NaNoWriMo Day 27

The Words: 2433 words total for the day.

My whole family (that currently reside in the house) was ready for a day of laziness today, and I almost didn’t want to write. But that was all the more reason to insist that I get some words in. I shared with my 10-year-old daughter, who’s done much of this year’s NaNo alongside me, that days like this I like to do a stretch of writing, then take a break for something more lazy like reading or watching a show, then do another stretch of writing. So we did that, and a couple of sessions of writing produced a daily count I was happy with.

The Story: I’m quite pleased with how I powered through the section that I was concerned about slowing me down. Not that I love what I wrote, but that I got through it quickly and moved on to something a little less difficult to write. A major villain of the series is setting herself up in the position that allows her to wreak major havoc on the rest of the country. The scene coming next should be a lot easier to write, and then there are only 2 more planned scenes until the end of the draft!

Total word count: 70,594

Enjoy today’s NaNoToon from this day in 2010!

Book Review: The Cat Who Turned On and Off

The Cat Who Turned On and Off
Book #3
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

TCW 1-3

Former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran takes on a new challenge–writing something worthy of a cash reward about the much-disdained part of town known as Junktown. When he begins to sniff around the haven for antique dealers, a mystery is already afoot. A beloved dealer has recently fallen and died, but Qwilleran quickly begins to suspect foul play.

This is my favorite so far, finding the trio of Qwill, Koko, and Yum Yum really beginning to feel like a family. The characters are a lot more engaging, the mystery is interesting and a little easier to follow and potentially solve by the reader, and the interactions between man and cats are cute and whimsical.

I felt like Braun really hit her stride with this story (and then stopped writing for 20 years), as Qwill seemed less grumpy and more open to new things. I loved his misunderstanding about Junktown near the beginning of the book. I really appreciated what Yum Yum added to the investigation, considering that she always seems to take a backseat to Koko when it comes to laurels. And there was a character introduced in this book that I’m pretty sure is going to be around later, because her name is very familiar. Other than some of Qwill’s fellow newsmen, no characters have recurred yet, so that’ll be interesting to see in the future.

Overall, this was a nice, quick read, and the best of the first 3 in the series. I would recommend this book for fans of the classic whodunit & cozy mystery genres.

Find out more about The Cat Who Turned On and Off

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!