It’s a funny thing, how life goes on. Until it doesn’t, of course, but we’re very good as a species about ignoring that.
So — life. Much changed, but still moving, still demanding attention, response, thought, and action.
My short-term goal is to find all of Steve’s papers — which is not as easy as you might think — and get them into boxes to send to the archive at Northern Illinois University. My brother-in-law and nephew are coming up from mid-Coast in a few days to help me, literally, with the heavy lifting, and a Dumpster has been engaged to receive such things as no longer have utility.
My longer-term goals are to finish the sequel to Ribbon Dance — the deadline having been moved from September to November — and start work on the book after that.
In-between all that, there’s the Ordinary: Litter pans do not clean themselves, after all (well, OK; apparently some litter pans clean themselves); bills still need to be paid; meals eaten; dishes washed; cats scrubbled, groomed, and played with. Credit where it’s earned: the coon cats are keeping me to a Tight Schedule, demanding tools down at precisely 7:11 pm, so that Happy Hour may commence (Happy Hour starting with a shared can of gooshy food, after which we — by which I mean, three cats and a woman — make a pile on the sofa for an hour, until it’s time for me to get my meal.)
In the planning stages are a return to the gym (I had cancelled my membership, because the cash, it was not flowing), which is in the Community Center, where there are people. I’m also going to have to look around me for a book, lunch, or sewing club. I score pretty high as an Introvert, not to mention a tendency toward Black Knighthood, but even I need some human contact.
Under Ordinary: I believe that the eARC of Ribbon Dance is due to drop on March 15 — so, yanno, Watch the Skies.
I do want to mention that people had asked for a place to write about Steve and how he touched their lives. I’ve set up a page here for that purpose. If you choose to contribute, please understand that you are not required to be Solemn. Steve loved to laugh, and was rarely solemn himself.
And I think that catches us up. Everybody stay safe.
Today’s blog title brought to you by William Blake, The Tiger.*
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*Steve was born in a Year of the Tiger
There was a line in one of your books, when Shan had to explain to an acquaintance that his father was dead, and it struck me deeply. Conflict of Honors, that’s right, that was it. It reminded me that, no matter how much time had passed, telling someone of my dad’s death would resurrect the old pain. Our bodies move forward, and so do our brains, but somehow our emotions spiral in and out instead of forward.
I am glad your feline supervisors are taking care of you.
You are frequently in my thoughts.
Shan took a breath, hardly aware that it was deeper than the one before it. After so many repetitions, the phrase had become merely rote, and the inward voice that had keened “My father is dead!” was now but a wordless flicker of pain.
“I regret to be the first to inform you,” he said evenly, pulling the words verbatim from the High Tongue, “that my father’s heart ceased its labor nearly three Standards gone by.”
And then there’s Theo — “How can he just be gone?”
Thank you for your care.
Thank you for keeping us updated. We love you and want to know!
As a fellow cat person, I hope you’ve discovered litter other than the clay type. I was so pleasantly surprised when my daughter introduced me to Litter Genie as well as something called SmartCat, and my cats love it too. (I had used so-called “self-cleaning” litter boxes for years. They still required daily attention.)
I’m glad to hear that you are ensuring that you continue to see outside people. It’s a healthy part of coping and will help avoid a descent into “neighborhood crazy cat lady”. “Eccentric writer with lots of cats” is still the higher class lifestyle.
Also, I’m absolutely snagging the eARC when it drops. I have the self control of a toddler. **shrug**
I feel Theo’s pain. Love Lives On by Joe Cocker is helpful. I am glad you are making plans to be with people. I think of you often.
When I was still able to have cats, I discovered crystal cat litter. Much lighter in weight. Scoop the poop daily; pee gets absorbed and rendered scentless for a month. End of the month, dump the litter, clean pan, add fresh litter. It made my life much easier.
I had three cats, too, though only one was a Maine coon.
My cats accepted it readily, though I’m sure not all cats do.
What I’m saying is, it worked for me and my cats, and if the weight of all that litter is an Issue, as it was for me, it might be worth trying.
Sitting on the Baen site waiting for Ribbon Dance to drop… woohoo.