As you might or might not have noticed, I've been away. It's been months since I posted on this site, and I feel a combination of guilt and embarrassment for letting so much time go by. I've just been really busy! It feels like a million things have happened, but let me boil this post down to three pretty big things:
WRITING
In the past months, I've been trying to finish Making Time, the sequel to Serving Time (almost ready for beta readers). I encountered an important hiccup and had to chuck an entire chapter, then rewrite and adjust the surrounding chapters. Don't you hate it when that happens? *Frustrated groan*In recent months, I've also been trying to complete the short story Seven Sins, but have had worse luck with that (writer's block). Someday I will conquer that story, even if it's the last thing I do!
In July, I finished a novella called The Soul Distillery. It's just awaiting formatting and publication so stay tuned because I will update you on the cover reveal and the free download days--because there will be many, many free download days! The Soul Distillery is the story of Robert Westbrook (who you might know from Serving Time) before he encounters the goddess Time. More information on this novella and its release date in future posts!
GETTING MARRIED
Nope. Not married yet. But the preparations are well underway! Salva and I will get married on June 7 in the gardens of a restaurant called Can Baladia. The restaurant is actually a century-old house surrounded by gardens and Mediterranean pine trees. The reception will be right there, so we won't have to drive around from one place to another. We already tried some of the food at the restaurant and it's deliiiiiicious!
As a special treat, here are our fab wedding rings: white gold (and mine has a diamond!).
SAVING LIVES
One life, actually: the life of an itty bitty teeny tiny mister kitty (that's his unofficial name).
On May 28, I was walking from work to my car and I came across a tiny kitten who was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, gasping for breath. He couldn't even open his eyes because they were glued shut with a thick layer of pus. I scooped him up and ran to the vet (who luckily has his office right next to my school). The vet was pessimistic, but since he knows me and he knows how much I suffer over animals, he bit his tongue and didn't tell me to put the kitten to sleep (which was what he thought would be best).
Crying like a bleda (more on the meaning of this word in a future post), I took the kitten home and Salva and I spent the next five weeks taking care of him--ICU style. He suffered from severe malnutrition (total muscle loss: he couldn't even walk), herpes (which was destroying his eyes) and feline respiratory syndrome. More worrisome was that he was excreting coronavirus in his feces. Certain strains of this virus are deadly to cats and there's no cure. Since we have other cats, we had to keep the kitten in total isolation.
The whole experience was draining, both physically due to lack of sleep and emotionally since I became paranoid thinking that I'd walk in and the kitten would be dead. However, the experience quickly became rewarding as, slowly yet surely, mister kitten began to recover. Now he's a terrifying beast! He's had a couple blood tests and luckily he wasn't infected with the deadly strain of coronavirus. What's more, it seems he managed to excrete the virus because the concentration was minimal. So in July we finally let him run loose in our home and meet the other cats!
Here are a couple pictures of the kitten, named Taques (Catalan for "Spots" or "Stains"). The first pictures are actually of when Taques was already healthy enough to have his picture taken. I didn't want to take any photos of him when he was really sick since we all thought he would die any moment, so I can't show you the state in which I found him. Just know that it was really, really bad.
So that's what I've been up to these past months! Stay tuned because I will continue to post updates and new sections on this blog! I have completed several DIY projects I'd like to share with you, as well as book reviews and news about my own writing endeavors.
It's great to be back!
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