Of reading challenges and itchy dogs

Here's how many books I've read for each of the reading challenges I'm doing right now:

2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge: 40/300
2014 A-Z character challenge: 20/26
2014 A-Z title challenge: 20/26
2014 1st quarterly challenge: 30/12
February 2014 Love Themed Reading Challenge: 6/15

I'll post what the books are for the last two at the end of the time frame (end of March and end of February respectively) along with a short description of what the challenge was, and will do the same for the others when I've completed them.

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Kero's still scratching, though not as much. We're pretty sure he's flea free, but not entirely certain so we'll give him another flea treatment next week and see how he goes.

We want to do one more flea treatment first because of how he's calmed down some on the scratching.

I really do want to avoid the vet if I can!

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OK, I'm supposed to be working on some writing projects right now, so I better get back to them... Especially since some of them have deadlines to be finished by!

Kero's fear-filled leap

Our weather's been really bad lately.

Storms, storms, and... Yes, you guessed it... More storms!

I don't mind storms, but Kero and the degu boys (Jasper especially) hate storms!

Jasper starts squealing shortly before a bad storm, so at least we get a bit of warning. Though not enough to prepare Kero for the huge peel of thunder that - as far as he was concerned - came out of nowhere Wednesday night, causing poor Kero to somehow manage to go from being curled up in his bed not far from the window to standing on top of me on my bed in one swift movement (there's a gap of about a foot between his basket and my bed, and his basket is under a low table on which I keep my stereo). It's a leap he can't usually manage, especially now age has made his hips weaker.

I'm glad he's a small dog, that's all I can say! I mean, it hurt enough having him land on me like that, so I'd hate to think how much it would hurt being hit by a larger dog.

I couldn't be mad at him when he was so frightened though... Poor little guy was trembling with fear!

He spent the rest of the storm laying under a blanket between Kelly and myself.

We couldn't do anything about the degus at the time, but they weren't squealing so we had to assume they were OK and comfort Kero. Or rather, I had to, since Kelly slept through most of it, only waking long enough to pull Kero between us, since how he was standing on me made it impossible for me to do so without hurting him or myself (he was standing on my back). I checked on the degus afterwards though, and - though a little upset - they were fine. I guess Luna did a good enough job with them for me or something.

Upcoming book birthday blog party

I remembered what I was going to post about last night.

There's going to be a post on here on February 25th 2014 as part of a blog party to celebrate the birthday of a book by a fellow self-published author.

There's a Banner about it on the sidebar.

Keep an eye out for the post, because there's a coupon code for a free book in it, and details about a giveaway!

Weekend writing progress

I've had a pretty productive weekend.

I got the second draft of one of the stories I had in early draft done, and the first draft of the prologue for a longer one I'm working on done too.

I'm quite excited about this longer story, because it's going to be longer than the longest of the ones I've published so far!

I actually came on here to post about something else, but I forget what it was, so I'm going to leave it at this for today.

I'm tired, so don't judge me too harshly, LOL

Pre-released platypus

I've finished "Filicity The Musical Platypus" and prereleased it. It's already approved for premium status too, since Smashwords gave it approval less than 24 hours after I put it up on their site. So that means it will soon be available to pre-order from sites like Barnes And Noble. The official release date for it is April 15th 2014.

Now to start working on my next book! :)

Degu Days, Book 2: A Very Degu Christmas

"It’s Christmas, and the human caretakers have told the degus that Santa Paws is coming to visit. They have no idea who he is, but since the human caretakers say he’s bringing nibbles for them, and degus love nibbles, they’re excited about it; though the news that he plans to come when they’re sleeping seems strange to them.

Will Santa Paws really be coming? If so, what sorts of nibbles will he bring? More to the point, can the degus stay awake long enough to make sure they don’t miss his visit? And, if not, will they still get nibbles?"

This is the synopsis for the second book in my "Degu Days Duo" series, which is officially published today.

Yeah, I know Christmas was almost two months ago, but I wanted to get both of the books in this series published now. Plus, I have another story in mind for December.

Anyway, you can already buy it from Smashwords and Barnes And Noble, and will soon be able to buy it from other retailers.

The landlord and the dog

The landlord was back home pretty quickly; we've heard him pottering about up there.

From what I understand, he hit his head as he fell and got a mild concussion, causing temporary confusion and memory loss. But he seems to be fine now.

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We're working on clearing out clutter, so we had Music Magpie pick up a box with a couple of old games consoles in on Monday. We'll have a bunch of movies and games for them soon too, but we need some boxes.

Because we did that though, and I didn't want to be in the middle of bathing Kero when they came for the box, I ended up not giving Kero his other bath and flea treatment. Then it didn't get done today because of food shopping. I'm hoping to do it tomorrow. He's not scratching as much as he was before though; still scratches a fair bit, but not as much.

I mean, I could have done him after those things, but the nights are so cold - not as cold as they seem to be in the US and Canada, but still pretty cold - so I don't like the idea of doing him at night in case he's still wet when he has to use the yard and ends up catching a chill from it, and I'm sleeping during the day right now so don't have much day available to me at the moment.

Platypus story progress update

I'm still working on "Filicity The Musical Platypus" (the fourth story I was working on for NaNoWriMo). The cover is ready when it's done though... Thanks for doing that for me, Iggy; hope you enjoyed the challenge of drawing aplatypus?

Anyway, it just needs a few bits of description fixed/padded out, then it will be ready for the editing phase. If I finish it in April or later then I'll release the book as soon as it's done, but if it's done before the end of March then it will get pre-released for April.

Of itchy dogs and confused landlords

Kero's still scratching, though not as much.  We're going to give him another bath in a few days and give him more flea treatment.  Hopefully that will get rid of the last of the fleas, and hopefully he'll then stop scratching so much.  There hasn't been any obvious flea activity on him since the last flea treatment (a couple of days ago) so fingers crossed we'll get to skip the vet trip, eh?

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There was an ambulance outside our place just now.  It was for the landlord (he lives above us).  He fell, and though he's physically fine he's confused about what time and day it is and can't remember his own name, so they've taken him in to hospital.  I hope he's OK!

They've re-homed Cara!

It was January 9th we dropped Cara off at the Blue Cross (see the "About Cara" post if you missed it) and January 17th by the time she was listed up for adoption on their website. But, guess what? We found out this morning that she already has a home!

Itchy Kero

Kero won't stop scratching and biting at himself, and he's making himself really sore again. I'm getting flea shampoo and stuff to treat him just to make sure it's not just something as simple as the flea stuff we usually use not being enough right now, but if that doesn't do the trick then we'll have to take him back to the vet. It could be the start of one of the many skin problems Westies are known for; his groomer said she thought so when she came to groom him at the start of December. He's actually done well to get to nine years old without having them. But I want to try some extra flea treatment first. I hate having to take him to the vet, especially with how much he hates it. I don't blame him for hating it though; I'm not a big fan of being pulled about by doctors myself! To be honest, I should have taken him sooner, but I was hoping after we bathed him, and then he had another bath with his groomer, it would stop him biting and scratching at himself, and get rid of his sores. I thought it might have helped; it seemed to at first, but it's not helping enough, so - as I said - I'm going to try some extra flea treatment, and failing that he's going to have to go to the vet.

About Cara (kinda R/WP)

Back in October we took in Cara from my Mam.

We weren't entirely convinced it was a good idea what with having Kero and the degus, but my Mam couldn't keep her and I did miss having a cat. So Cara came to live with us.

We had a few behaviour issues with her, but managed to sort most of them out - eventually.

Unfortunately, what we couldn't sort out was the fact that no matter what we did to try and stop her she would not stay out from under my feet. The result being that I was constantly stepping on her and falling over her. I was also constantly shutting her in doors, since she'd come out of nowhere just as I was shutting a door.

We put a collar on her with a bell on it, but she moved so fast I couldn't track her properly with the bell, so most of the time I had no idea where she was until I fell over her, or heard her cry out in pain as I stepped on her or shut her in a door or something.

To cut a long story short, we decided it would be best - for both my safety and hers - if we rehomed her.

We couldn't find anyone who wanted her though. Well, we could, but the people who wanted her weren't in the same country as us, and although cats can be given special pet passports these days nobody actually had the money for it. So we did the only thing we could think of... We called a shelter.

She was dropped off at the Blue Cross yesterday (Thursday) around lunchtime.

She gets a vet check with them today (Friday) and a seven day behaviour evaluation, and as long as she checks out OK with everything she'll go up for adoption at the end of next week. I see no reason why she shouldn't, since we haven't seen any signs of any health issues, and she's now no more mischeivious than your average kitten.

She's young (just coming up for five months) and very friendly, cute and pretty, so she should find a place really quickly once she's available for adoption.

I feel so guilty and cruel.

I did what I thought was best for her, but that doesn't stop me feeling bad about it.

I feel like I let her down; like she trusted me and I betrayed that trust.

Kelly keeps telling me it was for the best, and I know it was really - I wouldn't have let her go if I didn't think it was best for her - but that doesn't stop me feeling really guilty about it, and it doesn't take away the feeling that I let her down.

Every time I think of her sitting there waiting for a home it's like someone's twisting a knife in my heart, and I feel like I did something really cruel.

I'm sorry, Cara!

Degu Days, Book 1: The Great Degu Round-Up

"Jenks the degu lives in a cage with his three brothers: Jacob, Jasper and Joshua. It might seem like a strange place to live, but they call it home and feel safe there. So you can imagine how scary it is for them when they are forced to leave their cage.

Sure, they regularly leave it briefly for a bit of attention from their human caretakers, which they don’t mind, but the thing the human caretakers are calling “The Great Degu Round-Up” is different, and they find themselves in a giant sandless sand bath with no way to even look out at the world. They’re confused and frightened and wondering if they’ll ever see their cage again.

Will they find a way to escape the giant sandless sand bath? Will they get back to the cage they call home? Will they figure out why the round-up even happened?"

That's the synopsis for the first book in my "Degu Days Duo" series; the series about my own degus, which is written from Jenks' point of view.

And today is the official release date for this book.

You can already buy it from Smashwords and Barnes And Noble, and will be able to buy it elsewhere very soon.

Made my blog public again

I decided to make my blog public again.

I don't know if anyone will notice, or if any of the people who notice will care, but I did it anyway.

If you did notice and stopped by, thanks and hello! :)

Also, if you noticed and stopped by, you may be interested to know that I put a thing on the sidebar where you can follow by e-mail if you want.

I don't know how often I'll put anything up for you to read, but the option is there for you to read whatever I put up again now.

As you can see if you look back, I've actually been posting at least once a month. I'm not expecting you to go back and read my posts though. I mean, you can if you want, but you don't have to. Be warned, I had a bit of a pitty party once or twice. Not a huge one, but a bit of a whine, if you know what I mean. But, anyway, as I was saying, you don't have to go back and read the posts I did in this last 16 months if you don't want to, but if you do want to then feel free to do so.

2014 reading challenges

Happy New Year!

A few days late, but whatever.

It's a whole new year, which means a whole new Goodreads reading challenge, LOL!

Yes, I signed up again this year. Last year my goal was 250 books and I read 290 (as I mentioned the other day). This year my goal is 300 books.

I also signed up for both a new A-Z book title challenge and a new A-Z character challenge on one of the Goodreads groups I'm a member of (and will sign up for them on the other if they do them this year too). The title one is to read a book for each letter of the alphabet, and the character one is to read a book with a main character for each letter of the alphabet.

Also, the quarterly reading challenge on that same group for the first quarter is to read at least 12 books that have been on your to-read shelf for three months or longer, and since I was already planning to go and read some of the books I've had waiting to be read for some time I signed up for that one too.

I have a lot of reading to do... Not that I don't already read a lot anyway, LOL!

Books read in 2013

My goal was to read 250 books in 2013.

I read 290!

If you want to see what books I read, go to https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/686649 where Goodreads lists the books I read this year.

Holidays 2013

Well, I'm not sure how we got to this point so quickly, but the holidays (as in Yule and christmas) are over for 2013, and 2014 is just around the corner.

There wasn't much this year because money was tight with Kero's vet bills and taking in Cara and Luna, but I for one enjoyed the holidays despite that. I mean, there wasn't much, but what we had was all stuff we thought was great.

I had a My Little Pony pegasus from the "Build A Bear" workshop from my brother, Carl, a jumper with a Westie on it from my Mam, some stickers to use in cardmaking from Kelly, some money from most of the rest of the family, a lot of chocolate, and a few DVDs from Kelly ("The Host" and a couple of Scooby Doo DVDs).

I made my own home made sweet mince pies, which were done using a filling made from raisins and dried cranberries soaked for two days in lemon juice and orange juice. I also made double chocolate brownies, plus a star shaped white chocolate and cranberry cake. They were all very tasty if I say so myself!

Dinner was home made stuffing made by me to make sure it was vegetarian friendly, minted roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, carrots, sprouts and cranberry sauce for me, and honey-mustard ham, herby turkey and minted roast potatoes for Kelly. Kero and Cara had some of the honey-mustard ham and herby turkey, and the five degus had hazelnuts, peanuts and oat cakes (the nuts were still in their shells).

And I watched my favourite Christmas movie and read my favourite Christmas story on Christmas Eve, which means watching "Santa Clause - The Movie" and reading "The Bear Father Christmas Forgot" - I did read other stories and watch other movies as well though.

Degu Days Duo pre-released

I've pre-released my "Degu Days Duo" series.

“The Degu Days Duo” is a short series of just two books telling the story of two different days in the lives of Jacob, Jasper, Jenks and Joshua – four degu brothers who live in a cage together. The stories are told from the point of view of one of the degus, so read on and see the world from the point of view of a small and furry rodent!

The degus in question are my own degu buddies, and they're from Jenks' point of view.

Yes, these are the ones I mentioned writing as part of NaNoWriMo this year.

Kero's World, Book 6: Kero Celebrates Christmas

"Christmas is here, and with it comes snow and Santa Paws – whoever he is. What will Kero think of the snow? Will he be able to make sense of all the holiday activity? And will he be able to stay up long enough to catch this mysterious Santa Paws?"

This book is officially released today.

The ISBN is 9781301781553 and you can find the book on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. It will also soon be available via other retailers.

NaNoWriMo 2013 - Week four update

Week four of NaNoWriMo is over.

I didn't manage to finish writing the story of "Filicity The Musical Platypus" that I was working on this week. Part of this is because - unlike the other three - I only had a very rough draft to work with (the other three were in early draft, but this one was just rough scribbles, if you know what I mean) and part of it is because I got busy making holiday cards and reading "The Hunger Games Trilogy" so didn't spend as much time working on writing as I should have.

Still, there's a couple of hours to go before NaNoWriMo is over.

Besides, even if I don't finish writing the story before the month is up, I've made progress on it and written those other three and that counts for something!

NANoWriMo 2013 - week three update

Week three of NaNoWriMo is over.

I've finished writing the third story I planned to work on this month, which is called "Goodies For Grandmother" and is based on the "Little Red Riding Hood" story, but rather than a big bad wolf and a woodcutter my version has a brownie and a pair of fairies. I've even arranged a cover for it with Jacob. It just needs the final edit and for Jacob to have a chance to work on the cover.

I've also started working on "Filicity The Musical Platypus" and arranged a cover for it with Iggy. "Filicity The Musical Platypus" is a story about a platypus who discovers a love of music and wants to learn to play an instrument.

So, all being well I should have four stories just needing editing by the time NaNoWriMo is over!

I have no idea about word count. I mean, I could check the word count of each story and figure it out that way, but since I've done several drafts with each story that wouldn't be accurate, so I don't see the point in bothering to figure it out.

I'm pleased with my progress this month though. Especially since I've also found time to make a Christmas stocking for Cara, do a reasonable amount of work on Christmas cards, read a few novels, and do general day to day things like housework and playing with furkids.