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Waiting Fennik

Happy Father’s Day everyone. I hope you are having a good day. It is currently very warm where I live. Nearly every day this week is supposed to top 90. I don’t mind the heat. I wish we had some more rain to go with it, but I’d certainly rather the heat than the cold.

Today’s photo is compliments of Fennik. He is deaf and can’t hear when I come home. I have two main doors I leave through and typically he will wait beside the one I exited for me to come back. He gets confused when I leave through one and come back through another. This particular day, I had to leave several times and often came back through a different door. I’d been home maybe five to ten minutes before I took this picture. I was in the kitchen, putting some things away and when I walked into the living room, there he was, sitting in the chair and staring out the window, waiting for me to come home. He had no idea I’d been there for the past few minutes.

While I wish he could hear, having a deaf dog isn’t all bad. Fen could care less about thunderstorms or fireworks (very important as we are entering the month of July soon). He also doesn’t react if there is a vocal animal in the clinic waking up from anesthesia or in an exam room. He just lays by my desk and snores the day away. I try and enrich his life as much as possible and still talk to him all the time. I suppose that’s more for my benefit than his. Regardless, I wanted to share this picture with the rest of you.

I also wanted to give some updates regarding upcoming books. First off, thank you all for supporting the Perfect Pixie series. It was sad ending it, but it doesn’t feel truly over with Erasmus Boone’s first book coming out soon (hopefully by the end of July). I just started reading through the first round of editing and it will go to the proofreader next weekend. The book cover is being created and as soon as it is done, I will get Erasmus’s book up for pre-order. I’ve really struggled on a title. I believe I’ve settled on, “Deadly Lineage”. I will certainly post a blog update when it is available for pre-order.

I’ve started writing the fourth, and final, book in the Maverick Mysteries series. I do know the title of this one, “Paved with Good Intentions”. It’s always more of a struggle writing this time of year as there is so much to do outside and my writing time is limited. I love being outdoors and hate to waste the opportunity, especially when I know winter is never far away and will eliminate outdoor plans when it arrives. The last few years I’ve started going on more walks around my neighborhood and also to local parks. I hope to travel to a few more state parks that are a bit further away in the near future.

Work is still busy, however, I think we are getting back to “pre-COVID” levels. That seems to be mostly across the board in veterinary medicine. It truly depends on the day. Some days we run around and wish we had more time and other days it’s more relaxed. Veterinary medicine is predictably unpredictable which is a difficult pill to swallow for this A-type personality who thrives on planning the day.

Newton is doing well and is a constant source of entertainment. He is such a cat! Cat’s crack me up and sometimes I just sit there and shake my head at him. Poor Fen wishes he understood cat behavior better too. Sometimes Fen looks at me and all I can do is shrug and say, “I’ve got no idea either, bud”.

That’s all for now. I’ve been wanting to post an update for a bit and either forget or run out of time. I loved this picture of Fennik and thought it was good motivation to finally sit down and give an update. Until the next time, stay well and for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, get out and enjoy the warmer weather while we’ve got it. Mother Nature is far more creative than anything I can think up in my brain. I hope you can all take a moment or two to appreciate her hard work.

Take care and stay sane,

MJ May

Side note: If not out already, the final pixie book should be released soon on audio. Thanks so much to Podium for putting them out there 🙂

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Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie Available for Pre-Order

Good morning. I’m happy to post that the fifth (and final) book in the Perfect Pixie series is now available for pre-order and should be delivered April 29th. Although this is the final book in this series, there will be a spin-off revolving around a brand new character that we meet in this final book (the epilogue here is key). Our pixie friends and their cohorts will pop up now and again in the new series, but won’t be the main focus. As of this blog post, I’m about half-way through writing the first installation in this new series. I hope to have it out by late summer or early fall.

Writing the Perfect Pixie series has been a tremendous amount of fun. I really enjoy the world they live in and imagine I’ll write several more storylines based on the rules and setting of this world. When I’m finished with the current book, I’ll probably start on the final book in the Maverick Mysteries series. I enjoy writing Perry’s and Nate’s characters and am eager to finish up their tale.

I believe the audiobooks are going well. It is my understanding that Perfectly Charmed Pixie should be out soon, if not already. Perfectly Perplexing Zombie will be out soon also and I’ve uploaded Purrfectly Perplexing Pixie for Podium to start work on. I really hope people are enjoying the audio versions. As I’ve said before, I’m a reader. I’m very new to the audiobook world.

Veterinary medicine seems to be settling back to its “pre-COVID” days. I don’t believe that’s just our clinic, but most veterinary clinics around the U.S. We’re still busy, but not as overwhelmed as we’ve been the past few years. I would love to be able to take either another day, or half-day off work in the future and now that it is calming some, that might be possible. Not immediately, but there’s a glimmer shimmering out there somewhere.

I feel like a lot has happened since my last post. Nothing terrible, just a few odds and ends. I had another birthday and am yet that much closer to the big 50. Yes, I’m old 😦 I believe I’m typical when I say that I’d like my younger body back, but not my younger self’s brain, emotions, or angst. I’m not going to say I’m a pillar of emotional health, but it is sooooo much better than it used to be. I credit writing and age for that one. Writing gives my brain a brake and I think there are some things you simply don’t figure out until you’ve got a few moons under your belt. Maybe I was just a slow learner. Since I can only live my life and no one else’s, I’m not sure.

Thankfully the weather is getting better. As usual, spring’s weather is akin to one of those roller coasters that make me vomit. I’d rather get on the tiny-tot one, but that’s not what Mother Nature throws our way this time of year. Today is supposed to be lovely and despite the fact one of the doctors at the clinic gave me her cold crude, I intend to take full advantage. I’ll be snotty and coughing, but I doubt the birds and squirrels will mind terribly much. While I love this time of year, there’s so much to do that I often get a bit overwhelmed. I also don’t get as much writing done because when it’s nice outside, you’ve got to take advantage.

Adding to the outside shenanigans this year . . . I decided to put up a pergola and grow grapes. It sounded like a fantastic idea in the middle of January. I still think it’s a good idea, but building the pergola is a bit more complicated than I originally thought. My dad is graciously helping me and we’ve roped my brother-in-law and nephew in on the action a time or two. I’ve never grown grapes before (or any edible crop—I’m a flower lady). We’ll see how it goes. I’ll say one thing though—that pergola isn’t going anywhere. It’s one solid piece of outdoor finery.

Fen Fen and Newton are doing well. Newton had another birthday, not that he looks a day over two. I’ve already opened the windows in the house and he’s currently lounging on his cat window seat. That’s great because it means he’s not sitting in front of the computer or plopping his butt on the keyboard as I try and type this. Fen is currently licking a spot on the carpet. I have no idea why. God only knows what’s there. I love him to pieces, but sometimes he is terribly gross. I’ve caught Newton giving Fen similar looks, making me believe the cat and I are on the same page regarding that thought.

That seems about it for now. I sincerely hope you like Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie (I think I’ve enjoyed naming the books as much as I’ve liked writing them). I can’t thank you all enough for your support and comments. You’ve allowed me to share my characters and the hopefully charming worlds they live within and that means more than I can ever say.

Until next time, stay well, safe, and sane. It’s tough out there.

MJ May

As an aside, if anyone catches an error in the blurb for Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie, let me know. No idea why, but the program was being fussy about copy and paste. Patience at an end, I retyped it into the section for KDP. I reread it several times, but there could still be typos. Thanks so much!

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The Road to Hell: Maverick Insurance Mysteries Book III Available for Pre-order

Good morning! I’m happy to report that the third installment in the Maverick Insurance Mysteries series is now available for pre-order and will be released March 1st. Whew . . . I feel like this one has been a long time coming. I really enjoy writing Nate and Perry’s characters. The third book moves the story along and opens a few character’s eyes. There will be at least one more book in this series (no, I haven’t started it, but I have a vague notion where we are going). The last installment will hopefully be out later this year, most likely fall, and will be titled, “Paved with Good Intentions”.

The fifth, and final, pixie book is currently in editing. I finally settled on a title, “Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie”. No, that’s not a typo (hint, hint). While this will be the final book in the Perfect Pixie series, I do have plans to write more stories within this universe. The epilogue in the final book more than hints that direction. My hope is that book 5 will be available by late spring or early summer.

For those of you who enjoy audiobooks, “Perfectly Perfect Pixie” should now be available for purchase. There was a delay, but all is well now. Podium has picked up the rights to all the pixie books, so fingers crossed, eventually they will be available on audio.

For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, we are stuck in the doldrums of winter. Those of you who’ve read my posts in the past know I’m not a fan. We had about 2 weeks of nothing but rain, mist, freezing rain, spitting snow, snow, or some variation of clouds and precipitation. I was starting to believe the sun got tired of our solar system and decided to vacate the premises. It was so unbelievably dreary. I will take freezing cold with sun over that. Or, at least I’ll take it after day after day of blah. Currently, the sun is shining once more, proving it is stuck with us.

Veterinary work is plugging along. I had a very satisfying case a couple of weeks ago when I removed a foxtail (plant, not a mammalian tail) out of a dog’s nose. The thing had been lodge up there since November. Ouch! There aren’t a lot of times where I feel like I instantly improve an animal’s life, this was one of those special occasions. I was be-bopping around the clinic all day. I wish all days felt half that satisfying.

Fennik and Newton are also plugging along. Their relationship is a strange one, but infinitely enjoyable to watch. Newton is such an instigator. Fennik will look at me sometimes with this confused look on his face and all I can do is shake my head and shrug because I have no idea either. Still, they make me laugh and bring a lot of joy. In my humble opinion, life is infinitely better with a furry friend around.

Until next time, stay well—mentally and physically. Try and stay warm and go stand out in the sun as often as you can. I hope you enjoy “The Road to Hell”.

MJ May

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Perfectly Perplexing Zombie Now Available!

I can’t believe Christmas is only two days away. I swear, time really does fly. It doesn’t appear that we’ll have a white Christmas where I live. Rain—yes. Snow—no. I’m not truly upset about that. While I think snow is pretty, it is horrible to drive in and if we did have inclement weather that day that would mean those employed to clear the roads would be pulled away from their families and loved ones. So, rain it is!

As the title and picture on this post indicate, the fourth book in the Perfect Pixie series is out. Perfectly Perplexing Zombie follows Wendall Galen’s and Hellfire Rayburn’s story. I enjoyed writing Wendall’s character the most—especially the bits involving Trinket (you’ll meet the little scuttlebutt in the story). This book also starts moving the general, overall storyline in the series further along. Book five, which I am currently writing, will conclude this series. I do have plans brewing in my head to write other stories that take place in this universe. I’m also still toying with the idea of writing a book of short stories pertaining to side characters throughout.

As an FYI, unfortunately, Perfectly Perfect Pixie’s audiobook date release has been pushed back to February 6th. From what I understand there were some narrator issues, but everything should be fine. I’ve gotten some great feedback regarding the Perfectly Imperfect Pixie audio recording. The same voice actors will be used for Perfectly Perfect Pixie.

The third Maverick Insurance Mystery book is currently going through editing and will hopefully be released sometime in February. That is the current goal. I believe there will be four books total in this series. I will start on the fourth one as soon as I finish the fifth pixie book.

On the veterinary front, we are still busy, although I do believe it’s slowed down some from last year. This time of year often brings a lot of euthanasias and that is sometimes difficult to get through.

Anyone who has a job working with the public is well aware that it can be a mixed bag. I have clients that I adore and look forward to seeing. They are the shining lights in my day. And then there are others that act like social vampires that suck the joy right out of your soul. I’d really like to get back to the days where being an asshat was considered an embarrassment instead of a right to be celebrated. Maybe we’ll get back to that point someday, but so far I haven’t seen a lot of evidence leading that direction. In fact, I’d say it’s the opposite.

Hmm . . . sorry, that wasn’t very upbeat or in the holiday spirit so I’ll finish on a high note. I am looking forward to Christmas this year as I think I got some surprise gifts my family will like. Shh, don’t tell, but Fennik is getting a peanut butter stuffed hoof and Newton is getting a couple fo new toys he can beat the shit out off before batting them under some piece of furniture where they disappear until God knows when.

I’ll end there and wish everyone happy holidays and a very happy and safe New Year. I’ll throw in a wish for everyone to try and hold on to their sanity. I doubt most Americans are looking forward to 2024. As much as I’m dreading the upcoming election year, I keep reminding myself that I am blessed to be able to vote and have a say in my future. I will keep that in mind as I lay awake at night worrying. Choice is a precious gift. One that should never be squandered or taken for granted.

Stay well, safe, and as content as possible.

MJ May

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Festive House

Good morning all! I thought I’d post a photo of my house all decked out for Christmas. I changed up the lights this year. I’ve used all green lights in the past but decided to change to mostly blue this year. I typically wait until Thanksgiving or the weekend after to decorate, but we had great weather last week. It was about 65 degrees on my day off. I just couldn’t pass up that kind of opportunity. Normally I’m freezing when I put up the lights. This year, I was sweating. It was weird.

I don’t usually decorate inside the house and don’t plan to this year either. When I was younger, I loved Christmas and couldn’t wait to decorate inside and out. As I’ve gotten older, Christmas has lost a lot of its shine (for me at least). However, I still really like the outside lights. It starts getting cold, gloomy, and dark this time of year and the lights help brighten the atmosphere.

Speaking of Christmas . . . Perfectly Perfect Pixie is coming out on audio December 26th. Yeah! Podium has purchased the rights to all the pixie books so hopefully all of them will have an audio option. It is currently available for pre-order.

I just finished writing the third Maverick Insurance Mystery story. It will get sent off to start the editing process next week and will hopefully be available Jan/Feb of 2024. I plan to start writing the fifth (and most likely, final) pixie book this week. We’ll get introduced to a new pixie custom made for Lucroy’s right hand vamp, Leon. The fourth pixie book, “Perfectly Perplexing Zombie” will be up for pre-order soon. I’m waiting on it to come back from proofreading, but otherwise, it’s all set. I think it should be available mid to late December.

For those living in the U.S.A. this week is Thanksgiving. I host Thanksgiving. My home isn’t very large, but I don’t have a very big family. We’ll have the typical carbolicious Midwestern holiday meal. I’ll eat way too much and need someone to roll me around, but I’m looking forward to it. The fact I only have to work 2 days in the clinic this week is an added bonus 🙂 The owner of the practice closes the clinic not only on Thanksgiving, but the day and weekend after. It makes for a nice break that everyone can plan for.

That’s all for now. My body and brain are still trying to adjust to going off Daylight Savings Time (I’m still confused why we do this). I figure my biorhythms will work themselves out just about the time we’re ready to go back on Daylight Savings in March.

Until next time, stay well and as sane as possible. Keep those who give you peace close, including the four legged furry ones.

MJ May

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Peaceful Set Up

What? Two posts in one night??? What is going on? 🙂

I wanted to post a picture of my set up when I was on vacation in Ocean Springs. Lathered in sunscreen and protected by my shade umbrella, I spent quite a few hours lounging on the beach, listening to the water and basically doing a whole lot of nothing.

It was wonderful . . . until I got stung by a jelly fish. Still a great trip!

MJ May

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Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Ugh . . . Sorry, I’m running a little late on this one.

I’m such a bad blogger. Perfectly Charmed Pixie was released a week ago, on October 6th. In my defense, I’ve been very busy. That’s still not much of an excuse. I hope you enjoy this story. I sort of fell in love with Parsnip, Vander, and Byx.

On a really positive note, Podium Audio picked up all the Perfect Pixie books! That includes the fourth book, “Perfectly Perplexing Zombie” which will be out toward the end of this year. It is currently in proofreading and the cover was delivered today. All told, I believe there will be 5 pixie books. I haven’t started the fifth one yet, but I’ve got the main characters planned out and I am mentally working through the plot. Currently, I’m writing the 3rd Maverick Insurance Mystery book. I’m not sure of a title yet, but I’m toying with, “The Road to Hell”. The fourth book would then be called, “Is Paved With Good Intentions”. That’s not solid yet, but it’s the way I’m leaning. The third Maverick Insurance Mystery book goes through first editing toward the end of November. I suspicion it will be ready for release in Feb/March of 2024 but time will tell.

Right now, I expect the 5th (and most likely final) pixie book to be out in late spring 2024. I’ve toyed with writing a book of short stories featuring the side characters in the books. No promises, but I think it would be fun.

Even though that will most likely be the final “pixie book”, I enjoy the world they live in and suspect I’ll write more books within this universe. I’ve got a few ideas bouncing around my head that aren’t letting me sleep at night. As with everything, time will tell.

On a personal note, I took my first true vacation in seven years last month. Go me! It was lovely. I went to Ocean Springs, MS. It’s a lovely town and the beach was beautiful. The weather was great (I love the heat) and the people there were kind. The drive was long, but even that was a nice change of pace from the routine.

Veterinary work is still very busy. Some days, I think it might be letting up, and then I’m proven wrong. I was watching a podcast on the state of veterinary medicine this past week and they’re predicting a shortage of 20,000 veterinarians to meet the expected demand in 2030. That is not an encouraging number 😦 The veterinary technician numbers are even worse. Sigh . . . We’ll keep plugging along and trying our best, just like all the other professions out there that are short staffed.

That’s all for tonight. Again, so sorry for not posting Perfectly Charmed Pixie when it was released. My brain gets busy and unfortunately, my mind is more like a sieve than a steel trap these days.

As always, be well and kind. The world is a horribly scary place right now and tensions are high – both at home and abroad. My thoughts and well wishes go out to all. Some days it’s difficult trying to stay positive. For me, reading is even more important to my mental health than ever. I need that escape, however brief, to give my brain a moment to pause and push back the anxiety. I hope that my stories help you do the same.

MJ May

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FenFen is 5!

I want to give a shout out to my dog, Fennik (FenFen). He turned 5 years old on Aug 31st. The ladies at work indulged me once again by helping celebrate his big day. We had cupcakes (white cake), Fen wore his traditional birthday hat, and we sang happy birthday to him. While Fen is deaf and can’t hear the singing, he knows he’s the center of attention and that makes him one happy boy.

I often say Fen is a funny guy and that is no more true than when he’s running around the clinic in his birthday hat. He is incredibly good natured and the perfect, couch potato dog for me. I am very fortunate to have him in my life. Animals, and pets in particular, are a blessing.

For those of you that don’t know, the third pixie book, “Perfectly Charmed Pixie” is now available for pre-order and will be released Oct. 6th (my sister’s birthday 🙂 The fourth pixie book (still unnamed) is currently going through editing. I think all told, there will be five pixie books and possibly a book of short stories regarding side characters. I’ve fallen in love with a lot of the side characters and can think of many ways to expand upon their lives that would not necessarily make for a full length novel.

While I can’t believe Fen is five, it’s nearly as difficult to believe September has rolled around already and it is Labor Day weekend. For those living in the United States, have a safe and happy holiday. For everyone in the world, be well and have a great day.

MJ May

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Perfectly Perfect Pixie Available for Pre-Order

I’m happy to post Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches’s Story, is now available for pre-order. It will be delivered on Aug 7th. Once again, I think Cheriefox did a fantastic job with the book cover. Peaches looks so handsome. Just as I’d love to have a home and hearth pixie, I’d equally love a garden/nature pixie also. We’d all have such beautiful, welcoming homes if that were the case.

I enjoyed writing Peaches’s story. I kind of fell in love with his tenacity in Perfectly Imperfect Pixie. He was always Phil’s biggest defender and supported his friend. I thought it fitting that Peaches have his HEA and what better choice than a 600 year-old vampire? Lucroy needs the type of sunshine that won’t turn him into ash, and Peaches is just the right pixie for the job.

The third book in the Perfect Pixie series is done and currently going through editing. Cheriefox is working on the cover and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. I hope to have Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Parsnip’s Story, out this fall.

On the veterinarian front . . . we are still busy. One of our doctors was away this past week for CE conference with a bit of vacation thrown into the mix. That left just two of us again. I believe this past week reminded us why a third doctor is needed and appreciated.

The new addition is working out well. It is so nice to have more space and not be on top of each other all the time. The only draw back is now I feel like I spend a fair amount of my time circling the building looking for a specific individual. Sometimes it feels like a comedy routine when two of us are looking for each other and just keep going around and around. I’ve learned to just stop and wait for the other person to find me.

Fennik has adjusted to the new office much better than I thought he would. The first week was rough, but after that, he’s back to sleeping and snoring through most of the day. The staff still come in to give him belly rubs and that’s his day. Since he’s deaf, he can’t hear the hustle and bustle of the clinic and manages to sleep/snore through nearly everything. He’s got such a rough life . . .

I can’t believe it’s the middle of July already. My flower garden is so beautiful this year. I love coneflowers and they are blooming like mad. It’s a purple explosion outside my window. I little wren made a nest in a birdhouse my mom made. If you don’t know anything about wrens, let me tell you, for something so small, they have a lot to say and they say it loudly. I can hear their babies chirping away in the bird house, hidden from view by all the little sticks and debris stuffed inside. My hawks didn’t return to nest this year, but the wrens are pretty cute and have been fun to watch and listen to.

I sincerely hope you like Perfectly Perfect Pixie. Phil’s a hard act to follow and I did my best. Phil, Sedrick, and the kids show up here and there throughout. Just as Peaches was integral to Phil’s story, so he is with Peaches.

Take care, stay well and cool (if possible). Take time to read something enjoyable—something that takes you away from your worries and transports you into a sweet fantasy, if only for a short time. It’s good for the brain and the soul.

MJ May

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Perfectly Imperfect Pixie Audio Book Available for Pre Order!

Happy Summer one and all! This will be a quick post (I’ll post something a bit longer in a couple of weeks when the second pixie book is available for pre-order). The first pixie book, “Perfectly Imperfect Pixie” is now available for pre-order on Audible. It is only available on this site. From my understanding, having an Audible subscription is beneficial.

As anyone who’s read my posts before knows, the audiobook world is brand-spanking new to me. This is an exciting endeavor and I hope it is well received. If so, there could be more audiobooks.

“Perfectly Perfect Pixie: Peaches Story” will hopefully be available for pre-order on Kindle in 2-3 weeks. It is currently being proofread. The cover for the book is finished and cheriefox did an amazing job. Peaches looks so handsome. I sincerely hope you love Peaches’s story as much as Phil’s.

The third pixie book, “Perfectly Charmed Pixie: Parsnip’s Story” is currently in the editing phase and the cover is also being worked on. I hope to have it out in the fall. I fourth pixie book is in the works as well. Currently, I plan to start writing the third installment in the Maverick Insurance Mystery series soon.

Thank you all for your support. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you’re having a great summer. For those in the Southern Hemisphere . . . sucks to be you right now. Come January, I’ll be extremely jealous as I’m freezing my ass off in the U.S.

Take care and stay well,

MJ May

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Goes Unpunished: Maverick Insurance Mysteries Book II

Good afternoon! I’m happy to relay that the follow up book to “No Good Deed” is available for pre-order and can be downloaded June 2nd. “Goes Unpunished” continues Nate and Perry’s story with a new murder mystery Detective Nathaniel Harmon and his partner, Detective Natalie Jones need to solve. This murder hits a little close to home and drags Perry’s best friend, Gayle Ripley into the fray.

Nate and Perry’s relationship continues to grow even while Nate’s job constantly pulls him away from the man he’s growing to love. Nate’s continued suspicion regarding Perry’s place of employment constantly plays a discordant background tune.

In other book news . . . I am hopeful the follow up to “Perfectly Imperfect Pixie” will available by the end of July. “Perfectly Perfect Pixie” Peaches story, has gone through its primary editing. Proofreading is still necessary and the cover is being worked on and due back this week (fingers crossed). On Peaches’s heels, is a third pixie book that will be entitled, “Perfectly Charmed Pixie” Parsnip’s story. This book was just sent out for its first round of editing. I expect it to be available this fall.

The audio version of Perfectly Imperfect Pixie is still in the works and is due out in August. I know who the narrators (audio actors) will be, but haven’t heard it yet. As many of you know from past posts, this is my first foray into the world of audiobooks. This is a world I’m a complete novice in. I’m a reader, not a listener, but I understand many like the audiobook world and I’m happy to have a chance to share Phil and Sedrick’s lives with those individuals as well.

On the veterinary front, we have finally opened and moved into the new addition!!! Happy claps all around! It is so nice and much brighter than the older aspect. The new part has LED lighting and lighter paint and flooring. I suspicion LED lighting is in the older part of the building’s future. We are having an open house mid-June. I’m in charge of the vaccination and preventative portion of the open house. I suspicion I’ll be relegated to an older, dimmer section of the building but I can make it work. Fen Fen will be with me, most likely sleeping/snoring in a corner of the room.

Speaking of Fen, I just got a call that he’s ready to be picked up from the groomer. This day couldn’t come fast enough. He was such a stinky boy. Nothing horrid, just dirty dog smell. The last few nights I’ve left the window in his room cracked so it doesn’t stink as bad when I open the door. I only have four legged kiddos, but I imagine it might be similar to living with a teenage boy in the house. Pew! (No offense to the teenage boys in the world. I’m sure some of you have excellent hygiene).

With that, I’ll sign off. I’m thrilled it’s summer, but dismayed that so far, this year is shaping up to be similar to last year—hot and frighteningly dry. I really don’t mind the heat. But I’m scared by the lack of rain. This is becoming a trend I’m very uncomfortable with.

Until next time, please stay well, cool, and as sane as possible. Every time I think the world can’t get nuttier, it goes and proves I’m horribly naive.

MJ May

p.s. I’m thrilled to have another bathroom in the clinic! Is it sad that that’s my favorite part? Maybe.

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No Good Deed

Happy almost end of February! I say that because I’m not a fan of winter. Although, I really can’t complain because this past February has been temperate. The weather is just so unpredictable. Regardless, I’m still ready to move along the calendar year and get closer to spring and summer.

As you can see by the post, a new book gets released. Yeah! “No Good Deed” should be available tomorrow, February 27th on kindle (e-book) and paperback. This one is a contemporary, m/m mystery romance. The follow up book, “Goes Unpunished” will hopefully be out in late spring/early summer. I’m hopeful there will be more in this series, but would like to see readers’ responses. If it is well received, then I will definitely do more. I’ve grown very fond of Perry and Nate, as well as Perry’s cats—Apollo and Starbuck (so say we all). The dedication in “No Good Deed” is very close to my heart and something that was difficult to share.

For those interested in the pixie series, the follow up to “Perfectly Imperfect Pixie” is written, but hasn’t gone through any editing yet. It is set to go for line editing in early April. It normally takes 2-3 months for all the editing to get done and for me to get a book ready for release. Given that, I’m hopeful Peaches story, “Perfectly Perfect Peaches” will be available by late summer, early fall at the latest. I just got started writing a third pixie book this morning. I’m not sure what it will be called yet, but I’m eager to get into Parsley’s story. I’m not sure when the audiobook version of “Perfectly Imperfect Pixie” will be out. My latest update is that they’ve cast the readers. I’m curious to hear what it sounds like.

On the veterinary front, our clinic addition still isn’t done . . . long sigh . . . It is so close it’s almost painful. We are still waiting on the flooring to get done. From what I understand, they are scheduled to do this sometime in March, but I have no idea when in March. When we are really busy and in desperate need of more exam rooms, I stare through the window at the new addition and think longingly about the two extra rooms that are there, just waiting.

I went to a veterinary conference last week. It’s the first time I’ve been in large groups of people since COVID (that’s become a thing now, I’ve noticed. Saying pre, or before, COVID and after). I have to say, I personally haven’t missed those kinds of things. I kind of liked staying home and having zoom conferences. Alas, that doesn’t seem like something that will stick.

Newton and Fennik are still doing well. Newton is increasingly bullying Fen. I’m sure it has something to do with the dynamic of losing his brother, Copernicus, last year. I’m no closer to reading Newton’s mind and understanding his actions than I am any cat. To me, though, that’s the beauty of them.

Until the next post, I hope you are all doing well and managing to enjoy life. That’s often a difficult combination to achieve, but always worth the effort.

MJ May

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Perfectly Imperfect Pixie Coming to Audio!

What’s a gnome doing here? My very talented mom made this for me. If you look closely, the sign it is holding says, “Perfectly Imperfect Gnome”. I thought that was fitting given the title of this post.

I’ve been asked if Perfectly Imperfect Pixie will come out in an audiobook. I’m happy to report that it will! This is my first foray into audiobooks (I’m a reader, not a listener). The process is just getting started. From what I understand, it will take a few months to complete and get out there. The audiobook version will be available on audible and I will make a post when that happens.

I’ve had several readers ask if I plan to write a sequel to Perfectly Imperfect Pixie. The answer is, yes! Kind of . . . it’s not a sequel per se. “Perfectly Perfect Peaches” will be set in the same world and will follow the story of Peaches’s and Lucroy’s relationship told from their POV’s. Phil, Sedrick, and the children will show up throughout, but they aren’t the main focus. I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the book but it won’t go to the editor until early April. At this point, I’m hoping for a mid-summer to late-summer release date.

In the meantime, the first book in the a contemporary m/m romance mystery series, Maverick Insurance Mysteries, is due out in February. The title is, “No Good Deed”. As always, I will post when it is available as well.

As for my full time job . . . we are still waiting on the clinic addition to be finished . . . ugh. We are all ready to spread out a little more. In particular, I’m thrilled we are getting another bathroom in the clinic. I know that sounds silly, but come on, we are a growing group of ladies and we all know bathroom space can be at a premium.

A lot of the edition is complete, but as with everything right now, it’s a lot of hurry up and wait. And wait . . . and wait . . . and . . . well, you get the idea. The owner of the clinic just told me that the flooring can’t be installed until March. Worker shortages are really starting to wear. It’s all over the place. As I think I posted before, I often find myself humming, “Where’d All the Good People Go?” by Jack Johnson. Unfortunately, they have to put the new flooring down before they can finish the new bathroom . . . sigh . . .

Fen Fen and Newton are doing well. Depending on how this week goes, they both might have anesthetic procedures. We tend to fit our own pets in as time allows. I still haven’t figured out if veterinarians’ pets are fortunate or not. At least Fen gets to go into work with me. I often envy him, as he’s laying on his bed beneath my desk, serenading us with his heavy snores.

That’s all for now. I hope you are all well. Mental and physical wellness continues to be a struggle, but I wish each and every one of you the best of luck with that endeavor.

Thank you all for reading Perfectly Imperfect Pixie. I’ve been amazed by the response it’s gotten and genuinely humbled. I always hope my stories are entertaining and help take away from the monotony of the day. If I could, I’d live in my imagination 24-7.

MJ May

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Perfectly Imperfect Pixie

Perfectly Imperfect Pixie is a M/M fantasy romance and will be available for purchase on November 18th. This is a very different book from the Reaping Covetous series. I needed something lighter hearted after finishing that series and Pixies seemed to be the cure.

I hope you fall in love with Phil (Philodendron) the same way I did. The beginning of Phil’s story came to me one day at work, when I was petting my dog, Fennik (FenFen). For those of you who either know me, or have read earlier posts, you know that Fen is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Typical cavies weigh between 15-18 lbs. FenFen comes in at 34. Yes, he could stand to loose a couple of pounds, but he is simply a larger guy. Even though Fen is big, he’s a cavie at heart. His personality is 100% cavalier, despite his size. And thus, the idea of Phil was born. For those interested, I will place the blurb at the end of the post.

On other personal notes, work as as a veterinarian is still busy. We added a third doctor this past June. For better or worse, that hasn’t lightened anyone’s load. Our third doctor is just as busy as anyone else and he’s handled it very well. Being a new grad is always difficult and he’s done very well.

The addition to the clinic is moving along at glacial speed. To anyone working construction or having anything built, that will come as absolutely no surprise. On the plus side, the addition is water tight and progressing. The largest current sticking point is getting an electrician. I might live in Indiana, but the hurricane in Florida has affected us as well. All available electricians are still in Florida helping. I’d love the addition to be finished, but if that is the main reason for the hold up, then I’m okay with it. They need the help more.

On a depressing weather note . . . we were having beautifully unseasonable warm weather for early November with highs in the sixties and seventies . . . and then the bottom dropped out. I kid you not, Thursday, the 10th, it was seventy degrees. Saturday, the 12th, we got over an inch of snow. WTF??? Insert big sigh . . . That’s the weather for you. For the foreseeable future it is cold, cold, cold. I should have put up my outdoor Christmas lights earlier this past week but I just couldn’t. A lot of other people were smarter than me and have theirs up. In a week or two, when I’m shivering and my fingers are numb, I’ll curse myself even more for my stubborn theory that Christmas decorations should go up after Thanksgiving and not a day before.

I should stop writing for now. I need to get back to going through the first editing for the next book, “No Good Deed”. It is the first in a series, the follow up is roughed in and will be called, “Goes Unpunished”. This is also a M/M romance but will be a mystery. Hopefully, “No Good Deed” will be out in late winter 2023 to early spring.

Thank you all for reading and I sincerely hope you like Perfectly Imperfect Pixie. Until next time, stay as well and sane as you can. Enjoy your family and friend time and if the coming holidays are more dread than anticipation, I wish you the fortitude to plow through and get to Jan 2023.

MJ May

Perfectly Imperfect Pixie Blurb:

Size matters. Pixies are supposed to be petite, beautifully lithe creatures with gossamer wings. Sporting luscious, ombre pink hair and fluttering pink wings, Phil meets two out of three of those criteria. At over six feet tall, no one would dare call Phil petite. As a home-and-hearth pixie, Phil yearns to find a home and family he can bond to. When no one’s willing to hire a pixie of his stature, Phil is forced to find work elsewhere. Turns out, pixies make terrible bouncers. 

The sudden death of Sedrick’s brother and sister-in-law left Sedrick Voss a pack of one—plus two young, traumatized were children. Sedrick needs help. He needs a home-and-hearth pixie. But pixies are small, delicate creatures nowhere near sturdy enough to stand up to a couple of growing werewolves. Phil seems like the perfect answer—a pixie that might be able to physically withstand small werewolf teeth and claws. 

Phil is overjoyed, finally able to do a job that speaks to his heart and soul. But peace is a hard-won commodity. Sedrick is in the middle of a nasty custody battle with his niece and nephew’s maternal grandfather—one of the most arrogantly deceitful werewolf alphas to ever lead a pack. If their grandfather gets custody, Sedrick’s niece and nephew are in for a lifetime of manipulation.

Between the custody battle, noxiously invasive garden gnomes, and fairy lawyers, Phil and Sedrick struggle to keep their home and family safe. Werewolves and pixies don’t mate. Phil and Sedrick are about to challenge that misconception. 

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Reaping Consequences Now Available

The final book in the Reaping Covetous series is now out and available in paperback and digital. The series has been an interesting journey for me. I’ve learned a lot but still have much more to discover. On a personal level, I’m happy with the way the series ended and I hope readers are too. I’m switching gears for my next book and Imperfectly Perfect Pixie, a fantasy m/m romance should be out in October.

Summer is still in full swing, but with the younger generation going back to school, it feels like we’re on the downward spiral. September is just a couple short weeks away. Fen Fen will turn 4 August 31st. I haven’t done as big of a party for him the past couple of years, but I will get some cupcakes, candles, and the ladies at work will humor me and sing happy birthday to him. Fen also has a birthday party hat that he wears each year. It is super cute on him.

I’ve finally put my bird feeders back out and once more, the wild birds are eating me out of house and home. I took them down last year when the birds seemed to have some sort of disease and the wildlife experts didn’t want them congregating and potentially spreading it around. I was going to put the feeders back out this spring, but then the nesting hawks found a home in my sycamore tree and it seemed like a poor idea. Or, at least it seemed like a cruel one. From what I read, red-tailed hawks eat more small rodents and snakes than birds, but they will eat our feathered friends and I felt like placing the bird feeders out was sort of like a free lunch for the hawks and a potential death sentence fo the smaller birds. Maybe I overthought things, but that’s nothing new for me.

As far as the hawks are concerned, my nesting pair successfully reared 2 out of 3 of their babies. One fell out of the sycamore tree when it was very young. The other two lived and I got to watch them hop through nearby trees and take small flights until they were ready to go farther out. I don’t see them much any longer. I do hear them at times, but again, not nearly so often. They were fun to watch and I loved having them. They were also a little disturbing at times. I was witness to one of the adult hawks carrying up a snake for their kiddos and got to see one of the youngsters slurp the snake down like a spaghetti noodle. That’s a mental image I’ll carry with me for a while.

Work is as busy as ever. Our third doctor started in June and he’s doing a great job, especially for just graduating from veterinary school. It’s fascinating, watching him grow and learn. It’s been 20 years since I was in that position and I don’t miss those days. The addition we’re putting on the clinic is taking shape. As with all things right now, supply is an issue and it takes longer than it should to get anything done as we wait for the next product to come in. It will be nice when it’s done. Sometimes I fear we’ve already outgrown the addition before it’s complete.

I hope you are all doing well. Some days, that’s a difficult bill to fill. A little over a month ago, I had COVID for the first time and have to say I don’t care to have it again. Thankfully I recovered just fine, but felt like shit while I had it. My sense of smell was gone for about 2 weeks after. It’s back now and I have to say I think the sense of smell might be overrated, at least in my profession. I didn’t miss being able to smell anal glands, poo, bloody poo, vomit, tom-cat urine, etc . . .

I’m wishing everyone well and hope you enjoy the final installment of the Reaping Covetous series. I’m going to miss the characters, but they stay with me, whispering in the back of my mind, telling me their stories.

MJ May

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Pushing Up Roses: Reaping Covetous VI Available

Happy June everyone! I can’t believe it is June 1st already. I’m sure we’ll all be hearing that a lot today. I’d rather hear that than, “I can’t believe it’s January 1st”. But I’m not a big fan of winter so that just might be me.

The second to last book, Pushing Up Roses, in the Reaping Covetous series, is now available for purchase in digital and paperback from Amazon. I really like the cover on this one. If it’s not my favorite, then it’s in the top three. Hopefully, book seven, “Reaping Consequences” will be out in August. That will be the final book in this series. For those who read book six and seven, you can see there is a spin off that is swirling around in my brain. If it does get written, it won’t be for some time. There are some other ideas swimming the turbulent seas of my mind that will get done first.

Speaking of which, Perfectly Imperfect Pixie is finished and I just sent it to my good friend, Kathy, to see what she thinks. This is a M/M fantasy romance (getting back to my fan fiction roots). Kathy has the rather unenvious job of reading my stories before they see the light of an editor’s computer screen. That’s the mark of a good friend 🙂

Veterinary medicine is still kicking my ass, as well as most vets out there. Business certainly hasn’t slowed down. We are adding an expansion where I work, but it is very, very, very slow going. Anyone out there trying to build anything right now understands that struggle. There is a flurry of activity for a day or two and then a couple of weeks of nothing but the sound of crickets. It’s very frustrating but not much to be done about it beyond taking deep breaths and trudging on.

Our new veterinarian starts in a couple of weeks. We are all thrilled but like everything else that’s new in life, it will be an adjustment. As with building the addition, we’re also suffering from the nationwide woes of hiring more competent staff. I often find myself humming the Jack Johnson song, “Where’d all the good people go . . .”

On a different front, we must have had a kind winter because my plants have come back this year like never before. Everything is lush and beautiful outside. The hawk’s that nested in my sycamore tree have had baby woes. Their first clutch of eggs fell out of the nest during a huge windstorm. I wasn’t sure if they’d breed again, but they did. About 3 weeks ago, the eggs hatched and this past weekend I could see the baby hawks peeking their heads up. I was so excited but then we had tragedy again yesterday. I came home for lunch and found one of the babies dead at the base of the sycamore tree. With a heavy heart, I buried the little guy/gal behind the shed. The whole time I was digging, I kept thinking I was working my way to being on an episode of, “Buried in the Backyard”. Yes, I watch a little too much true crime. Home improvement and true crime shows . . . I think my television would go into shock if it played anything else.

That’s all for now. Newton and Copernicus are still doing well and Fennik is currently at the groomers getting all the nature bits and pieces his fur has collected removed. I don’t envy the groomers and always try and tip them well. From what I understand, Fen Fen is a good boy, but he’s got enough hair to outfit three cavalier king spaniels. At the end of the day, that’s a big job for even the most seasoned professional.

As always, stay well, safe and find joy and peace where you can. Keep your fingers crossed that some of my hawks make it out of the nest and into the air alive!

MJ May

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Welcome Spring!

I know this isn’t necessarily a “springy” picture, but it is a good representation of what my evenings are like these days. I’m not sure why, but FenFen and Copernicus have decided they need to vie for my attention at night. In the picture, Copernicus is laying on my outstretched legs, head away from me and FenFen is snuggled up at my side, head on Copernicus’s back. Much to FenFen’s joy, Copernicus will even allow Fen to lick him from time to time. It is an odd set up, but evidently it works for them, even if it doesn’t exactly work for me when I’m trying to read.

We did have an absolutely beautiful day here in the Midwest where I live. The temperature was more like May than March. I’m not complaining. We’ve had a few days like that and it’s given me an opportunity to clean out the flower beds.

On a brand new spring note . . . a pair of red tailed hawks have built a nest in the large sycamore tree in front of my house. I’ve lived here for over fifteen years and this is a first. About three weeks ago, on one of those unseasonably warm days, I was out in the front yard, getting ready to pick up sticks and thought I heard a rustling sound in the tree. I looked up and thought, “Holy shit, that’s the largest squirrel nest I’ve ever seen.” About that time, I heard a loud screech and looked up to see it wasn’t a squirrel, but a hawk. It’s been interesting watching them. The nest has gotten more substantial over the past two weeks. I wish I could see them better but they are up too high. I could climb on the roof but with my fear of heights, that’s not wise. I’m excited to have them but admittedly disturbed when I see one of them fly overhead with some small mammal dangling from their talons. That’s a definite squishy ick feeling.

On the book writing front, Pushing Up Roses, the 6th installment in the Reaping Covetous series came back from line editing last week. I’ve been reading through the edits and it will go out again in another couple of weeks. Then it still has to go for proofreading so it’ll be another couple of months until it is published and available. Book 7, Reaping Consequences (the final book) is also done but hasn’t gone out for editing yet. I’m currently working on a book that has nothing to do with the series and it will probably be called, Perfectly Imperfect Pixie. I’m about half way through writing it but it isn’t schedule for editing until July so that one’s a loooong way out. I’ve got other stories milling about in my head to start on once I’m done with the pixie book (that’s what I keep calling it in my head, and in my computer).

Work is still crazy busy. I looked at the schedule the other day and noted I’m about 2 months booked out for surgery which just sounds insane to me. This May, I will have been a veterinarian for twenty years and I’ve never seen the schedule like it’s been the past couple of years. And it only seems to be getting worse. Our new veterinarian starts in June and we’ve already gotten him on the schedule to start making appointments for. Again, that just sounds crazy to me. But reality seems to be getting nuttier and nuttier. I’ve heard that ostriches don’t really stick their heads in the sand. Whether they do or not, currently, I don’t think it’s all that bad of a plan.

That’s about it for now. If I can ever get a better photo of the hawks, I’ll post it. My phone only zooms so far and most of the picture is sycamore tree with a tiny bird head somewhere in the middle. Not that they sycamore tree isn’t pretty and all . . . but I’d like more of the hawk.

Until the next time: Newton, Copernicus, FenFen and I wish you well. Hopefully spring comes on swift wings that have staying power.

MJ May

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Ashes to Ashes is Now Available

Book V of the Reaping Covetous series is now available. There are two more books that are left in the series. Book VI, Pushing Up Roses, won’t be out for several months. Books VI and VII are written but haven’t gone through official editing yet. Book VI will go out soon for its first read through.

I’m glad this series is coming close to an end. I’ve enjoyed writing it and telling Leah, Dave, and Cecile’s stories, but I’m ready to move on to other things. I’ve got a few ideas floating around in my noggin’, which is better than some of the other things that often fill my head.

Work is . . . well . . . work. We are still super busy. A few weeks ago, my boss and co-worker had COVID. She is doing well and recovered quickly, but had to quarantine at home. That left me alone holding down the clinic fort for a few days. It was rough, but we got through it. The staff at the clinic did great and really pitched in to help. I think I did better through that than I’m doing now. I guess I’m just tired and there’s not really any relief from it. Taking time off is a bit of a pipe dream right now.

On a brighter note, we are well and truly getting a third doctor in June. Yeah! He will be a “baby vet” and we don’t want to throw him to the proverbial wolves, so we are going to try and take it easy on him with appointments. It will be slow going, but he’s a very intelligent and capable individual so I think he’ll do great and most likely quicker than I did when I just came out of school.

Speaking of just coming out of school, it’s hard for me to believe, but this May will mark twenty years since I graduated from veterinary school. Yikes! I feel old. At the same time, I wouldn’t want to go back to those days. I still struggle with cases, but not in the same way and not as badly as I did when I was fresh faced and wide eyed.

My pets are doing well. Fennik goes to the groomer today (thank God). He is really dirty. Of course, he’ll get dirty quickly again given that it is winter and the weather keeps us at a constant state of muddy. Poor Fen just has too much hair. I’ve often said, when they were passing out fur, Fen Fen stood in line twice.

I think that’s about it for now. I will try and post another update next month, even though there won’t be any new books out. Most likely you’ll all be subjected to more photos of my pets 🙂

Thank you for reading. Stay well, safe, and warm.

MJ May

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Brother’s Keeper, Brother’s Reaper Reaping Covetous IV

Happy New Year! Wouldn’t it be nice if it really was that way—the turn of the calendar set things back to rights and erased the bad of the previous year. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what 2022 has in store for us. So far, it looks like a repeat of the past couple of years.

The fourth book in the Reaping Covetous series is out and available on Amazon/Kindle in digital and paperback. The next in the series, Ashes to Ashes, will hopefully be available in late February or maybe March. I sent it today for proof reading and it should be back in 2-4 weeks and I am still waiting on the book cover so it’s a little up in the air. Book 6 is written but hasn’t gone out for editing at all, yet. I’m maybe half way through writing book 7, which is the final book in the series. I have a spin off series in mind plus other stories that have nothing to do with this one. I haven’t decided which way to go yet after Reaping Covetous is done.

On a different note, it looks like winter finally decided to show up this week in the Midwest. It is blustery and cold today and later this week the highs are supposed to struggle to get to 20 degrees. Brrrr . . . That’s getting a little on the nippy side. So far no major snow in the forecast which I’m more than okay with. I wouldn’t mind the snow if I didn’t have to shovel and try and drive in it. Snow and cold just makes like harder. Obviously, that’s just my opinion. There are some whacky people out there that actually like winter. Personally, I think they have a couple of screws loose in the noggin’ but hey, to each our own.

My pets are doing well. The kitties got a new water drinking fountain for Christmas. It’s just like there old one minus the lime scale buildup inside the pump and along the sides. I just put it out today and am amazed at the flow of the water. It makes the old one look even more tired. Newton and Copernicus have both been at the water fountain. I think they enjoy playing in it as much as drinking. Fennik likes it too. I can always tell from the water on the floor when he’s joined in on the fun.

Not much change to report in the veterinary profession. We are still very busy. I don’t anticipate that will ease up, even though this is supposed to be our “lighter” time of the year. My surgery schedule is currently book out through mid February and the doctor I work with is the same if not worse. We are still crossing our fingers that we might get a third doctor this year, but we don’t know for certain. It would be great to be able to take some of those vacation days that are written into my contract 🙂

That’s all for now. Please try and stay well—both mentally and physically. It’s a struggle out there. And for what it’s worth, I’m wishing all of you the happiest 2022 possible

MJ May

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Dying to Reap You: Reaping Covetous III

The third book in the Reaping Covetous series if finally available on Amazon/Kindle. It took longer than I had planned, but sometimes plans don’t go the way you’d like. The editor that does the proofreading is having some health issues so getting it back took a little longer than expected. Since this is on my own timeline, that was okay. I’m wishing Rogina a healthy recovery from her recent struggles. Hopefully, book four will be out at the end of December or maybe January. I am currently working on book seven—the final one.

Thanksgiving went well this year. The weather was rainy, but other than that, it was nice. I don’t have a very large family, but we gathered at my house and ate some lovely, Midwestern, carbalicious food. I fully plan on repeating that menu in a couple of weeks when Christmas roles around. Thanksgiving was also nice because we got more time off from work. It was like a little, built in, mini staycation.

Speaking of work . . . big sigh . . . I’m afraid things are going to get even rougher in the new year. A local veterinary clinic won’t have a doctor at all come mid January and another close veterinary clinic is on life support—held together by relief doctors. The whole system is unsustainable and I’m unsure what will happen. We are trying to do the best we can without burning out our doctors or staff, but it is difficult. There will be, and currently are, a lot of displaced clients and patients looking for a new vet. Many veterinary clinics have stopped taking new clients because they can’t support the load. We are desperately trying not to decline new clients, but we are limiting the number of appointments we are making for them. We don’t want to, but we can only do so much. It is all very frustrating.

On another work note, we are hopefully adding on to the clinic. The plans are nearly finalized. I would guess work won’t start until next spring/summer. The ground should be getting colder (maybe). I’m certainly no construction guru though. And the weather is anything but what we might view as typical. Friday it was 60 degrees outside! That is unheard of for this time of year. Friday night through Saturday morning we had bad storms but I think my area of the country lucked out. We didn’t get the tornados that Kentucky and surrounding states did. My power was out from around 1:30 am to 4:30-5 am but other than that, my home and outdoor Christmas decorations weathered the storms.

Newton, Copernicus, and Fennik are all doing well. Fennik decided to roll in something in the yard last week that smelled god-awful. Then he kept wanting to go out and roll in it again and again. I had to watch him like a hawk every time he wanted to go outside. He also dove into the carpet when he got inside and decided to spread the lovely stench around. As I was giving him an impromptu bath that morning, I repeatedly told him that I loved him, but he was gross.

I think that’s about all for this post. For those of you reading the books, I hope you like the third installment. So far, I like this cover the best. Cheriefox did a great job on it.

Until next time, stay healthy—both physically and mentally. Since my next post probably won’t be until after Christmas, I’ll leave by saying happy holidays!

MJ May

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Book II of Reaping Covetous is Out

Good morning everyone. “Dead Women Tell Tales” is now available on Amazon in both digital and paperback. This is the second book in the Reaping Covetous series. There will be seven in total. I’m hopeful book III, “Dying to Reap You”, will be available by the end of November. It is in the proofreading process right now. I will place the blurb for “Dead Women Tell Tales” at the end of this post.

In non-book news . . . my paying job goes on and is just as busy as it has been since COVID hit the US. The owner of the clinic I work in is in the process of planning an addition to our clinic. We need the extra space. I don’t relish the building process, but in the end, it will be worth it (hopefully:). My fingers are also still crossed that we will have another veterinarian on staff by next summer. We have a verbal agreement from a current veterinary student, but a lot can change between now and May. This young doctor will have a lot of opportunities when he graduates and I won’t hold it against him if he changes his mind.

My pets are doing well. Fennik is currently at the groomer. He needs a good washing, trimming, and brush out. The poor boy is like a walking rug and all that fur collects everything—including mud, food, water, and god only knows what else he gets into. He’s also a leaf magnet and given that Fall is under way, the house is once more littered with the debris he drags inside. On the plus side, Newton and Copernicus enjoy playing with the occasional leaf or two. I expect Fennik’s good smells to last three, maybe four days. I’ll cherish those better smelling days while they last.

Halloween is right around the corner and I’ve got the outside decorated. I had shorts and a t-shirt on when I put the decorations out and was still dripping sweat. I imagine I’ll have on a winter coat and be cursing the cold when I take them down. It’ll be even worse when it’s time to put up the Christmas lights. Sigh . . . I really don’t like winter.

I think that’s it for now. I’ll place the blurb for “Dead Women Tell Tales” below. If you read the books and enjoy them, please leave a review. That is super important to struggling authors. Now that I am one, I feel horribly guilty for all the books over the years I’ve liked and haven’t left a review for. Cue the next big sigh . . .

“Dead Women Tell Tales” Blurb:

Problems come in all shapes and sizes. Leah McKnight’s most recent problem is in the form of a woman decked out in a slinky black dress, with death-defying heels adorning her feet. Hovering at the base of the stairway she died on seven years ago, Eliza Morgan isn’t going anywhere without help.

If Leah’s cousin, Cecile, has any hope of visiting her new boyfriend in his home, Eliza Morgan needs to move on. Leah can’t think of a better birthday present for Cecile than reaping Eliza’s spirit if she can figure out why Eliza turned from her reaper. Was Eliza’s death really an accident, or is there a more homicidal reason she stayed?

Getting Eliza to move on means dealing with the local reaper, Andy. Leah only wished that bothered her more. Andy isn’t like other reapers. He shouldn’t light up Leah’s soul, warming her from the inside out, filling up the frozen spaces Leah’s murdered parents left behind.

If only all of Leah’s problems were as straightforward as Eliza Morgan. The constant unknown, the fear that her murderous twin brother, Bobby, might come back and finish what he started six years ago, is wearing Leah down. The thought that Bobby might hurt what family she has left is too horrific to contemplate.

Some problems are like the lingering dead—confusing, exhausting, and they simply don’t know when to give up and move on.

Thank you all so much and as always, stay healthy and as sane as possible.

MJ May

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Sow What You Reap Is Now Available!

Good morning everyone (morning where I live). Finally, the first book of the Reaping Covetous series is available for purchase. At this point, it is available on digital only on Kindle/Amazon. There is a print version that should be available in the next week or two. I ordered some proofs of it first to make sure everything looks right. I should get those in by the end of this week and if they look good then I’ll okay the final product for paperback.

This has been a long time coming, or at least I feel that way. I’ll be honest, it’s a weird feeling—lots of work, anticipation, and waiting. I wanted to be really excited yesterday when I got the book uploaded but I felt more queasy than anything. Also tired. Formatting the book was fun with the use of Vellum. From what I’ve read, prior to that kind of software, formatting was anything but fun. The difficult part (for me) was getting it uploaded into Kindle. That took about 3 hours and by the end I just wanted to be done. I think it’s one of those things in life that has a rather large learning curve and then once you travel the path, it becomes easier. Since I’m a newbie, I had to keep looking up terms and making sure I understood the questions. I’m still not convinced I did it all correctly, but again—learning curve.

At this point, there should be 7 books in the series. Currently I am in the middle of writing book 6. Book 2, “Dead Women Tell Tales” should be out mid to late October. My hope was to be able to get the first 3 books out within 1 month of each other and, baring any major catastrophe, I believe I should be able to stick with that schedule.

On other news, Fennik had another birthday at the end of August. He is now a whopping three years old. I can’t believe it’s been that long since he first graced the earth with his presence. I was going to put up a blog post with his latest birthday picture, but I was so busy getting the first book ready that I kept putting it off until enough time had passed that it sort of slipped my mind all together. Sorry Fen Fen. Although, truth be told, I don’t imagine it bothers him much. He got some white cupcake for his birthday and a new hoof. He was a happy boy.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading “Sow What You Reap”. I’ll put another post up when the paperback copy is available for purchase.

Until next time, stay healthy and as sane as possible. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.

MJ May

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Mutant Coneflowers

Happy summer everyone! This picture is from my garden. In a previous post, I spoke of my love for coneflowers. That hasn’t changed and I’ve got a plethora of them blooming right now. And then there’s . . . this. I have no idea. There are a few of them that look similar in the garden. I’ve also got some coneflowers with (as best I can describe it) rolled up petals. It’s bizarre. It’s odd enough I wanted to use it for this post.

It’s been too long since I’ve posted anything. Life is getting the best of me right now. I’m still hard at work getting the Reaping Covetous Series out there. I feel like I’ve been saying that for a while now and there’s a reason for that—it’s because I have. The good news (at least for me) is that book one just came back from copy editing. It will go out for proofreading in a few weeks and then back to me to finish up and finally get released. The cover is currently in the works and I can’t wait to see it. I’m so very excited that this looks to be finally happening. In total, there will be seven books in the series. I’m currently busy on book number five.

Work is . . . work right now. The veterinary profession is in a real crisis. There simply aren’t enough of us to go around. And if general practice is having a struggle, the emergency field is close to a meltdown. Where I live, it’s not unusual for people to have to wait 5+ hours to be seen. I recently got an e-mail from a friend of mine who works in Connecticut (hi Lisa!) and she says it’s as bad there if not worse sometimes. This is a country wide issue and I can’t see a path out of it. All I can say is please have patience with us. We really are doing the best we can with what we have. I know it’s frustrating but please try and be kind. And if you can’t be kind, then don’t be cruel or take it out on the receptionists that have no control over the situation. The strain is starting to affect all of us.

I’m thankful to say my pets are doing just fine. As I write this, Newton is sitting on my arm and making it very difficult to type. He doesn’t understand when I tell him, “mommy’s working”. I’m expecting the paw to my face any minute. He’s taken to doing that, as if sitting on my arm isn’t informative enough that he’s there. He doesn’t intentionally put his claws out (by the way, I just got the paw to the cheek), but they still scratch and don’t feel the best when he does it. I’ve gotten used to keeping one eye on him and when he starts to reach out, I lean back, hopefully out of the way.

That’s all for now. I’ll try and be better about updating. Unfortunately, my fingers aren’t what they used to be and I spend most of my days off writing. By the time I’ve gotten that done, my fingers, hands, and wrists are crap and typing is really hard. That’s life though. We push through it to do what we love.

Stay well and I hope your garden’s are growing well—mutant flowers or no. BTW, in my state, we’ve been told not to feed the birds anymore. Evidently there is some disease that’s killing off the songbirds. Many have died and necropsy isn’t very illuminating as to the cause. To try and help stem the passing of whatever disease this is, the DNR has asked us not to feed them anymore. It’s sad. I just started feeding them this year and really enjoyed it. I miss them. So do the cats. They really enjoyed watching the birds as well as the squirrels and chipmunks the food drew to the area. Sigh . . . so much for kitty enrichment.

MJ May

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A Sad Anniversary

Today is a rough day for me. Three years ago I had to say goodbye to my dog, Georgia (todays posted picture). Just past fourteen years old, Georgia had gotten to the point where there were just too many fires to put out with her health. Her quality of life was diminishing daily. It was an agonizing decision and yet at the same time, it was a simple one to make. I felt then, as I still do now, that it was the last kindness I could give her. It was the final decision I would make as her caretaker, as her pet parent, and as a human who desperately loved their dog and would have given anything to have her with me for another fifty years or more.

Georgia and I met when she was nine weeks old. At the time I was living in Virginia and traveled to Maryland to get her. I remember our first meeting well. On the way to see her for the first time, her breeder told me how wonderful Georgia was doing with potty training, that she seemed to understand the concept well and how proud she was of her. Unfortunately when we entered the room she was in, Georgia was proudly sitting next to a pile of poo. It was the first of many moments of laughter she and I shared over the next fourteen years.

I’ve often wondered what made Georgia so special to me, why it broke my heart to lose her and why three years later I still feel the echo of her loss. Without a doubt, she was a wonderful, loving dog. She was kind, forgiving, and beautiful. She was also annoyingly stubborn. During the summer, Georgia wasn’t content inside or outside. I’m sure my neighbors wanted to toss her into the river on more than one occasion when she wouldn’t stop barking. She never slept through the night and for fourteen years I got up at least once, normally twice with her to let her out and try and sooth her. In some ways, she was imperfectly perfect.

The last year of her life was difficult. By that time Georgia was on several different medications for her heart. She had cognitive dysfunction and would pace the kitchen at night. For two years there was a light on in the kitchen 24-7. She was deaf, her eyesight was poor and each day she seemed a little more confused than the last. My days revolved around going to work and caring for her. She had certain meds in the morning, lunchtime and at night. I was up multiple times each night with her and often laid in bed unable to sleep as I listened to her listlessly wander the kitchen floor, toenails clacking, baby gates cordoning off the exits from the kitchen and containing her.

Three years ago today, it was finally time to let her go. As a veterinarian, I euthanized her myself. It was difficult and I did it through dripping tears, whispering words she could no longer hear. She was cremated and her box sits on my mantle, along with the two cats (Phoenix and Luna) she lived with. The first night she was gone, I couldn’t bear to turn the kitchen light off. The next night I cried while flipping a switch that hadn’t been touched in more than two years.

I planted a sycamore tree in her memory. There’s a previous blog with its picture. Some might think that an odd choice, but there’s a large, mature sycamore tree in my front yard and in the fall, Georgia would get the leaves stuck to her head, each leaf so large that it covered her face. Each time she came carting one up to the house I’d laugh. Since that time, I purchase a hyacinth to commemerate her passing. Georgia wouldn’t care about them, but I’ve always liked hyacinths and I plant them outside the front door after they’ve bloomed. Give me another ten years and I’ll have a hyacinth wonderland out there.

The passing time has dulled some of my grief, or perhaps put it into perspective. I have another Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Those of you visiting and reading my blog have seen multiple pictures of Fennik posted. I love Fennik. He’s silly and sweet, and yet I have been unable to bond with him the way I did Georgia and I don’t know why. I’ve often felt guilty about this. Interestingly I find that a lot of my clients feel similarly with their own pets. What is it about that one pet, that one nonhuman companion that digs a hole into our heart, filling it up when they’re with us and leaving it hollow when they’re gone?

Like so many other answers in life, that one eludes me. What I do know is that I cherish my memories of Georgia. This day is hard, but in some ways, that’s the way it should be. As I tell clients all the time, if it’s not difficult to let them go, then we never should have had them in the first place.

MJ May

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BRRRR . . . It’s Cold Out There

Happy February everyone. Not sure what the weather is like where you live, but it is freezing here. I got up this morning and the temperature outside was a whopping one degree. Later this week the low is supposed to be below zero. Once you get down into that category, no matter how you slice it, it’s cold. I don’t mind wearing my mask all the time with temperatures like that. At least it helps keep my nose warm. In case anyone is interested, today’s picture is of the Japanese maple outside my front window. I woke up the other morning to this view and thought it was pretty.

As far as the writing front is concerned, I got book #2 of the Reaping Covetous series back from the editor last weekend. It went for content review and she seems pleased with it. Enough so that the editor doesn’t think I need to change anything major in book #1 so that makes me super happy. Amazingly I finished writing book #3 yesterday. It still needs a lot of tweaking and I need to write the epilogue for it but the basic format is done. Right now it’s around 90,000 words and I finished it in a little less than two months. I worked really hard to do that and have given myself more than a few pats on the back. Normally it would take me over four months to write something of that length and that’s what I figured when I told the editor when to pencil book #3 in for content editing so it won’t go until late April. That’s okay because I still have so much to figure out to actually get it published and out there for people to hopefully read. If the schedule holds, the books should start going back to the editor starting in mid May for line editing and polishing up. Right now it’s my hope to get book #1 out in late summer/early fall. I was reading some statistics about book publishing the other day (BTW, don’t do that if you’re looking for something uplifting). On average over a thousand books are published each day on Amazon. That’s a lot of books! Right now I figure this is sort of like my hobby and I doubt I’ll make much money on the endeavor. Most likely I’ll be lucky to break even but I’m still doing it. It’s interesting. More than the money, I just really want people to read what I’ve written, to fall in love with my characters the same way I have. To do that you have to sell books so I suppose the two go hand in hand.

Veterinary work is going all right. Currently we are in our “slower” part of the year. And in some ways it is although not as slow as years past. A lot of it will depend on the upcoming weather and more to the point, road conditions. People don’t like getting out unless they have to when the roads are slick. I have CE conference in a couple of weeks and like so many conferences, this one will be virtual and I’ll be staying at home, glued to my computer. In a way I like this set up as I don’t have to try and find housing and care for my pets. On the other hand I’m really afraid I’m going to fall asleep at the computer screen, especially in the afternoon after lunch. I think the conference is 4-5 days long so we’ll see how I do. Hopefully I learn some new things that I can put into practice.

As an aside on the veterinary front, Friday I read the latest statistics on indebtedness for graduating veterinary students and the numbers are abysmal. Currently the median indebtedness is over $170,000 with a debt to income ratio over 2:1 (average starting salary for baby vets is about $80,000). That is an unsustainable trend. Some of these students are graduating with as high as over $300,000 in debt. That’s having a huge house mortgage with no roof over your head. I feel for these kiddos. For comparison (in case anyone is interested), I graduated in 2002 and was pretty average for indebtedness at the time with around $60,000. That was a lot then and I can’t believe what it has ballooned to now. It’s a huge problem and one that’s going to bite the collective veterinary profession in its ass pretty soon.

For now that’s all. I’m going to try and update at least monthly, hopefully with news about my upcoming series, Reaping Covetous. I’m so excited to finally be doing something with my writing. Besides my pets, it’s my joy in life. And at least my written characters don’t puke on the carpet (Newton and Copernicus) or try and eat my carpet (Fennik).

Until next time, stay safe, warm (if you’re in the northern hemisphere), well and sane.

MJ May

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Fennik All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Happy New Year everyone! I know we are all hoping it’s a better one than 2020. I’m not holding my breath on that one, but hey, I’ll be more than happy if it is better. Today’s post picture is of Fennik (Fen Fen). I have no idea why I decided to buy this costume for him, other than it was a total whim. This picture wasn’t even taken around Halloween. I found the costume about a month ago when I was grocery shopping. I had to jet down the pet aisle for cat litter and there it was – a sombrero and poncho. It said for medium to large breed dogs. Let’s just say it barely fit Fen Fen. Anyways, he looked super cute. The sombrero kind of scrunched his eyes but he was a trooper and put up with the ten minutes or so of dress up. BTW, that’s me holding him. I’m in my work get up, which is far less than the work get up my sister has to wear (she’s a critical care nurse and takes care of COVID patients, amongst other medical conditions).

Veterinary work is still going strong, although it has let up a little. Winter is normally our slower time. We’ll see how this year goes considering how busy we were for most of this past year. I expect tomorrow will be packed, especially after all of the holiday breaks over the past couple of weeks. Last week I did have an interesting case, or maybe I should say finding. It was something I haven’t seen in the 18+ years I’ve been a practicing vet. I had a client bring in his little dog, a person and pet I’ve seen multiple times in the past. He had several issues he wanted me to look at, one of them being that her breath smelled worse than usual. Given that she’s a smaller breed, periodontal disease seemed most likely, especially given the fact she seemed to be feeling relatively well otherwise. I did my normal look inside the mouth and thought, “WTF is that?” Stuck between her upper right premolar 4 and molar one, kind of like a strange type of dental floss, were a couple of those plastic “I” shaped tag holders, the ones you have to cut off when you get them a new, stuffed (cloth) toy. I pulled them out, some foul smelling hair and a little blood coming along for the ride. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t been acting bothered by it. It looked to me like part of it was poking her inner cheek. I think it all came out all right. She was a good girl and let me do all of that without sedation or much of a flinch. Something like that stuck between my teeth would have driven me nutty bunnies. Lesson learned: make sure to get all the tags off plus their plastic bits and pieces!

As far as my other, hopefully burgeoning profession (writing), I got the first edit (content edit) back on book one of the Reaping Covetous series. So far I really like this editor. I appreciated her comments. She brought up things I never in a million years would have thought of. The editor I’ve hired thinks I need to have the first 3 books in the series written and ready to publish within a couple months of each other before putting the first one out there. I think she has a good point. The second book is done and should go out for its content editing in a week or two. I just started the third book. This is the first time writing has actually seemed like a job. I’m determined to get book 3 done by the first of April. That may seem like a lot of time, but for me it isn’t. I’m not the fastest writer. Working full time makes it tough to get days where I can sit down and write. I also have a big issue with my hands/fingers holding up with that much typing. I didn’t win out in the joint genetic lotto. This past week I’ve been on a mission, trying to prove to myself that I can do this. I’ve got about 25,000 words written for book 3 in one week. Normally, on a good week, I’d write about half that. My hands and wrists aren’t especially happy about the process. Frankly, it pisses me off. The mind is willing, the body not so much. I’d hoped to get book one published by the end of winter/first of spring. Now it looks like maybe summer at the earliest.

Not much else for now. I titled Fen Fen’s picture as all dressed up with nowhere to go because I bet that’s how a lot of us felt over the holidays. Fingers crossed that next year will be better and that we’ll get to mingle with our friends and family from closer than six feet and without the lovely addition of a mask. We’ll get there. I’m not exactly sure when, but we will. I’ll keep repeating that to myself until I believe it.

As always, take care and stay sane. For those of you visiting from the fanfiction world, I’ve almost got all of “Intervention, Thy Name is Bakusen’O” up on AO3. When it’s done, I’ll start work on transferring another Inuyasha/Sesshomaru story over.

MJ May

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Handsome Newton

Hello everyone – long time, no post. With Facilitate Your User completely posted, I haven’t been updating anything weekly. I wish I had a new story to post, but sadly that is not the case. Today’s picture is of Newton. I put this picture as the wallpaper on my phone recently and it cropped it nicely. Newton really loves sitting in this window. The red in the background is the japanese maple outside. All the leaves were gone less than two days later. This was sort of that “last hoorah” for foliage and flowers.

On the writing front, I sent my Reaping Covetous manuscript to the editor yesterday for its first round. I believe this one is a content editing. This is my first time through all of this so I’m not entirely certain what all that entails but think it is probably self explanatory. The editor has 3 weeks to return it and then I look over her suggestions, change what I want and send it back for a line editing. Again, the editor has 3 weeks to return it to me and same process again. It goes for a third and final time. After that I need to get a different person to proofread it. I still need to look into getting a book cover, downloading the formatting software and how to get it uploaded to book selling sites. Sigh . . . still lots to do and I’m assuming a big learning curve as well. My hope (fingers silently crossed) is that I can get the first book out at the end of winter or early spring of 2021. The second book is already basically written and I have a January date for it to go out for its first editing process. So much to do . . . well, you know the rest of the saying.

On the veterinary front, we have still been very busy. Last week I euthanized the second police dog of my eighteen year career. This time around, I knew a little more what to expect, but they are still emotionally draining. For those of you whom don’t know, police dogs are considered officers and when one of them is euthanized, it’s a very big deal. The dog’s arrive with a police escort – lights flashing and usually at least 10 cars long. Our parking lot is packed with policeman in their dress blues. When the dog has passed, they gather in the room, drape an American flag over the dog and carry them out. Then they leave in the same caravan, lights flashing on their way to the funeral home for cremation of their fallen canine officer. I’ve seen a lot of men cry in my career. I don’t know why, and I don’t want for this to sound sexist, but it is almost always more difficult, seeing men verses women cry. I always tell them it’s okay. That if there is anyone they can cry around regarding the loss of their pet, it’s me. Seeing normally rock steady police officers with tears running down their faces is difficult. I cried right along with them and when they left, the clinic was silent as a tomb, all of us standing by the windows as the caravan passed us by.

Sometimes, life is hard. Right now it’s harder than ever. Even the things that are supposed to bring us joy. The holidays that are supposed to be events we look forward too, are more stressful than usual. Should you gather or shouldn’t you. And if you do, how can you keep everyone as safe as possible. This year, I had Thanksgiving at my house. My older Aunt and Uncle decided not to come and I totally understood. My sister, her husband, their two kids and my mom and dad came over. My parents see my sister, brother-in-law and my niece and nephew almost daily so I kind of think of the six of them as “one unit”. Everyone wore masks when we couldn’t be separated. I ate at a different end of the kitchen than them and then we played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. It’s a good game for social distancing as I stayed on one end of the living room and they all stayed on the other. After they left, I went through the house spraying everything down with Lysol. We tried to be as safe as possible while still trying to enjoy each others company. Not sure if we were right or wrong, but that was our compromise this Thanksgiving. I’m guessing we’ll do something similar for Christmas but I suppose time will tell.

On that note, I’ll sign off. As always, I’m wishing you all well. Stay healthy – both physically and mentally. Hopefully a vaccine is on the way. We all have to dig in and hold on for the next few months. It’ll be a long winter, but we can do it!

MJ May

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Epilogue of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy post election everyone! Do all of you feel as hung over as me, without the benefit of the alcoholic high? I finally slept well for the first time in about six days. It’s been a rough ride and I have no illusions the next couple of months aren’t going to be a complete and total shit show, but for now at least, I’m trying to take a deep breath while I can.

I posted the epilogue of Facilitate Your User. It wraps things up and also hints at a future series. I have a difficult time writing a single story without looking further into the characters’ lives and wanting to continue them. When I write, I think in series. With that said, I do think this one wraps up well enough to end here. I have not started a second book and am not sure if I will or not. I suppose it depends on how my future as a writer does, or does not go. Right now I am concentrated on getting my Reaping Covetous series off the ground. The first book goes to the editor at the end of November and I am really hoping to get it out there late winter/early spring. More to come on that front (hopefully).

Today’s picture is regarding the “leaf situation” at my house. A week ago we had a day of wind, wind and more wind. Halloween night, my drive and steps were clear. By the end of the following day, it looked like this. I couldn’t even see the bottom half of the steps leading up to the house and at some points, the leaves were about knee high (and I’m around 5’8”). It was a lot. It also provided a somewhat cathartic physical outlet post election day. I generally have Wednesday’s off from work and this past week was no different. Not wanting to even venture anywhere near the television, I spent a better chunk of the day raking and bagging leaves. My car barely fits in the garage right now, the walls lined with bags of leaves. I’ll put them out on the curb for pick up this week. It was a lot of work, but the weather was nice and it was good to get me out of the house and my mind away from the worry of our country’s future.

As tapped out as my brain is, I don’t think I have much more to say today. I’m also not sure if I will continue to post and update weekly or maybe every 2 weeks or so. Currently I don’t have another story to start posting but I’ll still try and keep up with the blog for those interested. I really hope those of you reading Facilitate Your User have enjoyed it. I like Keylee and Paul and hope to revisit their futures soon (always a relative term). I love sharing my characters with people. Always feel free to drop me a review/comment. I like hearing from you.

As always, please take care – body and soul. Take a deep breath, eat something you love and don’t feel guilty about it, pet your furry friends and take a minute to enjoy the sun on your face.

Thank you for reading.

MJ May

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Chapter Twenty-Four of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy Halloween everyone! I’m posting a little earlier than usual, mostly because I’m trying to get back into the routine of writing and wanted to have ample time tomorrow morning to do that. I just posted the final normal chapter of Facilitate Your User. There is still a small epilogue which I’ll post next week. More sexy times are ahead for Paul and Keylee, so be warned.

Today’s photo is courtesy of my new tile, with a healthy dose of Newton on the side. I had this past week off and it was a sort of working, staycation. I did get all the rooms painted, furniture shifted, moved and put back. The pictures were taken down and rehung. My body came out of the whole thing fairly unscathed. I few new bruises here and there, including one above my left eye where a few inches more ventral and medially would have been a hell of a lot more serious (got to watch our for those pesky table legs when they are turned upside down and laying on top of the bed). All in all things went okay. There were a few glitches but nothing that derailed the whole project. Mostly it was exhausting in the anxiety inducing way. I like the end product and evidently Newton likes the tile, or at least he likes laying on it.

I was off work, but it didn’t feel like it. Monday and Tuesday I took Fennik into the clinic so he would be out of the house. This meant dealing with messages on my desk and trying to triage a couple of things here and there. I also went in Monday night to euthanize a long time patient that had suddenly decompensated. I didn’t have to do it, but I wanted to. That might sound strange to some, but I think most veterinarians would understand. I spent a lot of time with both the dog and her owners and I felt like it was the last kindness I could do for them. It was heartbreaking but very needed.

The city I live in is still having trick or treat tonight. I usually have several and this year I made sure to go on-line to check out the recommended guidelines. I did what they recommended and packaged up my individually wrapped candies in little plastic baggies and set them down on a fold out table at the base of the steps leading up to my house. I left a note for the trick or treaters, placed a pumpkin and candle illuminated cat light on the table as well. It wasn’t an enormous amount of work, but there was some effort put into it. Sadly, at this point I don’t know that there have been any trick or treaters out. Sigh. I understand if they don’t venture out this year, but I was really hoping for some and tried to make things as safe as possible.

On a final note, I’m back to work this week, but more importantly, it’s election week. I did early voting this past week. I waited in line for about an hour and forty five minutes. Not as long as a lot of people, I know. I have huge anxiety for the coming week and the ones after. I really don’t know what to expect. I know who I want to win and who I fear will win. I also know that I fear the result of either outcome. The tinderbox is set and ready to be lit and there is more than one individual ready to flick their Bic.

As always, I hope you are all staying well. Be safe out there and try and keep your cool, no matter which way things go. I probably should have purchased some alcohol based products while I was at the grocery this morning. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to be in need of some self medicating this week.

MJ May

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Chapter Twenty-Three of Facilitate Your User Posted

Chapter twenty-three is sweet, but also a return to sexy times – be warned! Facilitate Your User is wrapping up. There is one more normal chapter to post and then a quick epilogue. I hope you’ve been enjoying the story thus far and continue to read until the end.

Today is another Halloween decor photo of my house. The nighttime photos of the blinking “critter eye lights” didn’t turn out well. I was kind of bummed about that as I think in person, they look great. I took some video of them but am really not sure how to post that on here so for now that will have to remain absent. FYI, the metal pumpkins in this picture do light up. Once again, thanks go to my dad on that one. Yes, Kathy, he is one talented fella.

I’m in painting mode the next couple of days. I posted last week that I’m repainting the 3 bedrooms (one of which is more the computer/cat room). I’ve only got one done. Today I’ll do the second and tomorrow the third. I sincerely hope my body holds up for this painting marathon. Only one way to find out and that’s to get on with it. Thankfully I have this week off work. It feels weird. I hardly ever take time off and rarer still, a whole week. It’s a staycation and a working one at that. Still, it’s good to get some time off. I worked yesterday so you’d think the routine would be normal but my brain is already discombobulated. I’m partially blaming the fact my bedroom is a strange mess with everything scooted to the center of the room.

Painting with pets (that sounds like a PBS show) is difficult. They want to be where the action is, in this case, that action would be me with a paint roller. And it seems they also want to become a part of the action too. I really thought I did a good job yesterday keeping them out of the paint (I primed the walls in my bedroom). Well, in the light of the following day, that certainly is not true. Fen Fen is sporting some rather impressive white patches where he should be a ruddy tan and Newton has a similar patch on what should be a brown tail. So far it looks like Coperinicus is the only paint free critter.

I suppose if that’s the worst that comes of my painting fiasco then I should count my blessings. Fen Fen gets groomed this week so hopefully they can work some magic there. Dog grooming – now there is a physically demanding job. I don’t envy them one iota but am very grateful for all they do.

That’s all for today. I hope you have a safe and candy/trick or treater filled Halloween. In these fun filled COVID times, I’m not sure what all the rules for trick or treating are in different parts of the country. Come to think of it, this year I’m actually not sure what the rules are for where I live. Hmmm . . . that seems like something I should get on. I did buy candy so I’m prepared for whatever eventuality.

Be well, my friends and wish me luck painting!

MJ May

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Chapter Twenty-Two of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy almost Halloween everyone! Ready for Paul’s User exam? I hope so because this chapter is it!

Today’s picture is of my own personal skeleton crew. My dad cut these out, painted them and surprised me with them a few years ago. Bless his heart, he was so proud of them and excited because he painted them with a type of paint that was supposed to glow in the dark. It sort of did, but not enough that you could really tell. Despite his disappointment about the lack of glow, I really like them and they’ve been a Halloween decor staple for the past few years.

I started repainting the bedrooms in my house yesterday. I wrote in an earlier post that I’m getting new carpet for most of the house and new tile in the foyer. I am actually taking a whole week off work the last week of October and this is when the new flooring is supposed to be going in. I’m trying to repaint the bedrooms before that time. I have learned (the very hard, frustrating and making more work for yourself way) that doing test samples of paint on the wall, while irritating, pays off in the end. Because of that, I have all sorts of colorful (and not so colorful) patches of paint going on in now 2/3 rooms. It was 3/3 but I got the computer/cat room painted yesterday. I have to say, right now, I’m pleased with the color. It is a small room and I went pretty dark, but I like it kind of moody in here. It’s where I write and spend a lot of my time.

I was more than a little afraid of how my body would hold up painting (I’ve got bone spurs in both shoulders) but am happy to say that I’m feeling A-okay this am after yesterday’s marathon room painting. I am hoping that is a good sign for the other two rooms.

I am anxiously awaiting the new flooring going in. Like many other areas of the US, we are having a spike in the number of COVID cases in my area. Friday we had 2 clients call and cancel their appointments because they were ill with a fever. A clinic just a few miles from us has been closed for the last week and a half due to a COVID illness. Currently we are still allowing clients into the building – only two per pet and they must be masked, but I have a feeling that is going to change sometime in the near future and we will be back to only curbside. Selfishly, I hope all the flooring folks stay well and can get my job done. I also hope I can stay well and don’t have to cancel on them.

As a somewhat worrisome aside, one of the clients that canceled is a neighbor of mine and she’s also a nurse. I am always wishing our healthcare workers the very best. My sister is a RN and she works on the critical care floor of one of the major hospital’s in our state capitol. I worry about her as she is diabetic and also a smoker. It is an ongoing battle, trying to keep the mind and body healthy. I’m glad I have a socially distant, safe option for trying to keep my mind occupied – writing. Although, I haven’t been getting as much of that done as I’d like given how busy I’ve been. Hopefully I can get back to it soon.

Until next week, stay sane and remember to vote! Currently I’m planning to do early voting during the week I have off. Fingers crossed that plan doesn’t need to change.

MJ May

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Chapter Twenty-One of Use Your Facilitator Posted

Good morning everyone (again, morning where I currently am). I just posted the next chapter of Facilitate Your User. It’s interesting how characters change as you get deeper into a story. When I first started writing Maxwell Haines, I wasn’t sure I liked him. By the end, he was one of my favorites. I hope you think so too.

Today’s picture is a throwback. This is Fennik as a puppy. My guess is I’d had him maybe a week when this picture was taken. It’s an interesting picture to me because this was one of the only times he used his dog bed as it was intended. It didn’t take the little fella long before he began dragging it around the house, humping it. He’s neutered now, but he still “enjoys” this activity. Sometimes I feel kind of bad that I neutered him as I think he would have made a great doggie gigolo.

On a little darker note, today’s blog post is about euthanasia. As a veterinarian, this is part of my job. Euthanasia is never something any veterinarian enjoys, but I’d venture to say that most of us truly believe we are relieving pain and suffering. I’ve been asked before how I feel about it and how I can put an animal down. After eighteen years as a vet, my answer has become pretty standard – I don’t feel bad about 90% of them. It’s that other 10% that keep me awake at night. It’s the one’s that have to be euthanized because of behavior problems (aggression, inappropriate urination, or something else that makes them difficult or impossible to re-home).

And then there’s the decision of when to euthanize. Two weeks ago, in the same day, I had two extremes of the situation. One client who I thought waited far too long and another who jumped to euthanasia way too quickly (at least in my opinion). Both of these clients had very different view points on death and quality of life and each would have been horrified by the other’s decision. As I’ve said in an earlier post, if this job has taught me anything, love means something unique and slightly different to every individual. How people view life and death and their role as caretaker of a pet is also very different. Like most things in life, most people fall somewhere in the middle, a position most of us can easily relate to. Other’s are the outliers, the one’s the majority of us look at and sort of shake our heads at.

Seeing the other person’s perspective is difficult, especially when you hold a life in your hands. That day was difficult for me and I felt guilty about both euthanasias for totally opposite reasons. I could have said no to the one I thought was occurring too soon, but in this case, there were extenuating circumstances and I understood her reasons. Would I have made the same choice in her shoes? I’m not sure.

At the end of the day, euthanasias are hard, and that is the way they should be. Deciding to euthanize your pet should be one the most difficult decisions you make, otherwise you never should have had them. It’s hard for a reason. It’s hard because pets mean the world to us. It’s hard because we love them. It’s hard because their loss leaves a gaping hole that is almost impossible to fill. It’s the price we pay. Most of the time, I think the price is worth the years of joy they bring us. And that is what I try and remind myself on the days where I have not one, not two, but multiple euthanasias I have to perform. And there are days like that, though thankfully, they are few.

Sorry if this post was sad or made you uncomfortable. In a way, I meant it as comfort for those of you struggling with an ailing pet. Know that you are not alone. I’ve lost three beloved pets. I euthanized all of them myself and I cried like a lost child during each and every one. I cried for days after and in the case of my first Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Georgia, I still have days when I cry. But then Fennik was born and came to live with me. He’ll never replace Georgia, but he brings a lot of joy, silliness and stupidity to my life. Just like good pets are supposed to.

Until next week, hug, pet, kiss the ones you love (unless they’re human and you suspect them of having COVID!). Stay well and sane. For me, that recipe typically has four legs and a lot of fur 🙂

MJ May

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Chapter Twenty of Facilitate Your User Posted

Happy October everyone. I just posted chapter twenty of Facilitate Your User. There are more sexy times ahead in this chapter so be warned. Sorry, but I think this chapter is a little shorter. I had a hard time deciding where to split this one and the next and opted to make this one a tad shorter.

Today’s picture is of Copernicus. This was a little weird because I’ve never seen him lay on the arm of the couch like that before. I snapped a shot and thought it showed him off fairly well and opted to make it today’s picture post. I did take a couple of pictures of the Halloween decoration shenanigans from last Sunday. They didn’t come out the best though. I’m certainly no photographer and not sure how to take better nighttime pictures. I’ll put something up around the 31st, even if it isn’t all that spectacular. I do think the lights came out well. The logistics of all the extension cords wasn’t pleasant, but I had enough (barely) and didn’t have to make a frantic store run.

It’s election year in the good old USA. I would imagine every state in the union is currently being bombarded by political commercials – both good and mostly bad. I have to say, I normally mute them or switch the station when they come on. It’s nauseating and I hate it. But you know what I’d hate more? Not being able to vote. Democracy is a messy beast and right now it is down right vicious. I hate all the hate that seems to permeate not only the US, but the world at large. Most of the time I feel helpless and I know that that’s how a lot of people feel. We feel like we don’t matter, that one vote can’t change much. Or at least that’s how I feel, especially living in a state who’s general population is far more conservative than me. Regardless, I will be at the voting polls come the first Tuesday in November.

I’ve spoken to a lot of family and friends who don’t plan to vote – many of them women, and it makes me sad. Our female ancestors fought long and hard to get us the vote, and I, for one, am very grateful. The other day I did a quick search regarding women suffrage and was shocked. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know much (still don’t) but reading some of the reasons why mostly men, but some women too, didn’t believe women should have the right to vote was down right nauseating. If you’ve never looked into it, I encourage you to do so. The reasons are so WTF that all I could do was scratch my head while trying to pick my jaw up off the floor.

More to the point though, it made me think about all the other issues people currently bicker over. All the arguments and reasons given why something is a poor idea, why it will undermine society or poison the minds of our children. Amazingly enough, those same arguments have been used throughout history, including a woman’s right to vote. And you know what, the sun didn’t fall from the sky, the rivers didn’t run red with blood and the seasons still came and went. History has shown that nations whom allow women to participate in government are more stable and prosperous. Imagine what history will show in the future when things that are considered taboo now are the norm in a hundred or so years.

As I said earlier, I would encourage any of you who are interested to look into the history of the fight for women’s suffrage. Both the good and bad. There is a lot to be proud of there, and some things that disappoint, but at the end of the day, the point, my fellow ladies, is that voting is important. Individually, a single vote may not amount to much, but added together, they can make all the difference in the world. Your voice matters, your dreams matter, and most of all, your vote matters.

I’ll hop off my voting soapbox now. As always, I hope you are all safe and well. Remember to take care of your mind as much as you care for you body. The two are not mutually exclusive.

MJ May

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Chapter Nineteen of Facilitate Your User Posted

Good morning everyone. Well, at least it’s morning here. I just posted the next chapter of Facilitate Your User. As a big FYI, this chapter does get into the naughtier bits and earns its eighteen and older warning label. Please, if descriptions of m/m intimacy offends you or makes you uncomfortable, then do not read this chapter, and for that matter, you probably don’t want to read the rest of the story.

Okay, warnings aside, if any of you are wondering what on earth today’s picture is of, then let me explain. Some of you may have seen something called a “cat cave” advertised on Facebook and other social media sites. Well, I sort of “caved” and ordered a cat cave. I got it in a couple of weeks ago. The cat cave is supposed to be a bed of sorts, something cats like to crawl into and sleep within. My cats have crawled in, but I wouldn’t say they’ve really slept in it. As for this photo . . . I do not believe this is exactly how the cat cave is supposed to function. The cats are supposed to get their whole body inside, but Newton either thought that was too much effort or he liked having his butt hanging out. Either way, last weekend, late at night I was sitting on the couch reading. I looked up to find . . . this. Newton had gotten himself half way in and fallen asleep. I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m still not sure if it was truly as funny as I found it or if maybe my brain just needed a good chuckle. Regardless, I found it funny and hope you do too. Personally, I think it looks like he has a big, blue mushroom stuck on his head.

This is a busy-ish weekend for me. I worked this weekend and since rain seems to be a notion only found in fantasies, dreams and genie wishes right now, I had to water the garden again yesterday which took a little less than 3 hours. Today will be spent decorating the outside of the house for Halloween. I’m really not into the gory bits of Halloween, but I love the lights and enjoy decorating for this holiday far more than Christmas. Part of that most likely has to do with the weather. It is supposed to be in the mid 70’s here today and I damn well guarantee you it won’t be even close to that warm come late November/December. Trying to figure out the technical logistics for things (mainly all the extension cords) takes more than a bit of time. This year will be a little worse because I’ve got to figure out a whole bunch of little lights boxes my dad made for me.

You see, my house is built up on a small hill with the driveway cut into the hill, leading into the garage and basement which are at ground level. The point of this is that I have boulders and plantings throughout as the retaining walls (thus why it takes nearly 3 hours to water things). Last year I got the idea that it would look creepy to have blinking “critter” eyes peeking out from in between the rocks. My dad is super crafty and I gave the idea to him to run with. His solution was to make little wooden boxes with the eyes cut out and to put a light inside. In true dad fashion, he’s weather proofed these boxes, added blinking lights, and somehow electrically spliced the them together so several run off the same cord. I’m excited to see how this pans out. If it looks good and I can get a decent photo, I’ll use it as one of my blog posts.

That’s probably all for today. Before I go, I want to say I’m kind of obsessed with a show on the Travel Channel called, “The Osborne’s Want to Believe”. For those of you who liked the Osborne’s when it was on MTV (that was many a year ago and makes me feel old realizing how old I was when the show was on), then you’ll probably like this. Jack shows Ozzy and Sharon video clips of paranormal/unexplained phenomena and asks them to rank it on a scale deemed the, “Woogie Boogie Scale”. As usual, the typical Osborne antics ensue. It’s a strange mix of creepy/disturbing videos and comedy (provided by Ozzy and Sharon’s responses). I think the reason I like it too is that beyond all the bickering and nitpicking, I always get a sense of underlying love. I am also always amazed at how sane Jack Osborne sounds. See all you mom’s and dad’s out there, there is always hope for your kids 🙂

Until next time, stay safe and sane. For those of you celebrating Halloween – happy decorating.

MJ May

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Chapter Eighteen of Facilitate Your User Is Posted

I just put up chapter eighteen. DMaduks, you’ll be pleased to know we are getting precariously close to the “naughty bits” 🙂 Overall I like Keylee and Paul (as characters go). Oddly enough, this was one of the quickest stories I’ve ever written. Somehow the two of them just flowed.

Today’s picture is courtesy of Copernicus. I don’t have as many pictures of him as I do his brother, Newton. I don’t like/love Copernicus any less, it just seems like Newton gets into more funny cat antics than his brother. I actually wanted to post another one of Newton I took last night, but again, for some reason, the photos from my phone aren’t updating onto the computer. Anyway, this is a classic one of Copernicus lounging. He likes being on his back to sleep and usually finds a wall or some other sturdy structure to lean half his body against when he does it.

As usual, this past week at work was batshit crazy. For a change, I had Friday off, which was lovely. It gave me a chance to drive to a tile store and pick out something for the entryway of my home. I’ve lived here for over fifteen years and the carpet and linoleum (in the entryway) were there when I purchased the home. I’ve had much bigger fish to both fry and pay for, so it’s remained. For better or worse, leaving the carpet isn’t so much of an option anymore.

Both Newton and Copernicus still have all their claws and overall I’m happy with that decision. They don’t scratch up the woodwork or the furniture, but they do tear up the carpet. Since their cat tree is carpeted, and they scratch at that, I don’t think I can really expect them to know the difference between that carpet and the other stuff all over the house. Mostly it’s fine – just a few strands pulled up here and there, with one exception. The transition between the living room and the faux wooden floor in the kitchen, they’ve torn up the edge. A couple of weeks ago, Fennik trotted into the living room, laid down, and started chewing on something. When I went to investigate, I found he had a rather impressive chunk of carpet.

They say teamwork makes the dreamwork, but in this case, Fennik teaming up with the kitties to rip up the carpet is only going to lead to gastric foreign body surgery. And so . . . new carpet and also tiling over the “fabulous” yellow linoleum in the entryway. Well, it will be better in the long run, but the process gives me hives. As I said earlier, the carpet in the house was here when I moved in and the bedrooms are colored. I don’t know what I’m going to do without the pink-mauve carpet in my bedroom (if you couldn’t tell, that was said in a sarcastic tone). New carpet is leading to repainting the bedrooms and computer/cat room. It kind of makes my head want to explode, but I’m desperately trying to suck it up and say, “I can do it!”.

I ordered and committed to everything on Friday, but it won’t be done until the end of October. Fingers and toes double crossed as none of my home improvement projects have ever gone smoothly or as planned. And just for reference, that includes re-roofing the house, replacing a foundation wall running the length of the basement, rebuilding all the retaining walls lining the drive and leading up to the house, and a few other, more minor things. I love my home, but somedays I think it might lead me to an early grave.

That’s all for today. I hope those still reading Facilitate Your User are happy with where the story is going. I’m sorry for all the spelling/grammatical mistakes that are bound to be there. I don’t think I’ve edited it as well as I’d like. Time is a commodity that seems to be shrinking as the days pass.

Before I completely leave, I just wanted to say, for those of you living on the fire ravaged west coast, or the hurricane battered gulf shore, please know that many of us in the rest of the country are thinking of you. I lived in Virginia for 3 years and went through hurricane Isabelle and the aftermath it brought. I remember seeing power companies from across the country helping in the days after and can only hope that is occurring now. These are atrocious times and we just keep getting hit again and again. The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is just another punch to the soul.

Until next week, please stay safe and as well as you can.

MJ May

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Chapter 17 of Facilitate Your User Posted

I just updated Facilitate Your User. I hope those reading the story are enjoying it. Keylee and Paul are moving closer together, just as Users and Facilitators should.

Today’s picture is of a very exhausted Fennik. Evidently grooming can be rough on a Fen Fen. He’d been at the groomers most of the day and crashed when he got home. It’s not unusual for him to sleep in the bathroom. I’m assuming the tile floor is cooler for him. It is unusual for him to bury his head beneath the shower curtain. The loud, reverberating snoring was a the musical score to this picture. With the toilet in view, it looks like he had a bender the night before. Sadly, neither Fen Fen’s life, nor my own, are nearly that exciting.

It was a particularly rough work week. For those in the United States, last week started with a holiday so most businesses took the day off. That’s great, but we tend to pay for it the following days. Unfortunately, not only were we busy, but we lost two older, long term patients. Their euthanasias were difficult. I’ve been seeing them and their owners for several years and know very well how much their dog’s meant to them. These were people who felt the same way about their kiddo’s as I did Georgia. Those always hit my heart harder because I know the pain they are currently in and will continue to be in. I cried with them and although I know I’m not supposed to right now, I still gave hugs. Overall I am not a touchy, feely person. However, I view grief differently and sometimes there’s nothing like human contact to express your communal sorrow and support. Keeping everyone physically healthy is important, but I think we can’t ignore the human soul, the part of our spirit that makes us uniquely human. It’s tough right now, finding the balance between the two. This past week, I thought achieving that balance warranted a hug or two.

Last week I updated that I might have found an editor for my Reaping Covetous book and I’m happy to say that is true. She won’t be able to start on it until late November, but I’m still very excited and hopeful. What I’m not excited about is that I feel as if I hardly have time to write anymore. The veterinary profession is slammed right now. I keep thinking things have to slow down and they just aren’t. When I get home, I’m tired. I don’t think I’m to the same level of exhaustion as Fennik post grooming (No plans to shove my head under the shower curtain yet), but my brain is too tired to be creative. I hate that but there is a lot of truth to the saying, “it is what it is,” and right now, this is what my life is.

Baring anything tragic, I will update next Sunday as well. For those of you wondering, I think we are probably somewhere between half way and 2/3 of the way through Facilitate Your User. A few more weeks and it will be all up!

Thanks for reading and know that I’m wishing you all well – in body and in spirit.

MJ May

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Chapter 16 Facilitate Your User Posted

Thank you everyone who wished Fennik a happy birthday. I think he had a good one (at least by doggy standards). I gave him a new hoof, but it was stuffed with something that looked like bacon bits and he promptly vomited up something orange. That didn’t deter him much and later that day he enjoyed eating the white cake from his birthday cupcake. His increased gas didn’t result in diarrhea so I’m counting it as a win!

Today’s picture was taken just his week. These plants are located close to my house at the end of the driveway. I planted a new type of sedum this past spring (sorry, I can’t remember its name) and it is blooming a vibrant plum right now. I thought it was pretty and offset well with the white flowers next to it as well as the purple fountain grass behind it.

Update on hopefully publishing the first book in the Reaping Covetous series: I’ve kind of given up on finding an agent and moved into the world of self publishing. I think I’ve found an editor (Yeah!) and hopefully can get started on that process toward the end of November. At this rate, maybe by late winter 2021 or spring I can have it out. So far I’ve really liked me correspondence with this editor and she did a couple of pages as a sample for me. Amazing how much you can learn with only 2 pages edited. Imagine what it will be when more of the book is done. All I can say is that she’s given me a lot to think about simply in those 2 pages and I will most likely be embarrassed about all the other stories I’ve written and put out there without professional editing. There is so much truth to the old saying, “live and learn”. I have a feeling I’m going to get a lot of “learning” when the editing process starts and I’m truly looking forward to it. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it makes me anxious too, but mostly excited to finally move forward.

I think that’s it for this week. I really need to go out and water the gardens. It has been pretty dry here. I love my plants and flowers until the rain runs out and I have to be a surrogate Mother Nature. It will take 2+ hours to get things done today. It’s not difficult work, just a little tedious and boring after awhile. But with no rain in the ten day forecast . . . the poor little kiddos are parched.

Until next week, stay well – both physically and mentally.

MJ May

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Chapter Fifteen of Facilitate Your User Posted

I just posted chapter fifteen. I hope you all like the way Keylee and Paul are progressing. This chapter they definitely have some learning pains. Unfortunately, as most of us know, sometimes the best lessons are the ones that hurt the most.

Today’s picture is in celebration of Fennik’s birthday! August 31st is the official day, which is tomorrow. This picture is from his birthday celebration last year. The staff at the clinic I work at were very indulgent and let me throw my boy a party. We had cake, pumpkin ice cream for Fen Fen and games (like pin the tail on the Fen Fen). I’m not planning anything so elaborate this year, but I did get some cupcake and brownie goodies, along with a #2 candle for tomorrow. I don’t have any real, two legged children (something I’m really okay with), so the four legged, furry ones are my kiddos.

Fennik is a good boy. His groomer calls him silly and I think that’s a good description. He got very, very, very large for a cavalier. My last cavalier, Georgia, was also a bit larger for her breed at around nineteen pounds. I’d hoped my second would be smaller. Well, that didn’t exactly pan out as Fen Fen is around thirty pounds. He just kept growing and growing. I get a work out every time I haul his heavy butt up and down the stairs (there’s a story behind that but it is kind of long).

Anyway . . . tomorrow is Fennik’s birthday and I wanted to put up a picture to celebrate him. He’s brought a lot of much needed interest to my life. I don’t think I realized the internal drive I had to be needed, to take care of something, until Georgia passed. I felt adrift and even through I had my kitties, whom I love dearly, it just wasn’t the same. Then Fennik entered my life and spiced things up again. He’s also gone a long way to ruining my carpet and causing me anxiety every time his teeth crunch and crack when he’s chewing on one of his beloved hooves.

As an FYI. If anyone is curious where his name came from (I get questions from clients sometimes), it is a bastardization of the name, Fezzik from the Princess Bride. I liked the name, but knew I’d most likely shorten it on a daily basis and didn’t want to constantly be calling him, Fez. I was right, in that I did shorten it, sort of. I do call him Fen often, but more often Fen Fen and when he’s truly in trouble, it’s Fennik. Well, that’s probably minutia you could all have lived without, but there it is all the same.

Until next week, please stay well and as happy as possible. August is almost at a close and that makes me sad. I enjoy Sept and Oct but really don’t like what comes after. On the plus side, my dad has finished making me these blinking animal eye lights that I plan on putting out in the rock walls lining the drive come October. If the pictures come out well, I’ll post something when the time comes. I like the idea of it looking like little, creepy critters looking out from in between the rocks. I do enjoy decorating for Halloween!

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Chapter 14 of Facilitate Your User Posted

Good morning everyone. I just posted Chapter 14 of Facilitate Your User. Keylee and Paul are still getting to know each other and Paul is starting to realize just what Keylee means to him.

Today’s picture is an old one and also from the trip I took with my family to Disney World several years ago. My brother in law sent this photo to me today and I decided to use it. This is my niece walking hand in hand with me at the end of a great day at the Magic Kingdom. We were all exhausted and my legs kind of felt like Jell-O at that point. We were all going back to the condo to change into our Halloween costumes because we went in October and were going back to the park for the Halloween part of things. If life ever gets back to normal and you can afford it, I highly recommend visiting Disney in October. It was a lot of fun and the park looks absolutely amazing. My niece was so young here (I was also a . . . cough . . . little bit younger too).

Work is still crazy busy. Honestly, I don’t even know what to think about it anymore. I keep thinking this is a good problem to have but some days you just want to put your head through a wall. Either that or unplug the phones for a while. I think reception would be up for that one. The phones are driving everyone nuts. With COVID protocols in place, every client that comes to the clinic has to park and call. Honestly I’m not sure how the receptionists are managing without some type of chemical help. It’s a race that is caught somewhere between a marathon and a sprint.

On the writing side of things . . . first of all, I started posting one of my fan fiction stories to AO3. Eventually I’ll get them all there but I want to edit the chapters and dear God . . . there are some long chapters in those stories. They take awhile, especially when I’ve got so much else gong on. I’ve decided (at least for now), not to put them on this website. From what I understand, they should be pretty safe on AO3 and I think two spots is plenty for people to see them if they want. As far as trying to get original works published . . . I think I’m going to start exploring self publishing more. Interestingly, now that I’ve started paying attention, most of the books I purchase, read and really like, are self published. However, I think my dream of being able to go to part time as a vet and make up the rest of my income with writing is, to put it impolitely, is bat-shit crazy. If anything, I have a feeling I’ll have to keep working full time to support my writing habit. That makes me incredibly sad but I guess we’ll just have to see how things pan out. I love writing, creating worlds and characters and I can’t imagine giving that up and I’m to the point where I really want to share those characters and stories with the world. Maybe no one will read them, or at least very few. I’ve often thought of myself more as a storyteller rather than a writer. The whole process really plays havoc with your self esteem and in some ways, maybe it’s better that I didn’t try doing this when I was younger. I don’t think I had as much wherewithal a decade or so ago.

As always, I hope you are all faring well and keeping safe and sane. It’s a tough world out there and I fear it is only getting tougher. For those of you in the U.S. we’ve got election time coming up and I’m afraid things are going to get ugly . . . very, very ugly. I try not to get too political on this site, but sometimes my fears leak through.

MJ May

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Chapter 13 of Facilitate Your User Posted

I just put up chapter 13. It is a little shorter than usual (I think?) but it seemed like the right place to break things up. In this chapter we get a little more background information on Keylee’s parents from Max’s perspective. Paul’s getting an education, just maybe not the kind he thought he would.

Today’s picture isn’t what I originally planned. Usually when I take a picture with my phone, it shows up on my photos on the computer and therefore easy for me to transfer over. For some reason it has decided not to do that and being the techno imbecile that I am . . . well, you get a photo I took a little earlier this summer. This is a picture of a young sycamore tree. This is a very special tree to me and unfortunately it suffered some damage earlier this week during a storm. Thankfully it was only a couple of branches and it is still very much alive. The reason this tree is so important to me is that it is the memorial tree I planted for my first cavalier king charles spaniel, Georgia.

Georgia was the absolute love of my life. I’m sure her photo will pop up here next spring when it gets closer to the anniversary of her passing. Georgia died in 2018 and took a chunk of my heart with her. Some asked why I planted a sycamore tree, why not something showier? My answer is pretty simple. One, I love sycamore trees. They are native to where I live and I love the way their bark looks in the otherwise desolate winter landscape. Two, I have a big, absolutely gorgeous one in my front yard. The leaves are huge and I have fond, humorous memories of Georgia going outside in the Fall, trotting back up the door with a sycamore leaf twice the size of her head stuck in her ear. The tree and its leaves remind me of precious times I wish could have gone on forever.

In contrast, the photo I was going to put on today was flowers of the cut and arranged variety. Yesterday was my fifteenth anniversary working at my current clinic. I graduated vet school a little over eighteen years ago. Whew, just writing that seems wrong. Sometimes if feels like just yesterday and other times it feels like it was someone else’s life all together. I had a good friend in school that was in his early forties by the time he graduated (compared to most of us in our mid to late twenties). He was married and had a small son at the time. I still distinctly remember him leaning over to whisper the very first day of freshman year in vet school, “I’m going to be divorced, a drug addict, or suicidal by the time this is over”. Thankfully he was wrong as he was still very much married, not addicted to drugs (as far as I know), and very much alive when he walked across the stage to pick up his diploma.

I don’t think I have any heartwarming or creepy, crawly tales to tell regarding work. It’s still crazy busy. I only got home for lunch once this past week, otherwise Subway and I were good friends. I also don’t have much to report on the front of getting Reaping Covetous published. I’m starting to investigate the self-publishing route. Parts of this actually appeal to me more but also scares the juju bees outta me.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and I hope all of you like the next chapter in Facilitate Your User. We should be about half-way through. I think??? Honestly not sure but it feels that way. Until next week, please stay well and as sane as possible. People I see at work keep asking me what I miss the most about the COVID restrictions and for me, it’s art shows. I love artwork and love going to the shows even more. Even though most of the ones I go to are outside, they’re still cancelled and it adds another layer of weight to my chest.

MJ May

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Chapter Twelve of Facilitate Your User is posted

Good afternoon everyone. I posted the twelfth chapter in Facilitate Your User (or at least I hope I posted it). I’m not sure why but the website was being difficult. When I transferred the block of text, it took all the spaces out this time for reasons I don’t understand and hope never happen again. It took a long time to go back through and put them in and then I had to do it again when the page went blank and I lost it all. Therefore, I hope chapter twelve came out okay and that all the spaces are where they need to be. If not, I apologize.

Today’s picture is an older one I found while scrolling through my phone. I don’t know why, but I felt like posting it today. These are actually little doggy kimono’s. I found them a few years ago when my family visited Disney World and more specifically, Epcot. I can’t remember if they were in the Chinese or Japanese Pavilion. I want to say it was the Chinese Pavilion but I’m not certain. I do remember the Japanese Pavilion was loaded with anime and manga products and I thought I’d maybe died and gone to Epcot heaven. Anyway, I thought they were super cute and took a photo. They also seemed quite elaborate and beautiful. I’ve never actually seen a dog come into the clinic (or anywhere else for that matter) sporting such finery, but thought I’d share.

I was wondering if anyone else is having issues with their cats going after their masks? I’ve found they really like the loops that go around the ears and if I lay it on the counter or hang one from a doorknob to dry after laundering it, they are going after them like crazy. I have to put mine up on the mantle to dry as it’s the only place they can’t reach. Living with cats certainly keeps you on your toes. I’ve said before I think placing sheets on a bed with cats involved should be an Olympic event. Scoring would be based on accuracy, time, creative cursing and how many times you have to throw the cats off the bed.

Off the beaten path from above . . . I’ve been thinking about adding another page to my website with names of mm books/authors that I’ve enjoyed. I’ve found that many of them are self published and sometimes aren’t as readily apparent (especially some of the older ones) when doing a search on Kindle. I’m not sure any of you would care what I like to read or not, but thought it might be a bit of a resource. It depends on the amount of time I have coming up. I looked at the time today and wondered where all of it had gone. I have so much on my mental to do list and yet I also need some mental down time so I’m not sure I’ll get much more done today. Ugh . . . I feel like I have all these plans that seem great at the time and then turn into, meh.

That’s about all for now. As always, I hope you are all doing well – staying healthy and somewhat sane. The continued cancelations of activities we look forward to yearly continues and weighs further on our collective souls. There’s a surety and mental calming associated with routine and for a lot of us, that has been blasted out of the water. All the little things are starting to add up, creating heavy mountains.

MJ May

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Chapter 11 of Facilitate Your User is up

I just posted Chapter 11 of Facilitate Your User. Paul has a little groveling to do so we’ll let him get busy doing that.

The picture today is of Newton. I placed this pillow on my coffee table to give my feet/ankles something soft to lay on while I read. I got up to let Fennik out and came back to this. Evidently Newton thought the pillow looked pretty comfy too. Like any cat momma worth her salt, I didn’t move him. Instead I just put my feet on the floor and let him have the pillow.

Update on the little maggot kitten – she is doing much better! I saw her early last week and she’s gained 0.25 lbs and I’d say she’s about 2/3 healed. The owner found no more maggots so all our flushing and picking worked. I think eventually she’ll heal the whole way and hopefully do well. She might have some scaring along an ear but she’s long haired so this will probably cover it. She’ll be a cutie and I’m glad this one had a good outcome.

I don’t really have too many other stories from work this week as I actually had a few days off at the end of last week. It was very nice and rare. I couldn’t seem to relax as much as I wanted and was fidgety. I wound up going to a couple of state parks and walking around on some nature trails. I really enjoyed this and wondered why I haven’t been doing it more often. Then I thought of the stories I watch on the ID channel (I watch this way too much for my owner psychological well being) and couldn’t help but think I might pop up on a program one day. You can go for a pretty long clip out in the woods without seeing anyone else. Still, I liked it and will probably go back out there. I also discovered that if you buy a year’s parking pass for one state park, it works for the others. This goes down in the, “things you feel stupid you never knew,” category.

I also started a new story while having a few days off. I haven’t gotten nearly as far into it as I’d hoped but this one is a bit tougher for me. I’ve had this idea brewing for probably over 5 years and this is at least the third time I’ve started it. I normally quit because I don’t like where it’s going but I’m trying it again. We’ll see if I can actually finish it this time.

That’s about all for this week. I can’t believe it’s August already. The summer always flies by in a humid haze while the winter drags on with its weary self. Be prepared, come the colder months, you’ll be getting a lot of, “why in the hell do I live in the Midwest,” rants from me.

Stay well and as sane as possible,

MJ May

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Chapter 10 of Facilitate Your User posted

I just put up Chapter 10 of Facilitate Your User. We’re going to start getting into more of Paul and Keylee’s relationship, or at least their attempt at one. They’ve both had such different upbringings that it’s going to be a bit tough on our young men.

The picture today is of Fennik peaking out at me while I’m watering the flower boxes. He generally runs from the window to the door so he can look out and see where I’m at and I suppose what I’m doing. He’s stopped chewing on the window pane crank which is a bonus. It’s a bit littered with teeth marks but still functional and mostly has its plastic coating in place. Mostly – sigh . . .

As an FYI to those reading this from the fan fiction world – I just signed up for AO3 but haven’t posted anything yet. My name will be under MJ_May instead of lunamist.

On the veterinary front, I will be seeing a kitten tomorrow for a recheck and I’m hopeful she is doing better. If you’re squeamish, then you should stop reading now – especially if you don’t want to hear anything about maggots. For those of you bravely trekking on, I’ll tell you her story.

As I’ve alluded to before, veterinary medicine isn’t as “glamorous” as some think. Some days the patients are great and a lot of fun. Other days make you question the world around you. This little kitten is a good example of how it really does matter what circumstances you are born into and how they shape your life.

Last week, we had someone call in to see if we had time to see a little kitten they’d pulled out from under a dumpster. The woman who called said she wanted to try and keep the kitten if we could get her fixed up, and oh, by the way . . . I think she’s got maggots.

Now, unfortunately, this isn’t all that uncommon. Flies are attracted to the smell of decaying tissue and feces (probably other things too, but that’s the important part in my world). Therefore, when it’s summer and an animal has poo stuck on fur around their rump or if they’ve been wounded and it’s infected, maggots can happen. They can be really challenging to clear up and many cases depend upon the extent of the infestation and where they are located.

Long story short, we got this little kitty in and yes, she did indeed have a rather unhealthy crop of well fed, several days old, juicy maggots squirming around several wounds along her left ear. Thankfully none of the wounds penetrated her mouth or into her ear canal. After several minutes of gagging (on my part as I really hate worms that congregate en mass), grabbing them with thumb forceps and flushing the wounds to get as many out as we could, we had a nice little squirming pile of the little buggers.

The wounds were bad, but if there’s one thing cats and kittens seem to excel at, it’s healing. I sent this little gal home with both oral and topical antibiotics and in no way promised the owner I’d gotten every single maggot out and to keep a close eye on the area. Later in the week I got a call from the new owner telling me this little kitty was doing well and she would be coming in on Monday for a recheck.

So, fingers crossed this kitty is doing well tomorrow. This isn’t the worst one I’ve seen – unfortunately many of those we euthanize. But every once in a while, they surprise you and turn out to have great lives. Here’s hoping this little gal is one of those.

Hope that story wasn’t too gross for you. It is, unfortunately, part and parcel of my job. Hug your furry loved ones as long as they’re amenable. Try and tay well and as sane as possible.

MJ May

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Chapter Nine of Facilitate Your User is up

Happy Sunday everyone! I just posted chapter nine of Facilitate Your User. Keylee and Paul are finally bonded. It’s a good start for them but that’s exactly what it is – a start.

Today’s picture is the view outside the window of what I affectionally call the “cat/computer room”. This is the room I do all my writing in and also has the kitty window seat, their cat tree, litter box and food. Newton’s head is in the fore, the garden beyond and maybe a little difficult to see considering the screen is in the way. The coneflowers in the garden are blooming beautifully right now. I have to say – I love a coneflower, and now you can find them in all different colors.

Not sure what the weather is like where you all are, but here in the Midwest it is hot, hot, hot and very humid. I mowed the lawn early this morning and was still dripping sweat. I would much rather this weather than the cold, but even this is getting too hot for me. It’s tough to do things outside in this and I feel bad for anyone laboring in this type of heat.

Speaking of laboring . . . whew, work has been busy. And it’s not just us. Veterinary clinics across the country are slammed right now and have been for the last few months. It is a condition I don’t expect to let up anytime soon. So, with that said, for all of you pet owners out there, try and have a little patience with your veterinarian. We are really trying but the truth of the matter is that we can not see every pet that needs it. We are all backed up from the early months of COVID when we had to put off routine procedures. That backlog has simply compounded the following months – months that are typically our busiest anyways. There comes a limit when you simply can’t work smarter or faster than you already are. There is a limit to how far you can push staff members and yourself and still expect everyone to show up healthy and sane to work the following day. It is a struggle right now and we feel terrible when we have to turn people away, funneling more of you to an emergency clinic you may have to travel an hour or two to get to. It weighs on us, but like I said, there comes a breaking point where you just have to say the word, “No”.

Patience is a gift the Fates seemed to have passed me by on. I suppose I have other gifts – some good and some not so good, but patience definitely isn’t one of them. That makes this kind of one of those, “Do as I say, not as I do” moments. Sigh . . . try as I might, sometimes I’m a hypocrite.

With all that said, I plan to do some reading later today and I hope you all can do the same. Reading and writing are the biggest de-stressors in my life and I’m planning on using them to try and recharge my batteries so I can get up early tomorrow and start the race all over again. I hope my stories give people the kind of mental break I’m always searching for. That is probably my biggest wish for my writing.

As an aside to those coming to my website from fanifiction, I’ve got the first few chapters of Bakusen’O re-read and will hopefully start loading them to this website this week. I’m guessing you’ve all read it before and it won’t change much. I just thought I’d bring my Inuyasha stories to a new home. I have no plans on willingly taking them down from fanfiction at this time so you’ll still be able to read them there.

As always, stay well, happy and good luck remaining sane.

MJ May

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Chapter Eight of Facilitate Your User Is Posted

Happy Sunday everyone. I just posted chapter 8 of Facilitate Your User. This one sees Keylee and Paul finally bonded. We’ll see how things go in the future. I may try and post more than one chapter a week but no guarantees. Work has been nutty bunnies and my days off seem to be spent trying to query agents (so far no interest which is very depressing). Querying takes a very long time. It depends on what the agent wants but some of them take me about an hour or so. Right now it seems pretty futile but I keep trying.

Overall this is a much lighter posting than last week. Thank you to those whom read and a special shout out to Doris Maduka and amadderhatter for their comments. I can not express how much I appreciate them. I really do love hearing from my readers and I am getting more comfortable sharing little bits of my life with all of you out there. Not sure if that’s always welcome or not, but it’s nicer than I thought it would be. Mostly I think my life is pretty dull and boring but I suppose that’s all in the proverbial eye of the beholder.

Today’s picture is of my desk. I painted this many and many a moon ago when I was but a youngin’ – the ripe old age of nineteen. It was between my freshman and sophomore years of college undergrad and I needed a desk top. I’ve used it ever since and it’s moved everywhere I have. It’s a little old and worn but I still like it. I really don’t do much painting anymore. My mom is a great artist and did tole painting for years. Now she does scrapbooking and both her and my aunt’s home made cards are amazing.

That’s all for this post. At least this weekend I don’t have to be in a parade (I had to do that last Sunday for work). I swear, I sweated at least 5 lbs off last weekend. It was bloody hot out there. Over 90 both days and our Midwest humidity was out and proud. I hope you are all still doing well and staying safe and sane.

MJ May

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A Veterinarian’s Lament/Dilemma (sort of): Chapter 7 of Facilitate Your User also posted.

Today’s picture is of a poster I have framed and hanging in the basement. Why the basement? Because that is where my pseudo work-out room is and it seemed to make sense. Plus it’s where I still have some wall space. Now, this poster has also been through its fair share of trauma. I purchased it but took forever getting it hung up. In the meantime, it was still rolled up and standing upright in a bag. There was a plumbing incident and one of the water logged ceiling tiles fell on it. The poster actually punched a hole in the ceiling tile but also got wet. But it survived! Although not quite whole. Anyways, I hung it up. I figured the poster had earned it.

So, this post is a little different. My blog/website is defined by the fact that I am a veterinarian and an aspiring fiction writer. I’ve thought about taking the veterinarian part down, not because I’m not one, but this website is dedicated more to the aspiring fiction writer part. And then philosophical dilemmas crop up that I feel like sharing. Thus today’s post.

I’ve been a vet for over eighteen years. It was a hard earned dream that, like so many other dreams, didn’t quite pan out the way I thought it would. The veterinary profession is plagued with mental illness. This isn’t necessarily a new concept to those of us who’ve been in it for awhile, but mounting suicides within the profession finally made some people higher up take notice. There has been much debate and studies done these past few years to try and figure out if veterinarians really do have a higher suicide rate than the general population and other similar professions. There is some conflicting data but everyone generally agrees it’s a problem. As a general rule, we are a profession of introverts whom like/love animals more than people. The irony of that situation is that we are in a profession where we have to be able to talk and deal with people every single day.

There are several theories as to why veterinarians seem more prone to depression, anxiety, suicide and all the other less than joyful mental illnesses that plague our minds. I have my own opinions that I will not expound upon but I will say that I have not been immune to the struggle. Those not intimately involved with the profession might not understand its stresses, but they are real and only worsening as time goes on. Current veterinary students will graduate with unfathomable student debt and our salaries are not commensurate with these staggering figures. Again, lots of studies, discussions and hand wringing have gone into this topic with (in my opinion) little to show for it. The profession eats away at your morals, your empathy, and your sanity. Many often speak of compassion fatigue – in all the health professions. For me it isn’t so much compassion fatigue, but decision fatigue. I still have tons of compassion but at the end of the day, my brain is shot.

What this profession has also taught me is that love is not nearly so simply defined as one would think, and means something different to almost everyone. I have had people bring me pets that are too obese to walk, covered in fleas, have such severe dental disease that the smell of just being in the room with them is nausea inducing and a litany of other preventable issues that wear at my empathy. And yet, when you speak to those same people, they often smile with loving eyes at their pet and joyfully pronounce how much they love them, how lucky said dog or cat was to be found/adopted by them. This is not love to me, or at least not the whole definition of it. It is to them and I have to do the best I can with what I have to work with. To be sure, there are definitely more dogs and cats in the world who have had it worse and unfortunately I’ve seen them too.

So, here comes the dilemma. Becoming a veterinarian is a dream of many. It was my dream and no one could talk me out of it. I worked damn hard getting into school and the four years of my life spent in veterinary school were a harsh blur of missed family functions, working through illness, little sleep, stress and sacrifice. I’ve been a veterinarian for over eighteen years and am now in a position where younger dreamers come to me, wanting references to get into school. I’m in the process of writing up a reference right now and fighting an inner battle over it. I’m trying to write what I know admissions wants to hear – working my best to write a good and compelling letter of recommendation for a bright young woman who has her heart set on joining a profession I would not recommend. I want this young woman to succeed. I want her to realize the dreams she’s worked so hard to earn and believe me, she’s more than capable of getting into and through school. But I worry. I worry that her life will mimic not only my own, but so many other veterinarians who worked their asses off to do something that is slowly killing them – burning them out and taking the joy away from pet ownership.

As my posts indicate, I love and adore my pets. They are the light of my life – my chosen family, but being a veterinarian has changed how I view pet ownership and the simple pleasure of it. Everything comes with a price. I suspect most professions are not what people thought they would be and the disappointment can be numbingly painful. Veterinarians are certainly not alone in that conundrum.

And so, I write. I write fanfiction and original fiction with characters created in my mind because I can control what happens to them. I can escape into the fantasy worlds I create so I can forget, for at least a little while, cases from my real job that I can’t solve, that there’s not enough money to treat, or that should never have happened in the first place. I write and make up stories to give my brain a break from reality. It’s the same reason most of us read and watch television. I like to think it’s a healthier outlet than some of the other things I could be doing.

At the end of things, I’ll write this young lady the most fabulous letter of recommendation I can and hope that she’s one of the lucky ones that makes it through and truly enjoys the profession. I will hope she finds her way through the financial hardships, through the difficult curriculum and through the (cough*) interesting clients she meets along the way. And more importantly, I will hope that she maintains the love for animals that she currently has, that she can still experience the joy of a new kitten or puppy.

Sorry for the longer rant today, but this is, after all, a blog as well as a website to post my stories. For those of you from the fanfiction world, I will start adding my Inuyasha stories to this website soon. I want to go through and reedit some. There won’t be any major changes and most likely you won’t notice the changes. I’ll be starting with Bakusen’O. This way, if something happens and they kick me off fanfiction, there will still be a place to find these stories because I love them as much as many of you. I still get reviews from readers telling me how many times they’ve reread some of my stories. I truly love this and want to let you know, I reread them too!

Thanks for reading and I hope you all like the new chapter addition to Facilitate Your User.

MJ May

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Chapter 5 and 6 of Facilitate Your User are posted.

Chapter 5 was uploaded last Wednesday but I didn’t make a blog post so it wasn’t sent out. Some of you have already read it. I did just post chapter 6 today. In this chapter, Paul and Keylee finally meet each other. First meetings can be rather awkward . . .

Some readers from fanfiction have said they’re having trouble finding the website. Today I’m posting it with the latest update on that Inuyasha story so hopefully those who want to visit here can do so.

Today’s picture is courtesy of my back yard and one of the many squirrels invading my bird feeder – sigh . . . I actually really like the squirrels but they are getting more creative (as squirrels are known to do). I swear, it looks like Midwest backyard wild kingdom back there when I open the door. Birds, chipmunks and squirrels go scurrying. I posted on my Instagram account how this squirrel scuttled off after I let Fennik out. If anyone is interested, my Instagram is fenfensfollies.

That’s all for today. I hope you are all well and enjoying your summer (for those in the northern hemisphere 🙂

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Chapter 4 of Facilitate Your User is up

Happy Father’s Day to those celebrating today. I’m fortunate to still have my father with me and perhaps even more fortunate to have a great dad. The older I get, the more I realize how truly lucky I was being born to parents who wanted and loved me. I am still very loved by them despite the fact that I am far from a “child” anymore.

In celebration of the day, the picture on this post is of flower boxes my dad built for me to place outside the large window in my living room. For the past few years I’ve been able to look out my window every Spring, Summer and Fall I see a plethora of colorful flowers, making my life a little more beautiful.

As the title of this post says, I put chapter four of Facilitate Your User up. I’m still debating whether or not to post my fanfiction stories on this website or not. I’m leaning toward the yes department but time will tell.

Hope you all are well and wishing you a good day.

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Chapter 3 of Facilitate Your User is up plus the first short story in the Reaping Covetous series is posted.

Good evening all. As you can see from this blog’s title, I posted the third chapter in the Facilitate Your User story as well as the first short story in the Reaping Covetous series. Just click on the links at the top or bottom of the page and it will take you there. Unfortunately you have to scroll down to find the newest info. I still haven’t figured out if making more links is possible or not. Sorry if it’s not as user friendly as we’d all like.

Tonights picture is of Fennik. Summer has brought about a new issue for us as Fennik and I have differing opinions on where the bathroom rug belongs. He works vigorously moving it from where I believe its correct position should be to where he wants it. I suspect he likes laying on the cool tile floor. When he’s not by my feet, I can normally find him there, snoring.

Not much more to post tonight. Work is still hectic and I believe people are getting crabbier. When COVID first hit and we were on lockdown, the clinic remained open. We went to curbside service and for the most part, clients were very kind and thankful. But I think we’ve pushed human tolerance to its limit, which evidently has a one to two month span if my calculations are correct. I’m sure somewhere down the line there will be a more official study on the social dynamics of COVID. Thankfully, I will not be collecting that data.

As always, stay well and I hope happy or at the very least content with life. MJ May.

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Indoor Starry Night

Recently I ordered one of those little machines that puts little light dots on your ceiling to mimic the stars. The one I purchased has something that looks like a nebula too. Well, I set it up in the computer room, which also happens to be what I call the “cat room” as it has their cat tree, window seat, food and litter box. In short, both cats went kind of nutty. See, I didn’t figure on the “stars” moving and basically being thousands of little, shifting points of light. I have some video of the cats chasing these lights around the ceiling – jumping from their cat tree to the window seat and back again. Thankfully they settled fairly quickly. The picture and video didn’t come out the best, but I still thought I’d use it as it made me smile.

I added chapter 2 to my story, “Facilitate Your User”. By the way, I’m not that thrilled with the title. I feel I’m normally better coming up with titles, but have been racking my brain for several weeks and that’s always what I default back to. Maybe I can come up with something better in the future. I was hoping that when I updated the page, it would send out an alert, but apparently that’s not how it works. I believe you just get an update when I post to the blog . . . hmmm . . . still working things out. This might be as worked out as it gets, at least for now.

I hope to get one of the short stories from the Covetous series up soon. It’s written. I just want to tweak it some more. Speaking of, I think I should have the second book in the series done and languishing on my computer within the next couple of weeks. One way or another, I’m determined it will see the light of day.

With that, I’ll close this post. I’m wishing you all as well as you can be in these uncertain times. I keep trying to come up with a different word for it. “Uncertain times” is overused on every bit of media I see, but maybe that’s because they can’t come up with anything better either. I have different words for what’s going on in the world, but many are inflammatory and I don’t think the world needs any more gasoline on the fire engulfing it. I’m far from naive. I have trouble sleeping and my thoughts most days are dark. This comes through in my writing, but there is always hope too. After all, that’s the beauty of writing fiction – we get to choose the outcomes of those often bleak times.

Take care, be well and thanks for reading.

MJ May

Deadly Arrogance: Necromancer Tales Book IV is Now Available for Pre-Order

Good late morning everyone. I’m happy to announce that the forth, and final book in the Necromancer Tales is now available for pre-order (at least the e-book version). I’m waiting on the resized cover to complete the paperback but otherwise it is finished as well. The sizing of the paperback cover seems to be very picky but considering I know jack nothing about that, I will refrain from criticism.

I’m sorry this one took so long to get published. Breaking my elbow really took me out of the typing game for at least 2 months and then when I could start typing again, it was a little slow going. I hope the wait was worth it with this final installment. I have to say, I’m going to miss Erasmus and Franklin. They will be showing up here and there going forward with a new series. I am almost finished with the first book in the new series. I’m still mulling over a title, but this book will feature Erasmus’s father, Warlock Nikodemus Holland and a certain special someone he meets towards the end of Deadly Arrogance. Warlock Holland has become a favorite character of mine over these past few books and I really wanted to give him his own HEA.

Along the lines of more book news, Podium is now offering the audio versions of Perfectly Imperfect Pixie, Perfectly Perfect Pixie, along with the first two necromancer books on a wider platform (not just audible). Spotify is just one of the other locations these books can be found. In fact, I need to get busy and complete my author page on Spotify. I’m certainly not the best when it comes to doing such things.

On a horrid weather note . . . Brrrrrrrr . . . Seriously, WTF, Mother Nature? It’s not even technically winter yet and I have >4 inches of snow covering my house, streets, and yard and today’s temperature is a whopping 0 degrees. We might have gotten below zero earlier this morning, but let’s face it, when you reach 0, -1 or -2 doesn’t really feel that much different. By the time the snow finally stopped falling yesterday, it was dark outside. I shoveled my drive amid the glow of Christmas lights. I suppose at least it was festive. It’s sad when you decide to shovel your drive because the 12 degrees it currently is is warmer than the expected 0 the following day.

Sigh . . .

As any of you who’ve read past posts from me know, I am not a fan of the cold and snow. I am currently extremely jealous of those of you living around the equator or southern hemisphere.

In other personally traumatic news . . . Late October, my dad and I went on a walk at a local park. It is one we’ve walked at several times, but isn’t all that busy. When we exited the woods, I was greeted by the fact that some lovely individual shattered my driver’s side window and stole my purse. Of course, all my ID, credit cards, check book, personal photos, and a myriad of other things were in there. Going through something like that is about as much fun as you imagine. Closing accounts, reopening accounts, having no way to pay for anything for a few days, filing police reports, worrying that your driver’s license is out there somewhere with your personal address on it . . . yeah, good times . . . Thankfully, so far, I haven’t lost anything major financially and I have to say, everyone I had to speak with to try and get things sorted was very kind and helpful.

In other, happier personal news, Newton still seems to be doing well on his diabetes medication and Fen Fen is also coping well with his early congestive heart failure. His medications make him very thirsty and he has very looooong pees, but his coughing is decreased and he seems to be feeling well. Fen also absolutely adores the cold and is currently living his best life with the sub zero wind chill factor currently rocking my part of the world.

Newton is also living his best life as he has recently recovered a hoard of balls, rings, and other toys. I’m doing a little kitchen reno and a plethora of them were found under the hutch. Christmas came early for Mr. Newton and he’s been enjoying batting around (losing them under said hutch, the couch, and other furniture again) all his toys. I often joke that Newton, “loses his balls”. Poor fella truly lost them about 11 years ago. Those balls are long gone and will not return.

How are you all doing on your Christmas shopping? I’ve gotten all but one present in and will start wrapping soon. I tend to wrap everything in one go. Of course, Newton loves “helping” with the wrapping. Typically I eventually get exhausted and shut him in the basement just so I can get something wrapped without the paper tearing, the pen being knocked on the floor, or a lot of cat hair getting trapped in the tape.

That’s about all for now. I’m going to try and add a couple of photos to the end of the post. One is Newton’s cat toy hoard and another is Fen all dressed up for his Christmas photo. Let me tell you, those antlers did not want to stay on 🙂

Until next time, stay warm, safe, and dry. I’m wishing you the wherewithal to make it through the holiday season with your sanity and bank account intact.

As always, thank you so much for reading!

MJ May

Fen Fen in his reindeer antlers.

Newton half on and half off the new kitchen floor.

Newton’s toy hoard.

Happy 7th Birthday FenFen

As you can see from the photo, Fennik recently celebrated his seventh birthday. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned later that evening. For the past six years, I’ve gotten white cupcakes for everyone at the clinic, including Fen. I remove the icing and give Fen the white cake. This has always gone swimmingly well. Until this year.

Of course, Fen loved the cake. That went as predicted. However, later that day, just before we were set to go home, Fen was laying on his back, getting belly rubs from one of the staff members. He quickly rolled to his side and projectile vomited, while still laying on his side. He then proceeded to hack and cough for about 30-40 minutes. I was scared to death that he aspirated. Thankfully, he did not. He did, however, vomit several more times that night and then broke with diarrhea the following day. Sigh . . . Being nominated for best pet parent of the year award will not be happening this year. I felt terrible. What a birthday present—vomiting and diarrhea. Needless to say, next year Fen will get a different treat for his birthday.

It’s been a rough (insert stinky) couple of weeks in our household. Without going into a lot of icky detail, Newton is also have digestive problems that is leading to a lot of yuck. I think it’s his diabetes medication. I’m going to try and adjust some things and see if I make life better for all of us. I’m so very tired of cleaning flooring and fur. Fen and Newton are equally difficult to clean but for completely different reasons. Fen’s just lazy and unhelpful. With Newton, I’m lucky if I don’t come away bloody. Newton is not a happy camper regarding assisted grooming.

Honestly, I don’t know how parents of human children manage, especially when they’re ill. Not having any of the two legged, non-furred children, I’m at a loss. Kudos to all of you out there who are brave enough to raise the next generation. You are far more adventurous than me.

I actually did have another reason for posting today that has nothing to do with my malodorous home 😦 I’m happy to report that the Deadly Avarice Audiobook is now available for pre-order 🙂 Along with that, I finally finished the fourth, and final, Necromancer book. I’m still waffling a bit on the title. I’ve got it narrowed down and am decently certain what it will be, but not yet willing to commit. Copy editing should start late September/early October with proof reading in November. Assuming no catastrophes, a release date of sometime in December should still be doable.

I’m debating where to go next with my stories. I’m toying with the idea of giving Warlock Nicodemus Holland his own book. I enjoy writing his character and have set up the ending of the fourth Necromancer book so that this is a possibility. I’d also like to explore the characters I envision for the Magical Usage Council. I also have stories that have nothing to do with “pixie universe” that rumble through my brain, so who knows.

Okay, time to get going so I can continue proofreading the last Necromancer book and get it to editing on time. I think I’ll start cutting down the spent coneflowers later today. I’ve been leaving them up for the goldfinches to feed on but I haven’t seen any for a few days and suspect they’ve moved on. I may need to wear a hardhat if the sounds of the walnuts hitting my roof are any indication. I’m not sure what the squirrels are doing up there, but the walnuts are currently raining down on my house and thudding on the roof. Ahhh . . . the sounds of Fall.

Until next time, take care and happy reading. Enjoy the less humid weather and get ready to decorate for Halloween (at least I enjoy decorating for this holiday).

MJ May

I added a couple o more images of Fen’s birthday celebration. FYI, his party hat is excellent. I bought it 6 years ago and have used it every year since. It stays on beautifully, even when he shakes his head. Possibly the best six dollars I’ve spent.

Perfectly Petite Shorts: Short Stories from the Perfect Pixie Series Now Available

Good evening everyone. I’m happy (and also already apologetic) to announce that Perfectly Petite Shorts is now available. Happy because it is finally out. Apologetic because a very nice reader pointed out some glaring mistakes in Trinket’s story. For those of you who have already purchased the book, I am so sorry about all the “he” pronouns. Trinket is female in this series. I’m not sure how that got through all the editing, but it sure did and boy were there a lot of mistakes. I went through the manuscript and tried to correct all of them and re-loaded it to Kindle. This is the first time I’ve tried to correct something after it’s been published so fingers crossed that that goes okay. Again, apologies if the mistaken pronouns interfered with your reading enjoyment.

I really do hope you all enjoy this book of short stories. It’s the first one I’ve done and it was challenging forcing my mind to think in “short story” vs something a little longer. In the end, I enjoyed writing them and am overall happy with the way they turned out (minus the pronoun typos 😦 I had fun revisiting these characters and hope you do also.

I am currently working on the fourth (and most likely, final) necromancer book. I’m about half way through and am trying very hard to finish it as I believe I was very optimistic when I set up the editing schedule for this book. I am back to typing as well/much as before I fractured my elbow, but I think I overestimated how much time I will have to write. Regardless, I am diligently working on it and hope to have this book out by December. Sorry for the delay. While I injured my less dominant arm, it’s amazing how much not being able to use it impacts one’s life.

On that note, I am happy to say that I can once more touch my face with my left hand. I can put my hair up again. Whoop! I can pull my pants up using both arms. And soooo many other things that I haven’t been able to do for the last 12 weeks. The elbow is still healing and that arm is generally weaker, but I’m not complaining. Honestly, I think it’s healed great (hopefully the surgeon doesn’t tell me different when I go in for a recheck tomorrow). I haven’t gotten back to doing surgeries at work yet, but did put myself on the schedule for late September. I’m going to start out slow and see how things go.

On a pet note, Fennik’s seventh birthday is coming up soon (Aug 31st). While I’m out running around on my day off tomorrow, I’m going to pick up cupcakes to take into work this Friday to celebrate. The staff at work is very kind and have indulged me for the past six years gathering and singing happy birthday to FenFen while I try and hold his heavy butt in front of his white cake cupcake with his numbered year birthday candle on it. Fen even has a hat he wears every year. Thankfully, Fen seems to love it as he loves all kinds of attention and food. I still can’t believe that he’s turning seven this year. Where does the time go?

Newton is still hanging in there with his diabetes and the medication he’s on. He hates taking it and I hate that he hates it. The good news is that it seems to be working well for him. He’s not as healthy as he was pre-diabetes, but he’s so much better than he was before starting the medication.

My garden is starting to look like all tired flower gardens as the summer winds down. I leave my coneflowers up longer than I should because the goldfinches like to perch on them and eat the seeds. It’s amazing that the flowers and stems can hold their weight with only a slight bend. Soon fall will be here and with it all the holidays that tag along. I enjoy decorating the outside of the house but am a little more wary this year as much of my decorating involves ladders and precariously standing on the landscaping around the house. Call me crazy but I’m a little gun shy after fracturing my elbow. Still, I will persevere with my holiday decorating! Maybe I’ll get a spotter this time though 🙂

As always, thank you for reading. I truly appreciate all of you and hope that you enjoy this latest installment. Perfectly Petite Shorts is all about the “Aww’s”. Again, sorry for the pronoun typos. Hopefully that’s now fixed for those of you haven’t ordered the book yet. For those of you who have, again—so sorry.

Have a good evening. Try and stay physically, emotionally, and mentally happy and well. I know all three of those things are a struggle. Some days more than others.

MJ May

On the Mend

Good morning everyone. I wanted to write and give a few updates. First of all, (and very thankfully) I am back to being able to type some. It is slower going and I can’t type for as long as I’m used to, but the last two days I’ve been able to do enough to get started on the fourth necromancer book. No doubt it’s going to take much longer than I’d like, but I’m encouraged that I can at least get started.

Typing is still difficult and may get worse in the coming weeks as the physical therapist continues flexing my elbow in my splint. I’m currently at about a 45 degree angle which is somewhat conducive to typing. This Wednesday they plan to flex me more and into a 60 degree angle so we’ll have to see what that does and if I can continue getting my left arm into position to type.

From what I understand, if I’d just snapped off the olecranon, that wouldn’t have been so bad but I avulsed my triceps tendon and that is the bigger bug-a-boo. They surgically reattached it but that can take longer to heal and it’s slower going. Still, it is much better now than it was. I have more movement in my wrist and I can take off my splint to shower! Whoop! That was so exciting and felt sooooo good.

My elbow surgeon said things went well and my rechecks have been positive. Surgery was a little odd in that they didn’t put me completely under and I remember a lot of it, or at least what was said. I was awake, but didn’t really care what they were doing or saying. They used a nerve block so I couldn’t feel anything for about 20 hours and that was the most bizarre thing of all and not something I care to repeat anytime soon.

I took about a week off from work post surgery but have been going in since then. I can actually do a lot, but have to have others typically draw blood for me, do radiographs, and of course, I can’t do surgery. I think it’s going to be a while before I can do surgery again. Even when I get my splint off, my left arm is really weak and stiff. Insert sigh . . . I am very grateful that I don’t have wear a sling and am also very grateful it is my less dominant arm that was injured.

Honestly, the most frustrating thing so far is that I can’t put my hair up in a pony tail, especially with this heat. It will be several more weeks before I think I can do that. On the plus side, I’ve started exercising again. I have to modify my workouts, but overall I feel better that I’ve been able to do something.

Fen and Newton have been sort of helpful—Newton more so than Fen. Amazingly, I’ve been able to medicate Newton most nights by myself and I give him all the credit on that one. I’m not saying he likes it, but he could be a far bigger asshole about the whole thing and thankfully he’s not. Fen on the other hand . . . I wouldn’t say he’s being an ass, but he seems much needier than usual and is terribly unhelpful while I’m trying to keep up with my PT exercises at home.

Speaking of Fen . . . the poor dirty fellow. He gets groomed monthly but in the summer, I typically give him at least one or two baths in between. With my elbow broken, I haven’t been able to do that. When he finally went back to the groomers, they had to give him 2 baths to get him clean and had to shave off a lot of fur from his ears. He looks like he has a little bob hair do. I was so grateful to the groomers as Fen was horribly stinky.

On a different note, I hope to have the book of short stories out either by the end of July or the first of August. “Perfectly Perfect Shorts” is currently in proofreading and Cheriefox e-mailed me this weekend to let me know the book cover is coming along and should be done within a week or two. I really hope you like this compilation of short stories. I had more fun writing them than I anticipated. I’ll post again when the time is nearer.

Today’s photos revolve around my backyard garden. This is the time of year it looks the best. I love looking out my patio door. If you couldn’t tell, coneflowers are my favorite and I have a lot of them. I pretty much just let them run amok and do as they please.

That’s about all for now. My elbow is starting to let me know I’ve done enough typing for today. I’ll keep hacking away at things and as my elbow continues mending, I will hopefully get back to a better writing routine. At this time, given current circumstances, I would anticipate the fourth necromancer book coming out in late fall or more likely, early winter. So sorry about that, but as the saying goes, it is what it is.

Until next time, enjoy the summer and try and stay cool. I’ll leave you with more pictures of my garden. Fen’s in there somewhere as are two house sparrows who appear to be working on their third clutch of the season. They’ve already had two successful ones. No wonder house sparrows are everywhere. They are prolific little fellows.

MJ May

So . . . This Happened

Today’s unfortunate post is curtesy of a set of rain slick steps combined with my clumsiness. A little over one week ago I slipped on a set of 3 steps, fell backwards & did this to my left elbow (thankfully not my dominant arm). As today’s not so fun, fun fact, I broke my elbow on the last day of my vacation while I was getting ready to drive back home. Yes, friends, I drove 10 hours home by myself with a hurt back (which bothered me much more than the elbow) & broken elbow. In my defense, I’d convinced myself I hadn’t broken anything. I was quite the sight. I probably worried the people who saw me at the rest stops & gas stations. I’m surprised no one passed me a note asking if I was okay.

The unfortunate part of all this (beyond this horribly annoying splint on my arm) is that I won’t be able to type properly for 3-4 months at least (per the ortho docs). I am currently typing one handed which takes forever. Charting at work horribly frustrating. We are currently working on looking into dictation software which will hopefully help.

Speaking of work, obviously I’m limited in what I can do there as well. It is suspected that it will be 3-4 months (at least) before I can do surgery again. It’s amazing how fracturing just a tiny piece of bone impacts your life. Apparently, the triceps tendon attaches to the olecranon (that tiny, pointy piece of your elbow that I fractured). I’m scheduled for surgery this Tuesday to reattach the tendon.

Thankfully my back is feeling better. Certainly not 100% but much more tolerable. My elbow really doesn’t hurt that bad either (we’ll see if that is still true post surgery). Honestly the splint is way more bothersome. My fingers are constantly swollen & look like little Vienna sausages. Hopefully none of my canine patients confuse them for food.

All of this is to say that it might be quite a while before the next necromancer book comes out. I’d just finished the pixie book of short stories before this happened & it is currently in editing land, so at least there is that.

Sorry for the bummer of a post. On the bright side, my new shed is in & painted (I’ll put a picture below) & the new fence is supposed to go in this week. Hope all of you are well & staying out of the doctor/emergency room. As always, thank you for reading 🙂

MJ May

Deadly Avarice: Necromancer Tales III Now Available

Good morning. I am happy to announce that the third necromancer book, “Deadly Avarice” is now available in e-book and paperback. I enjoy writing the characters of this book—especially Erasmus’s father, Warlock Holland and of course, Aurelia. There will be at least one more book in the necromancer series. Perhaps two depending on how the fourth book goes.

I’m currently taking a short break from the series to write a compilation of short stories surrounding the side characters of the perfect pixie series. Three stories are finished and I just started the fourth last night. I hope to have at least five all together. The finished stories are as follows: How Vander and Georgiana met, Nirgal getting his happily ever after (his own colony of sprites and a pixie to brighten his dark nights), and Sedrick’s niece and nephew searching for the perfect birthday present for Phil (spoiler alert—Phil’s friends have plenty of ideas). I’m currently working on Hamish McIntyre’s HEA and last, but (hopefully) not least will be a story told from Trinket’s perspective. The title will be, “Perfectly Petite Shorts” and I hope (fingers crossed) to have it available by late summer.

Writing tends to take some what of a back seat this time of year as I enjoy working outside. Winter clean up takes time and getting the gardens up and going again does too. This year is a little more dramatic regarding clean up compared to year’s past. We can thank early April storms for that one. Said weather is responsible for this post’s “fun fact” which isn’t really all that “fun”.

I live in the Midwest and this time of year, the weather is very unpredictable. One day it can be in the mid seventies and the next day you can have sleet or snow. Earlier this April was a day that started out cold to cool and heated rapidly (never a good sign). I was out running errands and in the span of forty-five minutes, the temperature rose almost fifteen degrees. While that might sound wonderful, it’s also a sign the atmosphere is unstable. Mother Nature proved once again how inconsequential our building efforts are when she sent severe storms through much of the middle United States. I’ve heard that my county had at least six verified tornados that night.

The tree that fell into my yard; obliterating my shed, the power lines, cable/internet lines, and parts of my fence probably wasn’t due to a tornado, but straight line winds. The same neighbor’s yard that sent the tree falling into my space had a different tree that fell on the house directly behind it, damaging the roof. All told, I’m lucky it was just my shed.

I learned an important lesson during this storm. My cat, Newton, is the smartest (or at least has the strongest sense of self-preservation) of anyone in the house. Why do I say this? Simple, he was the only one who went to the basement. The storms hit after I’d already put FenFen to bed. Fen is a very routine oriented dog and I knew if I woke him up to go to the basement, he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep the rest of the night and thus keep me up. As I wasn’t about to go to the basement without him, I stayed on the main level of the house. This was far from intelligent.

The tree that hit my shed could have easily fallen on my house—injuring me or Fen (Newton would have safely been in the basement). As for Fen, being deaf, he slept through the entire thing, blissfully unaware of our close call. Needless to say, things were a bit of a mess after that. My power was out for four days, cable/internet out for six, and I’m still dealing with downed cable/internet lines laying across my mangled fence and bushes.

While all this royally sucked, it could have been much worse. I’ve also had the opportunity to add a few skills/bits of knowledge to my post disaster wheelhouse. I now know how to order a dumpster, how to file a claim with my homeowners insurance, how to dismantle and remove a collapsed shed, and that the chain length fence is called “fabric” by the fence experts (that was a total new one to me). Along with learning it’s called fabric, I’ve also learned how to tell if a fence is on your property or your neighbors. Handy information indeed.

Almost four weeks later and things are getting back to normal. The fence is still a wreck and everything that survived the shed massacre is currently sitting on my back porch (can you believe the lawn mower made it through?!). A new shed is ordered and I’m making lemonade out of lemons by getting a privacy fence put up along the back of my yard so I no longer have to look at the neighbor’s unmowed and weedy property. As an additional plus, Fen shouldn’t be able to see the neighbor’s dog any longer and since he can’t hear them—out of sight, out of mind. No more barking . . . ahhh . . .

If you’re wondering, where I work was just fine. The veterinary practice I work at is about a 10-15 minute drive north from my house and their storms weren’t nearly as bad while where I live looks like . . . well, it looks like we had really shitty weather and high winds. A lot of trees ended their lives that night.

So . . . that’s been my recent excitement. I’m not so much into life drama. I thrive on routine with the occasional surprise tweak. So far, for me, I think I’ve rolled with the punches fairly well. I’ve tried to stay calm and polite. Shout out to the lineman out there who worked God only knows how many hours after the storms getting everybody back up and running. Now, the cable/internet company . . . that’s a different story. I’m embarrassed to say that yesterday I found myself screaming at the phone that I wanted to talk to a human being. Spoiler alert—I never accomplished that. I’ve been told the only way to speak to a human is to immediately say I want to cancel my service when the automated messaging system picks up. I can not express how pissed off that makes me. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Okay, enough of my bitching (my sister and another friend had to listen to enough of that yesterday). I’m going to take a deep breath, hold it, and exhale just before I’m ready to pass out. I doubt that’s the typical yoga recommendations but that’s my plan and I’m sticking to it.

Since I’m horrid at figuring out even the most basic tech stuff, I’m going to put another post up after this one with a picture of my smashed shed. There’s probably a way to incorporate it in this post but since I’ve had to do enough mental expansion recently, I’m giving myself a mental break and sticking with what I know 🙂

I hope all of you are well and safe. Somehow, Fen, Newton, and I managed to make it through Mother Nature’s wrath physically unscathed. I’m going to count my blessings and next time, I’ll wake Fen up and we’ll all cower in the basement.

Please let me know what you think of “Deadly Avarice”. I sincerely hope my stories help take you away from the trials of your day.

MJ May

Hey! Look at that. I figure out how to incorporate another picture. Go me!

A different angle. Again, can you believe the mower survived?

This is after the tree was cut up so the lineman could get to the power lines.

Someone’s Watching Me

Good early afternoon. Today’s picture is complements of my cat, Newton. When I took this photo, Newton had been staring at me like this for at least twenty minutes. If you look closely, you can see Fennik in the background, laying on the tile fast asleep. Newton is giving me a none too subtle hint that it is time to put Fen to bed so Newton can get his canned food. Quick bit of life advice: never try and stare down a cat unless you enjoy losing.

I’m happy to let everyone know that the first necromancer book, “Deadly Lineage” is now available for pre-order on Audible. I’ve listened to the audio on this one and enjoyed the voice actors. It’s always strange, hearing another give voice to characters that you’ve been hearing in your head. Podium is currently working on the second necromancer audio book as well.

In current writing news, I just sent the third necromancer book, “Deadly Avarice” to Laura for proofreading. The book cover is in the works as well. I hope to have it available by the end of April or by the middle of May at the latest. There will be at least one more necromancer book. Depending on how it goes, there could be a fifth, but I’m uncertain. I am taking a small break from writing book four to finally work on a book of short stories for the pixie series.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve had more than a few readers express interest in some of the side characters from the pixie books. I’ve been interested in writing their stories as well. I’ve just finished Nirgal’s story and am currently working on writing how Vander and Georgiana met. I have one other short story I plan to write for certain and that involves Hamish McIntyre and his special someone. I’m toying with the idea of “a day in the life of” for Trinket and possibly something involving our favorite faun, Johnny. Full disclosure, I’ve never written a group of short stories before so I’m struggling a bit. My mind tends to work on longer tales so this has been a bit tough.

Assuming I can mentally muscle through them, I hope to have the book of short stories out by late summer or early fall. At the moment, I believe the title will be, “Perfectly Petite Shorts” but that is subject to change.

That’s it for the writing updates. The weather where I live is on the struggle bus. A couple of weeks ago was amazingly lovely and I was able to get out into the yard and begin winter clean-up. Now . . . not so much. This is that wonderful time of year where the temps ping-pong back and forth and you never know what you’re going to get.

It’s also the time of year I was born and I just celebrated a big birthday milestone (no, I’m not saying which one). I think I’ve eaten my weight in cookies, pizza, and cake the past week. I’m feeling uncomfortably round and will need to work on that in the future. I will say that I’m at the age where removing the pounds isn’t nearly as simple as it once was. Sigh . . . As I’ve said many times, I’d like my body back from when I was younger, but not my brain.

I think that’s all for today. Unfortunately the weather outside is looking fairly grim. Gloomy and rainy but at least the precipitation that’s falling from the sky isn’t frozen. I’ll post again when “Deadly Avarice” is available.

As always, thank you so much for reading and supporting this writing endeavor of mine. You are all much appreciated! In these questionable times, I hope my stories give your brain a reprieve from reality. We’ve all got to come back to reality in the end, but I’m a firm believer that the mind needs to rest and rejuvenate. For me, that form of rejuvenation is found between the pages of a book.

MJ May

Deadly Deception Necromancer Tales Book II Available

Good afternoon! How are you on this absolutely frigid January day. Damn, it is cold in the United States. Where I live we are at a whopping 10 degrees F. That is up from a low of -5 overnight. I think it’s going to start getting a little bit warmer over the next few days but still not great. Sigh . . . those of you who’ve read my previous posts know how I feel about winter and those feelings are not kind.

I am happy to announce that the second necromancer book is now available on Kindle. “Deadly Deception” is the second installment in the series and I am nearly finished with the third book and hope to have it out by spring. I’m still enjoying writing about Erasmus and Franklin’s lives. I like their characters and some of the side characters as well. Aurelia is always fun to write as is Warlock Holland. I’m not sure how many books will be in the series, but at this time, I’d say at least four.

I’m contemplating writing a compilation of short stories involving the pixie series. I’ve had some inquires about this and have been considering it for some time. There were several side characters in that series that I really fell in love with and would like to explore a bit more. I will let you know more about this in the future.

In unrelated book news . . . considering my main profession, pet ownership and care might be a little different for me in some regards. In others, it is painfully similar. I recently discovered that my cat, Newton, is diabetic. I’ve treated several diabetic kitties over the years and was heartbroken to have one of my own as I know how pet parents battle with this disease. I’ve started Newton on a newer, oral feline diabetes medication that came out about a year ago. He’s been on this for about two weeks and so far so good. Sort of. Poor Newton hates taking the medication and I hate having to give it, but it’s necessary and so far he hasn’t held it against me for too long. He’s even been so kind as to pee on a stick for me so I can test the ketone and glucose levels in his urine. I can’t even imagine what goes through Newton’s head when I place the stick under him while he’s doing his business in his box. He has to think I’ve gone mental.

Fennik is doing relatively okay, although he’s had his ups and downs recently also. Poor Fen was limping terribly around Christmas. I still have no idea why (which made me feel really good about my veterinary abilities). His poor, stocky body isn’t made to limp and he has a lot of trouble when one leg isn’t on the up and up. Thankfully, he seems better now. He also has a brand new heart murmur to welcome in the New Year. Given his breed, this isn’t wholly unexpected, but I’d hoped his heart valves would hold tough for a bit longer. Clinically, he’s doing well and has no idea that he’s worrying his momma. He’s also loving life outside as he’s insane and adores this cold weather.

On a possibly brighter, or maybe more interesting, note, I’ve decided to add a bit of a new section to the posts. I’m going to try (no promises or guarantees) to add a personal fun-fact to the end of each post.

This fun-fact is brought to you by a reader who commented about my AOL account and that she was happy to see someone else still has theirs. Yes, I have retained my AOL account (as you can see on the how to contact me section). I did this because for a while, I moved a lot, and it was a way for old friends to still find me. I also have several professional organizations that have the account number and send me reminders through e-mail when it is time to renew.

As for the personalized aspect of the account . . . I obtained Luna as a kitten while I was in veterinary school. The person I originally got her from had named her, “Bug”. That is where the lunabug comes from. As for the 272 part, would you believe that lunabug1, lunabug2, and so on and so forth were all taken when I signed up for my AOL account eons ago. Even lunabug27 was already taken (At the time, 27 was how old I was going to be when I graduated from vet school). So, I added a 2 to the end and there you have it: lunabug272@aol.com.

So, some maybe not so interesting information there. I enjoy seeing some of my clients e-mail addresses. Some of them are quirky while others are eyebrow raising. Either way, I think they’re another way we express ourselves.

I suppose that is all for now. I hope you enjoy the next installment in Erasmus Boone and Franklin O’Hare’s lives. I know I enjoyed writing Deadly Deception. As always, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to e-mail me (you all know the address by now 🙂

Until next time, try and stay warm, sane, and well. As for me, I’m going to cocoon myself inside a big fluffy blanket and watch some Expedition Unknown (I have a soft spot for Josh Gates. Perhaps another fun-fact).

MJ May

Paved With Good Intentions Now Available

Good afternoon. I’m happy to report that, “Paved With Good Intentions”, the forth, and final installment in the Maverick Insurance Mysteries series is now available. It might be a few more days until the paperback is available for purchase, but the e-book is out.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing Nate and Perry’s characters, along with all their friends and frenemies. I hope those of you who read this series will be pleased with the ending. As with all my books, Nate and Perry get their HEA. As an aside, I will be sad to see a lot of the supporting cast go. I love Delia Carpenter and Gayle Ridley’s characters. I wish I had a little bit more of each of them in my personal, emotional wheelhouse.

The second book in the Necromancer Tales series is complete and in the process of editing. The second book will be titled, “Deadly Deception” and will hopefully be out in Jan/Feb of 2025. Erasmus and Franklin have grown closer and are a powerful, united team. We get a little more background on Franklin O’Hare and most of the book takes place in his old stomping grounds of the Chicago area. Poor Erasmus. He’s a southern boy through and through and the chilly, October air of the northern Midwest is a little daunting.

I will most likely start writing the third necromancer book next, although I haven’t started it yet. Not to get overly political, but like many of us, I’m finding it difficult to concentrate. My brain feels like a scattered mess most days. I’m trying to reel it in and become productive again, but I suspicion it will be a work in progress with many stops and starts. I will keep writing. My characters and their stories are my escape from reality and I think we could all use a little escapism right about now.

On the audiobook front, all the pixie books are now in audio format. “Deadly Lineage” the first necromancer book, should be available in audio soon. I haven’t gotten an update from Podium with a release date yet (or if I have, I can’t remember—sorry Podium). They’ve picked up the first 3 necromancer books and the voice actors have been decided on. Please let me know what you think when they do become available

Not much new on the veterinary front. We are variably busy. I feel like our work load has decreased back to pre-COVID times. FenFen and Newton are still (thankfully) hale and hearty. I purchased several small balls for Newton to play with and as of this moment, all them are lost beneath furniture somewhere. He really loves them but they don’t stay on the playing field for long. Oddly enough, I find myself saying to Newton, “We need to find your balls,” which just sounds ridiculous.

That is all for now. Until next time, do your best to stay well, both physically and mentally. It’s a struggle, I know. My personal saving grace are my pets and my stories. When my heart feels too heavy, that’s what I turn to. Thankfully, Fen and Newton have broad shoulders and can bear the burden and my characters never let me down 🙂

MJ May

Happy October

Happy early October everyone! Today’s photo is brought to you by the solar powered ghost Halloween decorations in my yard. I was a little skeptical, but these guys really do put out a lot of light. It doesn’t last all night, but they glow well for several hours. They are down by the mail box. Fingers crossed they stay there as they are close to the road and sticky fingers that might like them as much as me.

Updates on upcoming books . . . I’d hoped to have the final book in the Maverick Insurance Mysteries, “Paved With Good Intentions”, out by late October. However, there are some editing delays so it may not be until November. I suspicion this will then roll over into the next Necromancer Tales book. I’m about half-way done writing it, but I’m not sure when editing can be done, or at least the time frame for it. Books are in the works, but might be a bit delayed. I will certainly post more updates when I have them.

Speaking of updates, Podium picked up the audiobook rights to (at least) the first 3 necromancer books (2 and 3 are yet to be published). The audio cast has been chosen and should be getting started soon. I don’t have an exact date for release yet. Also, the final pixie book should be available in audio very soon as well. I sincerely hope you’ve liked the audiobooks. For those of you who’ve read previous posts, you know I’m a reader, not a listener.

On the personal front, I live in the Midwest and we received a lot of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. We also got a lot of wind. But we are fortunate and the damage around the area is minimal and was not life threatening as it was in other states. All I can say is that those who have suffered great loss are in our thoughts and we are crossing our fingers and toes that there are no major weather

As stated in the title, Fall is in the air, although it doesn’t really feel like it outside today. I’m okay with that as I’m a warm weather person myself. I dread the cold. It will be here soon. We’ve had some hints of it, but nothing that lasted long so far. Earlier this summer I posted that my air conditioning died. Well, it was revived long enough to get me through the season but still needs replaced. That gets done this upcoming week (blah). I’m taking an extra day of this week to be at home while it gets done. It is a bit of a joke in our family that nothing ever goes smoothly when it comes to anything needing repaired/replaced in my home. I would truly like that trend to fade away. We’ll see how this goes. 

Fennik celebrated his sixth birthday at the end of August. It’s hard for me to believe he’s that old now. Of course, he wore his birthday hat and my coworkers indulged me by singing happy birthday to him. We had cupcakes and Fen got a white one. He was thrilled being the center of attention. He and I could not be more socially different. I’m telling you, Fen has no sense of self-preservation. He believes everyone on the planet was placed there to love and pet him. He’s a happy boy. He’s also typically a stinky boy and snores loud enough to wake the dead. 

That’s all for today. Thanks so much for reading and for your comments. I enjoy writing and hope to continue for as long as the ideas keep coming. Some days are certainly better than others. 

Until next time, stay well and safe. I hope you’re able to enjoy the Fall weather. As one final shout out, today is my sister’s birthday (I won’t say how old she is ;). I was blessed with a wonderful sister and friend. Happy birthday, sis.

MJ May