It's Been 10 Years With a Wiggle Cat

On Halloween Night in 2013, a brave little tuxedo kitten began meowing for food and love and I offered both to her.

This is Wiggle Cat. I named her Ocean because the vet nurses
felt Wiggles was too silly for her.

 

This was in 2021 when I ordered a couple of cat posts during
the pandemic. Ocean prefers napping in this one, but the tall one
at the window is great for morning suntans.

And today October 31 2023 is our tenth anniversary together, you wiggler.

I Survived Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Awards Dinner 2023

Well, this year for some reason the Florida Writers Association was not selling a Day-Only attendance for me to attend on Saturday, they were offering the full weekend which cut into my work schedule (and honestly I cannot afford). So I missed the conference presentations and discussion groups.

I did pay to attend the Royal Palm Awards banquet as I was a Finalist this year in the Nonfiction - Published Blog or Article category and I had high hopes for my submission "All Which Wicked Designs" this year.

Checking in before the dinner.

It seemed to be a smaller crowd than last year's, but well attended.
Only a handful were finalists, the rest were there for the good food
and the friendships.

People at my table wondered why the dessert was out first.
I suggested the possibility the cheesecakes were frozen served,
and the servers put it out early to warm up to room temp.

Nice mix of zucchini, mashed potatoes, and a chicken/steak combo.

I have to admit this photo is 7 years old, I may need a new
Author headshot.

And... well...

SQUEE

I received GOLD in the Blogging category!!! 

As I already planned to include the article in the collected essays book I'm currently putting together, I will need to include the update for it.

I did not receive printed stickers this year, because someone must have realized as an online article I had nothing physical to place stickers upon. I should get an image file shortly.

Yay.

Prepping for NaNoWriMo 2023

Once again into the deep dive of National Novel Writing Month!

This year, instead of stressing over a fiction novel idea that I quickly look narrative control over, I'm going to focus on a non-fiction work: Going with my background in journalism and my political interests, I've decided on writing about about American socio-political ideologies.

I've even got a title: American Isms.

I've done some preliminary research on the primary Isms - Liberalism and Conservatism, naturally - but also looking to include the less-common Isms - I'm finding there's no moderate/centrist Ism on record so I've got more research to fill that gap, arguing to give Pragmatism some due - to give it more depth.

We shall see how it goes.

In the meantime, if you're in the Lakeland / Polk County FL area needing a NaNo group to join for Write-Ins and inspiration, and if you've got a Facebook account, check here for the Facebook updates! Otherwise, sign up FREE with NaNo at their official site (link above) and join the US>FLorida>Lakeland Region for updates there!

Good luck, fellow writers!