missing cat

Posted by admin | October 24, 2017

I left for the airport shortly before 3 AM last Friday. Jynx didn't want left behind, so as I was setting my luggage outside the front door, he took off like a shot. Luckily, he got about three feet into the grass before becoming uncomfortable with his decision to escape the safety of home. He froze in place making it easy for me to pick him up and take him back inside.

Now I am in Arizona and made the trek out to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, yesterday. The place has a wide range of plants, animals, rocks, and other things found in the Sonora Desert. I was mainly interested in the birds and cats (though the snakes were also fun). The cats and other animals weren't happy with the 96 degree weather, so they mainly hid from view. Somehow, the ocelot was up and walking around when I arrived at its window. It didn't stay long and my aunt who was trailing not far behind me missed seeing the beautiful cat. I only got two pictures of the creature.

Other cats could only be found by their paws sticking out from their hiding places. The bobcats were in such a dark place, that my pictures didn't turn out. I was understanding of the cats seeking shelter from the heat, but was also disappointed. Didn't they know that they needed to pose for photographs? There were plenty of other animals that did pose, so it wasn't a completely wasted trip.

Cats weren't the only thing missing lately. I have been pretty frustrated with the editor I hired for Tech Fear. She has been pretty far off base with a lot of her comments. Comments like, "this doesn't work for me," isn't a good enough rationale. Why doesn't it work for her?

When I come across a comment like this, I have to stop and think about what could possibly be wrong. I have noticed that she has problems with certain plot points early on and then just harps on it throughout the rest of the book. Many times, I've come to the conclusion that it is another harping that she is on. Since I fixed the first issue when it came up, it is no longer an issue downstream and doesn't need harped on!

I don't know if it is her lack of professionalism in her comments (she tends to add unhelpful comments like, "really?" or "seriously?") or that her rationale is missing that gets to me more. Maybe it is the fact that she likes to separate complete sentences with commas. Really? Is she serious? Yuck (another word she likes).

Jynx was recovered, the cats at the museum are doing cat things, and my book is going to get released. The world continues to go on even though things go missing. You just have to make the best of it. (The editor found some problems that are good to fix, so it wasn't a complete bust hiring her. I certainly won't hire her again, though.)