Moved and settling

It's been weeks since I posted here. However, move is completed, although getting settled is still in progress. Cats are adjusting and liking the fact they get to sleep with mom at night. Work commute is longer due to traffic. Work is busy, although not as profitable as I would like.

Writing, getting back on track. Have some deadlines and then will complete several projects promised but not yet delivered to various publishers.

Am hoping to attend my class reunion this year. Have to wait and see.

All in all, my life is still hectic and am hoping it will settle down one day soon.

My Cats

I'm having to wrestle with what I want and what makes sense. The battle right now is another cat. I go into the shops or shelters where there are adorable kittens and precious older cats who need homes. I talk with them, hold them when I can and then leave them in their cages.

I don't have a choice.

I know I can't bring home another cat until after my two senior boys pass. It won't be long. Both are having health issues. Their kidneys are failing. One is mostly deaf and moves stiffly. The other is getting more and more skinny. Not a healthy thing. If I wake up in the morning and they're still breathing, it's a win.

But the time is coming soon.

I know I will cry when I say my goodbyes. The most I can do right now is prepare myself, love on them and give laps. I have the precious knowledge they'll join Tabitha, Little One and Dids. They're all playing in heaven right now and awaiting the day I arrive.

I will have my youngest cat left. Original plans was that she would be my last. However, she needs a playmate to wrestle with and have games of chase with. So, when the right cat presents his or herself, they'll come to a loving home where they'll be welcome, after the initial hissing and introduction time passes, and live out life with me.

I just have to be careful I don't do the 'crazy cat lady starter kit'. I really don't want more than two cats. 

Successful Convention

It's funny to think that my measure on whether or not a convention was successful, is measured in how many pitches did I make, how many new projects did I pick up, and what other writing opportunities landed in my lap. Or even, did I find a new talent for something I'm working on?

This was the realization I came to at the end of Denver Comic Con this year. Did I accomplish the above? Absolutely! Am I going to talk about them? Not right now.

Instead, I'm concentrating on finishing this year's projects, even while I start planning years. Mind you, this is all in between working a full-time job, taking care of the house & the cats, and still having time to enjoy life. The latter very important to keeping me physically, emotionally and mentally healthy.

So, Denver Comic Con was very successful for me. Besides, the children loved the pipe cleaner dragons I gave away. More than one parent said 'Thank you.' That would have been success enough.

Blog Hop

 

 

 Fellow Writer Kat Heckenbach invited me to be part of a blog hop. http://www.katheckenbach.com/. Please, check out her blog and see her answers on the following questions.

 

 

 1)      What am I working on? 

I'm a writer who has to have several projects going on at once. I'm editing two anthologies, Supernatural Colorado  and Different Dragons 2. Completing Winter Emergence, the sequel to my first book. I'm working on a collaboration with Julie Campbell and I will writing a book for Sky Warrior Books. The working title is Thunks in the Attic. Not to mention several short stories to submit to various anthologies.

 

 2)       How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I allow my cats to be cats, my wolves to be wolves and any other animal I write to be true to their nature. They aren't people in animal skin. They behaviors, sense of smell, etc. are used instead of how a human would view it. I've even crawled around on the floor to see it from the cat's perspective.

 

I'm also a regional writer. I add local flavor to my work. Many of my stories and books are based in Colorado, or other places I have been. It makes the stories much more real and the reader can identify with them much easier.

 

3)       Why do I write what I do?

I grew up reading Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, so it was natural progression. I also read romances and written my first. It was rejected, but the editor liked it well enough she's going to let me know what was wrong with it so I can fix and re-submit.

 

I envisioned myself as the next Andre Norton. I loved her work and even have a story of hers in an anthology I edited. Talk about a dream come true!

 

4)       How does your writing process work?

I allow myself to writer the splat. Then I go back to fix it. What's important is to get the basic story down. It doesn't need to be perfect. I also write in odd bits of time. Sometimes it's every day, sometimes it's just whenever.

I always have more story ideas floating around in the back of my head. Several series I'm working on even while I'm trying to complete current projects.

Teeth, Job, Vampire cats

Kind of a quiet writing week. I had a dental emergency and spent several days recovering from it. Two teeth had to be removed and evidently, I had a massive infection as well. The only cure was to remove the cause. The area seems to be healing now, so that's a good sign.

I did spend Tuesday afternoon writing a Halloween tale about my vampire cats. I named it Illusion. When it gets revised and edited, it will be going to an anthology. Oddly enough, it is a sequel to my story, The Failure, which was submitted to Zombified 2.

Most of my time is being spent on finding a job. Not an easy thing to do despite what the media keeps trying to report. I've had a few interviews, but no offers yet. I'll breathe easier when I finally get a position. 

Cats

I love cats. Not unusual for a writer to have one or more. I have three at the moment. Two older males and a young female. They are a delight. Good company. Sometimes annoying when they want attention.

I also have various cat collections. Dolls. Figurines. Toys. Stuffed animals. Tins. And anything else that has caught my attention.

I often wonder if I will become the crazy cat lady where all the strays wander in and come to live.

I even write about them. They star in my books and stories, interact with humans on occasion, or write themselves into the plot line and hey, what else can I do but let them?

Cats. Mysteries. Ancient gods. Tigers in small bodies.

I love them.

Feline Companions and Loss

I am owned by cats. I currently have three, two older males and a younger female. While there are times their demand for attention is trying, like when I'm on deadline and editing a manuscript, I have to remind myself their time in my life is brief.

I've already said goodbye to three cats when their time came. Each of them are missed but life moves forward even with their loss. I will soon face the same again with my older boys, one of which his kidney's are failing and the other although healthy, is pretty much deaf and eventually, his health will fail. He's almost eighteen.

I was further reminded of this over the weekend when I visited friends. They have a cat who has mouth cancer and they have already scheduled a day off to take her to their vet and offer the final kindness. They are spending the last two days saying their goodbyes and absolutely spoiling her. They also recently lost one of their other feline companions.

I two, suffered cat losses a year and half apart. I know what they are going through and the mourning they have ahead of them. My two girls are missed, but they live on, at least in spirit, in my book Winter Awakening.

Different Dragons & other thoughts

This week's main project will be reading the stories that were submitted to 'Different Dragons'. I received a total of thirty-six, both from writers I've worked with before and those I have not. Since I discovered during MileHiCon, our local Science Fiction convention, that there was lots of interest in the subject of dragons, I talked with my publisher about doing two volumes. WolfSinger agreed.
 So for the next few weeks, I'll be reading stories and deciding which ones will go into the anthologies.

I also have other projects including revising a short story for Beyond the Sun, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, making up my list for where to contribute stories for 2013, and various other projects that have been previously discussed. 

All this in between working a full-time job, running household errands and making sure my three cats don't get so lonely they won't leave me alone to write.

 

Current Published List

For those who are curious, here's my publishing list, to date. Many of available either from Amazon or the Publisher

1. Novel

A. Winter Awakening
WolfSinger Publications

2. Edited

B. Of Fur and Fire
Behemoth & several poems
DreamZion Publishing
 
C. Time Traveling Coffers
Danger Said the Dragon
WolfSinger Publications

3. Anthologies

D. All About Eve
The Cat's Creation Tale
WolfSinger Publications

E. FTST#4: Space Horrors
Chosen One
Flying Pen Press

F. Throw Down Your Dead - An Anthology of Western Horror
No Trespassing
Sonar 4 Publications - Publisher closed their doors - Out of Pring

G. Frost Bitten Fantasies
The Storm
Dreamzion Publishing

H. Zombified - An Anthology of all things Zombie
Mighty Fine
Sky Warrior Boosk - ebook only

I. A Taste of Armageddon
Legacy
WolfSinger Publications

J. Women of the Living Dead - A Zombie Anthology
Mandie's Zombies
Open Casket Press

K. Tales of the Talisman (Magazine)
Welcomed Cast Outs  (Poem)
Rhysling Nominee
Hadrosaur Productions

L. FTST#6 : Space Battles
Isis
Flying Pen Press

M. Earth's End - An Apocalyptic Anthology
Smothered
Open Casket Press

N. Strange Summer Mysteries - A day at the Beach
Drip, Drip, Drip
Whortleberry Press

O. Tales of the Talisman (Magazine)
Tumbling Tumbleweeds
Hadrosaur Productions

P. The Undead that Saved Christmas
Bast's Christmas Presents
Rainstorm Press

Q. 31 More Nights of Halloween
Shadow
Rainstorm Press

R. Strange Halloween
Oasis
Whortleberry Press

S. Gunslingers and Ghost Stories
The Ruins
Science Fiction Trails

T. Strange Christmas
Best Gift
Whortleberry Press

I have several other stories accepted but they haven't been released yet.
 


 

Interview for A Flame in the Dark : Monsters!

http://timothycward.com/2012/10/27/coffin-hop-stop-4-dana-bell/

I've had a story accepted for 'A Flame in the Dark: Monsters!' titled 'More Lives'. For today, please to to the above link and read the interview.

'Winter Emergence'

Moth's are tasty kitty treats. I have two cats, Maximillian and Adara who enjoy the nightly chase of miller moths who managed to sneak in the door and flutter around whatever light has attracted them. Watching them bounce around, leap in the air and finally catch their prey, are wonderful reminders of the powerful hunters they are descended from. As I watch them, I am in process of writing the second book in my trilogy, 'Winter Emergence'. It is the human story with sprinklings of what is going on with Word Warrior, Mute, Rowena, Indrani, and many others my readers were introduced to in 'Winter Awakening'. (WolfSinger Publications 2011 - available on Amazon and SmashWords.) My kitty babies inspired my first book and will continue to influence the next two books. So will Gray Momma and her five kittens who inhabited our back yard last summer. They were wild ones we watched and fed. Eventually, we trapped them all and they went off to a good foster home to be tamed so they could eventually be adopted. However, watching her behavior and her kittens gave me a good idea on how cats not familiar with humans would act. This will play a prominent role in my next book.