I have no idea if that’s an appropriate title or not. I rolled out of bed about ten minutes ago, it’s still dark outside, and I have a new cat (Lady Sif) who is SO excited to be here as of last night, that neither of us slept much. She has a nice little meow that sounds like a crow giving input to court, but it’s thankfully soft in volume. I think she is at least in part rag doll; all ashy gray and long-haired. She’s sweet and her feline craziness trait is fully intact. She is sweet though. It’s strange shifting gears from having Louie, to an empty apartment, to having a new fur baby. Good…but very strange.

Writing: The semester ended on Friday. For me, it was done on Tuesday. I’ve been cruising through my first pass edits of the stories for The Doll Collection: Volume Two at surprising speed. Out of 13 stories, I have 5 left to go through. All of the finished ones have been sent to one of my editors and I have sent descriptions, etc for the first two stories to Felix for illustrations. The manuscript should be done before the end of the year. As soon as the illustrations are done (could be spring…) this book will be out. 

As soon as that is all out of my hands, I will move on to the next project. At this point, it’s a toss up between continuing with The Doll Collection series, or moving on to get The Pound completed. I have less bits and inspiration for the latter, but there is more of a need for it to be finished. It is going to require more and longer stretches of uninterrupted focus, whereas the short stories are a little more easily done in quick stints. In all honesty, I should finish Darling Orphan first. It has been a while since I worked on it and I might be removed enough from some of the more personally painful elements that I can push through and get it done. Maybe. It would be nice. I don’t have an artist lined up for the cover art, so that is a slight deterrent. “Write it and they will come“. Maybe that’s how it will work for this one. 

That’s about all I have going at the moment. The short stories keep getting stranger and stranger. This isn’t at all a bad thing and definitely not surprising, except that I’m impressed by the things I seem to be tapping into. It sure is a deep one, my psyche, and the lines that are connecting with other peculiar consciousness, quite strong.