Writing & Patches

 I want a break from my computer.

That doesn’t sound very good when you consider a couple years ago, I got over 90k in the month of November, and this year I barely managed to get 50k and that on the 29^th of the month!

When Tom was alive, I could reach 50k by Thanksgiving, or even the day before, this year more often than not, I took a nap after work instead of writing. If it hadn’t been for Zoom based write-ins, I might not have finished at all! At least I had something to focus me because the rest of the time I was working, napping, or distracted by my phone.

Maybe what I should do is turn my ringer off anytime I want to sit down and write.

Though that wouldn’t help completely because you see, Patches has a tendency to decide he wants my attention as soon as I open my laptop.

I swear, he’ll be napping across the room and as soon as I open my laptop, he jumps onto my add-a-space (what I use for a desk) wanting my attention. You would think he was a kid, not a cat.

I mean, I know the tendency of kids to always seem to know when their mother was busy and absolutely need their mother at that very second. Kids always interrupt their mother as soon as she sits on the john or puts a phone to her ear. Konnie has complained about this several times, and I promise, I have seen it myself. But I’ve never seen that in a cat!

And worse still, Patches follows me all over the house, I swear, when you walk by my apartment whatever window he’s in, that’s the room I’m in nine times out of ten.

Of course, that’s if he’s in a window, and also is contingent on if I have company or not.

Patches loves to go outside, but if someone knocks on my door? Boom his gone, hiding in my room somewhere. If they stay long enough, or if he knows them already, he will come out, but at first, he hides.

I have seen house cats, as in cats that never go outside, hide from visitors, but never a cat that goes outside every time I open the door. It isn’t as though there aren’t other people around my building during the day, because there are, it is an apartment building after all, albeit a small one, but the only time he’s ever decided he didn’t want to go out after all was once when the garbage truck was out front getting the dumpster and another time when it was raining pretty hard.

Boy did he dive back into the house that time!

Oh, I almost forgot a couple of times when he heard a dog barking nearby, not even a big dog, it was clearly a smaller size just by the tone of the bark and this is a cat that lived in a house with labs and Labradoodles for the first eight weeks of his life. But I promise, a few weeks ago, as I backing out of my driveway, I spotted a small mutt (this dog was about the same size as Patches, but I couldn’t distinguish a bred) come over the divide between the land our building is on and the neighboring land, and Patches, upon seeing him, arched his back, hissed, the whole nine yards. 

So, I guess maybe he isn’t all that fearless, but man I never expected that! Had I not been running late at the point; I’d have stopped and let him back in.

Newsflash, he was fine when I returned after work.

Though I have to admit at one point I thought maybe Patches was afraid of men. Based on the fact that on the day my male landlord came with two male helpers to do a bunch of repairs and maintenance and the entire time they were in and out of my apartment, Patches would run and hide when they came in, and tiptoe out, like he was checking if it was all clear, the second they left, then disappear again when they returned.

But he blew that all away when a friend of mine called and asked me if I wanted the Sacrament brought to me because her husband was willing and able. I agreed and thought Patches, who knew my friend from previous visits might just come out after a minute, but wouldn’t go to her husband.

So, who does Patches go to first?

Her husband!

Okay, he’s not afraid of men after all.

Sometimes I feel like he’s acting like a toddler! Following me everywhere, demanding attention when I’m busy, and occasionally throwing tantrums!

Happy writing everyone!