This post should probably be called “Junior learns to play again.” He was pretty playful before events occurred that stressed him out. What with mom Scamp not around to protect his back, he’s much more wary of everything in his environment. It’s been very interesting to watch him.  When mom Scamp was around, he took his cues from her–he almost ignored his surroundings and instead watched for her reactions.  If she went on alert, he went on alert–but his attention was on her, waiting for instructions or cues.  If she ran or gave a bark, he ran.  If she didn’t appear worried, he just played and jumped about.

Now that she doesn’t provide the command center anymore, it’s up to him.  He tilts his head, swivels his ears, looks around at noises, etc.  The lack of a watchdog has prevented him from doing much playing before stopping to go on alert. Luckily lately, he’s begun to trust that he can also watch us for cues.

Since mom Scamp doesn’t want him clinging to her tail all the time, it leaves the little guy with time on his paws. He hasn’t quite figured out what to do with himself. Since we’re providing plenty of food, he doesn’t have to waste his time hunting.

We had a very good play session with him night before last and again last night.   I will say that it is very hard to tire a kitten out! I think within a week or so BMHusband will be able to pet him.  That’s the goal at least!

I never use the giblets or the neck of the turkey. This year, we’ve been trying to get a little medicine down Junior because he exhibited some signs that he might be starting to get a urinary tract infection (going in one spot, then within minutes trying elsewhere.) This could easiliy be irritation from the surgery and nothing really wrong. Of course, we can’t catch him to find out. He is eating and playing so we know it is nothing serious.

We can’t catch him to give him any kind of prevention dose, and any kind of penicillin is difficult to get into food (have you tasted the stuff??? It’s pretty bitter.) I know Junior likes the kitten turkey and giblets catfood, so I figured…there sits turkey and giblets!

I simmered the neck and the giblets in mostly water with a 1/3 cup or so of canned chicken broth for a couple of hours. Did some reading on the web in the meantime. Do you know how many people just love the giblets? And the neck??? I knew you couldn’t give the neck to cats or dogs because the bones are small–big choking hazard. I had no idea there was actual meat on there. I had no idea anyone actually ate the meat off there either! Yes, I grew up on a ranch and yes, gramma put the giblets in the stuffing, and NO I did not eat that stuffing except for the bit that dad always made us “try.”

After boiling, I took the broth and made it into gravy–much to my surprise it was really, really *good* gravy. You’d never know it came from the giblets; it was full of rich turkey broth taste! I then took quite a bit of meat off the neck, stuck it and the rest of the giblets in the food processor and turned it into mush. Looks a lot like liver pate. I added some gravy and poof! It’s a smelly mess, just like the stuff that comes out of the cans, only no byproducts or corn products.

I doctored some medicine in there. Few hours later, I tested it out on Junior and guess what? He likes it!

I learned something from all of this–nevermore will I throw the giblets out. That gravy is darn good stuff. If I don’t have cats around that need it, I can use the broth in soups or for gravy for us!

Yeah, I’ll still throw the giblets out or give them to cats. Stinky. I’m not eating them. I know a lot of people give them to their dogs–just remember–DO NOT give them the neck. The bones are too small and sharp and can damage the dog’s throat and can also cause choking.

Thanksgiving. Treats all around!!!

Nothing like a bowl of soup on a cold winter day…use up that leftover turkey!

6 to 8 cups of chicken or turkey stock
1 to ½ cups of chicken or turkey
3 stalks of celery including leaves
1 medium onion or 5 green onions
¾ cup chopped carrots

2 tsp thyme
½ tsp sage
pinch of tarragon

Boil the vegetables in the stock until tender. Add herbs and turkey when the vegetables are almost done and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Add rice to individual portions when serving. If you add rice to the whole thing and then have leftovers, the rice soaks up the broth. You can substitute noodles for the rice.

Serve with toasted garlic bread.

Chicken or Turkey Stock:

I make chicken stock from scratch from a leftover rotisserie chicken, turkey, or I cook about 6 chicken thighs in the toaster oven and then simmer the meat and bones to make a broth.

Either way, you need bones to make a good broth.

If I am baking chicken thighs, I marinate 6 to 8 chicken thighs first in:

2 tablespoons honey
3 tabelspoons olive oil
5 tablespoons soy sauce

I then put them in a deep roasting pan in my toaster over (with the marinade). I bake at 350 degrees until the chicken is crisp, about one hour.

After the chicken has cooled, I remove enough of the chicken for a meal. I boil the rest of the chicken in about 6 cups of water (enough to cover the chicken) with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2tsp thyme, and two or three large celery stalks. Simmer, covered, for about two hours until the meat falls off. If you’re using a baked or rotisserie chicken or turkey, the method is the same: Simmer in water and other spices for two or three hours. Cool, run everything through a strainer to remove all bones.

Once the broth is cool, refrigerate. You can remove the fat from the top of the broth when it is set. The broth can also be frozen for use later.

I’m really liking this trend of books being given away. I won one from www.BookSpotCentral.com (where I do reviews) and now I find this giveaway at author site:

Brenda Janowitz

There’s a total of eight books. I have been eyeing Magic and the Modern Girl for quite a while now (by Mindy Klasky). City Dog by Allison Pace also looks interesting.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. Or, if you feel you really must, go enter and try to win yourself!!!

Not every gift can be in the 10 dollar category. A few years ago I took up quilting. I did a couple of very small lap quilts, but the true quilting–cutting blocks of cloth, forming patterns and then quilting a top and bottom–was too much work. I switched trains and began buying lovely patterns such as the one in the picture. It’s still quilted–the back has a bunch of little bears all over it (I always get a busy or colorful pattern on the back because it hides my mistakes!). The inside is a very nice punched cotton that resembles felt. The entire quilt is cotton–nice and heavy and most importantly warm.

I quilt along the patterns, outlining the bears, the rocks, and the clouds. The trees have quilting too, but that is more random. I think the quilt turns out looking a lot nicer than when I tried to stitch blocks together. I don’t have the patience to do fancy patterns that way. As it is, a lap quilt takes me almost three months. I do all of it by machine except for the mistake corrections, which are little repairs that require some finessing.

This particular quilt went to dad for Christmas. Really, he was cheating because I already made him a quilt. The problem is that dad saw this material for another quilt I was making. He immediately decided he *needed* one with this pattern! I still have to make him a pillow sham, but with this type of Christmas gift, you get it when it’s done…and not a moment before!

Kobo – Dad’s loyal canine.  Kobo recently appeared to have gotten one of the Lyme/tick diseases.  He was gimping along, stiff and looking miserable.  Sure he’s old and he does have arthritis…but this came on rather suddenly. A few days of antibiotics and he’s wagging away with that tail and trotting along after dad!  He’ll be getting some Revolution to help keep ticks away.   Huge thanks go to Trina, who also went through a similar experience with her fabulous dog, Klaus!  

Kobo was adopted from the shelter, lo these many years ago.  He is a good cattle herding dog, and loves to jump in the water tanks, but hates taking his bath.  He’s half german shepard, half lab.  He’s a wonderful dog.  If you’re wondering why he has what appears to be hay all over him, it’s because he rolls in the pompass grass.  He thinks those plants are his personal scratching brush.  The blades can cut your hand, but he thinks they are just great.  He recently adjusted to a new dog in the family:

 


Smurf – Also known as “Smurfie” said in a high tone of voice when we are making fun of mom for naming a labrador “Smurf.”  He looks nothing like a little blue smurf, but she swears he looked just like one as a puppy…hmm.  He’s only about 9 to 12 month’s old and already weighs close to 50 pounds.  He’s supposedly only half lab, but looking at him, you’d never know it.  He’s just starting his training; pretty good at stay, pretty good at getting the ball, but not so good at giving it up.  He thinks all things, including hanging laundry, are toys.  We expect him to be a good cattle herding dog someday, but at the moment, he’s more of a distraction than a help.  He also is too easily swayed by rabbits, horses and unfortunately, skunks!!!

A few years ago…okay, many years ago, BMHusband and I decided to forgo getting each other Christmas presents.  It went so well that first year, we haven’t done presents since!   Why?  Because there’s too much else to do.  Back in the day, we both had to travel, him to his parents and me to mine.  We had to get gifts and travel with them.  That was more than enough to keep us on our toes.

There’s a few other things we avoid that help keep the holiday stress down:

We don’t decorate.  I highly recommend this one.  If you do decorate (either because you feel you have to or you have kids) you can get by with a lot less than you think.  One tip:   Just do the tree.  Forget the lights on the outside, inside, window decorations, wreathes, holly, etc.   Have the kids make most of the decorations–you remember them.  Plastic lids with glitter, paper and paints, cut out snowflakes (these can be made from felt for strength and longevity.  Different colors add to the festivity.  Names can be inked on or glitered on the larger flakes). Older kids can do oragami designs.  Old christmas cards can be strung on the tree also.

When I was first cutting back on the decorating scene, I did a tree–a 3 foot one on the table.  Wow, talk about easier.  No big ornaments, not much tinsel, and it only took up one corner.   You can either put presents on the table with the tree or under it.  I’ve seen a nice display with a long tablecloth–with presents hidden underneath.  The kids enjoyed peeking under there, checking the various boxes.  Be careful with a cloth if you have pets or small children that might want to pull the entire display on the ground. 

I’ll cover some other ideas in later posts.  Feel free to post your own holiday-stress relievers!

Here in catland, the kitties are settling into a routine…maybe. Junior has happily moved into his castle. He has a cat tube (cat owners know what this is–for you dog owners, it’s a pet bed, only it’s a tube because cats like to crawl into spaces like that when it is cold.)

Mom Scamp practically disappeared for a week. She showed up for scant minutes once a day to eat, usually after dark–until Thursday when she showed up at 5. She hung around for a while, which is much more normal for cats. Their normal eating pattern is to eat a rather large portion, sit for a while and then top off the tank two or more times before being done eating. She stayed for an hour. During this hour, she hissed at and chased Junior when he got too close to her. She didn’t try to harm him, a huge relief for us. You’d think Junior would be greatly upset by this, but he mimicked a human teenager. “Oh, mom’s got some issue and she’s on my case *all* the time. I just stay out of her way and if things get too annoying, I go in my room.” Yes, like a teen, he went asking for trouble a couple of times, but both parties seemed to accept this as normal.

Once or twice, Mom Scamp chased him up a tree and then waited at the bottom, guarding it. She didn’t actually *do* anything when he came down. These exercises appear to be half game, half training. She wants him independent, but she tolerates him much better.

BMHusband actually was able to pet Junior Friday morning. Junior turned around to see what it was all about, backed away and then went back to eating. He doesn’t get petting, but he didn’t get particularly upset about it either. He’s starting to talk to us too–meow when we come out with food, complain to us when mom takes off–I think he’s beginning to believe we might just be cats despite our odd appearance! Tall ones with little fur, but almost acceptable as some mangy companion types.

As they settle, I should be able to get some better pictures of them (ones where they aren’t in motion, ducking into the castle, or too far away.)

Posting will be light all next week, due to an extremely busy family obligation time…yes, folks, the holiday season is approaching which always means visitors coming and going. We celebrate Thanksgiving, usually here at home. It’s my favorite holiday. About every other year, we have guests; it just depends. Last year the guests came the week after Thanksgiving.

Here are some holiday shopping tips that you may find useful over the next couple of weeks as you start your shopping.

Under Ten Dollars:

An assortment of chocolate bars such as Lindt, Ghiradelli, Guittard, See’s Candies or Scharffen Berger. Each bar runs about 3 dollars. Many grocery stores are starting to carry these high-end bars. My local Wal-Mart has some really good specialty Ghiradelli and Lindt bars. You can also order a bunch of them from a place such as www.Chocosphere.com and create a three-pack as a stocking stuffer or as a gift for that unexpected visitor that stops by with something for you.

Order a high-end cocoa while you’re ordering. My favorites are Valrhona, Guittard and Scharffen Berger. Make small bags (about 1 quart) of cocoa drink mix and put in Christmas tins as a great little gift. You’ll need about 5 parts sugar to 1 part cocoa. I use a little less sugar, but approximately: 2 cups regular sugar, 3 cups powdered sugar and 1 cup cocoa. Put the cocoa in a plastic bag and then tuck inside a holiday tin.

Peanut Brittle — I’ll post a recipe. This makes a great gift tucked inside a Christmas tin. It keeps better than cookies so you can ship it and/or have it on hand ahead of time.

Calendars — Calendars of your home state for those out of state visitors, or a calendar depicting a hobby such as scuba diving. Or gardening. Quilting. There’s one for every hobby out there!

Books! What was your favorite book this year? For me, this is easy–I can think of three or four books. Luckily they are in different categories. Mystery for mom, urban fantasy for my friend, high fantasy for brother. Most paperbacks are under 10 bucks. They make a great little gift, especially when funds are tight (aren’t they every year???)

Please, by all means, post your under ten gifts for the holidays! We can all use good ideas for less money!

On the reading front, I just reviewed two very good books over at BookSpotCentral (click links below to read the reviews):

New Tricks by John Levitt – This one is definitely going on my books of the year list. The first in the series is Dog Days. I loved them both. If you love urban fantasy, this series is for you.

Shadowmagic by John Lenahan – This one is also very good; an unintended quest survival tale with a family-oriented twist. Good humor in this fast YA read.

Well, things got different around here! For now, it appears that Junior has moved into the castle. Scamp, who was probably *very* near going into heat has spent her time pushing Junior into independence, mainly by roaming elsewhere and refusing to let him follow. She shows up for food…

It was rather painful to see Junior abandoned (he looked pretty sad, but it could have just been that his butt still hurt!)  We had no say in it either way. We did notice when the cats were installed in the bathroom that mom wasn’t grooming him or getting particularly upset with us when we were near him. Of course, we had noticed her spending less time with Junior the week before we caught her too–and were getting desperate to get her, knowing she had to be close to her next cycle!

Looks like we caught her just in time–last night, a big ole orange tomcat showed up at the food bowl!  We saw him one other time about a month ago.  We have no idea where he belongs (or to whom he belongs!) but we figure he was bar-hopping, looking for action.  HAH!  None here furry feline!  I banished him from the yard.  (There was a lot going on at the food bowl on a Saturday night.  Not only did Scamp stop by, so did the tom and so did a very ugly opossum.  And that was all before eight o’clock!)

I’ve been reading up on cats (of course) and it’s quite possible that as Scamp’s hormones return to lower levels, she will settle down more and possibly spend more time in our yard.  I have no idea how Scamp and Junior will interact at that point.  She isn’t actively mean to him (although she hissed at him when he tried to eat out of her foodbowl.)  In the old days (of a week ago) she used to tolerate that.

So we’ll see.  The good news is that both cats appear to be healthy and working towards a new, improved routine.  Their appetites appear good and they are both moving around.  It may rain here over the next few days, but don’t worry!  Junior’s castle has a roof!  I’m sure he’ll prefer the warmer nights that rainy weather brings.

Could this be the reason my diet keeps failing?????

I finally stopped eating the raspberries from the garden long enough to gather enough for a dessert.

I made this which is already decadent enough–and topped it with the raspberries from the garden! If I’d had another cup or two, I could have made raspberry sauce. BMHusband vastly prefers the sauce to the berries because of the little seeds in the berries, but, oooh there really is nothing better than chocolate with that fresh raspberry taste. It is just one of nature’s perfect combinations! (BMHusband also highly recommends this dessert cooled from the oven with ice cream.)

So as I mentioned in comments on the last post, mom made it safely out of captivity and into the wild. Junior however, parked himself under the couch and determined that the bathroom was safer and warmer. He fled back there after about 10 minutes of couch sitting. He settled down and began napping. *shrug* What can you do?

After another night, he did wander back out to the couch pretty early in the morning. We left the door open to the outside, but he wasn’t interested. SIGH. Mom showed up at 10 and ate. She was pretty wary of us (who us???) but she ate, rolled in the dirt and looked around. Junior huddled under the couch, despite the fact that we TOLD him she was out there! I think he might have guessed because he actually meowed once–but mom was too far from the porch at that point to hear him. It really makes you want to smack them sometimes.

We waited and waited. He finally started meowing more–he stuck his head out one end of the couch and then the other. But he WOULD NOT COME OUT. He sat at the edge of the couch and watched. Looked. Went back behind the couch. Came out. Meowed. Sat. Looked out the open door. FINALLY moved to the doorway.

Now. He needs to go find MOM!!!!!

Both Junior and mom Scamp are doing great. The plan is to release them sometime around noon if all goes well. They will be thrilled to be back on their home turf able to come and go as they please. The experts tells us that now that they are fixed, they will roam less. We’ll see. They are both young scamps and full of energy. We’re hopeful they will start spending more time in the yard, but they are cats and none to tame. I’ll update this post when they make their way outside later today!

Update: 4:55 p.m.

We opened up the doors at 11:30. The cats were very busy sleeping and could not be bothered to show even a sliver of interest. We left the bathroom door open most of the afternoon and checked on them periodically. Out cold most of the time, barely lifting their heads to make sure we weren’t getting too close. Yes, they were greatly in fear of us, only waiting until we left to sleep some more.

Finally about 4:30, Scamp crept out and appeared in the living room. She went to the front door (screened) and peered out. She turned to look at me as though to say, “You mean, I’ve been here this entire time???”

I told her I’d get up and open the back door so she could go out, but the minute I stood up, she scampered back to the relative safety of the bathroom. I heard Junior ask her what happened. About ten minutes later, she re-appeared, this time with Junior in tow. He took one look at me and back to the bathroom he went. Mom Scamp, on the other hand, had already seen me so she did some sniffing around. She stared mighty hard at the now open back door. Junior reappeared, recognized the couch and dodged behind it (he’s been there before when we let them explore inside to try and adjust to us).

Mom didn’t take long to go out the back way. First thing she did with her freedom was eat from the food bowl, placed strategically in its usual place. Yes, she had a perfectly full bowl in the bathroom.

As of this writing, Junior is still behind the couch. Mom is no longer crunching food, but I can’t see where she has gone at the moment.

All is just about perfect in their world at this moment.

Just after I put a brownie dessert in the oven–say ten minutes into the 45 minute cooking time, Junior showed up at the feeding pen (read: trap). Sigh. When raising wild animals you gotta do what you gotta do. The brownies had to be turned off. As you know, brownies and cakes don’t do well with partial cooking and then reattempts. They are rather gummy.

But enough about my dessert.

Junior went right in, we pulled the string and we had him at noon! I called Premier Animal Hosital…but the vet didn’t think they could fit him in today…GROAN. But they did agree to take him even if he had to say in the pen overnight. It was good news/bad news all the way going.

We got him there, and the vet had made a slot for him. Yah! By the time we got home, they called with a complication…Junior hadn’t dropped both testicles so it was going to be more expensive and more invasive surgery than planned…and it might not work…and…and. There were some big question marks, but there was nothing to do but move forward. The Dr. Whitehill suggested we wait and bring him back in next month, but there is just no way to be sure we can get him again. It also wouldn’t make the procedure any less expensive since we’d just be doing it twice.

We told mom Scamp that Junior was on his way soon. She hissed at us. Yah! That’s progress because she’s awake enough to be talking and complaining!

We’ll keep them both inside overnight. Mom Scamp will get an extra day of indoor recovery, but I suspect she will be a LOT happier once we get Junior in there with her, even if Junior is groggy.

The young recover faster anyway. When we trapped Junior, he was rather upset, clawed the cage and gave a pretty good howl. Once he figured out that he couldn’t get out, he decided to go ahead and eat…

He meowed and complained most of the way to the vet’s office. Mom never peeped when we took her. Junior actually finished the food in the bowl and then set about asking to be let out. He doesn’t talk very loud, but he was pretty good at pathetic.

I got a really special present in the mail today–a signed, limited edition of a hardback. I’ve never owned a limited edition before–and mine is a numbered one at that! My book is number 13 (pretty darn cool!) Not only that, this book is only out in the UK so far. (It can be ordered on bookdepository for those of use living in, well, other than the UK. I would imagine that Amazon UK also has it available.)

Check out this description:

Conor thought he was an average 21st century teenager. OK, so his father only had one hand and was a bit on the eccentric side but, other than that, life was fairly normal. Until, that is, two Celtic warriors on horseback and wearing full armour appear at hsi front door and try to kill him.

I will be reporting back on this fabulous book!!!

Well, we did it! Half of it anyway. We were working on the cat trap all morning–the new parts came, but they didn’t do what we needed either. So…we went low-tech. We made a metal hook, tied a string on it and ran the string through the window. Mom cat was in the yard most of the day without Junior. When she finally popped over to get water about one o’clock, BMHusband said, “She’d going to go eat next. We could pull the string now.”

Would the vet take her? Was it too late in the day? What about Junior? What if we missed and she escaped????

Before we knew it, there she was, eating.

Bam! BMHusband pulled the string. She was trapped! And boy was she MAD. She panicked when we went out, clawed her way all around that cage trying to get out. We latched the door and then gave her some breathing room. I called the vet, Premier Animal Hospital. BMHusband readied the vehicle. The vet, the wonderful Dr. Daigle and Dr. Whitehill, said YES. We started to lift the cage and Scamp PANICKED. Hmm. More engineering. Yes, we stopped to engineer. It’s what we DO.

Couple of tie-wraps made for some quick handles. This meant we didn’t need to risk fingers in the cage where mom was likely to chew them off.

We got her in the back of the SUV with minimal hassle. She still wasn’t happy, but she was calming down. Twenty minutes to the vet. Paperwork. We brought her to the back room and handed her over.

Two hours later–TWO–Premier Animal Hospital called. Scamp was ready to come home! Those people at the vet clinic are gifts, pure and simple.  The staff at the front desk, the techs, the doctors–all wonderful.  Every single person we dealt with was kind, helpful and supportive.

We high-tailed it back there and brought her home. She went straight into the back bathroom, still in the cage. We left her there for just over an hour to let her get used to the place. After that, we took the door off the cage, but I don’t think she left the cage until I went back in again an hour later. I tried not to startle her (yeah, right). She hopped up on the windowsill and gave me the big, glassy eyed look.

At last check, that’s where she was, only on the next check, she was relaxed and looked like she had been sleeping. She has to stay indoors until the drugs wear off–probably until about 3 or 4 tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile…Junior showed up to eat at dark. We told him where mom was, but he didn’t look very convinced. As expected, he was quite nervous. We probably could have trapped him, but since he’d just be in the cage all night, we decided to hope he shows up tomorrow. Once in a while he does show up before noon–sometimes he shows up early afternoon. If he doesn’t, we’ll have to nab him at night, but let’s all hope for the best!!!!

Halfway home. What a relief. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Someday I’ll look back on this and laugh…

The cat trap was all ready to go this morning (never mind that there were no actual cats around.) We had it in the garage, tested the electronic gizmo that BMHusband installed on the door. The way it would work, in theory, is that a door is held open with a peg. Someone pushes a button, the peg slides back, the door slams/slides down. It worked great. Right up until the motor in the brand-spankin’ new part fried.

Why did it fry you ask? Well, it sure as hell wasn’t overuse. We’d only gotten to test the door about three times. BMHusband says it’s because it isn’t meant to be left on–it’s supposed to be a short-acting draw of power. Yeah, well, I think it was part quality–lack there-of. It had been “left on” less than a minute while I walked from the living room to the garage.

Grump.

We have a backup part coming in today. We didn’t know we’d need it, but BMHusband and I both tend to overcompensate when inventing and planning. We design things…okay, overdesign things, with at least two options, sometimes more. So. Maybe tomorrow.

My backup plan is to contact the Street Cat Rescue and borrow a different kind of trap from them (one where the whole trap comes down, instead of the doors.) The lady there claims the trap works great–and if this one fails for some reason or another–we’re going to need to change the environment to trick the cats again.

No stress or anything.

Would someone tell the cats to just hop in the cage, shut the door and we’ll just get this show on the road????

Okay, so maybe I opened a can of worms by expressing my dismay when authors blog about politics.   I got a couple of questions that boiled down to:  “Are there other topics that authors blog about that are no-no for you as a reader?”

Well, sure.  And that line is going to be vastly different for other people.  But here are my bullet points for “other topics to be avoided.”  And remember–I’m coming at this as a reader.   Some of them would seem obvious…

Cursing:  If your books contain a lot of cursing, it’s probably okay that your blogging reflect that.  But if your books generally hold cursing to a minimum or even avoid certain words–why have a huge change in tone for the blog?   It is very odd and disconcerting to read cozies or YA and go to the author’s blog to find it peppered with swear words befitting a sailor–even if it is due to some extreme event in the author’s life (road rage, spilled coffee, bad service, etc.) 

Juvenile Humor:  This one is tough because juvenile humor can be annoying when overdone, whether in a book or just in general.  It can also be a needed break from a bad day.  Depending on the level–if it’s always clean humor–I’ll send my mom to sites that happen to have juvenile humor. If it degrades into the occasional danger zone…I won’t.   What do I mean by juvenile humor?  Nose picking, fart jokes, men–can’t live with them, can’t live without’m jokes, fat jokes, blond references…

Self-promotion:  How much is too much?  I don’t know.  Honestly.  Maybe you should count your posts, figure out the percentage of self-promotion and keep it to 10 percent?  5 percent?  I will say that contests are good–if you’re offering free stuff, it’s a good excuse to talk about your book(s).  It’s fine to announce new books coming out–when and where.  It’s nice to know about book signings or even hear tales from the signing.   It’s imperative to have a page somewhere that lists it all so that you can refer to it–that way if I already know, I don’t have to constantly re-read the information.

My favorite self-promotion?  Book giveaways–your books or other books.  I don’t like the contests that require me to jump through hoops (answering questions about the characters in the books isn’t good–I’m usually looking for freebies of books I have not read, but want to try.  If I haven’t read any of your books…asking me to answer questions about books one and two…eliminates me and my interest in the contest. )   I don’t read books in order–so just because a contest is for book 3 doesn’t mean I’m not interested!!!  I don’t mind being asked to blog about the book, i.e., ”I got this great free book from here and the author is lovely, generous and I can’t wait to read it.”  I’m not keen on being asked to review the book because…sometimes I don’t like the book.  If I don’t like the book, you do not want me reviewing it.  Trust me.

Sexual humor:  This one is dangerous folks.  Can I send my mother to read the site?  Can you send your mother?  What about your gramma Hazel? I participate in a lot of reading groups, one of which I fondly call the “little old ladies group.”  We aren’t all old ladies.  We read cozies, thrillers, mysteries, sci/fi and fantasy.  Some members are male.  The ages range from 20 to 80.   But there’s a tone to the group and feel to it. We talk about cats.  Ducks.  Dogs.  Children.  Real people.  Can I send these members to your site?  Or is it going to be embarrassing?

If I haven’t read your books, but find your site, am I going to read all the various jokes and innuendos and think you’re some kind of pervert or that your books are filled with same?  It’s happened–I’ve read a book or two, (or read about a book) gone to the author site and seemingly entered during some sort of innuendo contest.  This does not leave me with a great impression or huge desire to go get the book(s) offered.  These might be wonderful people–seriously–but with a blog, you never know where a reader is going to enter.  You never know whether you’re making a first impression–or a last impression.

I’m not saying you gotta be squeaky clean.  I’m just sayin’.

Writing: What?  How can I say this? Seriously, I don’t mind writing posts.  I am just not going to frequent a blog that is all about writing.  How much is too much?  Depends on how interesting an author can make it, but in general…the posts I read about it aren’t very interesting.   This includes topics such as, “I’m struggling with chapter 8, the ending, my protag’s dialogue…”   I love writing, I do.  But reading about someone else struggling with it is sort of like someone describing vacuuming.  We’ve all done it and yeah, we know it’s a necessary pain.  Unless your vacuum and the cat actually had a fist fight…and the cat won…let’s just say I probably don’t want to hear how many passes you had to take in front of the back door to get the rug clean.

I happen to like (a few) writing stories that teach me about publishing (such as how deadlines work, stories about obtaining an agent, stories about publishing gone wrong, that sort of thing.)   I recognize the posts about procrastination (who me???) but in all honesty, too many author sites talk writing 90 percent of the time and that’s too often for me.

Complaints about sales:  Avoid this one. Always. If you complain about sales, you’re complaining about me, the reader.  If I already bought the book, you’re a whiner. If I didn’t buy the book, I’m guilty at best, annoyed at worst.  I’ve seen this topic blogged about from every angle:  Begging.  Attempt at humor. Cold hard facts. Threats that the books will go away and there will be no more.

I have yet to buy a book based on author complaints. (This includes complaints about signings where readers show up, talk to the author, but don’t buy the book.  I don’t know why Joe took up your time and didn’t buy your book, but hearing about it makes me cringe.) 

On the other side of that coin, I love posts that talk about how you artfully escaped from Joe by dropping a book on the floor, scurrying under the table and disguising yourself as the beverage server behind the coffee counter.  I enjoy the occasional article on sales numbers, how returns work and/or affect authors, how royalties are handled (because they differ from publisher to publisher but do have certain things in common) and general facts about a particular book or set of books.  For example, I read a post with great interest that explained that when book 3 comes out, sales of book 1 and 2 get a jump.  Just little odds and ends, once in a while, that reflect the way the world works for a particular author.

Sir Link a Lot: This one isn’t really egregious, but the posts are mostly ignored (at least by me.)   There’s a couple of blogs that I can think of, right off the top of my head, that use at least one day a week to do what I call a “sir link a lot” post.  Instead of writing a witty post of their own, they turn to other bloggers to fill the void.  That would be okay except these are posts where there is little or no commentary by the author of the post–it is merely a string of links, some with descriptions, some just hanging there.  These posts allege to be “posts on articles you might find interesting.”   BUT, without any description other than perhaps a title, I can’t tell if I’m interested unless I click them all.  (Really–Give me the first paragraph or at least a one-liner about what it is about. Give me your opinion on the article so that I know why you cared.)   The most annoying are those lists that have more than three suggested links.  Sir Link a Lot tends to link to 10 - 40 at one time–on topics that range from movies to books, to an article that the author found interesting that pertained to sports cars.  Or cooking.  Or mice running a maze.

Not every reader is going to feel the way I do about these topics.  In fact, I’d LOVE to hear your favorite “Let’s not go There” posts because I am quite certain that I have left off some real groaners.

Just finished reading the fabulous Ill Wind by Rachel Caine from her Weather Warden series. Excellent read! I probably won’t be reviewing this one over at www.BookSpotCentral.com due to sheer laziness. It was really nice to read a book, be totally immersed and not jotting down occasional review points. Her stuff is just good, flaws and all, I enjoyed it! I have the second in the series to look forward to.

And having nothing to do with the book above, but a great little post by Tia about “Sexy” Vampires…or Not So Sexy Vampires!

Writing Stuff

When it comes to getting an agent, some writers do, some don’t. Some of that is choice on the writer’s part–some of it isn’t. I thought John Scalzi had an excellent post on the subject, mainly because I think one of the biggest benefits to having an agent can be selling foreign rights. 

Cats

Really these guys should have their own post…but here are the stars! BMHusband is almost done building a trap to try and get these two. Turns out that they must have heard us talking. We’ve seen very little of them this whole week. We figure they were listening in at the open window, heard about the trap plans and have been keeping away. But we’re pretty irresistible. They’ll be back. And we’ll have treats waiting…

mom's tail