The Cat-Hater Has Found A Friend

Let me just start off by saying that I am not a true cat hater. I would never intentionally harm cats nor would I not feed them if I saw them starving. In fact I feed three when I’m working late nights because they sit and stare at me out in the parking lot until I can’t bare it anymore and I start throwing them food out the window. But I must stick up for dogs. I am an all around dog lover and cats are no contestant. I don’t ever see myself owning cats.

So, you must also know that there is a crazy cat house on the street where my apartment is located. And at the crazy cat house there sits at least eight to ten cats on the porch, down the steps, in the yard. I walk down the alley where it is located everyday on my way to class and I used to think it was run by a crazy cat man until one day I met the woman.

I have seen her walking out and about often. But she is always walking a small dog that is graying and limps. She treats it with the utmost care and she wears a long black jacket. Her hair is long and in all honesty she reminds me of a good witch. She is very kind and I normally always stop to say hello when I’m walking by.

Honestly though, in all the times I’ve stopped to see her she’s never by the crazy cat house and she’s always walking her dog and there are never any cats around. How could I possibly have linked her to the crazy cat house then???

It just so happens one day I left for class a little early and I was walking down the alley just as she turned the corner and started walking up it from the opposite direction. I smiled and noticed something in particular. The dog was walking beside her but there was also a cat walking behind her. This was a nice cat. Most of the cats that reside at the crazy cat house look like stray cats. They are missing body parts and are dirty, plus their fir is sometimes matted and in disarray.

I stopped and said hello and then I asked how her dog was doing. At the last visit she told me that the reason why her dog was limping was because it had a tumor at the back by its legs. She was sixteen years old and the women was just letting her live the rest of her days peacefully until the inevitable happened.

I asked her about the cat I had never seen before. She turned and said “O Him, That’s the Hulk. He’s one of the few cats we actually keep inside.” And then she pointed at the crazy cat house.

Shocked, I tried to mask my surprise and and then I asked her how many cat’s she actually had.

She smiled and told me fourteen. But really only three. All of the others are from college students that abandon them and she lets them come to her house and eat and then she hurriedly told me not to say anything because that’s illegal in the burrow.

I told her that her secret is safe with me. And then I bent down to pet her dog, but her cat was too fast and already had its head under my hand. I almost pulled back but didn’t and I actually petted him.

Needless to say he knows when I’m coming these days and he’s always outside waiting. We’ve become friends and he’s lucky to get my affections when there are so many other cats there that I refuse to even come near. He follows me down the road and he turns back before I get to the main road to cross the bridge into downtown. Hulk has a very interesting personality and I’m not going to lie I’ve grown very fond of him.

Of course there is one other cat that I have grown quite fond of too and he can’t be forgotten. His name is Salem and his adventures can be found here

Life in the Fast Lane

Many times it is very hard to stop the motion in our lives that keeps us from missing all of the little things. Do you remember what your child said to you before he/she went to school this morning? Do you remember what you had for dinner two nights ago or even just last night? Stop. Breath, and don’t forget to notice all the good things in life. The little things that we take for granted as we run and run and run to get things done. Why does it matter if we get this done today or stay later at work to finish that. Family and friends don’t want to see how much wealth you have. They want to hang out with you and share moments with you, moments of joy and moments of sadness. Its the you that matters.

Recently I read a story in my Russian Literature Class. It is called the Waistcoat by Nikolay Gogol. It is about a man who copies letters in Russian and that is all he does, day after day, year after year. He makes little money and he finds happiness and satisfaction in copying letters for people. He even does it after he goes home from work. When given the opportunity to receive a raise, he refuses and says that he better just keep the position he has.

Would that be a meaningful life? Could someone be perfectly content doing this one simple task day after day after day? I think not. It is true that if he weren’t doing this job then someone else would be doing it but I find him worthless.

If I imagine myself copying letters all day everyday I would be appalled with my life. Just because I am doing something does not make it is worthwhile and meaningful. Do you know how many things you could miss?

He is not married and does not have any known relatives because they are all dead. The promotion that he was offered was to change letters from first person to third person. Would it really have been that bad to try something new.

I could never imagine just doing one task and that be my focus and goal for life. We must strive for a medium. WE can’t always be running and flying through life from one deadline to the next but we cannot stick to one task bobbing through life as we repeat it over and over again.

This is an excerpt from a very inspirational book called Tuesday’s with Morrie. It can be found on page 45.

So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is by devoting yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

So are you still going to run the marathon of life as you strive for bigger and better things or are you going to take the European example and get out of the fast lane?

[Confessions of A WRITER]

You Say Hello and I Say Goodbye

So, I just received my fifth rejection letter in the mail today. bummer. You must know that I did send five letters to different literary agents at Writer’s House, so I did receive the exact same rejection letter back four times just with a different signature on it each time. So technically that should count as one right? haha. My next stop in the writing world is going to be the Christopher Little Literary Agency. It’s located in London but they do business all around the world.

There were some famous books to come out of there so I might have a shot. Luckily this time I get to send the first three chapters of my book. So now they will be examining my actual writing instead of just a query letter. I haven’t sent the envelope out yet mostly because I have three big tests coming up, so the next batch of queries is going to have to wait until spring break. Unfortunately I’m not traveling anywhere crazy, but it will be a good things done that I otherwise wouldn’t have time for. Like focusing on my book.

Aside from the book, there is a boy. Definitely not a serious relationship nor may it ever be, but I am confused as I always am with the opposite sex. I met him camping as the story goes. I went to high school with him but I never talked to him then, in fact I don’t even really remember him in high school. He was a year older than me and that’s about all I really knew.

But strange as it is, you can see someone for a year day after day and never think twice about it not even paying attention to him or her. Then one day, its like everything changes. You are conscious of him and the way time ticks when you are around him. Then of course you become aware of the way you look, the way he looks, and I really honestly don’t understand how this works.

How could I have never noticed him before, and suddenly bam (in reference to Emeril), its like I’ve suddenly started liking him so fast, like when a wave crashes on you in the ocean. You’re just standing there not paying any attention to anything and then suddenly you’re knocked off your feet and underwater trying to keep the salt water out of your mouth as the wave jostles you about.

This is not a good feeling for me. I always thought that the only way to be attracted to someone is by noticing them the first time, not the fiftieth time. Although he is not looking for a serious relationship I can’t say that I am either. In fact we have barely talked since the night I met him all over again. 

[Confessions of A WRITER]

Conspiracy Chart

I find this pretty funny… and when I find more good ones I will post them.

Form Letters

I never thought it would be so hard to write a form letter about my book to send out to Literary Agents. Truth be told: its freaking hard. Think about it. Aspiring authors slave over their manuscripts for months and sometimes even years until they think it is the best it can be. And then, they are only able to write a one page letter about a 402 page book explaining explaining the whole book to someone who really could give a rat’s ass about the amount of work that has gone into it.

For me, I spent four days writing that form letter and I think I might have gone about it all wrong. It is so hard to only write one page worth of information because not only does it have to entice someone to want to publish your book it has to include all the other information like how long it is, and your contact info which takes up the minute space you have available in the first place.

It is said, that 100 rejections is okay, for whatever reason seeming that 100 rejections sounds like a freakin lot so I guess the most you can do is just keep sending them out. Its just very hard to take a 402 page book and explain it in a 1 page paper. That’s the beauty of the business though, nobody has time to read anything these days.

So enough with the ranting, but I am revamping my form letter to make it better than ever, so maybe then it can get noticed. I suppose I’ll write more later, I’ve got Russian work I need to catch up on. Peace.

[Confessions Of A WRITER]

A Benefit for Breast Cancer

Recently one of my very close friends and my first room mate my freshman year of college, was informed of some bad news. Her mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Obviously this is something that is very hard to go through. She has started 12 relms of chemotherapy and has bought wigs for when she looses her hair. I really have been thinking about things and what I could do to help, you know, just show some support. So I called my pastor and he said holding some sort of benefit would be a GREAT idea.

So, getting it in my head, I started thinking of what I could do to help the cause. My good friend Megan got involved and we brainstormed together. This is what we came up with: We would hold a spaghetti dinner for her and advertise for it. Then we would have a contemporary service at my church in Robin’s (Courtney’s mother) honor. Slide show and everything. After the service we will have baskets that we get from the business’s in our community and raffle them off.

After proposing this to my church they gave the go ahead and now I’m in the middle of planning the whole thing. It turns out that two women that got to my church are members of the cancer society of our county and they are hooking us up with pink ribbons to give to all the guests. My pastor is advertising the event on our local television station and we are getting a spot in the journal. The event is scheduled for the 19th of April and if everything goes well I feel that it should be a huge success. Hopefully a lot of people will come. Keep Robin in your prayers and I’ll keep everyone updated on how it goes.

[Confessions of A WRITER]

Hi There.

I’m pretty new at this whole blog idea. I thought I’d try it out and see how it goes. Of course I’m going to skip the about me because that’s unimportant. What I would like to say is that I bought a new pair of ski’s the other day with my Birthday money and they are Amazing! The brand is Armada and I finally got to try them out last night up at ski resort. I’m obsessed with them.

Right now I should be reading my Crime Scene book because I have a test tomorrow but I’m not of course.

Last weekend I went and visited my bestest friend EVER Elizabeth and we had some great times partying at her university. We did go to the movies and saw Fool’s Gold which was very good. Matthew McCaunahey is very hott and he doesn’t wear a shirt very much during the movie. Its quite Delightful.

Most importantly is the fact that I’m trying to become a published Author. For those of you who don’t know, this is not so easy. In fact its very hard. I’ve been rejected four times already and I’m sure the numbers are only going to keep rising. I’m trying desperately to get a literary agent who likes my book so that I can try to get a publisher. This is a big bummer because everyone that I sent a letter to rejected me so far. But I refuse to give up of Course.

The more rejections the better because this means I’m more experienced I guess. Anyone out there trying to do the same? I guess I’ve got a lot of work to do. More Later,

[Confessions Of a WRITER]