Feb 17, 2013 | Pets, Life |
I'm supposed to be working, but not doing the best job of that today. If you follow me on Facebook, then you already know that we lost our sweet kitty, Miss Pitty Pat. It's been hard, because she was not quite 6 years old — and you don't expect a young cat to die of heart disease.
If you have kitties, and you've never heard of saddle thrombus, I urge you to look it up. (Or go here.) And then I urge you to ask your vet to give your kitty's heart a good listen the next time you take your baby in for a check up. That's not fool proof, but it's possible the vet will hear a murmur. If your cat has a murmur, push for more info.
MPP never showed any signs of heart disease, and we had no clue until she had the first clot nearly eight months ago. Turns out that she had very advanced heart disease, an enlarged heart, and thickened walls. We had NO idea. The only possible clue was that she tended to throw up her food a lot, and she would go off her food for a day or two — but then she'd eat again, no problem, and wouldn't regurgitate for days. I never suspected heart disease, and my vet never heard a murmur.
The other thing you can do, if you really just want to know and you're willing to spend the money, is get your cat a heart work up. I would have done this had I known it was something to look out for. But I didn't. I had no idea these things could happen to a young cat. My previous cats lived to very ripe old ages, and I assumed we were on the same track with MPP. It'll cost you around $500, which is why most vets don't recommend it as a matter of routine when most cats won't ever have a problem.
Heart disease in cats, especially the kind where they throw clots, is rare — but apparently it's not THAT rare because it happens quite often if you do an internet search of saddle thrombus. The chances your cat has a bad heart are slim. But if, like me, you would rather know, then ask for that heart work up. You may have to go to a specialist for the echo-cardiogram. Many vets don't keep that kind of equipment on hand and it takes a specialist — either a cardiologist or an internist — to read it.
You can be sure that I'll ask for these tests as a matter of routine for Nimitz — and for any future cats we get. I would have rather spent that money up front, and got MPP onto heart meds much earlier. She might have had more time with us if we'd caught it early. This truly is a silent killer. One minute she was fine, the next she was not. Literally. And the same thing happened on Friday morning, only this time we couldn't save her like we did last June.
She was on the bed with us, happy and bouncy and loving — and then she jumped onto the floor and started to throw up. When the heaving didn't stop, we knew. Almost immediately, her remaining back leg went weak and she couldn't walk. We got her to the vet in record time, but this was the third clot she'd thrown, the second in as many weeks, and it was just too much. Her heart was done.
We are bereft, but I wanted to share this with you because I know many of you have cats you love as much as I love MPP. If you can prevent this from happening to your baby, I want you to be able to do that. Again, most cats are fine. But some are ticking time bombs. Some cats die in the first few months of life from this. Some die when they are young, as MPP did. Some make it to their teens first. Only you can decide what you need to do for peace of mind, but that's why I want you to know about this.
Google heart disease in cats. Make yourself aware, and get your babies checked for that murmur at the very least. Doesn't mean they will throw clots if they have one, but it might be the impetus for more tests if you know they do.
Best wishes to you and your fur babies. We're hurting badly in Chez Harris, but we will be okay with time.
Feb 14, 2013 | Writing, Life, Books
The more I write for a living, the more I seem to have to do. Anyone who thinks because someone is lucky enough to work from home, that it's NOT work, is deluded. Really. I work from the moment I get up until almost the moment I go to bed. Yes, I do other things in between, and the beauty of it is that I can decide to do something else in the middle of the day for a few hours, but I put in a full day's work every day. In some aspect or other, I'm writing, keeping up with social media, planning books, updating my calender, thinking of stories, researching, etc.
It never ends. And this is not a complaint, btw. I love that I get to do this for a living! 🙂
In fact, I just gave a speech to a group of ladies yesterday who are not writers, and it was a great time to get to talk with them about what I do. I always go for the inspirational moment, the “If I can do this and live my dream, you can live your dream too so long as it's not being an Olympic gymnast when you're 50” kind of thing. I love giving that speech.
Because how many people think they can no longer do a thing because they're too old or whatever? Not true. Just look at Susan Boyle if you don't believe me. She was 48 when she walked out on that stage and wowed Simon Cowell, so it can be done.
Just want you to know, if you're feeling down or whatever (and Valentine's Day can be that kind of day for some people), that you don't have to give up on dreams. Focus on the goal and on what you need to do to make it happen!
Speaking of Valentine's Day — I'm a strange romance author in that I don't celebrate it. I think Mr. Harris should show his love and appreciation all year long (and vice versa) so I don't expect flowers or candy or a card from him today. If he thinks of it and wants to, that's fine. But he's not in trouble if he forgets.
And now, news! ::drumroll:: The latest Harlequin, aka Drago di Navarra and Holly Craig's story, has been accepted! You can expect to read all about it in December (no title yet) where you will also get a bonus book: UNNOTICED AND UNTOUCHED will be published with Drago & Holly's story for free! One price, two books! You can't beat that.
Finally, I leave you with Nimitz, my crazy cat from Honolulu. I talk about Miss Pitty Pat all the time because she's sick and she's my baby, but we also have Nim. He's a giant (colossal) pain in the behind, he's not sweet at all, and he regularly exasperates me. But I love him anyway and he makes me laugh. So here he is, wanting to know what's so interesting.
Happy day, y'all!
Jan 30, 2013 | Life, Personal, Writing, Pets |
This is bound to be a messy, all over the board kind of post. Life, in all its wonderfulness, can also be damn hard. I know friends who have family members battling health problems, friends who've recently lost parents, and friends who are enduring financial hardships. Life is messy, and sometimes it hurts.
Right now, for me, it hurts. And all because of a sweet little cat. My pets are family members. I adore them. I had a cat for 19.5 years, and losing her was really hard. Devastating. Another cat died at 16.5. Long lives, but not long enough when compared with ours.
Last summer, my beloved Miss Pitty Pat suffered a thrombosis, otherwise known as a saddle thrombus. She wasn't supposed to live, but she did. She lost a leg, but she regained strength and went on to be her old self again — running, playing, jumping up to her favorite window seat, sleeping with me, sitting on my lap at the computer and my legs on the couch.
But the vets warned us her time was limited. Yesterday, we were jolted by the reality of that. She's survived seven months beyond her initial episode, but yesterday she suffered another blood clot. This time it's to a front leg, much less painful, but she can't use the leg much. As I write this, she's at the emergency vet. We don't know if she'll survive, but of course we hope she will.
I am devastated and furious — because we can't control life, can we? We can't prevent innocent children, beloved friends and family members, furry or otherwise, from getting sick and leaving us behind. Life is amazing, but life hurts.
It's love that does this to us. Love gives and loves takes. I adore love, I write about love, but I know love makes us so vulnerable. What's the choice though? Not to love? How empty would that be?
This gets me to writing. Yes, it's damn hard to even think about that at the moment, but I'm in the middle of a book and my characters are in such pain — and I know how they feel. I know that pain always comes from me, even if I can't understand the precise incidents that caused it for my characters. The truth is that I draw on that well deep inside, that place where I try to stuff all that hurt and anger down, when I write.
I think all writers do. Life and love have given us gifts, and they have taken those gifts away, and we don't forget. I've written about the character, usually male, who refuses to love because he doesn't want to hurt. Some readers and reviewers might call that cliche. I call it reality. If we could protect ourselves this way, mightn't we try? Some of us would, and some of my characters do.
Naturally it doesn't work out for them. The hero usually finds out he can't stop love, and he becomes so terribly vulnerable when he realizes how he feels about the heroine. That's got to be scary.
I saw a photo this week of a woman holding her husband's hand while he lay in his casket. And I thought how sad that was. How awful that she would never see him again in this life. That all those years together ended and she was alone.
Pain. It's what we write about. It's what we try to overcome and control, at least in fiction. If you're a writer, you have to put it all out there. You have to put your feelings on the table, or your fiction will be flat. You want to feel and you want the reader to feel.
That doesn't happen if you leave your own sorrows untapped. I know it's hard, but tap them. Mine them. Does it help? Hell if I know. I do it anyway, and maybe I feel better somewhere down the road.
Right now, I feel like hell. I ache and I'm frustrated because I can't fix this. But I have a book to write and characters to torture and I know part of that is me working out my own feelings on paper. It's how I cope. I couldn't imagine not writing for a living, because I think I'd burst otherwise.
I put my heart on the table every time. I give it my all.
And now I'm going to bed and pray my kitty girl gets to come home again. It's borrowed time, I know it, but I want more of it. Don't we all?
EDITED TO ADD: There is good news for now — the clot resolved and MPP can come home. I am relieved, and still scared because I know I'm going to lose her to this awful disease. But hopefully not just yet.
Nov 26, 2012 | Life, Holidays |
I hope all my American readers had an awesome Thanksgiving! We certainly did. Good friends we have not see in eight years, since we were all stationed together in Germany, came to visit us. My parents were here too, and it was just one big reunion. We ate and talked and laughed like those years hadn't passed. The only evidence they had was the 11 year old child who was a toddler back then. :/
After dinner, the ladies looked at the Black Friday ads. Not that we intended to brave a single store, but looking at the ads is just fun. Later that evening, we went to a Christmas light display in the local botanical garden. And it suddenly came home to me just how rushed this season typically is.
We have an extra week this time, due to the early Thanksgiving, but it's still time for trees and tinsel and gifts and cards and lights and all the pressure that goes along with those things. Now, I am accustomed to pressure. It seems as if I'm always writing to some deadline or other, and that they get crammed up on top of each other so that I feel as if I'm never getting out from under them.
Add in Christmas, and the pressure skyrockets. I'm sure it's not just me. I'm sure that, whatever your profession, you might feel a little bit of pressure this time of year to provide that perfect holiday experience. We're all supposed to be Martha Stewart, right? Somewhere, right now, Martha might be making homemade Christmas cards and canning fresh berries while single-handedly decorating the most fabulous tree ever decorated. Go, Martha.
I think it's okay not to be Martha. I think whatever we manage to do, so long as we are happy and our family is happy, is enough. Not only that, but our families can also help us during this time of year. Make addressing cards into a family project. Make decorating a family project. Make cookie baking, if you like to do that sort of thing, into a family project.
This season is about togetherness and family and giving and remembering our blessings, so I think it's okay if our house isn't perfectly decorated and we don't have the exterior draped in lights that blink on and off to the beat of a song.
This brings me to another point. Theodore Roosevelt said that comparison is the thief of joy. Do not compare yourself to others because you will only feel bad in the end. There is always someone who has a prettier house, more money, better decorations, etc.
But here's the thing to remember. Besides not comparing yourself because it's upsetting, life is not static. The neighbor with the prettier house and nicer decorations might lose his job and have to move. The coworker who had all her cards out the door the day after Thanksgiving, and who finished her shopping back in August, might have personal problems you can't begin to fathom.
There are no guarantees in life, so celebrate where you are and what you can do and don't compare yourself. I know that's not always easy. I know it's human nature to compare and find ourselves lacking. But the life that seems perfect on the outside isn't always, is it? Just ask Martha Stewart. All the crafting and cooking and decorating in the world didn't help her stay out of jail when the time came.
So remember that your perfect neighbor or your perfect coworker might just be one insider trade away from a stint in the corrections facility. 😉
Go forth and be happy this season. Enjoy, celebrate, and let things slide if they must. Be happy, friends. That's the most important thing.
Sep 25, 2012 | Writing, Video, Life |
It's fall, a time of change in many ways. If you live in North America, these are the changes you can expect. The leaves change. The temperature changes. The light changes as the days grow shorter. You may have to turn off your AC and turn on your heat (not here yet, but it's coming). You're dragging out the long sleeves and long pants and putting away the shorts and capris and tank tops. The flip flops are going in the closet and the closed toe shoes are coming out. Coats go to the cleaner if they didn't at the end of winter, scarves come out.
Basically, for me, fall is a time of new beginnings and new promises. I think it goes back to my school days and the excitement (dread) of a new school year.
I don't have to worry about school anymore, but I did have at least one big change that's kinda the equivalent of changing teachers. I got a new editor. I love my old editor, who was with me from the very beginning, but her change is that she got a promotion to a different branch of the company and had to leave all her category authors behind.
So now I have a new editor, who is just as fun to talk to on the phone as the old one, and I'm both apprehensive and excited about what the next phase of my career brings. Fortunately, my new editor didn't blink an eye this morning when I said, “So, for the next book, there's this guy, and he has this thing, and he might come from this place–but I'm not sure–and then there's this girl, and she's from here and she does this, and then this is what happens. Or I think that's what happens, but it could change.”
Thank God. Honestly. They get me over there in the London office, and I am so grateful to have them.
Change is good. Change is necessary for growth. It's scary sometimes, but we can't go through life without change. So learn to embrace those changes and make them work for you!
I leave you now with this awesome video interview with Nora Roberts. She is an inspiring woman, is she not? I love the part where she says writing isn't easy. It's not meant to be easy. I'm always glad for that reminder, because it's easy to feel down about yourself when you're struggling through a story.
Enjoy!
Aug 30, 2012 | General, Life, Inspiration |
pics on Sodahead
About five weeks ago, my mother decided to run for City Council in her town. It was definitely a last minute decision, but she leaped right in with both feet. She financed the campaign herself on a shoestring. There were yard signs, buttons, a website (which I built and maintained), and a Facebook fan page. Some kind soul donated a few T-shirts. Another donated some magnetic car signs. And Mom walked through the neighborhoods, visiting homes and talking with people. There were also flyers, which she printed up on a color laser and distributed during her walks.
She held a Meet the Candidate event, helped by her neighbors who made cookies and things. It was held in a beautiful historic home that someone has turned into an events place. She also had a television interview, and she toured the 911 Call Center and attended a couple of other candidate events.
It was most definitely a new adventure. Elections were Tuesday, and while she didn't win, she received 26% of the vote in a three way race and came in second. In five weeks time, she made enough of an impact to get hundreds of people to vote for her instead of one of the other guys. I think that's pretty cool!
I guess why I'm telling you this is so you know that you are never too old, too set in your ways, or too (fill in the blank) to have a new adventure. Mom is disappointed, of course, but she's not giving up (remember that theme, writers!). She's going to turn her site into a local politics blog, and she's going to get involved. Did I mention she's also a senior in college? Mom isn't old (60s isn't old these days), but she could easily sit at home and say she's too old for new adventures. She retired from her job, but she hasn't retired from life.
Now, if she's reading this, she'll be the first person to think she's not doing anything extraordinary or that she didn't do a good enough job to win the race. But we know differently, don't we?
Get involved, try new things, write that book, and don't give up. You are never too old (tired, dumb, lazy, etc) for a new adventure. If you've embarked on a new adventure, tell us about it!
