Tickling My Muse

My muse is alive and...musing? Although I've had a couple of days with little or no time to write, I'm managing to average that 1000 words a day so far this month. Yesterday I banged out over a thousand words in the two hours I had available. That made up for the days with only a couple hundred in the fifteen minutes here and ten minutes there.

I started a critique group several weeks ago as well. My crit buddies, Lisa and Mark, are giving me some excellent feedback. After writing and reading my work, I often overlook simple mistakes or don't notice holes in the plot. I have all the backstory in my head and have to make a conscious effort to remember that my readers won't have that advantage. I hope Mark and Lisa are getting as much from the group as I am.

Well, back to the keyboard!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick!

Canine Diabetes

The first week of January my vet diagnosed my son's dog with diabetes. Our ten-year-old "puppy" had been drinking over a gallon of water a day. From his annual checkup in late October to his sick visit two months later he went from 78 pounds to 63 pounds. Yeah, that sounds like a lot. To be truthful, it's easy to overlook in a large dog. After a urine glucose test and an in-office blood test, the doctor put him on Vetsulin--the veterinary equivalent of insulin. Normal blood sugar range for a dog is between 80 and 120. Our poor guy came in at 406. So, I began giving twice-a-day 10 units insulin shots and checking his blood sugar level once a day with a urine test strip. Every three days we returned to the vet's office for a blood test of his glucose level. We have since gone up in dosage to 12, 15, 18, 21, and 25 units twice a day, and we've watched his blood sugar go from 406 to 606, 586, 604, 587, 583, and 612. The urine test strips show a consistent 1/2 reading.

Today our puppy spent the day at the vet's having blood drawn every three hours to check his blood sugar. It ranged from 496 to 512, a sign that Vetsulin is not working. We have switched to a human insulin--Novolin. Because this insulin is more concentrated, we are beginning back at 10 units again twice a day.

Canine diabetes is similar to human diabetes in symptoms, treatments, and side affects. Already suffering from cataracts before the diagnosis, they have advanced to the point of completely obscuring his vision in a very short time. At about $2500 per eye for cataract surgery, correcting the problem is not a financially viable option for us. Treating diabetes in animals can be expensive as I am discovering, but how do I put a price on my son's pet?

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With a Kick

Yay for me!!!

I met my writing goal for January! With a few late nights and a lot of hard work, I wrote 31,011 words for the month. Now that 1000 words a day for the year doesn't seem quite so daunting, especially with some fellow writers shooting for the same goal with me.

I also managed to squeeze in Pilates three mornings a week all month. Another goal accomplished for January! And I feel great! Could be one of the reasons for my productive writing month.

I'm working on my goal of acquiring an agent. After sending an email query last week, I received a request for a partial manuscript the same day! It's as scary as it is exciting. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this agent will like my work and request the full manuscript, putting me that much closer to selling a manuscript this year. Achieving these two goals would make my 2010!

Mellanie Szereto
Romance...with a Kick!