I do miss it when I'm not able to really get stuck in, so it's not like I'm not motivated.

I hope you are all doing well out there. Let me know what you've been up to!

Missed post, and NaNoWriMo 2016

Oops! I fully intended to participate in the "Do You Have Goals?" and Cephalopod Coffeehouse traditions on Friday. But I have been so busy and distracted that the blog post was one thing that slipped. However, in keeping with my current "tradition" of posting at least once a month, I'm lucky to still have the last day of October (today!) to at least give some sort of update.

This isn't a proper post like I would have done on Friday if I had my wits about me, but I do have updates to share, so here they are:

Halloween-ready - including cutlass
created last-minute

1. Music - only three songs left to work on for the next album! I submitted two within the last month. Slowly but surely, we're getting there.
2. Study - second-last assignment for the year is submitted, so now just one to go  and I'll be home free.
3. Halloween - went to a Halloween party, and spent way more time than usual putting my outfit together - including home-made cutlass. ;)
4. Cats - we've had a few events lately for the cat rescue, and we're all looking forward to a break. This coming Saturday we have a huge event on that goes all day. I also have two other events that day. Gahhhh. When will it end?
5. Reading - reading Poldark book #7 now - the last book in the "main series", before we start reading more about their children's stories in the next books.
6. Writing - in a moment of sheer madness I decided to do NaNoWriMo 2016. Let me explain...

I don't know why I'm doing NaNo, but apparently I am. I thought I could try to work on finishing off some of my unfinished novels, but I also looked through my "novel ideas" and picked one to work on, just in case working on the unfinished novels doesn't get me enough words. I'll probably start the new idea first, because I'm like that. Then if I run out of steam I'll work on some of the other novels.

So my novel for this year is titled "Die Beachside", and was inspired by a dream (a very scary dream!) I once had. This is very much a pantsing scenario in which I have no idea how things are going to go, and had to quickly work out some details of plot in the few days leading up to November. Here is a link to my novel.

Are you doing NaNo?

If not, what else are you up to?

[FEB UPDATE] Cephalopod Book Club & Goals

I'm on time this time!! Woo!

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : February Edition ~

This is definitely one of my fave books read in the last few years - which was a surprise, because I'm not religious, so not particularly into the romantic notion of angels, etc. However, these angels weren't romantic - they were jerks!

After reading Book #1, I wasn't entirely sure whether Raffe was a jerk or not, because what did he really think of the invasion of the angels? We didn't have much insight into his opinion by the end of this book - he always went silent whenever Penryn showed any distress over the state of the world she once lived in, a world largely destroyed by angels.

I quickly moved on to reading Book #2, and I enjoyed it as well. I did notice some unflattering reviews of Books #2 and particularly #3. And I have since read them both - thankfully I enjoyed them all. I must say though, that of all the books, Book #1 was the most incredible - fast-paced, action-packed, horrifying, and all in all a real page-turner. Generally, any book that makes me feel compelled to keep reading it, is a winner.

Currently Reading: Sarah Maas's Throne of Glass

~ Do You Have Goals? : February Edition ~

Last time I posted about my goals, I mentioned that I was working on preliminary edits for ON THE OUTSIDE. Since then, I have updated my blog mentioning that I cut out a large number of words from Chapter 1, a very troublesome chapter (same old story). Well, I haven't done much since then. I've been grappling with the other things in my life, and the editing as fallen away. However, I still have the burning desire to keep going with it.

My studies began this week, so I have to factor them in (which I'm not doing too well at so far). I'm also still busy with kitty rescue stuff, but am trying to pull back from that a little. It so happens it's the busiest time of year for Aussie cat rescues, with lots of kittens being born during the summer months, and lots of people going on holiday and dumping their cats at the pound as they were too disorganised to find / pay for holiday care well ahead of time. We are all eager for this year's "kitten season" to end, though many in rescue say that kitten season never really ends.

So with all that, the editing has fallen away again. But I hope to at least get a little bit of it done this weekend. I'm still pleased about cutting out 8 pages of Chapter 1, though, even if I do have to add some of it back in for the remains to make sense.

A to Z 2015 - "K" Photos

For Day #11 of the A-to-Z challenge, we're at the letter "K", and I have the chance to show off some of the little cuties I've had the privilege of fostering ... or adopting ... or taking photos of for other foster carers!

Kittens

  

GOALS update & Cephalopod - a day late!

***WARNING, maybe-spoilers*** - THE GIVER, Lois Lowry

I really enjoyed this read, though sometimes in the beginning I found it a bit cringeworthy reading about the corny jokes the happy family unit made to each other. The story really does start out so 'pristine' and orderly, and then comes the scene where the second twin gets 'released', and the true horror of the society hits home. There was a hint of that reality when we found out about the previous 'Receiver''s release, but the twin scene was just really dark.

At the end of the book, I really wanted to be able to read on and find out what happened next, after the sled ride - but I guess that isn't the important part of the story.

I'm also very curious about the setting in this book, e.g. how the heck did humans get to such a point? I can sort of imagine it being some apocalyptic war that nearly killed everyone, and so they became mega strict about allowing 'free will'. But I was left wishing I actually knew the history. I know there are other books in the series, but not sure if they explain more about that history or not. But I guess I'll find out when I read them!

Gulp. Umm, since last time I guess I haven't done much with my creative stuff, BUT I have still done the occasional bit of editing on SUNDOWN III. There is also a writing group that meets every Sunday, which is run by our 'region leader' on the NaNo site. I haven't been to one yet, but I think I'm going to try to go as many Sundays as I can. I can't go tomorrow but maybe next week. It's about time I did something that requires me to be accountable.

In the meantime, this happened to me today:

And there are seven more that have just been trapped, needing care!!

No wonder I'm distracted from my writing. ;) Rescue chaos doesn't allow for much spare time for 'other things'.

Editing ctd., sort of (and foster kitty)

Since my last update, I've done a bit more editing - but since the weekend began, I haven't done any. Tonight I hope to get some more done, but I had a terrible night's sleep last night, with kitty rescue "stuff to do" pestering my mind, so I guess we'll see. :P

This morning while I was trying to get back to sleep after two hours awake and tinkering with said "to do stuff", one of my foster kitties, Maurizio, decided it was time to play his new favourite game - Tug on the Bit of Carpet That Isn't Meant to be Lifting But Is! It's an awesome game, sure, but at around 5:30 am on very little sleep I wasn't as in the mood for it as I usually might be! So I got my kitty spray bottle ready for the next time he started up with his tugging.

Of course he somehow sensed this was going on, because he quit the game immediately. But not wanting to encourage a later continuation, I locked him and the other fosters out of my room anyway, and managed maybe 40 minutes more sleep before my alarm went off.

So that's where I'm at today - sleep deprived, but reasonably happy I guess. And I have chocolate in my drawer here at work - I can tell you right now I won't be waiting till Chocolate Friday to crack that open (it's only Wednesday).

Maurizio, my stunning foster boy.

IWSG #12 - Striking a balance

It's a new year, and so far I've done very little in terms of creative goals.

I seem to have no motivation to get things done that should be relatively easy to achieve. I really want to achieve them, but I'm being lazy. And I hate it!

I'm still completely stalled on my SQUEAKY project, which really annoys me. But someday I'm going to get that done! I also hope to finish last year's NaNo novel before I go back to work next week. In fact, I might get started on it sometime today. I only have one chapter to write, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Basically, it's frustrating having such small goals hanging over me that I just never get around to achieving.

I really do think that my heavy involvement with animal rescue is a big drain on my resources. But I wouldn't change my involvement there for anything. So I'm going to have to figure out how to strike a good balance between rescue 'work' and stuff I need to get done creatively.

And, of course, my full time money-paying job.

A kitty before Christmas

Maple, a little girl up for adoption through our kitty rescue. :)

It's December 22, not long before Christmas, and I don't really have much to say but I do have a rule about posting at least one blog post each week. So here I am to fill the quota. ;)

With that in mind, here are some random 'things':

• Check out the books I've read this year, HERE. (44 / 40)

• Here is my bandmate's album for digital purchase, which I sing most vocals on: The Falling Sound

• This is the Facebook page for the main kitty rescue I'm involved in

And now, holiday speak:

I'm on holidays as of Wednesday! I have so much to sort out in my home, so having a stay-cation is a very good thing. ;) And I just can't wait to have a break and relax.

Christmas will be the usual morning at the beach with champagne & orange, bagels with sour cream & smoked salmon, fruit skewers, and good company. I am also invited to my cousin's for Christmas dinner, at which point I'll enjoy a delicious chocolate Bailey's cocktail type thing. Yum.

How will be you spending your Christmas?

NaNoWriMo - 9 days in

I got a late start on my NaNoing on Saturday, but eventually I did get stuck into the writing - and only wrote about 3k for the whole day. Yesterday was even worse, with only 1.7k written.

My explanation is that on Saturday I was exhausted and also had a few things to do - like get my car's carpets shampooed after a beer bottle broke on the front passenger floor Friday night. On Sunday I had a visit from a friend who is in my cat rescue group, and we spent about 3 hours chatting. I also cleaned my house on Sunday. So, yeah, "stuff" got in the way. Still, I got the bare minimum done on Sunday, and more than that done on Saturday. It's all good!

So I'm sitting at 21,761 words after 9 days of writing. Some years I would be over 50k by now. Every year I participate in NaNoWriMo, things go differently for me. One year I'm pretty sure I was at 50k after 6 or 7 days. In 2011, I hit 50k by day 15, and then switched to my second novel of the month. Other times, I've taken until much later in November to hit that winning mark. It's interesting to look at the variation in stats. :)

November is a pretty quiet time of year for Australians, as compared with Americans with their Thanksgiving and so on. But I guess we still have those pesky lives to live, so that is bound to get in the way. :P

How are your Novembers going?

2 kittens down, 2 to go ;)

♥Champagne♥

Back on May 15th I posted about one of my foster kittens being rehomed.

At the time it was 1 down and 3 to go.

Now I've rehomed two, and have two to go!

I'm pleased to say that Batman's sister, the super-awesome Champers,
has now been rehomed as well. :) A lovely young guy secretly
arranged to adopt Champers for his girlfriend's birthday
(she had spotted Champers and said "I want that one!",

so no fear that he was making a mistake).

Apparently the girlfriend shed happy tears
when she and the kitty met for the first time. ;)

One of the admin ladies from the rescue I work with

made this picture up for Champers:

Anyway, I have to say that my house is very quiet without Champers,

and I miss her extreme wackiness. But it's good to get the

boisterous kitties rehomed, so I can concentrate on

socialising my remaining scaredy fosters.