Anya Bast

(Cross-posted from Between Fire and Ice)

Time seems to be picking up speed lately. I guess it must be the holidays.

I’ve spent the last week sick, mostly. My little girl is in Kindergarten and is, like all Kindergarteners, a germ magnet. It usually goes like this…girl gets a little cough, a bit pink about the cheeks and that’s it. Then mama gets hits with the force of a freight train and is down and out for four to five days. I’m glad my girl has such a strong immune system. Mine, on the other hand, pretty much sucks.

The last week also brought with it a couple sick kitties. One is dealing with some fantastic allergies. The other, sadly, is in congestive heart failure. Wiggle is in the final stages of this and we are managing the symptoms. We know we will not have him for much longer, so we are kissing him and cuddling him every day, appreciating him while he’s with us. It’s hard. Wiggle is an awesome cat, a total purr machine lap cat. He gives love twenty-four, seven. Seems wrong a cat with such a big heart should be suffering from heart failure. We’re going to miss him very much when he’s gone.

Wow, seems I wrote about a lot of downer stuff. I don’t feel down. I’m sad about Wiggle, but I’m glad we caught his illness early on. That means we can manage these final days for him, as far as symptoms go, and we won’t be surprised by his sudden death. I guess I’m saying I’m thankful we’re able to say our goodbyes to him. That’s a blessing. I’ve had precious kitties die suddenly when we haven’t had that opportunity. So there’s a bit of good mixed in with the bad.

My daughter is very excited about Christmas and her spirit is helping to raise mine. I have all my shopping done, I’ve had it done for a while now. I’m not a fan of crowded stores or busy mall parking lots, so I plan ahead and just take it easy the weeks before Christmas. I’m taking my girl to the Nutcracker, to Pancakes with Santa, baking cookies, all that good stuff. They’re only little so long, gotta take advantage of this time. I’d rather spend time with her than fighting traffic and jostling hordes of shoppers.

And, of course, I’ve been writing. I’m working on an experimental book right now, something that’s purely urban fantasy. It took me awhile to hit my stride with this one. Not because it was a new genre–urban fantasy is close enough to paranormal romance that it doesn’t feel strange–but more because I’m afraid I can’t do it. It’s the same sensation I had when I sat down to write my very first book, this fear that I might not be able to pull it off.

But that’s dumb because I know I can. I’ve written something like twenty full-length novels and about a ton and half novellas. So, I finally got over myself, put the stupid fear away, and now it’s going pretty smoothly.

So, I’ve rambled on about my week long enough. How’s yours going? Getting ready for the holidays?

P.S. I have a release in late January (The Twisted Kiss) and another in early February (Midnight Enchantment), so look for details soon on a blog contest at my web site! I’ll start it after the craziness of the holidays, in early January.