Published on November 3, 2004
We had quite a rocky ride over the past week worrying about Blotch and crying endless tears, thinking he was on his last paw. Ali and I visited him at the kitty hospital on Thursday and I thought I detected something in him that told me he was getting better. The vet said he couldn’t see any improvement, but I thought I knew better (time will tell, I guess). On Friday, they wanted to keep him for the weekend, but I really wanted him to be at home, just in case he was dying. I didn’t want him to spend his last few days in a cold metal cage surrounded by barking dogs and hissing cats.
The vet agreed and sent us home armed with several syringes of his meds, appointments for daily shots of fluids (which we had to take him in for on the weekend) and an appointment at another vet on Tuesday for a probe of his sinuses, since the antibiotics seemed to be working much slower than they should (or not at all – it’s hard to tell).
Our primary concern was that Blotch wasn’t eating or drinking on his own. However, he stunned us all by getting up in the middle of the night on Saturday and diving into his cat food!
I’m writing this on Monday night and, while he is eating, he’s still not drinking any fluids on his own. His surgery is tomorrow and we’re hoping they can tell us why his sinuses are completely clogged. It could be a tumor or a fungus. A tumor didn’t show up on his x-ray, so we’re hoping a fungus is the diagnosis. If it’s a fungus, they’ll switch his meds and see if they can find something to get rid of it.
Blotch was feeling down tonight and we started worrying about him again. Maybe he just overdid it this weekend. Or, maybe he overheard us whispering about his sinus probe tomorrow. Ouch.
BLOTCH UPDATE 11/3/04: Blotch has surgery yesterday afternoon and they found a growth in his upper sinuses. It is either a fungus or a tumor. A fungus might be treatable depending on how bad it is. A tumor would be treatable, but the treatment would only cause extensive and prolonged suffering for Blotch and would likely not cure him. We won’t know for 5-7 days what it is. He’s home now and very comfy, sleeping off the anesthesia in Ali’s room with her right next to him doing her school work. She’s a good nurse. 🙂
Hugs to all!
Ang
Hugs to all!
Angie
P.S. Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman’s Day – $2,800; Redbook – $3,500; Ladies Home Journal – $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com – $2,000; Lifetime Magazine – $3,000; Life Extension magazine – $6,480; Natural Remedies $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html
Published on November 3, 2004
Just wanted to congratulate you on the wonderful article you wrote for fundsforwriters.com about writers getting paid. Bravo! Besides being a NY Times best selling author, I am also a media coach and am constantly telling my clients “if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense!”
Published on November 3, 2004
It’s a sad but true fact. Authors need to learn some marketing basics because publishing houses don’t do enough PR for all but their biggest or hottest books.
Last week, one of the students in our Create a Buzz Plan class and I had a half hour phone call (which is offered to all Buzz students now) to do some more brainstorming. During the call he told me what was going on with his book. He’d landed a traditional contract and received a $175K advance. But, his publisher was doing nothing to get the word out. Absolutely nothing.
Published on November 3, 2004
I started writing somewhere around 1966. My favorite authors were the mystery ladies, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and Phyllis Whitney. I wonder if I could even come close, I said to myself. I had mysteries on the brain since my Nancy Drew days and had even had one started at 15, but marrying and having children put an end to writing for awhile.
Published on October 27, 2004
As I’m writing this, we’re just crossing the North Carolina / Virginia border, heading north. The fall foliage here is breathtaking! Wish I could stop and take some photos, but we’re on our way back to Maine because Ali’s cat, Blotch, is ill. It should take us about 22-24 hours of driving time, which means we’ll have to stop and take a break at a hotel tonight. Ali’s doing pretty good and feels bad that our trip was cut short. But, I know she and Blotch will want to be together during this time.
UPDATE: Blotch is on antibiotics so he’ll probably be okay, but he sure is one sick kitty. Ali’s very happy to be with him. We’re going to get a pill gun from the vet in the morning because Blotch will not take pills. He’s too smart to eat them if you mix them with tuna, and he’ll take your finger off if you try to force one down his throat. I tried to give Blotch a pill this evening, forgetting about all the scars he’s given me over the years. He bit me, hacked up the pill (ewwwww!) and is now hiding from us.
Blotch – 1
Angela – 0
We’ll see how it goes tomorrow with the pill gun.
NEW UPDATE 10/27/04: They had to admit Blotch to the kitty hospital this morning (Wednesday) for an IV. He won’t eat, drink or take his medicine at all. He has his blanky and his stuffed giraffe and we can visit him at anytime. We’re hoping he’ll be home by the weekend. 🙁
Hugs to all!
Angela
P.S. Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman’s Day – $2,800; Redbook – $3,500; Ladies Home Journal – $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com – $2,000; Lifetime Magazine – $3,000; Life Extension magazine – $6,480; Natural Remedies $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html
Published on October 27, 2004
worst book proposals and query letters
Every business owner, even freelance writers, occasionally comes into contact with a customer whose rage and unethical behavior let you know that the term “the customer is always right” is sometimes wrong.
Published on October 27, 2004
This Week:
- Responses to: Marketing to Bookstores – Waste of Time? (3 responses)
- Thanks
Published on October 27, 2004
Recently I sat in on a self marketing seminar for young jobseekers.
Traditional methods of looking for work are out of favor, and the seminar leader drew up a graph to show why – only 20% of available jobs are advertised, he said. What the jobseeker should be concentrating on are the 80% that aren’t advertised.
Published on October 27, 2004
At the time that I was planning my Mexican themed summer bash this August, I was feeling very discouraged about my writing. The day before the party I stood in my kitchen, whipping up my famous nachos while my friend Mandy grated cheese for the recipe. Suddenly she left the kitchen and returned a few moments later with something behind her back.
“I know you’ve been down in the dumps lately about your writing, Anika, so I thought with this party coming up you could use a little shameless promotion and some cheering up. So here it is!”
Published on October 20, 2004
We spent the weekend with my sister, Autumn, and her husband, Dave. They introduced us to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, with its white sand beaches, stiff winds (glad we didn’t blow into the ocean!) and an incredible restaurant. You can read all about it HERE.
We’re staying at a really nice campground in Myrtle Beach right now and, while they don’t have wireless Internet access, they do let you dial into your dial-up service directly from your RV. So, it’s not too bad. But, between the four of us needing Internet access, if you turn your back for a second, somebody just might yank the phone line out of your laptop and stick it in their own.
I took the day off on Sunday and, after our drive to Myrtle Beach, I cooked a big, fancy dinner…which is not an easy task when you’re working with about 12 square inches of counter space. Ali made an incredible pumpkin cake for dessert and we wolfed it down with cinnamon ice cream. Our burgers on the grill tonight, with maybe some cookies and milk for dessert, will be pretty anti-climatic. Where are we sleeping tonight? You can track our current adventures at: https://www.wirelesstrips.com
Hugs to all!
Angela
P.S. The WritersWeekly.com Fall 24-Hour Short Story Contest is THIS SATURDAY! Can you receive an assigned topic and then write and submit an award-winning story within 24 hours? See: https://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.html
