Huddle up, Reds and Readers!

JENN McKINLAY: And just like that another football season has arrived. This year my three men are in a fantasy football league together so the personal investment in each game is extra high. 

It's gonna be a looooong season, my friends.

When I think about football, I feel as if it has always existed on the periphery of my life. I was in marching band in high school, so I lived Friday night lights but in a band uniform. The game was happening but I was in the percussion section so we were dialed into whatever our squad leader told us to play to hype the crowd. Watching the game was of secondary or even tertiary (if my high school crush was around) interest to me. Plus, our marching band was the east coast champion and our football team...meh, not so good. And yet..."Go, Vikings!"

When I started chaperoning the Hooligans (also percussion members in band) at their Friday night games, I started watching the play on the field between fetching water, stopping nosebleeds, and emergency uniform repairs. Their high school team won the state championship every year and were very exciting to watch, so you could say I came  late to appreciating the game of football. "Go, Sabercats!"

It was during these football years, that I wrote Fondant Fumble, which features two football players who buy a cupcake franchise. I know it sounds like fiction but the idea is actually based on two professional football players who did just that. Read original post: HERE

Now when it comes to team allegiance, I was born in New England so naturally, I was a Patriot's fan. When I moved to Arizona, I slowly shifted my loyalty to the Arizona Cardinals--mostly, because Larry Fitzgerald became my favorite player (retired 2020), notably because of his game on the field but even more for his community work off the field with the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation. FITZ!!!

As you can see, I pick my team allegiance by residence. I believe in rooting for the home team. The Hub grew up in Arizona and while he's a Cards fan, too, his original team was the Dallas Cowboys because AZ didn't have a team when he was a kid. This makes sense to me. We have room in our hearts for more then one "home" team. 

Now the Hooligans, however, have gone rogue. Inexplicably, they are Chicago Bears fans. Huh?! I mean I like the Bears and all, but they're not the home team! Don't get me wrong, the dudes cheer for the Cards, too, but after a trip to Chicago they decided Da Bears were their primary team. How? Why? Make this make sense to me!

So, let's talk about it. 

Reds and Readers, do you pick your favorite team by geographic proximity or some other reason? Who is/are your favorite team(s)--doesn't have to be football--and why?

Morning Shift? Mid-Shift? Late-shift?

JENN McKINLAY: When I first started writing, I worked around the Hooligans’ schedule. I woke up at 5 AM and wrote until the boys got up at 7 AM. I started again when they napped, which was usually from 12 PM to 2 PM. And then I crammed in two more hours from 8 PM to 10 PM. It’s amazing what you can get done when you have very limited time. 

Once the boys started school, I wrote from 8 AM to 2 PM and then again in my car while I chauffeured them to their various activities and waited in the car or the nearest coffee shop.

Those days are long gone and I thought I’d be more disciplined once they left home. I am not. I seem to squander my time in the morning and now work a mid-shift from 2 PM to 10 PM. I would make it earlier if I could but I can’t seem to shift. So long as the work gets done, I don’t suppose it matters, but I still wish I could get my butt in the seat earlier in the day.

How about you, Reds? What are your optimum writing hours? Has it changed over the years?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Jenn, so interesting!  That’s exactly my schedule.

When I was full time on TV, I was all about nights and weekends and vacations. Thats all the time I had. Now, my life is different, hurray,but my schedule still reflects that long time job.

 My theory, for me at least, is that my  schedule definitely comes from all those years of working for  TV news–my writing metabolism gears up to be ready for  the 6 o'clock news, and then the 11 o'clock news.  Mornings, I do admin, and socials, and coffee, and thinking and procrastinating. Then, after lunch, I think: GO SISTER. And work for about five hours. If I am lucky. I just have to get my 1000 words done. 

But then, sometimes I’ll stop in my office on the way up to bed, and tell Jonathan–I’m just going to say good night to the book.. ANd  I open my manuscript, abd whoosh, I’m back into it, and go upstairs sometime  after  midnight.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Wow, this is so interesting, Jenn and Hank. You’ve described me and my schedule, too. I have never been a morning writer, although I’ve castigated myself for years for not being someone who gets up at the crack of dawn to sit down at the computer and actually write sensible things. But sorry, not happening here. I always have morning chores (at least six months of the year including watering) and then I’m hungry. Then there’s email and catching up on stuff. It’s usually about noon by the time I clear the decks and focus on the WIP. I’ll take a mid-afternoon break, then go back to work until 7ish when I have to quit and deal with dinner. It also often means we end up eating really late, but sometimes, like Hank, I just have to “check something” and will go back to the computer for a last few minutes. I also take a notebook and pen upstairs to jot down any bath/before sleep ideas.

RHYS BOWEN: I have always been a morning person-forced on my by four children who had to get to morning swim practice at six am!  When I was juggling with getting four kids off to school I’d write as soon as I’d dropped off the youngest at pre-school and keep going until I had to pick him up again at mid day. When they all left home I adopted the routine I have now: wake early, usually before seven, check my emails etc, make a cup of tea, then start writing. I break off later for breakfast then continue until I’ve done the right number of words for the day.

The afternoon is for all the secretarial stuff: checking with assistant and publicist, answering fan mail, exing out all those stupid scams I get on a daily basis.  I too have a notebook in the bedroom because it’s quite normal to wake at three and think “she’d never have said that” and have to jot down how the scene should have gone. 

LUCY BURDETTE: I am in Rhys‘s camp, better at writing in the morning. This has been disrupted lately because I’ve been doing multiple yoga classes as well as Pickleball and all that takes place in the morning. So I’ve had to shift, which is not great for my poor brain. Right at this moment, for example, it’s almost 1 PM. I’ve been to killer Yoga, and a Pickleball clinic, and had lunch. Now I’m making a cup of iced tea and going up to my computer to see what I can do! Fingers crossed!

HALLIE EPHRON: This is reminding me of when I had two little kids at home and was working writing training for high tech. I had a computer (big hulking thing) at home and I’d bring my drafts in to work on a floppy disk (remember those?) trying to get there early so I could send my attest draft to the printer and grab it before anyone else arrived. The day didn’t have enough hours in it and I was perennially sleep deprived. And still I got more done than I do today in copious spare time.

How about you, Readers? What is your most productive time of day? Morning? Afternoon? Evening?

The Cat Who Broke The Bank

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: No, dear readers, I'm sorry to say this isn't an announcement of a new book featuring Lillian Jackson Braun's beloved Qwill, Koko and Yum Yum (although Berkley, if you want to pick them back up, give me a call!)

 

 

No, those of you who have been following along with the saga of Walker, my Youngest's beloved cat, will immediately deduce who the cat who broke the bank is. After all, this pet has his own frequent flier number for KLM Airlines, and has spent more time in Europe than I have (in the past decade.)

As you may recall, Youngest left me with Walker after declaring her undying love (for him, not for me) and happily predicting how her children would someday grow up with Walker, since he was only one year old. Of course, a month later, the FC (you can assume the F stands for feline if you like that sort of thing) ran into the road, resulting in a lengthy hospital stay and two bouts of surgery. 

 

Then, when I kept my oldest daughter's two dogs for six weeks after my grandson son 'Paulie' was born (and I can hear my dear Celia saying, in a starched British accent, "Julia, you've got to stop doing this to yourself!") Walker got so stressed out he completely stopped grooming himself, requiring a trip to PetSmart for a full-body shave and the purchase of two Feliway cat pheromone diffusers. If you have an anxious kitty, I can recommend this not-super-cheap-but-highly-effective product.

 

I didn't even write about that on the blog. It was just another week with Walker. 

 

 When last we left the saga, Hallie had pointed out the $15,000 cat was really more like $17,000... and this was BEFORE his vet and I discovered his failure to gain weight (he's only 6 pounds/2.7kg, and that's very thin!) was due to hyperthyroidism. 

 

Since February, I've been giving this cat six pills a day. Six. Pills. Each. Day. I have Greenie Pill Pockets on auto-ship from Chewy. I also have Inaba Churus on auto-ship, in an attempt to load more calories on his bony, shaved @$$.

 

As often happens with cats, he's gradually gotten wise to the fact those delicious treats I keep pressing upon him have a hard, nasty-tasting nugget. (I should clarify he's only on two medications, but one has to be cut up into fourths, and the other one halved.)

 

Eight months in, he's only consistently getting the smaller halved pill; no matter how I hide the larger quartered one - Cheez Whiz, hot dog, wet cat food - it winds up on the floor. After, of course, Walker has chowed down on the good stuff. So I've decided to pull the trigger. I've made the appointment with Portland Veterinary Specialists to give him radioactive iodine treatment later this fall. It will permanently fix his problem - no more pills ever! - all for the low, low price of $2,700-$3,500.

 

Yes, this will round him up to around $20,000.

 

Coincidentally, I also have a thyroid condition, which I treat with one small pill each morning. This costs about $22 a year, although admittedly, I have insurance and Walker does not. Also, I don't let the pill drop from my mouth onto the floor every day.

 

Dear readers, I've already asked about the craziest/most expensive/most dramatic health treatment you've pursued for your pets.  Instead, I'm going to ask you - if slightly crazed-looking senior citizen thrust $20,000 into your hands, what would you do with the money?