The Cat Whisperer now available on Smashwords!

Before I get into this I want to up-date on the kitten situation.

If you've been reading about these cats/kittens/kittens from the original feral cat (in this story), they have been taken in by Tails, here in DeKalb. My sister wanted and took home the smaller black kitten. Her husband knew we wanted to get the rest of them (there were 5 all together), into a shelter, or give them away. We worried that they wouldn't take them, as sometimes they don't. But the reason we wanted to get these cute little guys in was because we didn't want to have the same cycle happening--the mating and resulting kittens again. Since their mother went missing 4 weeks after they were born, we had assumed responsibility for their well-being and up bringing and care. They were entertaining as well. We put them on our porch, and kept them safe from whatever predators who got the last three cats in this story "The Cat Whisperer". We needed help, and help came. It's amazing what people will do for animals, and I have to say, they came through wonderfully!

I had no idea that my nephew, Brett Paul (who has a photograph business on the side), donated a lot of money to this shelter for animals. He and his wife have 3 cats, in fact. So, when my brother-in-law told me about this over a phone conversation about Tails, and that my nephew was very much involved in Tails, I got an email off to Brett. He, at the time, was in Florida, but he still coordinated things with Tails, and we were soon scheduled for a time to go to Tails to drop them off. Brett and his wife came home the night before--with head colds--and met us at Tails. The lady who took them in explained that they would be given shots, wormed, and neutered, and they would be ready to adopt in 2 weeks!

After trying to get people interested in coming out and taking a kitten at our house, this worked out much better. I'm sure anyone looking for a sweet kitten when they see these guys they'll have no trouble taking one or two home with them.

So, this is the true ending of the Cat Whisperer--the story, and my husband's care taking of cats. He has officially "retired", he said to me after we came home and cleaned up the porch where the little guys played and did their mock battles--giving us something to watch. Teary eyed as the day ended, we missed them, but we knew this was the best thing for them--especially as we went into extremely cold weather, and they would have froze on our porch. It wasn't what we wanted, it was what was best for the kittens. I hope that someone will find a new kitten under the Christmas tree this year!

And now, for those of you who are new to this, or have been following along. This true story is now available at Smashwords.

A special thanks to John Gill, who did the formatting for this, as well as helped me with the cover. Look at those cute guys!

Cat's Meow

"I'm smiling because I just found a cute TRUE story about cats and kitties just like me."

"That's TOTALLY awesome!"

"Where? Where?"

"Can we see it too?"

"I would like to see this too! Where do you go to see such a thing?"

"Yes! I've heard it's toe-licking good!"

"This is the cover right here! I've heard you can find it on some place called AMAZON."

"What's it about?"

"Well, its about this lady author... oh, there she is right there..."

"Ooo, she's perrrrfict!"

"And her husband--he's 'The Cat Whisperer'. This is him right there looking out onto a beautiful lake."

"Anyway, its about how a female feral cat came into their yard one day and he fed it table scraps, and she stayed and had her kittens, and they took care of them. But not all of it was good and fun. There are villains, death, and how they survived and took care of each other."

"Wow. I think it sounds great."

"Oh, and that's them right now... shhhhh. They're sleeping."

"That makes me sleepy to watch. I think I'll take my cat nap now."

"Me-OWWW!"

The Cat Whisperer can be found at Amazon for $1.99. A true story about feral cats, covering a whole year of fun, sorrow and their triumphs!

Monday Updates

Well, my pretties, I am enjoying my day off, and posting to bring you all up to date. Nothing huge to talk about, but I post up-dates for those who follow me (yes, all ten of you *waves*).

This past week had me working on my 7th book in series and I got the brainstorm of an ending for it. I worked on a bedroom scene and posted about the differences between urban fantasy and paranormal romance here. If you don't know what the difference is, this will help. The word "romance" should give a big clue, however. Anyone who knows me/my writing knows I am not a romance writer or fan. I'm also not a a fan of erotica. If you want an entertaining read about my view point on this, go head on over to my other blog, but come on back and read the rest of my ramblings.

"Cat Whisperer" is needing a bit of a fluffing. I have to work on some little "side journeys" I call them. This book isn't just about the cats/kittens, it's about my husband. I'm often amazed at how he can control animals. Only this week he had to get Half Pint down from a tree. He had chased Tango up there after the usual loud cat-brawl. He got Half Pint down and brought him back over to the house. Eventually he got the two males to calm down and he petted them while talking to them. I don't know what is is about him, but the cats mind him. Just like he trained dogs--which were not much easier, but he trained them to obey.

It hasn't rained since Friday, I believe. And so I went for a nice walk out in our park. You can check that out here.

I've turned my attention on another back burner. My mystery I was working on, I put down to work on other things, and to let it rest. I was having trouble with the plot. Decided that if I just let it chill a while, I'd come up with a solution, and I did. Not quite ready to work on it. I want to get a few things done first, and maybe I'll work on that one this fall or winter, when I have time. If I do, that is.

The other day (I guess it was Friday), I came home and found that my husband had moved furniture around. Okay. He hasn't done that in a while. He called it our "summer" look. Whatever. I told him no wonder he was complaining of his back having a twinge. But at least he took most of the weekend off. He did have to get on the big mower and do the yard, as it was long. The grass has had lots of rain, and is keeping him busy in the park, which is super good. But he needs a day off. He and I are going to go out tomorrow, browse a nursery, go to lunch and brouse a local antiques place. It's on a farm, and antiques are in their 1839 barn. I got the idea of using the barn (at least mentioning), in a section of my WIP. I can't wait to go and see it again. We have not been there in over a decade, I'm sure.

I haven't heard from my publisher about my books as yet, but I should be hearing from him soon. Surely? I will become an Indie soon, because he is quitting the publishing business of other authors. He was the first one to publish my books, but now it would seem that I should be able to do this myself and make a little better royalties. I'm not going to get rich. I'm not even going to be comfortable. I'll be happy to get a $100 check every once in a while from Amazon.

Speaking of Indies, my good friend Shelly Arkon is giving away free copies for Kindle only of her short story "Partner's Progeny" You'll want to check this out. I'm sure everyone who can download to Kindle will want to check out my friend's book, and you can do that at her site, "Two Fur-Peeps and A Writer"

Well that's all the news and updates I've got. Have a good week and see you in the usual places, if not here!

UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hello, my pretties.

I do have some news, but we'll get to some updates first.

I'm still working on the seventh book, and I'm not rushing this one, folks, because I realized last year I'd written 2 (#'s 5 &6) in the Sabrina Strong Series. I'm still working on the edits of #4, and do need to get back to them this weekend.

Kittens are growing and my husband built a little fenced-in play area, but the bolder ones are determined to break out of jail, and they need a constant watch, they are only about 5-6 weeks old. Too darling. Two steel grays one black-as-coal, and one dark tiger.

We're getting the rain/storms for now. It's very wet out. Wish I could send some rain (not the lightning, though), out to the western states. There's fires all over. I fear Colorado is going up in smoke. A whole town, South Fork, Colorado, is burning to the ground. This isn't an unknown town to movie makers. One of the Vacation movies was filmed here, and "The Lone Ranger" was also filmed in the area.

My next work, I hope to get done quickly, is my memoir about the cats--which began with one and we wound up with 6 in total, and now we've got the next generation. I won't spoil the story, and promise that "The Cat Whisperer" is not just about cats, it's also about my husband who has a tender heart, and has always tended to feed strays that came into the yard, even as a child, and took care of them above and beyond what most people would do.

But, I won't go any further with that, as I don't want to spoil the story for you.

Now to my announcement: I'M GOING COMPLETELY INDIE.

The other day I sent off something to my publisher for his blog to post--I'm required to post something at least once a month. He got back to me telling me he is quitting publishing fiction with all his authors, reverting all our works back to us. Plus his blog site crashed. He seemed to think this was grim news to me. But it was not. I was wanting to strike out on my own, anyway. I didn't want to try and pull away from him by saying I wanted to take these works back. Something told me that things were about to change and change in a good way for me.

He will be helping all of us take our work back and publish into Amazon, etc. I asked if I could use the covers. He said yes. And that was a relief, because I really didn't think I could scramble to find 3 covers that would be as good as the originals.

So, by June 30 these three books, Vampire Ascending, Vampire's Trill, and Vampire Nocturne will no longer be under Copperhill Media, but under my own publishing brand Dark Castle Publications. My hope is at some point in July I will take total control of all three of these works. I'm only going to have ebooks, and I don't know that I'll have them elsewhere, but they will definitely be available through Amazon. I hope to adjust prices to my own needs. The newest work, Vampire Nocturne, will be reduced in price. But this is a few weeks away. I'm trying to come up with some sort of launch. If anyone is interested in hosting me in this indeavor (like welcoming me to the fold of the Indie World, or some such), and I'll try and figure out how to do a giveaway of all three eBooks to one person on each blog I'm on. This would be great for anyone who may have won one and want the rest. How cool is that?

Well, there's my news, my pretties. Do have a wonderful weekend. Again, if anyone wants to host my going Indie and the giveaway, whenever it's convenient, of course, in mid-July, say. Let me know in the comments here.

Lorelei has been crafting stories all her adult years
(yes, too many to count!) Author of the Sabrina Strong series,
"Spell of the Black Unicorn", poems, articles and short stories, and about to go Indie.