Kittens' 1st Christmas, much like baby's 1st Christmas, except they climb the tree - all 5 of them... plus Mum... #LostinaBook

 Kittens' 1st Christmas

 

By December 1^st the kittens were nine weeks old, and there weren't many places they couldn't get... They were using the kitchen table legs as mini trees, to gain access to the table top, and they had no respect for whether it was a mealtime or not, in fact that was probably considered a bonus...

I was busy doing on-line Christmas shopping, and as the packages started to arrive, there were containment issues. The Christmas before when Mitzi was tiny, she'd been much too scared to go near the door, running for cover when anyone came, but her kittens were a different story. Where possible I closed them in a different room before I went to the door, but there was always the odd one who went to the door with me. On one occasion a delivery man was catching Captain, who was making a bid for freedom as I signed for a package...

And so, into this backdrop of chaos we brought our Christmas tree... now with hindsight we probably shouldn't have had a Christmas tree that year, but not much gets between me and a Christmas tree, I even factored in the Christmas tree when we were planning our kitchen/dining room extension, planning where kitchen appliances, cupboards, and the annual Christmas tree would go... so missing a year was never an option.

I was beginning to think that five kittens were really no more trouble than one kitten, apart from the obvious extra cat litter to be cleaned out. But, where one kitten and even two kittens can be quite funny in a Christmas tree - with five kittens, the poor tree was well and truly outnumber... it stood innocently enough with no toys on for the first night, and we had planned to just hang a few decorations on that year, but then Kim and I got carried away, and soon the tree was festooned with exciting objects and dangly things. We were having a Christmas party that night, and at the party the kittens provided the main entertainment and ah factor. They were far too busy with all the extra people to try much with the Christmas tree. But the next day was a different matter...

Genie was the ring leader at climbing the tree, then they all followed - even Mitzi got in on the act. I must admit to not quite seeing the funny side of it at the time, as kittens climbed and decorations fell, and any shouting or telling off was met by innocent eyes with no understanding of why I was lifting them down from this new and exciting toy. It was a losing battle, and I decided I couldn't spend the whole of Christmas trying to train kittens not to climb a tree that they probably thought had been supplied for their sole entertainment. The decorations were coming down one way or another, and better for me to do it than the kittens, and so by the end of the day only the lights and the fairy on the top remained.

With all the breakables removed I decided that the only way to avert a nervous breakdown over the Christmas tree, was to just accept that the kittens were going to climb it, and what was the worst that could happen? The tree turned out to be far more stable than expected, and could cope with several kittens climbing on it at once, there was a bit of a sketchy moment when Kryten and Bumble had a scrap half way up the tree, while Genie had decided that she was going to be the fairy on the top of the tree and was heading for the top...

(This excerpt is from Outnumbered by Cats, which covers from when Mitzi came to us, up until her kittens 1st birthday)

         

Buy the book  

#LostinaBook 

#catbook #truecatstory

Autumn was invented for reading, and if it wasn't, it should have been...

Autumn was invented for reading! (or if it wasn't it should have been...)

 

Now, what can I tempt you with?

Well why not start with Basil and the Flappy Thing - a work of fiction, but based on my own cats. Anyone with a cat flap will know that once you have a cat flap there's never a dull moment, and all that after taking the time to get your cat to use the flap in the first place, when they'd rather just have you wait on them hand a foot...

 

There's the Doodle series:

Find out what happens when Eric's doodle comes alive and starts picking letters up off the page, and throwing them at Eric to get his attention...

Perfect to read aloud, or for early readers to lose themselves in as they discover the joy of reading to themselves. 

There are picture books to share with the little ones, and spark a love of books.

And not forgetting one for the adults - Outnumbered by Cats. A true story, where I possibly shared a bit more than I should have - it's quite normal to hiss back at your cat right? ...given the right circumstances...

Get Lost in a Book this autumn

#LostinaBook 

Time to just think...

June at Lost in a Book

15th June

Time to think - the luxury of having time to just think is a rare one, but right now no one is meowing, hissing or barking at me to do something else, so I'm sorry but I'm off...

#amwriting 

Never tell an author you don't like books - they'll see it as a challange

5 Things you should never say to an author at a book signing...

1.   My child is too young for books. It doesn’t matter what age your child is, they are definitely not too young for books! Babies can enjoy books right from the start, and what a lovely activity to it is to share, to cuddle up with a book and a baby on your knee, sowing the seeds of a love of books that’ll stay with them always.

2.   Are you the author? – who me? The one sat behind the local author book signing sign... yes, I get it all the time – I put signs on my table, but people still seem surprised that I am actually the author.

3.   How long does it take to write a book? Well we could be there all day with that question - a book isn’t like a production line item, it could have been born in a rush of inspiration that came tumbling out faster than I could type, or it could have been an idea that lurked around in the recesses of my mind, stubbornly refusing to arrange itself into a story... And then of course there are the illustrations, not just to be drawn and painted, but scanned in, and then technology gets involved, and anything could happen... 

4.   I don’t read books. Never tell an author you don’t read books – they’ll see it as a challenge...  I believe there’s a book out there for everyone, maybe you just had a bad introduction to books, were made to read books you didn’t enjoy... But there are so many books out there, that there must be something you’ll enjoy. What sort of film do you enjoy? Finding a book on the same theme as a film you enjoy is a good place to start, and once you’ve found one, you’ll be able to find other books of that genre, and before you know it you’re a book lover.

5.   My child doesn’t like books. If your child doesn’t like books, could it be that they see you not liking books? Go to a library of bookshop together and choose a book each. If you’re choosing a book for a very young child, then you have a lot of influence, so choose one you like too – if you enjoy reading the story you’re more likely to get that across to your child, and before you know it you’re both enjoying books.

#LostinaBook #amwriting 

February at Lost in a Book

February at Lost in a Book

20th Feb

Do you remember that first book that grabbed you when you were just on the edge of confident reading? The book that took you over the edge into forgetting that you even reading, it just felt like you were magically transported to somewhere else and meeting new friends...

I remember it well, and hope to write books that will do the same thing for new readers who are dipping their toes into new worlds between the pages of a book, because if you dip your toes in enough books, you're going to find that one book that will drag you in and hold a little bit of you there for all time...

#Lostinabook #lovereading #halfterm

.............................................................. 

15th Feb

Half Term is creeping up, so here's the plan - I've got Doodle Mayhem on special offer at £3.50 and still postage free - so get the kids reading this half term...

 

First in the Doodle series

Eric would rather doodle than write a story, but when the words start to disappear off the page in front of him, and his doodle starts talking to him, he thinks he must be dreaming.

Eric's doodle has come to life, and he's getting bored; he jumps into Miranda's story, where he gets attacked by a rubber, then he's blown off his feet when Natasha sneezes. Miss Roper is getting angrier by the second. How will Eric ever finish his story, when his doodle just wants to have fun, and create havoc?

Step into a world where drawings come alive, meet Eric's doodles Iver No-Idea and his dog HB as they cause their own brand of trouble.

46 page paperback

Black & white line drawings

ISBN 978-0-9560232-4-7

Lost in a Book

#LostinaBook #amwriting 

Is a true story harder than fiction...?

I did it, I found a little chunk of time between looking after animals, and stuff to do, to get some writing done - ah that feels better.

I'm writing a true story at the moment, which ought to be easier than writing fiction, but I'm finding it harder than fiction, maybe because fiction is just me and my imagination flying off wherever it needs to go. True stories involve other people, and an obligation to get it right...

But time is short - not like the puppy who is far from short these days, and needing more and more exercise to keep him happy - time for a walk I think...

#LostinaBook #amwriting 

Writer rambling her way through another January

January again, new year same issues – write new stuff or try to promote what I’ve already written... The answer of course is to do both, keep the momentum going and never give up, because giving up is NOT an option...

So what am I writing now? – Well it’s a little bit out of my usual knowledge base, it’s a horse story. But not just any horse, it’s my daughter’s horse, who is just too big a character not to be written about. And yes she is a very big horse, I know this because I somehow got talked into getting on her, and it did look like a very long way down...