Stray Cat

I've been sporadically feeding an all black kitten that has made its home in the bushes around the Dollar General Store at the end of our block. It's a friendly little thing. A little skittish at first, but once you start to pet him/her, the motor revs up.

I was pleased to note this morning, when I carried down food and water, that some kind soul had set out two bowls by the side of the building. One was filled with water and I assume the other had contained moist food as there was an empty can of cat food rolling nearby.

As I emptied the food I'd brought into the dish, the kitten seemed more interested in receiving a bit of love then the food, twining around my legs. Only after I'd petted her (let's just call it a her) for a few minutes did she sniff the food and then gobble it down.

She may have already had breakfast. As I was petting her I noticed a bit of fluff around her mouth. "What have you been into?" I mock scolded as I reached to pull it off. Only then did I see it was a tiny feather. And there were several other tiny similar feathers floating nearby. "I see," I told the kitten. "Did you catch your breakfast this morning?"

I'm not a fan of cats killing birds, but these strays have to in order to survive. So I was pleased the kitten seemed to have the hunter instinct and ability.  

Did you know the average life span for stray cats is two years? Not very long. This little kitten is probably already about 4 months old.  It breaks my heart to see how friendly she is. She would make a very loving pet. The problem is finding the household to take her in.

As much as I talk about wanting another cat, we really can't. I'm not even holding my own against my allergies as it is. Plus, Lucy hates other cats. Hates them. Olivia I think could learn to adjust. Lucy's still ticked at us for bringing Olivia home and that's going on 5 years.

I worry about when winter comes. Feeding a cat sort of puts the responsibility on you to have some concern for their health. Maybe we can build the kitty a little shelter? Depends, I suppose, on how flexible the Dollar General people want to be about it. I'm sure they're not wild about people feeding a stray cat outside their store, as this just encourages the cat to stay. Indeed, I often see the cat roaming the parking lot, hesitatingly looking at people as she decides whether or not to approach. 

I wish there were no more strays.  I wish I could find the black kitty a home. I wish she could know the joy of being pampered and adored. I wish, I wish...

Kill Your TV

Have you seen that bumper sticker? The one that reads, "Kill Your TV?" I chuckle every time I see it, yet the chances of my ditching my TV any time soon equal the chances of me turning out a gourmet meal. Ain't gonna happen, people.

Writer's magazines are interesting on this point. The majority of magazines urge writers to "turn off the TV." The rue it as time-waster that destroys the creative impulse. But I have read the other side that says TV can not only spark creative ideas, but watching how dramas and sitcoms are structured, as well as paying attention to dialogue, makes TV a real learning tool.

I tend to lean toward the "tv eats your mind" side.  I pulled a muscle under my left shoulder blade and have been semi-miserable the last couple of days. I didn't feel like doing anything last night so I plopped down on the couch in front of the TV about 6 and--I'm embarrassed to admit--didn't move until 10.

My head was pounding by the time I went to bed and I was restless in my sleep. TV overstimulates me, in a bad way. I woke up a couple of times in the middle of dreams based on the TV shows I'd watched that night. I felt fidgety and mentally tired all night.

So I'm going to more closely monitor my viewing time.  I'm sure I waste enough brain cells as it is--no need to speed up the process.

Everyone have a great--and TV free--day.

Real Life Magic

Today has been such a good day I may just have to cave and go buy a lotto ticket.  Get a load of the power of goal-setting.

I sat down this morning with a blank pad of paper and began to rough out my goals for the next 6 months. I started with Financial goals, as each year I assign myself an income goal. I'm a little ahead of schedule for this year, so I was doing the math on how much more I need to earn, equals X amount I need to earn per month, etc. 

I was scribbling notes in the margin as I wrote such as, "I like focusing on big tasks, like book projects, versus a lot of little projects."  I also noted it would be nice to have another column--guaranteed income--versus having to ferret out work.  I wondered how I would meet my financial goals with no new projects on the horizon and was thinking I'd have to get busy finding new magazines to write for.

I moved on to writing goals for my products/services some of those included actively seeking out more speaking engagements, maybe doing another cat book or more humor writing, and a few others.  I wrote I'd like to do more promotion of my cat book.

So then. I put all that aside and start the work of the day. And here's where the magic comes in. In the last 4 hours,  I've:

• Received an e-mail from an editor that she's recommended me to a UK book company seeking a humor author for a new dog book. They wrote my editor asking if she knew of anyone and she gave them my name.
  
• Last year I wrote an article for the 2007 Novel & Short Stories Writer's Market - a reference book that comes out yearly. I had to contact the editor for a quick update and was invited to pitch new article ideas.
• Received a call from a fellow pet writer and friend. She's working on a new book on cats which will pull pieces from other authors and she wants to highlight several of my stories from Lessons In Stalking, as well as another humor piece I've written. 
  
• This same author is starting a radio talk show heard by 2 million listeners and wants me on as a guest.
• And she assigned me an article to write for the magazine she edits.
  
• NC Career Networking Magazine, the magazine I write for and am Associate Editor of, has been picked up by Ingrams and our little magazine is flying to distributors, including some in Vegas and California.

I feel like someone dipped me in happy glue and all the good things in the Universe are winging my way and sticking to me.

All from the power of goal-setting? Not really. I think the real power lies in the intent behind the goal-setting. We create energy and intent with our thoughts and dreams. I apparently managed to harness and aim my intent in the right direction this morning. 

I think I'll go set some goals to adopt more cats. Maybe the Universe can find a way to work around Blair and make it happen. =) 

What Am I Writing?

I often get the question, "So, what are you working on?"  I've noticed of late that more often than not my response is a waving of the hands and saying, "You know...stuff."

How very eloquent and writerly of me, no?

So I thought I"d share what I am working on these days:

• I've just finished a 1200-word article on Goal-setting for my Market Savvy column for Art Jewelry magazine. I like the content and mulling over ways I can repurpose the article and sell it to other magazines.
• I'm getting ready to start brainstorming ideas for my next Pet-A-Scopes column. You've got to love a job that requires you to sit and think hard if you can come up with anything funny related to pooper-scoopers or a cat's predisposition to barf.
• I've just completed a 900-word article on Networking for NC Career Networking Magazine. I pulled this column out at the last minute and am chastizing myself for not being better organized so I'm not scrambling for ideas last minute.
• Public-speaking book. I was spending 2 hours on this each morning after returning from England, but last week I don't think I touched it. I'd like to get it into draft shape so I can send it out for comments to friends before rewriting. I'm spending a fair amount of time thinking about formats--ways to structure the information, and need to spend some time this week in Barnes & Nobles, looking through business books for format ideas.
• I had an idea for a first reader or picture book and went to the library and checked out about 20 first reader books so I can get an idea of how they're put together and what the sentence structure is like. A task for this week is to read and evaluate the books and see if I still like my idea enough to rough out a story.
• I've been dreaming new ideas for a brand new adult novel. I'm not going to talk about it yet b/c I don't really have the story formed yet and don't want to interrupt the creative process. I'm not technically "writing" this yet, but it's on the radar.
• I've got 2 middle-grade novels I'm supposed to be working on editing/writing and I haven't hardly touched those in weeks either.

Other writing is I've been bidding on a lot of projects on GURU. I'm wondering if I've priced myself out of this market though, as I've bid on 12 jobs this month and have not heard back from one of them. GURU is great if you're willing to work cheap or if you have strong expertise in one area. Not so great for the middle man, or that's my take.

I also try to blog every other day and I say I'm going to start my journal again, but that doesn't seem to have happened--at least not on a consistent basis.