Projects and Rats

It’s been a while since I moved into my new home, and I’m very happy with it. In fact, owning my own place has woken up the nesting instinct in me so much that I’ve even started to give serious thought to trying to find a date. I haven’t done anything on that front yet (patience), but today I adopted two new additions to my little family. Their names are Lightning and Ink, and they’re the first female rats I’ve owned in several years. Like all young rats they’re little bundles of energy right now, and already excited by the sight of my males, Puzzle and Bold. If I can get Puzzle and Bold neutered they’ll be able to share the biggest rat cage. I hope so; there’s nothing more adorable than the sight of a big bundle of rats all cuddled up together.

Ink Lightning(I know publishing pictures of my pets here is horribly self-indulgent, but just try to forgive me, okay? At least I’m not inflicting baby pictures on you. Which may change when my sister eventually reproduces – you have been warned).

Meanwhile, at work, a project I had been working on since last year finally came to fruition. As the archivist at Radford College, I suggested we bury a time capsule to celebrate the school’s 30th anniversary. One eventually became three, and they were all interred together last Thursday. I was asked to make a speech to mark the occasion and, having been secretly hoping for some sort of official thanks, was gobsmacked to see, well… this.

That's me in bronze, and I'm not even dead yet.

That’s me in bronze, and I’m not even dead yet.

 

Yup, my name is on a bronze plaque. When I found out who was responsible for that idea, I gave ’em a big hug.

 

And finally, I imagine regular visitors have probably been coming back here in the hopes of seeing some news relating to my actual writing career. Sadly that’s been in short supply lately, for the simple reason that not much has been happening recently. However, I can now reveal that I’ve spent the last several weeks hard at work on a new project. It’s not a griffin book (the final installment has been put on hold for the time being), and it’s not anything else that’s ever been mentioned here. In fact I’m keeping it under wraps to the point that even people who know me personally have been told almost nothing about it. I have also laid down a very strict ground rule for myself: until this project is finished, I am not allowed to work on anything else. Once it is finished I shall post up some more specific details about it here, and then immediately embark on another project I’ve been meaning to get started on for some time. With the market and circumstances being what they are, I have decided that the best thing for me is to have as many completed books on hand as possible. Considering how fast I write, I don’t really have any excuse.

In any case, right now the secret project is just past the 100-page mark and should be finished in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

~KJT, feeling worn out in a good way

Neato text ornament here