Three Reasons Your Cat Can Tell It's Spring--According to Lilybits

Being groomed against my will.

1) It’s shedding time! The trees and flowers may be budding, but I am getting new fur and shedding my winter coat like crazy. Mom and Dad are constantly interrupting my busy day by proposing grooming sessions. Getting brushed is all right and actually feels pretty good, but I’m not going to let them know that. He he! 

Far superior self-grooming. 

2) The screen is in the front door. And now I’m practicing fast starts as well as dashes around furniture and human feet. Since the weather is turning warm and sunny, I am waiting for that moment when Mom or Dad least expect me to sneak out onto the patio to catch some rays. Or to eat grass, so I can throw up when I come back in. Very seldom do I escape this terrible imprisonment. I can’t even get out on parole for good behavior, but I need to be ready for my five glorious minutes of freedom!

3) Spring rains are here! I won’t try to escape when the rain is pouring down. Nope. All those gloppy wet droplets coating my fur remind me of the evil squirt bottle Mom and Dad use to curtail any naughty behavior. I keep threatening to call ASPCA, but they don’t seem to understand what I’m saying.

I guess I will be forced to stay inside all summer, sleep in my sunny spot, be fed two canned food meals a day, along with free access to my kibble and cold water to drink—yes—I do like to drink water, especially if it’s in Mom’s glass. Spring is here, but I am forced to observe all the birds and chipmunks through a screen.

Such a rough life! But you should see Simon’s Cat romping in the rain, below. And that kitten is so difficult to deal with. Maybe I could teach him a few lessons.

ANNOUNCING OUR WINNER!

Ta da! The winner of an ebook copy of The Captive Imposter by Dawn Crandall is Jen Colson! Congratulations and happy reading, Jen! I will contact you shortly. 

THE CAPTIVE IMPOSTER

Dawn, I'm so glad to have you here back at my blog this week! Welcome! Please give us an update—tell us about your latest release, The Captive Imposter.

Sent away for protection, hotel heiress Estella Everstone finds herself living undercover as a lady’s companion named Elle Stoneburner at one of her father’s opulent hotels in the mountains of Maine—the one she'd always loved best and always hoped to one day own, Everston. The one thing she doesn't like about the situation is that her ex-fiancé is in the area and is set on marrying someone else. Reeling from her feelings of being unwanted and unworthy, Estella reluctantly forms a friendship with the gruff manager of Everston, Dexter Blakeley, who seems to have something against wealthy young socialites with too much money, although they are just the kind of people Everston caters to.

When Estella finds herself in need of help, Dexter comes to the rescue with an offer she can't refuse. She sees no other choice aside from going back home to her family and accepts the position as companion to his sister. Throughout her interactions with Dexter, she can't deny the pull that's evidenced between them every time he comes near. Estella realizes that while she's been hiding behind a false name and identity, she’s never been freer to be herself than when she's with Dexter Blakeley. But will he still love her when he finds out she's Estella Everstone? She's not entirely sure.

You’ve done a marvelous job in your novels of transporting your reader into upper class Boston society and life at their summer resort. How did you go about your research?

I don’t really feel that I do a lot of “work” researching my novels… I just come across things from history that get my imagination going and then my characters show up! I attribute much of this ability to easily day-dreams things up to my ADD. I can get lost in my imagination so quickly, and so deeply! I love finding photographs online—even way before Pinterest was a thing! A photograph can transport me so quickly! 

Has being a busy mom of a little toddler had an effect on your writing? How do you find time to write and handle marketing in your busy day?

It’s been crazy and rough! I wasn’t getting much writing done while launching The Hesitant Heiress and The Bound Heart within three months of each other! By the time I had time to catch my breath, it was December and The Captive Imposter was set to release on February 1^st! Fortunately Whitaker House understood my predicament and valued the time and energy I put in on launching those first two books. I rewrote the last half of The Captive Imposter in December and January and turned it in on the day it was originally set to release. Honestly, I don’t even remember how I did it! It’s all a blur to me now! God got me through it though—there’s no doubt about that! I’ve been planning and outlining my next book, and I plan to begin writing it in May.

Do you have a life verse or a guiding principle from scripture that has affected your writing?

I like to include the theme that God works all things together to bless those who love Him. He knows what is best for us through every day and phase of our lives, and even though it may not seem that things are going the way we want, or even that some difficult things happen to us… He uses EVERYTHING to eventually bring out ways to bless us in ways we could have never imagined. 

I agree, Dawn! He cares so deeply for His children and has a plan for each of us.

Would you care to share about what you will be working on next?

Yes! I’m not sure of the name yet, but Book 4 is definitely in the works! I really look forward to writing Vance Everstone and Violet Hawthorne’s story! It’s not technically part of The Everstone Chronicles, but a new yet-to-be-named three book series about some minor characters readers will have met while reading this first series. I’ve never written an “anti-hero” like Vance before, but I’m super excited! The story will start out at Everston, but will then move back to the Boston setting. Readers will visit some of the settings from the first two books again, plus some new, not so ritzy places too.  

Very exciting! I look forward to hearing more about your next book series! Thank you so much for joining me this week, Dawn.

Dawn Crandall didn't begin writing until her husband found out about her long-buried dream of writing a book. Without a doubt about someday becoming traditionally published, he encouraged her to quit her job in 2010 in order to focus on writing The Hesitant Heiress. Dawn is represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary.

The Everstone Chronicles is Dawn's first series with Whitaker House. All three books composing the series were semifinalists in ACFW's prestigious Genesis Writing Contest, the third book going on to become a finalist in 2013.

Other places to find Dawn and her generous book giveaways:


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To be entered in a drawing for an ebook copy of Dawn's latest
release, The Captive Imposter, please leave a comment or become a member of this site. Thank you! The drawing will
be next Saturday, April 25.

M-FADD?

Lilybits, not large, but in charge.

Unfortunately, there is no special association for this crippling disorder, though it affects productivity the world over. Tasks are left undone, people go to work or school without lunch and there are unpaid library late fees everywhere! Keys and eye glasses are misplaced--and it's hard to find one without the other.

What disorder causes so much trouble in the fabric of life? M-Fadd is Menopausal Female Attention Deficit Disorder. And Mom has a really bad case. It becomes obvious when something like this happens: I gently remind Mom to scoop my princess potty by standing in the hallway near the laundry room and staring at her. “All right,” she says, “one more bon-bon and I will peel my lazy carcass off the couch to take care of you.” Well, maybe I’m exaggerating here. She’s not that lazy.

Anyway, when she finally jumps up to obey my wishes, Mom remembers that the clothes in the washing machine need to go in the dryer, but the items in the dryer need to be folded and put away. If the items in the dryer happen to be kitchen towels, then she takes them to put away in the drawer in the kitchen island. She notices that the island is cluttered and there are dishes in the sink. But before she does the dishes, she puts away a book that was sitting on the island and another one from the table. Pretty soon Mom is sitting down, reading, and leaving several tasks undone.

Two hours later . . . I am still waiting for her to scoop my princess potty, but now I’m also hungry! Since then, Mom has put down the book and is feeling inspired to write. She has the laptop on her lap, so I jump up to perch on her knee and stare at her. Okay, it’s more of a glare. She should realize by now, I am doing the kitty mind meld thing with her and sending important mental messages that I would like my dinner now! By the time she realizes it’s time to feed me, she also sees that it’s time to make dinner for her and Dad!

This slowness to read my telepathic messages is mostly likely another symptom of M-FADD.  And believe me, Mom is already slow enough. I have come to understand that I must occasionally exercise understanding and patience. While you would think this would come easily to a sensitive, intelligent creature like myself, my imperious nature doesn’t usually make such allowances. Sigh. Mom has told me patience is a virtue.

Mom has shared there isn’t a cure for this M-FADD, unfortunately, except for endlessly making lists and trying to remember to check them. Coffee helps with Mom’s alertness and a little chocolate never hurts.

Do you know anyone with M-FADD? Or do you have any suggestions to help curb its disastrous effects?

Zephyr Yarn? No Fooling!

Well, I didn’t know that yarn had different names like zephyr yarn? Did you? Zephyr yarn is any kind of really soft yarn made from synthetic materials or natural ones like wool and silk. Here’s a website which sells this kind of yarn, made from wool and silk, if you’d like to see what it looks like.

I’m wondering if it’s named after the soft west wind, known as the zephyr. Of course, this is only my pondering on the word’s origins.

Zephyr yarn is apparently the most useful for knitting lacy shawls and that kind of thing, but I’m thinking it’s most important property is being soft on kitty paws. If I could only get my claws on some, but Mom likes to knit with chunkier yarns that take less time to knit into something substantial, like a scarf. I keep telling her patience is a virtue. Wait a minute—maybe Mom told me that! I’d like to sink my claws into some zephyr yarn during my playtime. How do I get a hold of some? I suppose Mom would be upset if I used her charge card to order some. What do you think?

Doesn't this yarn look fun to play with?

Today we’ve hit the end of the alphabet, but thanks for joining me for this winter’s A to Z Meme. I hope you’ll come back and read my future musings of this feline life in captivity!

Here's a video for your amusement (Honestly, you humans don't need much to be amused.) of a cat playing with yarn: