Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

cat

Cats Play Or Training?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

With a tap dancing seagull last Friday, it’s time to give the cats a shot at making the big time. This fabulous little kitten seems to be enjoying the play aspect, forget the training. At times walking seems to still be a challenge. I imagine the person with the feather toy is getting a great bicep workout.

Trying to talk Spec Ops Cat into maybe some agility training, but he insists he’s retired. We shall see how that works out. Enjoy the kitten and Happy Quirky Friday!

Have You Built Your Pet A Castle?

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by Kimberly A. Cook          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

We love our pets. Spec Ops Cat is a big part of the Warrior Tales team, even though he is retired he is still in charge of ecommerce, security and conducting perimeter patrols. Pets give us unconditional love with no strings attached; something not always available from other humans.

This is one reason I think veteran’s bonds with their pets are so important; the furry ones may be the only “people” who give a veteran total acceptance and trust. This attachment/love is very strong for all the active duty personnel and veterans who worked with animals in the military too. We all know our pets and marine mammals are smarter than we are, but we try to pretend we are in charge.

Rufus the cat knows all about the power of love. His Dad decided to do something special for him after a tough two weeks of having to give Rufus icky medicine. Not only does Rufus Rock, but his human Dad is pretty cool too. Build your pet a castle today! Happy Quirky Friday!

Got Pets? Have A Current Computer Back Up?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Sunday I walked into my home office to pay some bills and found Spec Ops Cat had gifted me with a hairball – on my finished taxes on the desk. Not a tragedy, my CPA filed my returns electronically two weeks ago so this was the paper copy, but point taken. The open laptop right next to it survived unscathed. One never knows when a hairball or computer crash might happen.

Spec Ops Cat helping out in the office - as a paperweight.
Spec Ops Cat helping out in the office – as a paperweight.

Having “worked for the government” I am paranoid about multiple backups. The rule of three backups with one being off-site is never far from my mind. I don’t even erase my photo memory cards after they are on my computer, I keep them as archives.

I use Carbonite online to backup my computer automatically and I put everything on thumb drives too, plus I have an external hard drive which backs up my computer. No, I’m not using the Cloud yet, but I’ve toyed with Dropbox, but I want my files with me so we shall see about the whole Cloud concept.

My paranoia goes back to my Army logistics training I think – if you don’t have it with you, you don’t have it – that applies to food, fuel, toilet paper and digital photos and documents. A burned CD copy of my book is in my fire safe and still riding around in my car.

Adding photos and videos into the backup equation besides my writing documents increases the memory needs. My first computer used 5 1/4 inch disks and had no hard drive. Now we are all overwhelmed with trying to preserve our digital memories and work to avoid a catastrophic digital disaster. Maybe using some old school ways of burying some DVDs or thumb drives in the backyard might be cool again.

With taxes over for this year, it’s a good time to consider keeping our writing, photos, videos, legal and financial documents safe. Protect yourself and your writing – backup now. Who knows what our pets are plotting for the rest of the year!

How Can We Organize Ourselves And Our Writing For 2013?

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by Kimberly A. Cook         (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Today we say hello to 2013 and start with clean calendars to plan our writing goals. My friend Carol and I say every year,  “This year we’re going to get organized!” We’ve been saying and doing that for more than 25 years and we’re still not done. It’s a process.

Spec Ops Cat does his part to get the office paperwork ready for 2013.
Spec Ops Cat does his part to get the office paperwork ready for 2013.

This past holiday season I took some time to think outside the box and the basket. (See Spec Ops Cat at left) With four manuscripts in various stages from final editing to first draft, I wanted to figure out a way to combine my business needs with my writing time.

It dawned on me I can finish all four manuscripts first and THEN publish them when I choose. Just because I finish a book doesn’t mean I have to rush it out the door to publication. Getting the four books completed first will also help me to budget my finances this year. Duh!

We get so used to striving and straining in a certain direction, we forget to consider if we’re on the right road in the first place; or the correct writing project or the right location. Downtime and thinking time are required parts of being a writer. I’ve set some simple but big goals this year and I’m looking forward to hitting them. It’s also reducing my stress level.

Two of my goals are to spend more time on my photography and having fun. I’ve started having fun by adding this “Authors Are My Rock Stars” calendar to my office. Yeah! http://www.amazon.com/2013-Authors-Rock-Stars-calendar/dp/1402270992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357006123&sr=8-1&keywords=authors+are+my+rock+stars (And maybe in 2013 I’ll figure out how to shorten and rename these links on WordPress!)

To refill my photography cup, I decided to get a subscription to “Outdoor Photographer” this year. Stumbled upon photographer Ian Plant’s blog and his fabulous top twelve photos of 2012. These are gorgeous. http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/blog/ian-plant/2012/12/twelve-significant-photographs-a-year-2012.html

Make a small change and explore a new area of interest or one you’ve neglected for years. A new calendar or even one magazine can send you off on a new journey in 2013. Maybe being a little more unorganized is what we need to do this year and let our muses wander. Who knows what fun we can have by taking a mosey into the new year instead of trying to speed through life.

Happy New Year everybody! Keep writing!