All posts tagged Darcy

The Sudden Loss of a Pet and a Warning: Beware of Thread

wpid-0901110900f.jpgDarcy and Bingley (Darcy’s on the left)

I thought I’d take a moment to eulogize Darcy, who had to be put down yesterday. By my calculations, he was probably born around now two years ago. The above photo I just pulled from my blog’s archive, and it was the very first photo in it. I guess I must have set my author bio page up first. Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on it too much in this post because anyone who’s had a pet knows what it’s like and there’s no need for me to go into it here (and how wonderful he was), but it felt wrong not to mark it in some way on the blog, because he is a part of my bio, and just deleting him felt wrong. I still don’t know if Bingley will remain there or not. I’d also posted a blog post about him once, about his new-found skill in turning on a floor lamp in Kitteh Too Smart, and they’re both integral to Ack! I’m One of THOSE Now–How I Trained Myself to be a Morning Person…

This photo I also used with an agent I pitched to at RWA Nationals as my ice breaker because I knew she’d love it (and she did) and that agent later tweeted about it and was one of the ones who offered me representation.

Since my bio will change, I’m posting that paragraph here, so that it won’t just disappear into the ether:

I hate to admit it, but I do match the stereotype of a Romance writer by having cats. They are Darcy and Bingley, and they are two perfectly matched grays, how appropriate is that? Unlike their namesakes, they are brothers—a visiting cousin rescued them from a parking lot and I couldn’t resist keeping them. You actually can tell them apart–Darcy is slightly darker and hardly talks, and Bingley is a talker. Both are sweet and loving. Aptly named, no?

But this post isn’t completely self-indulgent. If you have string or thread laying around, beware! What killed Darcy was him swallowing a long length of sewing thread. Being ignorant of the dangers, when I saw it coming out of his butt, I snipped it off and waited to see if the rest passed. It didn’t. I brought him in yesterday, and when they opened him up, the thread had already wreaked havoc on his insides. The thread went from his tongue, out all the way through, and the swallowing action, plus the bowels trying to pass it, made it pull through his intestines. So the poor little guy had perforations through his intestines and colon.

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15 Comments
by Angela Quarles on May 9, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Personal
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Posted by Angela Quarles on May 9, 2013

https://angelaquarles.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/the-sudden-loss-of-a-pet-and-a-warning-beware-of-thread/

Weekend Writing Warriors – 2/10/13

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where we post eight sentences from one of our works. I’m picking up exactly where I left off last week with meta fiction romance, NOT ANOTHER DARCY. This was my NaNo project for this past November, and the heroine has to deal with literary characters that come to life at her independent bookstore. Last week was the opening eight sentences and Mr. Darcy from the latter half of Pride & Prejudice showed up. She wasn’t very pleased to see another one.

This is still a rough draft. But here’s the next eight sentences:

But as a Handler in the Literary Reclamation League, it was her duty to take whomever popped into existence, train them, give them new identities and find work for them. The Darcys, she usually shipped off to Jane Austen sites in England as tour guides.

She faced her newest challenge, who gazed around her bookstore with a look of confusion, the poor guy. Thank god her employee Chris wasn’t due to work until noon. “Hang on there one sec, Mr. Darcy, and I’ll be right with you.”

She hustled to the front door of her bookstore and flipped the sign to “Closed,” and threw the bolt lock. From a pocket near the door, she pulled out and hung her pre-made sign for such emergencies: “Closed for twenty minutes. Grabbing coffee.”

To join in the fun and see the other wonderful writers, go to Weekend Writing Warriors! Thanks for stopping by! I’m going to try and be better today with visiting–I had out of town guests for Mardi Gras. It’s the final week, so today’s also a big day, but hopefully I’ll make the rounds this morning before the first parade rolls.

27 Comments
by Angela Quarles on February 10, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Current Work, Excerpt, Six Sentence Sunday
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Posted by Angela Quarles on February 10, 2013

https://angelaquarles.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/weekend-writing-warriors-21013/

Weekend Writing Warriors – 2/3/13

Welcome! In the aftermath of the demise of Six Sentence Sunday, I’ve signed up for Weekend Writing Warriors, where we post eight sentences from one of our works. Since this is the start of a new venture, I thought it only fitting to kick it off with eight sentences from my brand-spanking new project, my meta fiction romance, NOT ANOTHER DARCY. This was my NaNo project for this past November, and the heroine has to deal with literary characters that come to life at her independent bookstore.

It’s so new, this is still a rough draft. But here’s the opening eight sentences:

“As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit,” declared a masculine, cultured British voice behind Katrina, making her jump in her chair.

After her heart steadied to a normal beat, she rolled her eyes and pushed back her chair. Not another Darcy. And today of all days.

Still, it was a bit refreshing for it to be a Darcy from the latter part of Pride and Prejudice. Usually she was startled with some early Darcy line like, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men,” or some other equally obnoxious Darcy from his haughty phase.

Why most girls fantasizing about Darcy dreamed about that version, she didn’t know.

To join in the fun and see the other wonderful writers, go to Weekend Writing Warriors! Thanks for stopping by!

35 Comments
by Angela Quarles on February 3, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Current Work, Excerpt, Six Sentence Sunday
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Posted by Angela Quarles on February 3, 2013

https://angelaquarles.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/six-sentence-sunday-2313/

Kitteh Too Smart.

Darcy and Bingley

One of the kittehs (I suspect Darcy) learned a new skill at 6:15 in the friggin morning. Turn on the standing lamp!

*bang*bang*

Something metallic is hitting metal. I get up to investigate. The light is on. I move a nearby perch, thinking that was how the little sh- (nice kitty) was getting to the pull chain. Crawl back under warm covers. Ah. Two seconds later:

*bang*bang*snick* light pops back on. I flop over to that side of the bed, open a bleary eye and one of them is hanging by a claw to the pull cord like an NBA star after a slam dunk.

Really kittehs?

Last week it had been bang-the-really-heavy-rope-mouse-hard-enough-against-the-bathroom-door-over-and-over-until-the-door-opened. For the last five months, it had been just a neglected scratching device hanging from the door knob. After the third night of this I removed it. They’re really good about using their regular scratching post, so if this is only used for opening the door and waking me up, forget it kitteh.

For some reason, I feel really guilty taking these new discoveries away from them. For the pull cord, I just plopped the ball up into the brim of the hat (the shade is like an old-fashioned ladies’ hat). But as I crawled back into bed, I wondered if during the evening, when I’m not at home, maybe they’d just like the light on and I’m taking that away? Maybe I’ll just put it away at night… Maybe I’m thinking about this too much. *Going to make some more hot tea to wake up*

Got any smart kittehs in your house? What have they figured out?

9 Comments
by Angela Quarles on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Personal
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Posted by Angela Quarles on November 2, 2011

https://angelaquarles.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/kitteh-too-smart/