He will always be my princess
A tribute to my cat, a discussion of The Newsroom, and, as always, events and resources
Sometimes I have to escape the written word. Sometimes my eyes hurt, or my brain runs out of juice. Sometimes I don’t even have it left in me to read for pleasure.
So I watch some TV. I love documentaries, and anything about fashion, and stand-up comedy. (I made my daughter watch Steve Martin’s The Jerk for my birthday.)
Last night I discovered The Newsroom on HBO Max. I don’t mean discover as in “I didn’t know this existed,” but discovered as in “I didn’t have access to this back-in-the-day” so I’m really excited now. The pilot is ridiculously long. Despite two sittings, I still haven’t finished it. But I did just hear the best quote from Mackenzie, the potential executive producer on the news program. She defines good journalism as:
“…speaking truth to stupid.”
So simple. So direct.
And at the end of the episode, when it was stated that the executive producer was emotionally and physically exhausted, Mackenzie replies:
“I’ve been exhausted since I was thirty. Everyone’s exhausted.”
Who here can relate?
He will always be my princess
In late fall 2019, my neighbor discovered that a stray cat in the neighborhood had crawled under her porch and given birth to kittens. My daughter set out to trap them, and we fairly quickly brought home the runt. It was Christmas season and the Judi Dench version of Cats was in theaters. So, my daughter convinced me to let her keep the almost pure grey kitten and named him Mistophelees, nicknamed Misty for short.
The second kitten was caught and homed, and the neighborhood folks called that kitten Smoky, thinking Misty’s name was a comment on his coloring.
But the final kitten lasted well into January and was two months old by the time it was caught. No one had any intention of keeping this kitten, and I jokingly named it Fog to keep with the theme.
Fog had evaded the trap by sticking his paw through the bars and getting the food that way. As a young kitten!
We had two cats at the time, Opie and Oz, both eight years old and male. Opie quickly became a father figure to Fog, and Fog and Misty loved being reunited. And in the cat world, two kittens are easier than one, especially when introducing them to an existing cat dynamic.
The two kittens— the boys or the greybies as we called them— came of age in the middle of the Pandemic. We found a local cat rescue to help us get them neutered and that launched a three-year stint in cat rescue and fostering.
[Fun fact: I thought Fog was a girl for several weeks. I called him my princess, and even after I saw his penis I still called him my princess. He will always be my princess.]
Fog bonded to me, and he has been by my side for the last five years. Purring loudly, snuggling fiercely and chirping like a full-bred Chartreuse.
Last night, I hopped in the shower late and didn’t stop in my room to feed Nala the Goffin or plug in my phone. I planned to bathe, do the necessary chores and flop on my bed. But when I opened my bedroom door, Fog was not there. Fog usually tries to open the door to get to me when he hears my footsteps.
When I followed the foot of the bed to where the cats have food and water, I discovered Fog dead by the water bowl. Old man Opie, now 14, hopped onto the floor beside the corpse.
In March 2019, about seven or eight months before Fog was born, Opie lost one of his front legs to bone cancer in his kitty-cat elbow. And now, he was helping us bury Fog.
I didn’t expect to lose a five-year-old cat so suddenly, but I suppose life happens. And I’d rather lose him suddenly than see him suffer. He’ll never get sick again. I mention my cat in today’s newsletter because it’s a reminder of how much relationships can provide us— even if it’s with an animal— and how quickly things change.
More resources for Writers
I budget a regular amount of time to read other people’s newsletters, download their reader magnets and attend free webinars.
As a member of Behind Our Eyes, the email-based writing group for people with disabilities, I receive information from other writers about resources and opportunities. Clenell Anthony, the author of the romantic thriller Fractured (which I recently completed and please please please if you want to read a fantastic disabled main character read this book. The novel, like most books, has its own imperfections but if you want to get an accurate picture of visual impairment in real life, check this out… but I digress.)
Anyway, Nell posted some free writing craft “books.” (They were mostly reader magnets.) So I read a bunch. At the end of this newsletter, I will post my thoughts on the following materials:
Pages & Platforms Book Marketing Workbook by Sue Campbell
The Six-Step Revision Process by Miranda Darrow
7 Steps to Starting your Novel by Rebecca L. Fearnley
Creating A Writing Ritual: Journaling Prompts for Crafting your Ideal Writing Routine and Environment by Megan Fuentes
Now, this list originally included:
What Writing Fiction Crafts Books Left Out by Lori Puma
BUT, this one was a PDF so it didn’t load into the ereader in a format easy-to-read. It’s 31 pages long, and that’s a lot to read in tiny type on a phone and causes me to ask questions about why an author would distribute a pdf in Bookfunnel instead of doing something that reads like a book in the Bookfunnel app.
It looks like it has a lot of good information, but it was just really hard to see. I thought the author’s name was Leo Flume, for instance.
EVENTS
(I apologize for literally copying and pasting some of this list from a previous newsletter. I did some of this content in the days before Fog’s death and am now finishing post Fog’s funeral and this feels like the best option. I did however add some details and events where applicable.)
THIS WEEK! At the Hellertown Library at 10:30 a.m. May 31, join oral storyteller and author Larry Sceurman and publisher Angel Ackerman for a short, interactive program on how to transform that story you’ve told for years into print. They will discuss deciding on your audience and format, and offer tips for transforming an oral story into formal writing. Even if you don’t think you’re a writer, this is a great way to preserve your personal and family history. Please pre-register for this free workshop: (610) 838-8381.
At 4 p.m. Sunday, June 1, author Hugo Yelagin will host a launch party for his cosmic horror novel, Deadlights, at downtown Easton’s Book and Puppet Company. Hugo’s debut novel, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, blends horror and hope as protagonist Maxwell Corvid faces his family legacy— which is also his nightmare. Reserve your copy of the novel through Book & Puppet here.
Also June 1, Julian Costa releases his third book with Parisian Phoenix, Coach of the Building, chronicling the career of educator Richard Carty in time for the 25th anniversary of the opening of East Stroudsburg North High School.
LATER
On June 7, the Echo City Capers duo will be selling and signing books at Moravian Historical Society Arts & Crafts Festival in Nazareth, Pa. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, click here.
At the Ice House in Bethlehem on June 10, the Queer Book Fair sponsored by the Ice House Literary Arts Committee. Parisian Phoenix will be there highlighting our books by queer authors and talking about publishing opportunities. Details to come!
On June 14, Larry Sceurman will participate in Local Authors Day at Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, Pa. Look for more details on that event soon!
On June 16, McKenna Graf will launch her newest poetry collection, The Depths, the third volume in her archive of adolescence series, with an audiobook releasing on Bandcamp. Print version will be available all the usual places.
And on June 21, we will join the Pocono Liars Club at the Eastern Monroe Public Library in Stroudsburg, Pa., for their 2025 Author Expo with a theme of END BOOK BANNING. That event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Click here for more information.
June 24, McKenna Graf will be at the Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, 6 to 7:30 p.m., promoting The Depths.
July 4, the official release of Benjamin Goluboff’s and Mark Luebbers’ poetry chapbook, Group Portrait, a unique interpretation of a photographic portrait in the World War II era from Peggy Guggenheim’s art salon.
July 14, the official release of Motorhome Gypsies, our RV Living book that is part memoir and part practical advice, by Rachel Thompson and Lisa Cross. We may have a cover reveal soon!
On August 16, I will be hosting a memoir workshop from 1 to 4 p.m. at Blank Space Community Center, 85 Makefield Road Unit 7, Yardley, Pa., 19067. Tickets will be $40 and will include print materials. Details to be announced soon.
Also in August, the release of Any Landing You Walk Away from is a Good Landing, historical fiction about the airline industry in the throes of 1980’s deregulation. The author of that book is retired flight attendant Dawn O’Harra.
Well, that’s all I got in me today.
Thank you for sharing the journey with me.
As always—
Angel
DID YOU KNOW…
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