Various news

[altivo]

Once again I've taken too long a break from posting here. The winter has been made busy by several events, not the least of which is my planned retirement from full time library work. After June, I will be a greymuzzle pensioner, with more time for writing, music, gardening, and my pets. Of course that means helping to find and train my replacement. After twelve years in one job, there is a lot of stuff to organize and document and I've been kept very busy getting that done while keeping up with my regular responsibilities.

Meanwhile, my husband is getting near the end of his five year quest for the Ph.D. degree, which has also kept us pretty busy. Next week he will be presenting a paper at a conference, while I cover the animal care tasks he normally handles here at home.

Also some announcements on the writing front. First, I have two poems recently published. One gives a tortoise's view of history, and can be found at QuarterReads. The title is "Thoughts Chelonian." The second appears in a curated selection of furry poems at Adjective Species. The title is "Procyon Prowling" and the subject is a raccoon. I recommend the poems in that collection. They represent a wide variety of styles and formats, and an equally diverse viewpoints on furry subjects. Lunostophiles did a fine job of selecting them from the submitted works.

My story "Coyote's Voice" will appear in ROAR volume 6, to be released in July at Anthrocon if all goes according to plan. The publisher is Bad Dog Books, and the very competent editor for this issue is Mary E. Lowd, also known as Ryffnah.

I'm also currently engaged in writing the completing chapters of Oh, Ricky, the parody on Richard the Lion(heart) that some of you may remember from NanoWrimo 2011. I'm doing that in connection with this month's Camp NanoWrimo where I'm one of a dozen folks working together to prompt and encourage each other.

More as events develop. Thanks for reading.

Comments

[frith]

Retiring! Neato and congrats! I took a five month break this winter and I'm quite dissatisfied as to how little I achieved, so I am not unhappy to be going back to the grind next Monday. I'll have a reason for slacking again. ^_^ When I get tired, I can opt for a shortened workweek. That might be the best compromise.

Long story short, I'm sure you won't be bored while retired, and it will save you the long drive to work!

[altivo]

Actually the drive to and from work is only 15 miles and all rural pleasantry but for the last couple of miles near the library. I will enjoy not having such a rigid schedule though, that's for sure. I may even have time to ride my horses.

[frith]

Your horses are going to be in shock! 8^D

[altivo]

It will definitely take some refresher work first. They've all been spoiled the last few years, but they do know their business still.

[sabbath_silverclaw]

It's always a joy to see a post from you. Been a while since I did any real posting beyond the occasional reblog. Between class and work, I don't find a lot of time for writing except for homework.

Congrats on the published poems, though, and impending retirement. =^.^=

[altivo]

Thanks. I'm counting days now. (54 work days to go.) We've interviewed for and selected my replacement in fact. Now comes all the paperwork for social security, medicare, etc. That's not a thrilling prospect.

It's a sad commentary on the state of the US economy that my retirement income looks to be significantly higher than what I'm currently earning. Not so much from social security, which is a bare minimum, but from what I've saved over the years and the pensions put away by past employers.

[avon_deer]

Wishing your husband well with his doctorate.

[altivo]

We'll see if he finishes. He's a terrible procrastinator and I'll believe the dissertation exists when it actually is on paper. Otherwise, he's apparently doing well.