Lots of good stuff in the last few days, along with a bit of worry. On the good side, the writing has been going really well. The write-a-thon has been wonderful motivation for me - I've been writing really steadily despite all other distractions, slowly but firmly getting a toehold on the climax of the book. I don't want to bore non-sponsors with too much in-depth detail about the write-a-thon process over the next 5-1/2 weeks, so I'm going to compromise by doing a word-meter at the bottom of every journal entry from now on. If you're not interested, feel free to ignore it, but if you are sponsoring me in the write-a-thon, you can see every time I post exactly how the progress is going! (And if you've been thinking about sponsoring me but haven't gotten around to it yet, you can still make a donation through my write-a-thon page anytime until August 1st. If you do, make sure to let me know so that I can send you a thank-you gift!)

In other good news, we had a really nice anniversary evening on Monday night, and tonight we'll be going out for a belated anniversary dinner at Pizza Express, my favorite Italian chain. Mmmm, tiramisu - I can't wait! And I've started to reap the benefits of all those comfort/comedy suggestions - the first disc of Red Dwarf just arrived, and The Court Jester (one of my very favorite movies from childhood, which I'd forgotten about until Delia Sherman's recommendation) is cued up to arrive next. I'm having so much fun with all of these - thanks again, guys!

And in the worrisome news...well, today is Maya's followup visit with the bone specialist, where we're due to re-assess and move toward a decision on whether or not to get her surgery for her dislocated shoulder. We go up and down on this by the day - the surgery is a serious one and carries risks, so it's anything but a no-brainer - and I've been dreading this appointment just because it means we have to go ahead and make that hard decision soon. Gaah. I hate having to make these decisions - it would be sooooo much easier if we could just ask Maya exactly how much her shoulder hurts, and what it would be worth to her to risk the surgery...sigh. This is one of the tough parts of having a pet. Please wish us luck figuring out what to do!

Kat by Starlight

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