Been a bit busy again. New cat and all. The cats are not talking yet, when I open the door and they get to see each other they keep at a distance and stare quietly. Which is better than growling or yowling, anyway.
The new cat needed a haircut. His fur was so badly matted, after having spend nearly six months with not much grooming, that when I took him to the vet they needed to shave some of it off. His nether end is now nearly bare, as is half of his tail which makes it look like some kind of bizarre combination of the tails of a lion (tuft in the end) and a giant rat (the bare part). Poor guy does not look very dignified right now.
And surprise, he’s a functional tom. Both balls intact. I never asked anybody but the girl who first told me about him and she assumed he had probably been neutered, and after he came here I just never checked. And that was in the very badly matted part. But yes, two surprises when the vet assistant went there and shaved.
I’m afraid he may lose them if I keep him. And unless there is big trouble with Pörri I intend to, that is a very nice old cat.
But, anyway, I’m writing the sf story, and it will probably take at least a month more before I’m at the halfway point, but seems none of the friends who have done some beta reading for me are able to do it now, they are all rather busy with work, or looking for work, or moving. So I’d welcome new ones. Especially anyone who has read my stuff and likes it. I think that system works best – if you like the style of writing used in a story it’s easier for you to spot the way to make it better as itself without trying to change it to something else entirely. Plus it’s, of course, a lot easier to beta something you enjoy reading, perhaps especially when it’s still only half baked. 🙂
And it would be good to have more English speakers as betas, too. My Finnish ones may be able to tell me about how the story hangs together, or if there are logic holes in it, and whether the characters stay true to themselves, but not necessarily that much about the language. And so far I have had only one native English speaking beta reader, a guy originally from New Zealand, and he probably can’t do it again, or for a while, not in a useful way anyway since right now he seems to be rather busy with his own life. Not enough time for him to start making notes while he reads, all he can do is perhaps to read it through and give some general impressions, if that.
If interested send me an email.
P.S. I have cat photos I’d love to show. Taken with my phone. Then I found out my phone and my computer refuse to talk, probably because the operating system on the computer is perhaps just a tad out of date as far as the much newer phone is concerned. Working on it.
Northern dreaming 
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