Title: The Writer’s Dilemma: Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Words

Let’s be honest. Writing is often romanticized as a poetically solitary endeavor where words flow effortlessly from a writer’s mind onto the page. Or, perhaps more often, a rugged wordsmith fueled by bitterness and coffee pound out the next great American novel via their super fringe blog. I’m pretty sure I have been both of these stereotypes at some point. Somehow simultaneously.

However, any writer can tell you that this idealized fantasy rarely matches the harsh reality. In fact, one of the most significant, but less talked about, challenges writers face is not the absence of ideas but the overwhelming abundance of them. And, even worse, having ideas that are completely different from the brand we are attempting to build. The hard sci-fi author suddenly wanting to write cute romance is not gonna fly with the fanbase. Having too many ideas can be just as paralyzing as having none at all. In this rambling blog post, we’ll explore the trials and tribulations of dealing with an overabundance of creative ideas and offer strategies to navigate this challenging terrain.

The Creative Avalanche

Picture this: with your favorite beverage in hand, you sit down to write. It’s a good day and you are full of enthusiasm, creative energy flowing, your fingers poised over the keyboard. But instead of diving into your project, you find yourself drowning in a sea of ideas. Your brain is playing the ‘what if?’ game on hardmode. The possibilities are endless, each idea vying for your attention, and you’re unable to choose a single one to pursue. This is the writer’s dilemma – an overactive mind that constantly generates new concepts, characters, and plots.

The Perils of Choice

Having too many ideas can, and often does, lead to decision paralysis. You might spend hours debating which idea to pursue, or worse, you may abandon writing altogether because you can’t settle on one. This creative indecision can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating. It’s like standing in front of a buffet with so many delicious options that you end up leaving hungry.

The Fear of Missing Out

Easily my biggest problem. This is the challenge that arises from an abundance of ideas is the fear of missing out (FOMO). You worry that if you choose one idea, you’ll neglect the others, and they’ll wither away, unexplored. This fear can lead to constant jumping between projects, resulting in unfinished manuscripts and a sense of never accomplishing anything substantial. I have hundreds of abandoned projects because I have abandoned because another bright and shiny idea has demanded my attention, promising this will be my biggest hit.

The Overwhelming Mess

Sometimes, the sheer volume of ideas can turn your writing process into a chaotic mess. You might start with one concept, only to be bombarded by new ideas midway through, causing your original idea to mutate into something unrecognizable. This can result in a disjointed and incoherent piece of work that lacks focus.

Strategies to Tame the Idea Beast

So what do we do? Now that we’ve explored the challenges of having too many ideas, let’s discuss strategies to help you regain control of your writing process:

  1. Idea Journal: Keep a dedicated notebook or digital document for jotting down all your ideas. This allows you to capture them without feeling the pressure to act on them immediately. This is also great for those days where you are creatively blocked. Just turn to your journal and pick a story seed to play with.
  2. Prioritize: Take time to evaluate your ideas and prioritize them based on your current goals and interests. Not every idea needs to be pursued right away. In fact, by giving yourself more time to grow as an author you could give a more demanding idea the skill that it deserves.
  3. Set Boundaries: When you start a writing project, commit to it and set boundaries. Tell yourself that you can explore other ideas later, but for now, you’re focusing on this one. I know, I know that sounds like the stupidest and easiest thing in the universe. But I promise you it can be a pain in the booty to stick to it.
  4. Use Idea Mapping: Create mind maps or visual diagrams to connect related ideas and see if they can be integrated into a single project.
  5. Collaborate: If you have too many ideas for one person to handle, consider collaborating with other writers or artists. As authors we can sometimes get a little territorial about our ideas. We thinks that they are just for us. But the truth is that sometimes the best gift one creative person can give to another is inspiration. If you’ve got too many ideas, share the wealth.
  6. Take Breaks: When you feel overwhelmed by ideas, step away from your writing. This may seem counterproductive but it can be so helpful. Go for a walk, cook a meal, meditate, or engage in a different creative activity. I like to paint and crochet. Sometimes, a mental reset can help you see your ideas more clearly and help you figure out which ideas are for you and which are just happy little distractions.

Having too many ideas is a blessing and a curse for writers. While it demonstrates your creativity and imagination, it can also lead to confusion and stagnation. The key is to find a balance, to harness your creative energy and channel it into meaningful, focused writing projects. By employing these strategies and embracing the chaos of creativity, you can transform your abundance of ideas into a powerful asset rather than an overwhelming obstacle. Remember, it’s not about having fewer ideas; it’s about learning to manage and leverage them effectively in your writing journey.

Autumn is HERE….almost

Okay, so I’m gonna be honest. You know that cheugy white girl that likes autumn and pumpkin spice and leggings and fluffy sweaters? It’s me. I’m that girl. I LOVE that beautiful season between the swelter of summer (and since I live within a stone’s throw of a swamp, it does swelter around here) and the deep cold of winter. There is something about that change that is just absolutely refreshing and I cannot get enough.

I think that’s why so many of my stories are based in autumn. I just think it’s a romantic month. Warm drinks and snuggles are pretty much the equation for falling in love, right? I mean, I also have a lot of curses involved in my stories, but I blame Disney for that.

Anywho, for this autumn I have a few writing goals set for myself. So let’s get to it shall we?

I have six, count them SIX stories that are very, very close to being ready to release. My plan is to release at least four of them by the end of the year. I had intended to start with a series, but I decided to go with a bunch of short stories set in the same universe, but not necessarily connected to one another. They are standalones, but they reference one another sometimes? Semi-standalones? I don’t know. Either way. It’s time to release.

I also plan on picking up the reviews. I have dropped the ball there, in part because my brain is like “no one wants to hear your opinion. Hush and drink your pumpkin spiced latte.” But like, even if no one cares what my opinion is, I’m gonna write it anyway. So there.

My third and final goal for this season is to stick to my schedules. I’m so bad at saying I’m going to do something, and then finding excuses to…you know…not do it. So lets fix that. I’m officially 35 years old. Time to grow up. Sorta. Kinda.

Another Day, Another Superhero?

Gooooooood Morning, Seattle! Today is March 19th, and, if my weather app can be believed, we’ve got about twenty minutes of rain before it’s clear skies. But you aren’t here for the weather, are you? Heck no you aren’t. You are here for some of that sweet, sweet unfettered superhero journalism that I provide to you for the low, low cost of my dignity. Also, if you want to support me, there’s a link to my Patreon and my Ko-Fi account down below.

For the first time in almost 20 years, Seattle, Washington has hit a golden era of peace and quiet. Last month, our very own Seattle native hero, Legend took down the tragically named Mad Mongrel, the latest in a long string of B-list supervillains that are more costume than competition. Mongrel’s court case will be later this month and you can bet that I will cover absolutely everything about it. I just hope I don’t put you to sleep. Because, so far as I can tell, Mad Mongrel’s long list of crimes includes—lemme check my notes here—freeing animals from a science lab and terrifying a class of small children by opening the cage of their classroom lizard.

…yay?

It’s not that I’m advocating for someone like Madam Pain (that costume, am I right?) or that iconic brother-sister robbing duo the Double Dare to show up. Or even someone of Doctor Heath’s caliber, mind you. I am perfectly fine living in a city where we only have to worry about the normal kinds of crime. I’m just saying that it seems weird that despite this long list of underwhelming villains, our local OSI—Office of Superhuman Intelligence for those who have been living under a rock—is trying to take on a new superhero?

I mean, on the one hand I get it. Seattle is pretty much the super capital of the world. We have the super-powered dream team; The Paragons, which is already composed of the most powerful super hero ever born, his long term psionically girlfriend, a super scientist, and a techno-assassin. We don’t really need a new hero, do we?

The eggheads at OSI have released a public statement that they are moving forward with filling the vacated seat of Void, a long-time member of the team that, well, you all know the story. Dude went and threw a dude off the OSI building. And not just any dude, oh no. He went and obliterated Daniel Walker, beloved millionaire and philanthropist. While the internet is filled with conspiracy theories about Void being mind controlled, a clone, or it was an accident gone horribly, no one really knows what happened or how. Void, who can literally turn into shadow, has been impossible to find.

Dude, if you have a comment, send it my way.

Anyway, the short list of heroes who could fill Void’s spot is… well… short? Everyone knows that there aren’t all that many superheroes out there. Oh, there are heroes, of course. But most of them are highly trained combatants. More hero than super. For a while there, it seemed like Prism was going to take Void’s place, but, after a severe accident, she’s taken early retirement. Very early, considering she’s, at best, twenty-five.

My vote is for Gamma. Have you seen her? Someone please give her my number. She could step on me and I would cry tears of gratitude. See pictures for proof. That she’s hot, not that I want her to step on me. On a completely unrelated note, someone please delete my browsing history when I die. I’m already a disappointment to my family as it is.

Gamma’s powers are a near match to Legends. Her released backstory says that she was blasted with some kind of radiation while in utero, which makes her a rare “I was born this way” kind of super. She uses gamma energy to create nearly impenetrable force fields around her body, can keep up with Olympian track stars, and can punch her way through a brick wall. See the video link below for proof.

Seriously though, Gamma has been working with the South-Eastern branch of the Office of Superhuman Intelligence. She currently the big fish in Virginia and North Carolina, taking on some pretty impressive villains while wearing a very form-fitting sapphire blue ensemble. The Queen of Hearts was the most recent and most noteworthy. Though, if we are still talking about people, I would be a-okay with being stepped on…

One day I will go to a therapist and find out why I have a thing for long-legged ladies in skin tight outfits treating me like the welcome mat, but today is not that day.

What do you think? Which hero do you think we ought to offer the coveted spot on The Paragon team? Agent 7 of New York City? Miami’s El Toro? Comet? What about Madam Mercury or Quake? Leave a comment down below! I love hearing every idea and theory you guys throw at me, no matter how wild.

If you are as into skin tight beauties as I am and want more superhero content feel free to like and subscribe. I update Tuesdays and Thursdays regardless of what is going on in the world. And I live update on my Twitter when things are. If you would like to save me from crippling student loan debt, maybe click on that Ko-Fi link and send a few dollars my way. See ya Thursday, Crusaders!

Note: This is a fictional post set in the world of my superheroes.

June Goals

The hardest part about being an indie author is establishing and keeping your own goals. I can promise myself every night before bed that I will wake up and do all the things I need to get done when I wake up the next day. I will even mean it. After all, tomorrow is the magical day where I wake up with the energy I had in my twenties and the know-how I earned in my thirties. It is the new, improved me that got a great night of sleep and gained time management skills while I was dreaming about the hot dwarven king from The Hobbit

Anyway, the truth of the matter is that putting everything off until tomorrow is not gonna get anything accomplished. So I am gonna just down my own personal to-do list for the month and see how much we can get accomplished.

  • Finish Superhero Boyfriend Draft
    • I usually plan my novels to be around 50,000 words. So far my draft is 22,000. I think finishing the draft by the end of the month is easily obtainable.
  • Set up a Newsletter and Mailing list
    • I’ll be honest, newsletters terrify me. I know absolutely NOTHING about them. I don’t know how to use one, how to get people to sign up for it. It all seems like techno-magic to me. I’m gonna have to watch some videos, read some books, and find out how the heck to do this newsletter thing.
  • Get back on the update train
    • I have seriously slipped from updating my blog. We are gonna fix that.
  • Outline Supervillain Boyfriend
    • While my Supers of Seattle outline is pretty well set, I am going to need to flesh out more than the first couple of chapters of book two.
  • Start Tweeting on a regular basis
    • I am not a social media guru, but I’m gonna have to learn. Twitter and I do not seem to get along. Not because it’s a bad platform, it’s not, but because I always feel like I’m just shouting to the void, hoping people will listen.
  • Review. Review. Review.
    • I haven’t reviewed any books in a while, and that is a fricken shame.

There. That doesn’t look so hard. I can do this.

What are your goals for the month? I’d love to hear from you!

Writing Honestly

Not trying to brag, but I was working from home before the pandemic even started. I remember when I told people that I worked from home an they were like “Oh that sounds magical!” or “Is it even work if you can do it from your couch?”

They laughed then, but they are begging for tips now.

I hope they’ve learned their lesson. Working from home sucks. Home, the place that you used to be able to relax in, has suddenly become the inescapable workplace. There’s no real transition where you go to work and then come home. They have become the Venn Diagram that is your life. I tried explaining this to people, that being able to go to work in your pajamas is like having pajama day at school. The clothes might be comfortable, but you are still turning in homework and doing tests and getting called on when you don’t know the answer.

Thanks. Mrs. Bruester. I still don’t know who the fifth president of the United States is off the top of my head. But I do still have nightmares about my life depending on the answer.

Anywho, I could wax nostalgic about the pompodoro method, or how you should still wear business clothes when going to your home office to help your brain get into the work groove and all that. But ultimately, I think the real key to working from home is to have goals. Realistic ones. Which is a form of honestly that not everyone has. You have to dig way the heck into your soul and know what you are actually capable of. You have to know your goals.

If you are the person who says once a week that you are going to start working out, but you use your stationary bike to hang clothes you haven’t put away, you may very well need to work on your honesty.

It took me three years to figure out that I am never going to be the author that writes the 2,000 words a day that a lot of websites mandate. I’d say “this is the year! This is when I do it.” I’d manage for about two weeks, burnout, and then cry about how I’m not a “real writer” because I can’t do a measly 2,000 words a day.

Fun fact. Industry standard is 800. But that’s a story for another time.

What I’m trying to say is that you need to find the cycle that works for you. Some writers can pound out 50,000 words in two weeks because inspiration hits them so hard they give up sleeping and eating to get the story out. Some writers wake up and tie themselves to a chair to get 2,000 words out every day come rain or shine. Some write 800 in the morning. Take a nap. And then write 500 more.

All of these are valid. What’s even more valid? I’ve been all three of these at different points in my writing career. When something stopped working, I needed to find something else that did. That’s the real secret of being a writer. You have to keep going when you want to give up.

Indie Book Review: 1/28/2021

Hey everyone! It’s that time again! It’s Indie Book Review time! My name is Rowan, and I am an indie writer who believes that every indie book out there deserve a fair an honest review of the work. I also believe that the terms “bad book” and “good book” are vague and riddled with personal bias, and so I try my best not to use those terms in my reviews. My hope is to match the book to the reader so that everyone gets what they want and to give indie authors what big published authors get: support.

Shall we get started?!?

This week was a weird one so I only got through two books. I know, I know. Shame on me. But I’ve got deadlines too people. And my characters are being difficult about it. So, you know, that’s where I’m at. And, you know, usually this means that I would read more rather than less but that’s not at all what happened this week. So I did what any woman would do. I put on a crown and a fancy dress and I picked up my E-reader.

I super-swear that this is an accurate picture of me:

Photo by Ferdinand Studio on Pexels.com

Yeah….totally me….uh-huh….yup. Anyway….

Book One:

Jenny of Lebanon

Author: Gabrielle Olexa
Genre: Literary Fiction. Short Fiction. Slice of life. Romantic but not romance.
Cost: $0.99

Jenny of Lebanon by Gabrielle Olexa

Synopsis: There are two main characters (three if you wanna count the cat) and this story follows them as they live their lives but, in my less than humble opinion, don’t do a great job at it. It’s hard to say what the story was “about” because it’s more like a series of snapshots as to what happens when two people who are just trying to live their loves crash into one another.

What I liked: Rather than bog a reader down with lots of extras, this short story hits you with a lot of meaning in a fairly short amount of time. It took me about…80 minutes to read, start to finish…and in that time I got to really know the characters, want good things for them, and got my heart all twisted up. Gabrielle has written a truly great story, riff with symbolism and believably. The ending made me go “Wait, there’s no more?” which I think is amazing in and of itself. I wont spoil it for you. But if you are into contemporary stories that show people in situations of “could be” then this is definitely something you should dive into. Also…I was devastated that this is, so far, the only story that Gabrielle has published. I require more.

This book might be for you if: You are more about characters than plot. If you want to get invested in a moment. If you have been having a hard time reading long form literature lately and really want to get lost in something. If you like incredibly well done descriptions that make your heart ache…please pick this book up.

Book Two:

Behind Blue Eyes: A Cyberpunk Noir Thriller

Author: Anna Mocikat
Genre: Cyberpunk. Gritty Thriller. A dash of Romance.
Cost: $2.99

Behind Blue Eyes by Anna Mocikat

Reviewers Note: I’m gonna tell you right now, that this kind of book is my BIAS. I like gritty, dark stories. I like romance. I am absolutely the target audience that this book was intended for. So if I seem especially enthusiastic…it’s because I am and I feel like I should be really upfront with that.

Synopsis: Nephilim (who I am gonna call Neph because I keep spelling the dang name wrong) is a cybernetic bad-ass lady who has been constructed to be the best bamf that ever bamf’ed on the planet. She is part of a perfect strike team of bamf’s that take down those who would attempt to harm a the perfect society that they dwell in…or so she thinks. I mean, if you know anything about cyberpunk you are gonna be like…”Oh sweetie” before chapter one is even done with. Fricken corpos. Anyway. A thing happens (I’m going to encourage you to go read, because she describes the glitch better than I do) and Neph ends up separate from everything she knew and…well…believed. She runs into Jake who is as organic homegrown human as ever there was. Hijinks ensue. And if I could heart eyes the hijinks…I would. This is action driven technothriller romance with a “fuck the megacoprs” vibe and I am here for it.

This book might be for you if: You are a fan of Richard K. Dick. If you like great descriptions and worldbuilding and you have a deep seeded desire to maybe blow up Wall Street someday. If you like powerful female characters and want the name Metatron tattooed on your neck for fun-sies. If you are a nerdy girl with a goth vibe who wanted to be a little more Faith than Buffy…get this.

That’s all folks! Now get out there and go read!

It’s a Rainy Day

….and it’s my favorite weather.

I know that there are people who wake up and see the gray skies and the soggy ground and they already think that their day is ruined. That’s not me. When I wake up and see the rain, I am comforted.

There is so much pressure to do things on a bright, warm, sunny day. Go outside, garden something, go to the park or a beach. Sunny days require outside dinning and accepting invitations from friends to go do something. Which, for an introvert like me, is fine when it’s just now and then.

But rainy days? I wake up to those and I am comforted. Gray skies are a promise that I can just stay inside. The plants will water themselves. Outside dinning isn’t an option. The image of a quiet woman, curled up on a rainy day with a coffee, a cat, and a book is so prevalent that people accept it automatically when you tell them you are going to stay in.

This morning I woke up, thanks to a certain cat, and our yard–which bumps up against a swamp–was nearly flooded. I put on a big put of coffee, pulled on my favorite stay-in clothes, and made myself an english muffin with apricot jelly. I am, for the first time in what feels like months, at peace.

Virtually Yours is plotted, planned, and all set to be sent to the editor February 22nd. Depending on how much she rips it up one side and down the other, I plan to publish March 16th.

Cosplayed, book two of the Nerdy Love trilogy, has a plot, but the outline is…still a WIP. I have NO idea how I’m going to end this book and I’m getting he feeling that I might not know until I am actually writing it. If everything goes to plan, it will be out in June.

Off-Panel, the third and final novel in the series, is a vague idea of an enemies to lovers story. But I’m hoping it’ll be out late October.

Can I do three books in a year? Well, with enough rainy days it should be no problem.

Indie Book Review: 1/21/2021

Hey there fellow book lovers! Rowan here with my very first Indie Book Review.

Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com

I’ve been a writer since I was a teenager. I’ve been a professional ghostwriter for almost five years. As a ghostwriter, I’ve worked for indie authors, for small press publishers, and even the Big Five (or Big Six depending on how you wanna break that down). I’ve loved my work, but recently I’ve decided that I really want to strike out on my own and get my own stuff published.

But I don’t want to work with the Big Five. I’ve got a lot of personal reasons why I made that decision but ultimately it comes down to the fact that I wanted to have control over my work. The Big Five are guilty of over-focusing on market trends and giving themselves a pat on the back for the bare minimum of diverse publications. There’s more to it than that, but you get the idea.

However, I also know that Indie Writing isn’t something that can accomplish all by themselves. The reason the Big Five and even small publishing have the power that they do is because they have numbers. Indie writers need to stick together. We need to lift each other up. We need to support one another. I need to support y’all.

So I decided that I was going to review one indie book a week. I am a full time, work-from-home writer. I average reading around 60 books a year as it is. I decided to jump on twitter and make a little tweet letting people know that I was going to do this.

And good gracious. Y’all were enthusiastic. There were so many notifications. Not just from people pushing their own work (love that hustle) but also from those who were like “Hey my friend published a book!” (love the support). I was so, so happy to see all these awesome lifts. But I also knew that having just one book a week was not going to cut it. So every Thursday is just going to be Indie Review Day, and that means whatever books I managed to get through are the ones that I will be reviewing. Minimum of one. Who knows what the maximum will be.

Now, here’s the thing. If you are coming here to hear me trash-talk Indie novels, you have come to the wrong place. I’ve heard all the nay-saying, and I’m not here for that. “The grammar is bad!” Well, this person may not have had access to a top tier editor. “The plot was confusing” Well, that may be true, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t something great about it. “The characters were too diverse/stereotypical/unbelievable/whatever.” Maybe so, but that doesn’t invalidate them. I think it’s become too easy to tear people down than build them up.

I believe that pretty much every novel out there has an audience. Even if a book isn’t my speed, that doesn’t mean that its not someone’s exact cup of tea. I’m not here to gatekeep what makes a good or bad novel. There are plenty of super popular novels out there that I DNF’ed because I didn’t like it. But what I like is just an opinion. So I will be striving to give a fair and honest review in the hopes that a book, no matter how niche, finds the person who loves it.

All that being said, this is the first round, and I’ll probably fiddle with the format in the upcoming weeks. That being said, I only have two reviews for y’all this week because I only had two days to read. He you go!

So let’s do this:

Book 1:

Reflections: A RIFT IN THE VEIL
Author: Kima Blaze
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Occult Horror, Magical Modernism
Cost: $0.99

Reflections (A Rift In The Veil, #1.5) by Kima Blaze


Synopsis: Sara Hearth is a witch. As a witch, she has to keep the world from going sideways. When she wakes up from what is possibly the most amusing prophecy dream I have ever read, she is worried that her job is about to get a lot harder. And, without spoiling anything, she isn’t wrong. Things get CRAZY. Between dead neighbors, vanishing friends, and sharks in tutus, Sara has to deal with a lot. She’s lucky that she has pretty much the sweetest, most supportive partner ever (honestly my favorite part of this story) and that she’s fighting for those she cares about.

What I liked: Super supportive spouse. The descriptions of the ritual spell casting. Puppy friends. And magically powered ladies. The magic was the best thought out part of this series, hands down. Salt and Iron, calling the Four Quarters, utilizing elements and besoms and all kinds of neat stuff.

This book might be for you if: You are into fast paced, straight-forward stories that has more heart than polish. It is inexpensive and I read it in just a little over an hour. It is the prequel to a trilogy if you are the kind of person who wants more.

Book 2:

One Step From Extinction: Stories
Author: Jon Sauve
Genre: Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction (Anthology of short stories)
Cost: $3.99

Synopsis: This is a series of short stories with science-fiction themes. But I honestly feel like it’s more than that. There are some really incredible lines that make you think. The stories are bite sized pieces of questions about the universe and what it might be like to see a whole universe at once. It layers the idea of watching the birth of a sun with the realness of a home movie. Also there was this line in the first story: “with a few thousand years of advanced warning, the skin of the universe burst” and isn’t that just fantastic?

What I liked: I could sit there for ten or fifteen minutes and just get a whole story read. Each story was it’s own thing, and didn’t spoon feed what was going on to you. Good grammar and great use of language in general. There was no wasted time with purple prose or massive, unnecessary descriptions. Succinct and cerebral. Also, one of the stories was a mini murder mystery…and like…I can’t say no to murder mysteries in science fiction settings.

This Book Might be for You if: You just want to read a little sci fi before clocking in for work. Or you want to think about the complexity of the universe. Or if you just want some sci fi that doesn’t spend twenty pages explaining how a setting got to be what it was but rather asks you to infer on character conversations what happened and what the universe is like now. Or clone bases murder mystery thrillers. Or…you get the idea. If you wanna speculate about the social ideas of letting clones interact with one another, and how they might develop individually.

A Morning for Rowan

I hate waking up.

0/10. I don’t like it.

It doesn’t seem to matter what time I go to bed. What I do before I go to sleep. What time I set an alarm for, if I bother to set one at all. I absolutely, 100%, hate waking up in the morning. Every single morning the actual act of getting out of bed is a Herculean act because what I’d really rather do is snuggle back into my pillow, pull up an audiobook, and snooze while some dulcet toned narrator works their magic through my headphones.

This is what happens when you have depression. The night before I spent thirty minutes mentally planning all the things I’m going to do the following day and when I wake up all of those goals have suddenly become burdens. What’s the point of getting up when I know very well that I’m not actually going to clean out that closet. That there will be emails from work that I don’t want to answer. That big, healthy breakfast I’d been dreaming about only eight hours before is nothing but the dishes that I don’t want to do.

But sooner or later it happens. I’ll be there, mindlessly scrolling TikTok or pushing past last nights water bottle to find whatever book I’ve been meaning to read and there will be a pat pat pat on my bedroom door.

Is it a goblin? Is it a ghost? Is it Publisher’s Clearing House with a check for half a million dollars?

Answer? No.

It’s Rhiannon.

I didn’t actually mean to adopt Rhiannon. I went to the cat shelter sometime last year with the intention of adopting a completely different cat. But she was sprawled out on the very top shelf in the kitten room, one silver paw dangling, looking like a miniature work of art. The love, on my part, was instant. She was so dang cute. A tiny silver feline princess with little gray stripes. I went to pet her. She sprang up, crawled under a toy chest, and hid.

Pretty much how I respond when someone goes to touch me.

I adopted Rhiannon and her brother Odin. Rhiannon wanted nothing to do with me. Odin wanted to be in everything. Sadly, Odin didn’t stay with us, which is a post for another time. Rhiannon, however, stuck around. For the first nine weeks she was in my house she stayed tucked away in whatever hidey spot that she could find, absolutely unwilling to be sociable. Being unsociable myself, I didn’t push. The cat center had made it clear that Rhiannon and her liter had been found taped up in a box. She didn’t trust humans. It was going to take a lot of time.

Same, little girl.

Last winter was a cold one. And I spent a good deal of it parked in front of the fireplace, trying to figure out which half-finished novel I was going to dedicate myself to so that I could start publishing. I have a love of fireplaces. The house my semi-nomadic family had stayed in the longest had come with a wood burning stove as a means of central heat. There is something about the crackle of fire and the pop of logs that has always soothed me. Imagine my surprise when, after digging through two different thumbdrives of unfinished work, I felt a small nudge against my toes.

There she was, this pint sized beauty, not looking at me, but starring into the fire. She’d been ignoring me for weeks save for peering around the fridge when I filled her food dishes, but there she was.

The next morning she was sitting outside my bedroom door, waiting for me to go about my morning routine of coffee, some form of breakfast, and totting my laptop to whatever space I wanted to write in. As encouragement, I opened a treat box and tossed a few for her to chase after. Together we curled up in front of a new fire, and I picked a novel to work on.

This became a habit for the pair of us. An amusing way to wake up for me. I open the door and there she would be, starring up at me with big green eyes, and scurrying off to the kitchen so that she could chase treats while my coffee brewed. It made waking up easier, for a while. Something to look forward too.

But, as anyone with depression knows, just because something works for a while, doesn’t mean that it works forever. A few weeks after establishing our rhythm I had a bad morning. One of those mornings where everything just falls on you. A long, ugly morning where your worst thoughts become your only thoughts and no matter how hard you try to pull yourself out of it, you just get sucked in deeper.

That’s when I heard it for the first time. pat pat pat. A rustle at my door. I’ll be honest, at first I ignored it. My apartment is the mother in law suite over a well used garage. The rent is cheap but the garage is well used. I assumed that it was someone puttering around below and pulled a blanket up. The sound came again, and again. I started to get annoyed. Didn’t anyone realize I was having a mental break down? Couldn’t they just leave me and my bitter, black coffee thoughts alone? All my ugly thoughts were over ridden with aggrieved curiosity. Finally, I got up. I yanked open the bedroom door and there she was, starring up at me with the international look of an annoyed cat.

For about 0.003 seconds I was pissed. Who did this cat think she was? I was the lady of the house, not her. And yet, as I contemplated shutting the door and returning to my den of self-loathing, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was out of bed. That I could start my day. And also that my cat was pretty sure that it was time to chase some treats.

I’m not saying that everyone with depression should get a cat. But like…maybe just stop by your local SPCA and see if anything jumps out at you.