Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
The Delivery Rule states that the probability that a delivery person will arrive at the beginning of the delivery window is directly proportionate to your readiness to receive them. It’s compounded by the delivery’s size and complexity. The less ready you are, the more on time, or early, they will be. If you’re in the shower or not dressed at the beginning of the window, they will be at your door.
They don’t want to be, but that’s the rule.
So, cat folks. Have you ever been busy doing something, or killing time while you’re doing something, and look up, and see a little cat head peeking around the corner, watching you? Do you find this:
a. Oh, so sweet, it’s almost precious.
b. Cute.
c. A little freaky.
d. Irritating, because you can’t get a minute to yourself.
e. All of the above?
Yeah, one of my floofs do this, like he’s a spy. The rest just barge in, and either a), rub up against my legs; b), try to get on my lap; c), sit down and watch me while meowing; or d), all of these activities.
Floofyeurism: when a cat spies on you.
Care for a cigar? I’m offering because I feel like a proud father. The science fiction trilogy, “Incomplete States,” became a quadrilogy today.
I felt like changing it to a quadrilogy was a prudent move. The second book in the series was over seven hundred pages and one hundred seventy thousand words. I think it’d be kinder to the reader and easier from a sales and marketing perspective to break it up into two books. So, with a little work, it was done. One book is three hundred pages, and the other new book is three hundred forty-five pages.
The fourth book’s beta draft is coming along. It’s one hundred sixteen pages, and about thirty thousand words. Between the four books, then, almost twelve hundred pages have been written. I don’t write fast, but I write consistently, and I persist, and that’s the result. I wish I did write faster; there are many other projects I want to begin and finish.
Life interferes with those plans. Exercising and eating is required, along with socializing, house-cleaning, running errands, and so on. I’m pleased with my progress, though. Of course, all of this is the beta draft, so it’s all still fluctuating, driving toward the conclusion. Once they’re all finished, I’ll have a draft, and the next phase of work will begin.
Cover ideas are rising, though. That’s not always a sign that the end is in sight, but more that I’m contemplating the end.
It was a good day of writing like crazy. The coffee drink is long gone for a change, but my ass is annoyed by being in a hardwood chair without padding for a few hours. Writer’s butt is literally a pain in the arse.
Time to stop, go for a walk and enjoy some sunshine, and think about what what to write next.
Make a decision. Choose a direction, get off your ass, and put some energy into it.
Does it sadden you when you think you know someone, and you recommend a book, movie, restaurant, or something, and then ask them about it later, and they say, “Well, it was okay?”
Yes, bums me. The converse is true, too, when someone recommends something to me because they think I’ll really like it, and I don’t .
This John Lennon song, “Whatever Get You Through the Night,” is energetic and peppy, and struck me as much different from his other offerings. I like the extensive, enthusiastic sax in it, which, with the piano, makes the song feel like it’s from a different era, and the twist on the lyrics that becomes “Whatever gets your through your life.” That’s how a lot of us live, somewhere between dreaming and striving, grabbing and holding on to what comes our way.
Kitigate (catfinition) – to make more hospitable for kittens.
In use: “Boxes, a stuffed animal, and pillows were added to kitigate the room.”
Effloofuence (catfinition) – a substance that flows out of a cat.
In use: “Sometimes the cats shed so much, he thought of it more as a constant effloofuence, rather then individual strands falling from their bodies.”
Editing Note: “Affloofuent” and “effloofuence” are often confused for one another, but their catfinitions are significantly different.
This is a long time favorite. I hope I’ve not shared it before. If I have, suffer.
Let’s listen to CCR, sometimes more formally known as Creedence Clearwater Revival, and their song, “Bad Moon Rising,” from 1969. I like this, too, for the mondegreen, where, “There’s a bad moon on the rise,” is sometimes heard as “There’s a bath room on the right.” I’ve been known to propagate the misheard lyric and assure people those are the corrects words.
Cheers
Affloofuent (catfinition) – having an abundance of cats.
In use: “Besides being a reader, writer, and beer-drinker, and beer-drinking, he’s an affloofuent individual, with multiple cats lounging close at hand during all times and activities.”
Michael Seidel, writer 