January and February swept me up fluffing my fur and twitching my tail with exciting adventures . I spent every spare minute prowling the Arizona
countryside, enjoying the desert solitude.
Quartzite will always be my favorite place, but Judy added a little town close to Organ Pipe National Monument called Ajo to her favs list.
The Curly School in Ajo, Az. has become an artist's retreat. Ajo is a great town to host a retreat.In Ajo, Judy met up with an author friend, Deb Sanders. The two of them visited an open pit copper mine and attended a fiddler’s jam session in the plaza as they talked about writing, publishing and marketing while I scratched out the last chapters of my book, ACTIVATE LION MODE. I ignored Judy's jokes about “the cat and the fiddle” and “Hey diddle diddle” when she returned from touring the quaint little town.
When we moved on to Tucson I said goodbye to Jake, Deb’s kindly golden retriever
and Deb’s muse, Johnny Cat.
On the way to Tucson, Az. we stopped in Gila Bend and met these creatures. Wow! I stayed safe in the motorhome.
But in Tucson, I encountered another golden
retriever, Bella, a service dog, whom Judy met several years ago in St Augustine,
Florida. Bella is a graduate service dog
from the actual K9s For Warriors training facility in Ponte Vedra, Florida which inspired the
fictional K9s For Warriors which is mentioned in Judy’s book, MASADA’S MARINE and also in her
upcoming book, MASADA’S MISSION. 
Bella is kindhearted, too, but, but just like Jake she rushed up to meet me. That is totally improper in my cat book. Bella’s dad Kevin and Jake’s dad Terry explained that their dogs lived with cats of their own. I can’t imagine any cat putting up with such unsophisticated behavior, but then dog's are so unsophisticated.
Judy and I were sitting outside the other
day enjoying the sunshine when she looked at me and asked, “Your toes tap a rhythm when you
sleep. Are you dreaming of another
story?”
Really? She should know that my days
have been full as I wrap up the last chapters of my very first book, ACTIVATE LION
MODE, the first book in my first series, FELINE FURY. For days on end, I have pounded my paws against the keyboard. From the time Judy walks away from the computer in the evening and goes to bed until the wee morning
hours, I hunch over the keys, study the words on the screen.
In the morning, she fixes my breakfast, and takes
me for a walk. She’s been catering to me lately, putting extra cream in my
coffee and scratching my back a lot more. She’s excited about
ACTIVATE LION MODE and can hardly wait to publish it.
So to answer her question, I am feeling the callings and hearing voices from past
lives. I can't deny it. New story ideas
are flashing into my mind even while I’m scratching out the last paragraphs of
ACTIVATE LION MODE. I’m possessed. I’m either writing, or thinking about
writing. So is this what an author’s life
is like?
I tweeted Johnny Cat, who assists
Deb Sanders, who just published her ninth book titled, .
DEAD MEN DON'T TALK. He explained that even though he only assists Deb Sanders, he is exhausted.
I expect I will find out what living the life of a published writer is all about. Judy will be attending the second
meeting of The Diamond Valley Writers Guild, in Hemet, Ca. My own, Judy Howard, along with authors, Lynne Spreen and CJ Hernley will be moderators for the roundtable discussion about "Getting Started."
Click on the link below for all the details.
This Saturday! 9am to 11am At the Hemet Library. Come join us and pitch
in with your questions and suggestions for this roundtable discussion.
Thank you all for stopping by and scratching the blog post.
