The good news is I thought this post was going to be a memorial to my Skye kitty. Instead, it’s a tale of one tough little furbaby. Skye has been a Bartonella cat for as long as I’ve had her. For those who know nothing about this wicked disease, let me give a little background. Bartonella is a bacterial infection spread by fleas. It has no cure and, in Skye’s case, manifests itself as severe periodontal disease and gingivitis. Over the years, Skye has dealt with sore, red, often bloody gums. I’ve treated her with round after round of antibiotics and too-frequent steroid shots. But lately nothing has been giving her more than a week or two of relief. For the last year, I’ve had a sense that we were on borrowed time. This last month has been the worst. Yet through it all, she continued to eat and to snuggle with me. I wasn’t ready to let go when she still had so much fight left in her. Last Sunday morning I awoke to find her right upper lip/cheek swollen. Of course,...

BIG NEWS: CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR AN AGATHA AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL! I’ve had this wild fantasy of snagging an Agatha nomination since I started writing mysteries. Never, never NEVER thought it would actually happen. I’d imagined what it was like so many times, when the phone call actually came, I thought I was dreaming. I’m one of five wonderful mystery authors in my category. I’ll be thrilled no matter which of us wins. Just being nominated truly is an honor. In other news, after nearly ten years of running this blog, I’m going to move it to a new home. I recently took over the reins of my website, changed to a new web host, and redesigned the whole blasted thing. The new website has a tab for a blog of its own. I’m still learning the ropes, so until I get it running the way I want it, I’ll probably post here, too. But eventually, I’ll post only there. My Writing, etc archives will remain available, however. So head over to my newly remodele...