This is why I am very private about information. I know someone that this happened to. She had two packages show up that she didn't buy. She sent them right back through UPS. She refused to even touch them. Data is money. This is why I am leery of social media platforms, especially the big ones since they sell your information to advertisers. https://www.aol.com/usps-warns-americans-brushing-scam-140000341.html
Thank you to friends who tuned in to the interview this morning. Someone recorded it for me. I hope this is okay to use. Here it is for anyone who missed it. . I wasn't expecting to talk about my philosophy books since this interview was about the poetry fest. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to come back and talk about philosophy, time, space, science, and physics in the future. There's a joke in here about Block Universe Theory somewhere (the theory that time isn't linear, but that everything is happening at once. In other words, the future, past, and present is happening now)
E. Writer Thank you, I was glad too. I wanted to hear it objectively since it feels like a conversation when it's happening. I was glad to was able to slow down a bit, and not ramble as much as I normally do when my brain is going 100 miles a minute.
I will be participating in a radio event on WORTFM 89.9 FM at 8:00 am Buzz Program to promote the WFOP Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Sequoya Library Summer Poetry Festival I will be a participant and reciting some poetry as one of the speakers. https://ww...
I was genuinely overwhelmed by the number of people who submitted to win a copy of Space, Time, and Loneliness via my website. The giveaway winners are randomly selected. I do wish the names were listed. It only shows the email addresses. The winners have been automatically contacted. I will host another book giveaway soon. Thank you!
For people who write screenplays, I don't know if I ever shared an interview I had with a TV development executive on how to pitch screenplays. She eventually bought me into the fold as an instructor at the University of WI - Madison's Writer's Institute in 2017. Which was a great experience. This, in addition to my teaching at a different college where I taught publishing and marketing since 2012. For writer's interested in developing a TV show, this article is a must-read. Screenwritersdaily, where I was an editor, launched in 2003. It became defunct in 2012, but we have maintained the site as a resource. https://screenwritersdaily.com/2018/07/16/a-conversation-with-development-executive-laurie-scheer-what-you-need-to-know-about-pitching-a-script-or-television-series/
I am feeling a bit bummed. In December 2024, I saw two kittens, about two to three months old playing in my yard. It was winter, cold, and dreary and they were playing out in the cold, wet winter. They scattered and ran when we tried to go near them. So I went out, me and my daughter and we purchased two insulated cat houses. We put in heated floors, and about a month later put in an actual heater that kept the houses around 80 degrees. We kept the houses stocked with kitty food.
We found that not only the kittens were going in to eat during the day and night, but that the houses attracted several animals, like racoons, possums, and about five total feral cats (including the kittens). Suddenly, an entire community of cats and animals were eating there and coming in to get warm. Feral cats are terrified of people, so the cats typically stayed away or ran when we came outside. I watched the two kittens, a girl and a boy grow. They may be 8 to 9 months old by now. They were such a joy to watch, and so cute.
The kittens had grown so comfortable with us that they lived and played in our yard (they also lived under the neighbors deck), and when spring arrived they finally started to come near us. Last week, 7 days ago I was in my garden and there was Noodles, sitting outside with me...watching as I worked in the garden bed. I said, "Hi Noodles..." and he sat like turkey with his legs tucked under him.
But the cats especially loved my daughter. They even allowed her to stand next to them while they ate. I admit that we bribed them with Tuna, and wet cat food.
Last week was the last time I saw Noodles. My husband drove around to see if he could find him. His sister Ramen is still around. She sat on our patio mewling out of loneliness. We think something happened to Noodles. He's never disappeared before and he's very protective of her sister, Ramen.
Did a predator bird get him? Did he get hit by a car? How? He never leaves the yard, except to slip through the fence to sleep under the neighbor's deck. They had full run of our three yards. The other ferals disappeared after the weather turned warm.
The ironic part was that I told my daughter that the ferals might be ready to let us adopt them and that we needed traps to bring them inside and get them to a vet. The fears that they had were finally subsiding. So it makes me feel terrible that something happened to Noodles. I watched the little kitten grow up. So... I'm not as inspired to write. I keep thinking of the kitty Noodles. So full of life and routine.
Noodles deserved better. There was also a fox that visited our yard. Sometimes a woodchuck. I asked a neighbor had he seen Noodles. He said the last time he saw him, he was chasing a woodchuck. Noodles deserved a better fate. I have called the Human Society, and rescue and lost and found centers. No sign of Noodles. Not on the street. Not anywhere. :(
E. Writer He's too feral. He wont let them or people near him so he can't be adopted. That's why he's behind that blanket. Indoor life is too stressful. So he will be a barncat in my yard. We're paying to have him neutered, tnr'd and microchipped and they are releasing him to me tomorrow evening.
E. Writer This is Noodles sitting on one of the cat houses we have for him and his sister. the warmer ones are behind him. He likes my daughter and likes to sleep under her bedroom window.
