*pokes* I do hope I'm not speaking to a wraith...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, J! I hope it's wonderful, and that you get a chance for peace, quiet, and breathing space somewhere!

J. E. Schroeder replies: "I know I said this on your page, too, but thanks again Joelle ^_^ It's nice to be poked now and then and reminded that I am in fact still alive!"

How’s that puppy doing? =)

J. E. Schroeder replies: "She’s doing wonderfully! Her name is now officially Mango (a suggestion of my baby brother’s--not sure where he came up with it, but it seemed to suit her), and she is about as much delightful trouble as she could be! I’ll send you a pic through email--her cuteness must be spread far and wide

What are you up to this week?"

Aww, lookit the wee puppy! She’s so cute!! *waves hands* Send her cuteness this way!! Still have my email?

J. E. Schroeder replies: "Yay for puppy comments! She is sweet little thing ^_^ And yes, I will send you pictures ASAP... which of the 150-odd selection would you like? Not that I’m obsessing with the combination of cute puppy and digital memory cards... ^_~

I think I have your email saved... I’ll try to send a message in a few minutes here!"

Thanks again for the photos--I hope everything is going well with the housebreaking (and teething/chewing and similar fun stuff)!
I’m enjoying a brief reprieve from book 1 editing and am focusing on a novella I’m writing as well as making illustrations for my hyarmi essay. Also looking forward to a vacation with my mom in Florida at the end of February--never been to that state before. =)
Have a great weekend!

J. E. Schroeder replies: "You’re welcome! And yes, everything is going well with the little one... she only likes to chew the carpet and that only in corners (so the frayed ends aren’t too noticeable, at least), and the housebreaking has been remarkably easy. So yay for good puppies!

Ah, the joys of editing... I hope that hasn’t been too taxing for you! As always, let me know if you ever need an extra pair of eyes. It’d be nice to read your work again, and certainly a welcome reprieve from research papers on gun control and our local smoking ban...

Anyways, it sounds like your creative gears are churning these days! What’s the novella about, if I may ask? And will you be posting these illustrations to Elfwood for us all to admire? I wonder if I’ve read that essay... I know I’ve read AN essay of yours, and I THINK it was on the hyarmi... is it posted on your fictionpress page?"

That’s wonderful about the housebreaking and chewing. My Holly was good as a puppy about that as well.
I’m always editing some book or another, it feels. The pains of improvement and perfectionism, perhaps! If you ever want to drop by my FictionPress page and finish ’Hope’s Passage,’ I’d love to have your input--I’m scheduled to give that another edit in late summer or early fall, and different perspectives are always welcome.
The novella’s set some 17 years after ’Hope’s Passage,’ or thereabouts, but it’s aimed at people that have read my first three Geren books and Hope’s Passage and a couple related short stories, so a pretty limited audience. I’m at 10,000 words now, and I’m looking forward to Trapper Arun making an appearance shortly, though he only has a small part. =)
And, yes, I had the hyarmi essay on FictionPress for a while--you must have read it then, thanks! I moved it to Livejournal along with most of my other writing, so I don’t have to worry about theft. I can also include illustrations in LJ, which I can’t do on FictionPress, and since I illustrated my avarii essay that I wrote last fall, I wanted the hyarmi one to match as much as I could.
Glad to hear things are going well with Mango, and good luck with the smoking ban/gun control research!

How’s that little puppy Mango doing? Getting big already?

Hello! How are things going?

J. E. Schroeder replies: "All right, all right... nearly done with the semester (two weeks left) so almost happy again! I’ve been way too busy this year for my own good. Luckily I have little Mango to chew my fingers and cheer me up now and then

How are things going for you? I hope all is well! Thanks for visiting "

Oh, and I noticed that you can’t access your extranet page from your message on joelle’s page. actually, now you can reply from your regular page! if you’re signed it, just go to the message you want to reply to on your actual elfwood page. see that little pencil and paper icon over there? ----> just click on that and you can reply.

the html coding is a little different. instead of < font color = "whatever" >, it is now [ COLOR = ColorNameWithoutQuotationMarks ] ... so, square brackets and no space, and the word "COLOR" actually has to be in all caps. the [ / COLOR] works, too ^_^

J. E. Schroeder replies: "Hey, cool! I completely didn’t see that, somehow! This is handy, yes it is... thanks for pointing it out!"

Hello, just wanted to drop by and wish you a great summer. I hope the brain cells are recuperating from all the hard work in the spring. How’s little (well, not so little anymore) Mango doing?

I do hope you get a writing itch sometime in the near future. I’d love to savor more of your work!

J. E. Schroeder replies: "Don’t worry, she’s still little! One the perks of being the runt of the litter... you’re always cute and tiny ^_^ She’s doing awesome, 8 months old now and still super adorable! I’ll have to send out pics soon...

As for my writing... I’ve been working on it, I swear! I’m having one of those start-lots-but-finish-nothing spells, sadly... I do want to get something new up before the fall semester, if only to clear the dust ^_~

Thanks for visiting--I’ll have to pop over to your page for awhile ^_^"

Well, stupid Elfwood isn’t letting me answer your comment, so I’m trying it over here instead...

Urgh, that’s frustrating. I’m glad you came back and gave it another try!

I’m doing fine. June was a blessing, July is proving hot and nasty--but hey, it’s almost halfway gone already, and then there’s just August to get through. (Which hopefully will be fast for me, but slow for you and other wanting to enjoy their breaks!)
Poor Mango! My cats do that sprawling on the tile floor bit as well, but that’s after they’ve purposefully laid out in the sun for a while. My mom’s German Shepherd Abby hates the heat as well.

I’d love to have you finish ’Hope’s Passage’ on FictionPress sometime, if you have the time for it. I’m still planning on trying to do some editing with it in the fall, so feedback there would be much appreciated! And yes, you spelled them correctly! *hugs*

Thanks so much for dropping by! I hope the rest of the summer is lovely for you and Mango. And puppy photos are always appreciated!