The kittens are doing well. At their first regular vet visit, Doc found them to be in good health overall. Thanks to Carolyn’s animal nursing skill, they overcame all the problems they had from their near-death experience.
Kokopelli, pictured above on my notebook, has a slight heart murmur. He also might be a she. The vet couldn’t detect any testicles but said that at four or five weeks old, it could be too soon to tell. Obviously, we’re not getting hung up on gender identity. The blue collar wasn’t to signify “male.” We needed a way to tell Kokopelli apart from Loki and the shark pattern looked cute. It also turns out to be appropriate, because Kokopelli is the one most likely to attack you just for moving. Or sitting still.
Loki (black collar) is more chill than Kokopelli, but not by much. All three frequently spar, with no alliance lasting more than a few seconds. It’s hilarious to watch. Eris is most likely to want to settle in my lap, although sometimes that is merely a platform from which she can attack the others.
Right now, they are all confined to my office. That, unfortunately, means they sometimes get on the desk and disrupt writing and working. I can raise it to standing height to keep them off it… for now. But that’s not comfortable for long-term work. Plus, they tend to pile up on my feet, which means I can’t adjust as my legs get tired without risk of kicking or stepping on one of them. Or they climb my pants legs. Once the renovation work is complete, we’ll introduce them to the rest of the house. With any luck, they’ll give me a break. Or I can shut the door, if need be.
As for writing, I received advice at Sleuthfest that has made me re-evaluate the novel. I didn’t want to revise it significantly for the third draft, but (a) it isn’t very good as-is and (b) a suggestion from an agent to weave in a high-concept premise gave me an idea about how to fix (a). When I don’t have a cat on my notebook or keyboard, I am exploring a high-concept premise that works with this story.
Semantics & So On 