Welcome! This week I decided to talk a bit about a rather notable part of my life. My cats. While it is off topic, I still think it could give some insight into who I am as a person when I am not writing. I will still include my notes about the story draft progress and updates about my personal writing schedule. If you would like to skip through certain parts I will have them in the table of contents below.
Story Writing; What We’re Working With.
It was a slow week. I pulled up my back up files to inspect where I stopped and started since last Thursday. I really had a tough time bridging two scenes together, mainly because I didn’t know where to go. (Well, which way to go.)
With the amount of ideas I am trying to implement, I occasionally don’t know which way would be the most interesting. This causes me to drag a bit because I like to know where the story is going to land before it jumps off the last section. There are already a slew of rearrangements I am planning for the second draft. It was like my brain finally remembered we were trying to write a detective story in the second half, cramming what should have established earlier like visiting a certain location, the character needing to know a bit of information, or even an introducing an entire character.
I am not beating myself up for not knowing where to go though. I wanted to practice writing a story without necessarily outlining it, and I have to admit, I enjoy the spontaneity of this tactic more than the hard outlining I have attempted to do in the past. I plan to make an outline, refine character goals, and world build before I start the next draft.
I am already close to 20,000 words and still plan on having this draft done in mid October. Directly after, I plan to take a week or two to write a short story that has been bobbing around my head for a bit. I might post it here after, just so there is some actual writing on my writing blog.
November I am going to challenge myself to either plow through another novel draft or write the second draft for this story in the spirit of “Novel November,” something I have missed for the past two years because of terrible planning. I have really wanted to participate in this event for a while and I finally have another chance! I’m so excited!!
I will let you know what I decide to do for that month in the coming weeks.
Staying On Schedule; What I’ve Changed.
With it being a slow week, there were a few days I wrote less at the beginning, but there were a few longer sessions toward the end that I feel, made up for it.
I have been playing with two hour writing sessions for four days and three “rest” days, where I write this blog, meal prep, socialize, and read. (I finished The Way of Kings this week and read all of The Emperor’s Soul yesterday. Both are great and by Brandon Sanderson! Would recommend.)
I like the two hour sessions, but I want to write more than four days so I am going to try that next week. Nothing else substantial has really changed. I like the accountability it gives me and so far the eight hour mark feels sustainable, hopefully I can get up closer to ten in the future.
The Street Babies.
I have never really been a cat person. My family had dogs growing up, with the occasional anti-social cat that would lurk in the shadows. Around May of this year I was in a strange place, I needed to move out by myself for the first time and I was terrified of being alone. I wanted a companion, but I knew already that I would have to work full time so I wouldn’t be home very often.
“Can I train a Chihuahua to use a litter box?” This was the question I was contemplating most days when I had to think about moving. I knew I couldn’t be supportive enough for a big dog, but maybe I can get by with a little one?
Well, I never figured it out. Because on May 28th there was a nasty storm, and when it ended there was this tiny thing at the foot of my old apartment’s steps. I saw it. And I chased him. He made it about five feet the ducked underneath a bush so I wouldn’t see him. Had he hidden the rest of his body and not just his head, he might have escaped. (Not really.)
This Feyd. He was about five weeks old and .8 lbs. with fleas, worms, ringworm, and bacterial issues. I talked about keeping him and raising him, but I was honestly just hoping to at least given him a comfortable few weeks before he passed. The first Veterinarian hadn’t been very optimistic about his survival chances with how small he was.
Here is a uncomfortable futon for reference.
It took him maybe four hours to get used to us. And goodness, he was so talkative!
The issues began on day two. Poop. Diarrhea to be precise. It did not mix well with my carpet floors, so we had to move him into the entry way to keep him from constantly soiling or rubbing his little butt on the carpet. I would later be told this is because of the said bacteria in his stomach. He was abandoned presumably because of his tiny size for how old he was, he likely missed out on a lot of important antibodies that would normally be able to fight it off.
We were trying to make things work as best as we could. It got better over time. We stopped worrying about him destroying the carpet after a good bit of time passed since the last accident. Soon after, medicine and shots were given to him and he was deemed safe to be around other cats!
It was very hard for him. My girlfriend and I were constantly gone trying to work. It was tough to make sure he got enough attention during the days we worked, so we decided to cat-sit for a friend to see if he was comfortable around other cats.
It is a silly picture, but they ended up having lots of fun together over the two days we watched Cookie. I have to admit, I wasted so much time watching them play together. It was so gratifying!
But we had to give her back. This was another one of those moments where things got very stressful. With no one to constantly play with he became incredibly needy. On days I had to go in early he would claw all the way up my work outfit so he could meow in my ear. Doing tasks became extremely hard because he would stand in front of what we would be trying to focus on. He was lonely, and I felt extremely bad that I couldn’t provide him the attention he needed.
So I got another one.
Tillian. Loves attention, being touched, and talking. Pathetic in the best way. Plus, he was only $25, which was a nice touch.
They immediately became close, playing and destroying things together. Feyd naturally became more docile now that he had someone who was more permanently attached to him. He also became more distant. He still love attention and playing, but now mostly Tillian just wants to be held and cuddle.
When it was time to move. I had two kittens when I was originally considering a Chihuahua. And I felt a lot more confident moving out now I wasn’t entirely alone.
They have grown since these pictures, I’ll include a little gallery below this paragraph with some more. I never thought I would enjoy owning cats, but they are great. Cuddly when you want them to be and super playful as well. I have been thinking about adopting another one since there are so many strays in my area and I want to help the ones I can. We are supposed to be caretakers of ourselves and the people and things around us. But as of yet, that’s the entire story.
Stay safe and happy,
Jachin.
Echoes from the Dreamscape 
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