JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Like Lucy's upcoming Key West mystery, the manuscript of AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY is also in the repair shop. (I love that metaphor and I'm going to use it for the rest of my life.) So how am I proceeding with the edits? Snuggling and listening to podcasts.
Wait - it's not quite what it sounds like. I kicked off the process at a mini-writing retreat with my friend Jessica Ellicott, who is a great person with whom to bounce questions and toss ideas back and forth. I came home with a good grasp of how I was going to address the trickier changes my editor had asked for in his letter. (Yes, I know they're all emails now, but I still call it a letter.)
I also came home with a post surgical cat with a plate in its femur. Not obtained at Jessica's place; I picked him up from the Portland Animal Hospital, where he'd been staying four the past four nights. And if you're thinking, Four nights in hospital and surgery... that sounds expensive! you have NO IDEA. (Not that the doctors and nurses don't deserve it. They're amazing.)
Dear readers, this isn't even my cat. You may recall my daughter Virginia, a/k/a Youngest, is off in the Netherlands getting a masters degree. Well, along with the entire contents of her apartment, she left me with her barely-two-year-old kitty, Walker.
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| Yes, those are the remains of my Post-its outline! |
For a month and a half, Walker was so awed by This Old House's 3,000 square feet, he didn't even look when the front or back doors were opened. Alas, as anyone who has had a cat knows, that didn't last. A tad over two weeks ago, he escaped while I was bringing the dogs in, and at some point, had a close encounter with a car. No, no one stopped. Ugh.
The good news is, after $10,000 skilled and attentive medical care, he's projected to make a full recovery... if he stays in the large dog crate I've erected next to the desk in my office for eight weeks. No jumping, climbing or excessive weight on that leg.
So, we're in this together, Walker and I. (The dogs are scornful lookers-on.) The cat is a very cuddly fellow, who formerly spent evenings resting against my head as I read or watched TV, and who used to sprawl out next to my laptop as I worked. He needs highly supervised time out of kitty jail, without the Collar of Shame. (He also gets his litter changed twice daily and special treats following his gabapentin. I feel like a Victorian nurse caring for an invalid baron.)
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| Hanging on to that collar just in case |
Which (finally!) leads to me snuggling and listening to podcasts. I try to sit with Walker on the loveseat in my office three times daily. The evening is easy - I'm often streaming a show. But morning and afternoon, I've taken to putting a writer-oriented podcast on my laptop or phone. Specifically, I'm listening to shows about editing, both to keep me in the groove and to give me ideas for making my stitched-together novel prettier.
Some of what I've found useful: Fiction Writing Made Easy, The Creative Writer's Toolbelt, The Creative Penn Podcast, DIY MFA and Writing Excuses. I love learning from other authors. And I love feeling inspired to get back to my computer after re-inserting Walker's head in the Cone of Shame and gently laying him in his fluffy bed. Yes, I bought it new just for the recovery kennel.
Dear readers, do you have podcasts you use for inspiration and education? Or, alternately, tell me tales of your pet's expensive medical treatment!
Oh, dear . . . poor kitty . . . cats are escape artists extraordinaire! Walker is so lucky to have you nursing him back to good health . . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Walker has you to take care of him.
ReplyDeleteOh, Julia. I'm so sorry for Walter for his accident and for you for the vet bill! Last winter we took our big nine-year-old standard poodle in to the vet because he had diarrhea and was droopy and not eating. One afternoon of blood tests and IV hydration was $1200! The tests were all negative and they told me to bring him in again for more IV fluids the following day. "But he's still drinking plenty of water!" "IV hydration is more efficient." Our retirement income precluded that so I took him home A.M.A. I was dog nurse for two weeks, giving electrolytes, offering different foods every meal, forcing the vet's antibiotics down his throat 3x/day. He recovered and is fine and bouncy (it seems he has developed a violent allergy to most dog kibble so he now gets home-cooked meals, tra la). But I definitely worry about the future of pet-owning when so much is possible and the costs are so high. In the meantime I salute you for going the distance for Walker and Youngest.
ReplyDeleteI listen to Elizabeth George's books on writing and also to K.M. Weiland. I have never listened to podcasts but will try your list. Thank you!
Poor Walker! Hope he heals well. Our kitty Neko-chan was hit by a car many years ago and the first vet wanted to do something like a hip replacement. We had NO money at at the time. I asked another vet, who was also a local mom, for her opinion. She said there are cats who survive just fine with three legs. She put his hip back in place, we kept him in a crate like Walker's for two weeks, and he lived a long and active life after that.
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to many podcasts (which, appropriately, I typed podcats...), but Julie Hennrikus's Sisters in Crime series, where she interviews a different member every week, are great. I love hearing so many different journeys to publication and writing habits.
Our daughter has had two pets with cancer. The first was Barbie the hedgehog who got over $800 in care at the university vet med school while a poor college student . One of Barbie’s diagnoses was anorexia when she wouldn’t eat, which we all found humorous despite the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThe second one was a rescue rat terrier who was only a few years old. I don’t know how much money she spent on treatment for that dog and I don’t want to know. At least she was in a better position to pay for it than with Barbie.
Poor Walker and poor you, Julia! I know of vet bills only too well. Our cat Holly ate something HUGE once that took a full weekend of vet supervision to pass through her system. Almost one thousand dollars later, she had recovered. Sheesh. If only the animals could talk... they'd give us their side of these expensive awful situations!
ReplyDeleteSorry about Walker but it sounds like he will be getting plenty of enforced TLC from you!
ReplyDeletePoor Walker! My biggest vet bill was when Kensi ate the lily from a flower arrangement and spent two days and nights in the hospital getting her kidneys flushed. Hubby and I have long had a deal between us: I am never to tell him how much I spend on my cat. I was very glad of that agreement after that incident.
ReplyDeleteAs for podcasts, I love Writers Detective Bureau for getting plot ideas. Right now, though, I'm listening to Off Duty: An NCIS Rewatch podcast hosted by Michael Weatherly and Cody DePablo who interview various cast members from the NCIS world. It's so much fun! Doesn't help my writing at all, but it keeps me entertained.
I watch Tiffany Yates Martin's zooms, particularly the ones on point of view. She has a free one tomorrow, Sunday, on the demons writers face. I learned about it from Jane's FB post.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and Walker have a restful recovery.