Doubleheader!

Chazho Rewrite is gaining momentum -- and best of all I'm getting in a nightly habit of rewriting. I'd added a chapter back in the Synopsized Sex Scene, figuring the hero and heroine finally getting together alone without religious taboos to stop them was worth its own chapter. Ever since, I've had to renumber and sweated at the thought of overwriting a night's work and having to redo it. No more!

Chapter 29 and 30 combined perfectly into a MUCH shorter chapter than even the shorter Chapter 30. I lost over 5,000 words cutting the former Chapter 29 to a little 700 word punchy scene with conflict! And kept trimming infodumps. They aren't lost. The old files are there for series backstory. *I* needed to know how all that worked way back when I was writing book one, and be able to reference it.

But I don't need to interrupt the action for the readers to do that, and some mysteries are better revealed in neat sequels where they actually push the plot forward.

Ten days, fourteen more chapters. It's not real likely I'll finish Chazho by Jan. 1 -- but I'm back on track and it's rather likely that I'll finish it in the first week of January. Because now I can't stop editing or get it out of my brain. I'm on a roll. This ROCKS!

Robert and Ari >^..^<

Thank you, Allikat! PURRRRR!!!

I just got my birthday present from my friend Allikat - a ceramic slice of birthday cake with a big 48 on it, a ball of twine and a quill in inkpot! COOL!

And a plaque with the poem she wrote for me, which made me get all mushy again and I've put it flat in a SAFE place till it's daytime and I can bang nails into the wall to hang it. Somewhere NO CAT will knock it down and no tall human housematepersons will brush into it. Yet somewhere visible that I can keep walking past to see it again and again. PURRR.

We have another cat. Kitten, my softhearted daughter, kept telling me about the poor little pregnant orange tabby that mewed outside the window on cold nights and wanted to come in. This cat sat out there for weeks singing "Castle on the Clouds" in feline in a high pure sweet kittenish soprano. Well, one night "Cosette" took matters into tiny white paws and raced in the door. The heck with this freezing outside stuff. (I am a HOUSE cat. Get it?)

Quivering and thrusting a tiny little pink nose in a white-triangle orange tabby dainty face into Kitten's armpit, the newcomer shivered and snuggled and cuddled and was utterly adorable. We were all concerned about the kittens. Kitten felt the cat's tummy. "The kittens are fine."

"I don't think she's 'ready to drop' like you said, Kitten. Hecky was about THIS wide, like a whale, when she had hers." I looked skeptically at the tiny orange mite. Very small cat. Pointed dainty face. Teeny white feet. Short hair. Plump pear shaped build.

Yes, Virginia, there are feline female impersonators.

Cuddling "Cosette" an hour later, Kitten discovered - little orange balls. Very prominent, despite the way this cat sat to hide the facts. Uh huh.

Ari pops up, big fluffy masked face wide-eyed and friendly. (Won't you be my friend? You're another cat! That's so neat! You're another cat and you're inside! We can play!)

Qufur, being a former street cat, huddled back with a low growl and dropped from Operatic Countertenor to a good feline impression of baritone Scarpia. rrrrOOOOOoooowowowowowowowow. Hiss.

Thus began the One-Sided Catfight.

Ari follows Qufur, about two feet behind. He's SILENT. He grew up with me and a computer. He has few words and very expressive gestures, he's a soft footed cat mime. Never talks. Qufur's voice is always going, usually between Scarpia and Darth Vader basso profundo. (I'm a boy. I'm not your bitch. Nobody said there was another cat here, you beige giant.)

Slowly, Ari is closing the distance.

They claimed different spots in my room. Qufur lays on my comfy chair while Ari drew the line at my feet. (My bed, my human, but you can use the comfy chair.)

Qufur is Kitten's cat and Ari's fine with this. He likes Kitten too.

I did not realize how big Ari has grown till I saw him with another cat. He's gotten gigantic and it's not all fur. His ears are farther apart and he's got a big thick neck, he's growing into those huge dark feet and his proportions change weekly. Major growth spurt... but he's grown into a gentle giant and he is being a perfect furry diplomat right now. They will make friends.

My cat's a writer. He's stubborn. Qufur will eventually Get It.

Robert and Ari >^..^< (You didn't tell him about the catnip thingie you made me! Purr! I can get stoned anytime I want and it's fun to chase. I am a Geek and a Stoner Kitty!)