Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

cat

Time For New Dreams And Adventures?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Back to the day job after a nice vacation between Christmas and New Years. Had a calm and fun-filled time with lots of cleaning and rearranging and moving stuff. Made me glad to go back to the day job to get away from doing more.

First squirrel sighting of 2015! Notice Spec Ops Cat reflection in the window.
First squirrel sighting of 2015! Notice Spec Ops Cat reflection in the window. And his ear!

Took some time to read and watch movies too, plus football of course. Made big strides in my office rearranging my office closet and organizing writing projects. Put together another cubie divider to store the piles of projects which seem to get larger with research.

Some observations about trying to sort and purge items:

1. Sorting paper is an activity which can suck your soul. Since I keep all kinds of things for reference, research and sentimental reasons, the paper is the biggest challenge. It really does breed in the dark like rabbits.

2. I love my hardback and paperback books, but I still have too many. However, sorting them feels like choosing among favorite children. The upside is ones I can’t sell I donate to our Friends of the Library and they make money and the books go to new homes. Makes me happy.

3. Organizing and streamlining my office space is freeing up my mind space. And I can use all of that I can get! I’ve read clutter causes stress and that seems so true in my home.

4. Been reading “Plain and Simple – A Woman’s Journey to the Amish” by Sue Bender. It jumped out at me when I was looking for another book in my office. (See, I can’t get that serendipity book discovery on my ereader.) It is nourishing my mind and my sense of cleaning out. Great read.

Game on stare down between squirrel and Spec Ops Cat. Both think they are super heroes with two panes of glass in between!
Squirrel advances in the stare down game with Spec Ops Cat. Both think they are super heroes with two panes of glass in between!

5. New calendars, new checkbook register, whole new year to make magic and dreams come true. Yeah!

“The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, something to give, and something to hope for,” by After Allan Chalmers from Susan Branch’s 2015 Heart of the Home Calendar.

How About Basic Training For Kittens?

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by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Discovered another video I can’t believe I haven’t seen before yesterday. Spec Ops Cat loves his Friskies wet food, plus his Science Diet, so it makes sense this little training video has been a big hit online. It’s always a good thing when the old timer shows the FNG (#$^ new guy) the ropes, be it soldier or kitten.

Have a great weekend and stay warm and dry! Happy Quirky Friday!

Who Is Your Snuggle Bunny?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The leaves are throwing themselves off the trees and the temperature is heading lower. With tons of Halloween candy in the store, thoughts turn to snuggling and baked goods. These two guys seem to be old friends and are enjoying a leisurely cuddle on the floor.

Wishing you all warm snuggles and furry friends this coming weekend. Happy Quirky Friday!

New Feline Friends Are The Best Kind

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by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

If you haven’t seen this cute video you are in for a treat. Seems a stray cat at the St. Petersburg Zoo in Russia decided the lynx cat’s house looked much better than his, especially with heat. The obviously Spec Ops trained kitty found his way into the enclosure and they soon became best buds.

The zoo has officially adopted the stray cat and you can see he/she looks to be eating quite well. I love a happy ending. Happy Quirky Friday!

Cats Own Everything; Including the Dog’s Bed!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Quirky Friday rolls around again and it’s time for that never-ending war – cats vs. dogs. When it comes to furniture, cats know what they like – everything. These poor puppies are getting lessons in who really does the comfy bed testing in today’s homes. Enjoy your weekend and go cats!

http://youtu.be/xGdKUCSeXIc

Why Are Many Creatives Monetarily Challenged?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

It never ceases to amaze me how people can make money. That is, people except moi. When it comes to being an artist trying not to starve, other folks seem to figure out how to make it happen. Article on CNN.com yesterday talked about how some folks are making money off of YouTube – for themselves. Really.

Now, one entrepreneur said YouTube is more than cat videos. Well, I was thinking of going with cat videos, given Spec Ops Cat’s upkeep. SOC has two videos up on his YouTube channel from several years ago, but he has staff issues. But these new money making YouTube creative types get others to subscribe to their channels, then go viral and then make money. Wowsa.

Amazing how like writing this all sounds – creative arts are creative arts. The article also outlines how much work it is but they love it and they like being their own bosses. Sounds like my fantasy for retirement; write, eat snickerdoodle cookies and get paid on a regular basis.

When you write the ebook, market the ebook, then write more ebooks, it all takes time and dedication. While we try to build our author platforms doing what the experts “say,” sometimes we lose why we started writing in the first place.

Listening to a recent interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on YouTube about how she handled the huge success of “Eat, Pray, Love,” she said, “I stayed off of the Internet for a few years.” What? I about fell out of my chair. You can do that???

In the quest for a farthing, peso or a buck for our writing efforts, we need to remember we are still in charge and can write for many different reasons. Sometimes turning a passion into a job takes all the joy out of it. Only we can figure out why we write and adjust our goals, lives and expectations accordingly.

In the meantime, we can still watch cat videos. Like Maru from Japan above, one very famous cat with a box addiction. Seriously, more than 11 million hits on this one video!

Read CNN.com article here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/showbiz/youtube-famous-american-journey-irpt/index.html?hpt=hp_c3