New computer, More Kat

Russ is supposed to come home this weekend. Yay! But... we might get an ice storm tonight. Now I shouldn't think the two are related, but if there is any way for the ice storm to affect Russ coming home, it is bound to happen, even though it's a couple days out from when he should get here. That's just the way things work lately.

The partial is off to the agent. We'll see if anything comes of it. I expect it might take a try or two more. (grin)

I am working from my new computer, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. It's amazing how much faster it is, how steady it is. I have a lovely HP Pavilion running Windows Vista 64 bit (or whatever it is called) with a lot of memory and it is wonderful. I even like Vista. I haven't had a single problem with it. I suspect that I just don't ask a lot of such programs, so I'm a fairly safe user. All I want is for it to allow me to type up stories and occasionally work on graphic stuff. Paint Shop Pro works very well. In fact, the entire program loaded in faster than it would have opened in the poor, previous computer.

Changing computers at this time may, however, not been the wisest move. It is a short month, I have a ton of stuff to get done, and Russ should be here on Friday. I don't want to be working on things when Russ gets home.

Providing, of course, that the ice storm tonight doesn't somehow make it impossible for Russ to get here. It shouldn't, really. It is not going to reach as far south as Omaha, where he would fly in. But it might be hitting elsewhere when he flies out and that could be a problem. I expect a problem, in case you can't tell.

Writing is going very well. I finished the rewrite of Glory, though I am still looking at cutting the opening down drastically. It just meanders too long, I think. Too much of the journey, and not enough of the action. I wanted to show a changed world... but it doesn't feel very changed when I read it. I think I can cut that part back a bit more and get to the action faster. I have trouble with openings. I almost always over-write them. It sometimes takes quite a bit before I can figure out what I really need to set the scene and what I don't. I am getting there, though.

I have rewritten Joey Mousekin's tale. I have no idea what to do with it. It's about 16k and a children's story (though I'm uncertain of the age it fits, not having dealt with children in several decades). I really like the story, though. The new version is really great with an opening that actually works now. Oddly, this was just the opposite of most of my writing. I didn't have enough information off the start for it.

And now I'm on to rewriting Kat Among the Pigeons (see previous post for opening). This one is really fun! The characters are great to write, from the not so sure of herself main character to the obnoxiously fun cat.


Here is another fun little snippet:

I went to the kitchen to get David a cup of coffee. Cato followed me.

"You try to trip me again, cat, and you'll be out hunting food with Pawford and the boys."

"I'm just trying to remind you of your obligations," Cato answered.

David laughed. "That's funny. He meowed just like he's answering you."

"Oh, he is," I said and smiled. "I'm sure he has a lot to say, too."

"Good thing you can't understand him," David replied. He came and took the cup from my hand.

I smiled and hoped I didn't turn red or anything. Cato looked from me to him and shook his head. "Uh oh. I know that look. If you're going to get involved with this one, please try to be a little more discreet than you were the last time. That was just mortifying to walk in on the two of you doing it --"

I almost batted him on the head, which would have been a really bad thing to do with David there. Oh, I wouldn't have hit him hard enough to hurt, but it would have gotten his attention.

"Let me get him some food so he shuts up," I said, forcing a smile.

"He does seem like a nice, talkative cat," David said. He leaned down and scratched Cato behind the ears and down the neck.

"Okay," Cato said, standing still and purring. "You can keep this one. And I don't care what you do with him."

"Well, you're easily won over," I said. Lucky for me it didn't sound odd. I sometimes forgot myself. It's hard when you can understand cats and birds and forget that not everyone else can. In the fae lands, they at least know what's going on. But on this side... well, it draws odd looks sometimes.

I gave the cat more food. I even found another treat from the fridge for him, just to keep him busy and away from me for a few minutes. David and I went out to the dining room table and sat down to discuss business while we sipped our coffee.