Hark! What's that falling on the roof?

[Pepper Smith]

I do believe it's raining, courtesy of what used to be tropical storm Erin. At the moment the temperature is comfortable. It's amazing how difficult it is to write when you feel like someone's slowly sauteing your brain in hot oil. Things are supposed to get back into the lower 90s by the end of the week, but maybe they won't get back up around 100. With all this rain, that extra humidity would make things utterly miserable.

The writing continues on the new novel. It's not the fastest I've ever written something, but I think I'm finally past the bump and it's moving a bit more quickly. At least now, my heroine realizes she's in a great deal of danger, and that the odd things happening before were connected.

The new black cat is looking much livelier and healthier, although she needs to put on some weight. She still believes next door is home, because she goes back over there to sleep under their cars during the heat of the day, but she and our other outside cat have managed so far to work out their differences without getting into an actual fight. Our inside cat has apparently gotten used to seeing me go outside to feed the new one. At first he would follow me around from room to room but didn't want me to touch him. Now he's gotten friendly again. He seems to think that the best place to be is curled up right behind my laptop computer while I'm using it. Don't ask me why. I'd think, as hot as it's been, he wouldn't want to be that close to something that's producing heat.

The Muse Online Writers Conference is coming in October, but registration ends August 31 for this year. All chats and workshops are free. I'll be presenting a paper as part of a workshop on adding suspense to your story. Feel free to check out the website and see what's on offer this year!

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