Christmas Kitten #StoryAdventCalendar

Christmas Kitten

by Rebecca Fyfe

The tiny kitten shivered in the cold snow as he huddled under a wooden porch. His mother had been picked up by a white van two days ago. The people in the van had been kind to his mother; he'd watched from his hiding spot and seen that they stroked her fur and gave her food.

But it was so cold out here and his stomach was rumbling. He hadn't eaten in so long.

A little girl and boy came out of the house and sprinted down the porch stairs, giggling and laughing. They were bundled up in layers of clothes to keep them warm outside, and they were making balls of the white, cold snow to throw at each other.

The kitten felt warmth coming from above him and he crept out of his hiding place to see what was so warm. The kids had left the door slightly ajar. It looked so warm and dry inside. The kitten decided to sneak into the house and find a nice, warm hiding place.

The kitten saw a large tree decorated with lots of pretty baubles, but he chose to hide under a large couch. It was so warm in here. He settled down to a nice nap, trying to ignore the fact that he was still hungry.

When he woke up, he peered out from under the couch. There was a fat man in a red suit placing gifts under a tree in the living room. The man looked the kitten's way and he was sure the man had seen him. He didn't want to be sent back out into the cold, so he needed to find a different place to hide before the man came over to look closer.

The kitten spotted a large, red sock on the floor. It was too large for anyone to actually wear as a sock and it had a few bits and bobs inside it, but there was enough room for him to slip inside. It was extra warm inside the sock and he knew it was a good hiding place so the man in red wouldn't see him. When nothing happened for a while, the kitten drifted off to sleep again. He didn't even notice when the sock he was resting in was lifted and placed hanging from the fireplace.

In the morning, the kitten heard children's voices. He peeked out of his hiding place and the two children squealed in delight.

"Mommy, look what Santa brought us! I've always wanted a kitten," said the girl.

Her mom looked surprised at first, but when she looked at the tiny, hungry kitten peeking out of the stocking, her heart melted.

"I'll go get some of the chicken left over from last night's dinner to feed him while you two choose a name."

The little girl picked up the kitten and held him in her hands. He couldn't believe his ears. He was going to get food and he was going to get to stay here in this nice, warm place.

"I already love you, little kitten," said the girl to him, stoking his fur gently.

*****

This story is part of the Story Advent Calendar Blog Hop. Every day from December 1st through December 25th, a variety of authors are providing you with one story to read to your child on the lead-up to Christmas. Check out the posts below to see which one to read to your child tomorrow!

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NaNoWriMo, anthologies and my novels "Ink" and "Call of the Siren"

I feel as though I have been neglecting this blog recently. So here is an update on my recent activities to help explain a little bit of why this blog has been slightly more neglected than usual.

Sand Scorpion by Michael Norwiz

Volume One

First of all, I am putting together two anthologies, one to be published through my indie publishing company Melusine Muse Press and the other to be published through it's subsidiary publishing division Your Kids' Creations. Melusine Muse Press will be publishing a second volume of SuperHERo Tales called "SuperHERo Tales: Volume Two: A Second Collection of Female Superhero Stories," hopefully within a week from now. This one will be very much like the first volume, except that, along with some brand new female superheroes, some of the stories will be new scenes from some of the superheroes you got to meet in the first volume, plus this volume will have more sketches of the superheroes to go with the stories. As per the first volume, the proceeds form the second volume will go towards the Because I am a Girl organization.

not the actual cover

The anthology that will be published through Your Kids' Creations is also an anthology of superhero stories - this one written and illustrated entirely by children. This one is more complicated to put together as some of the children are having to do major revisions of their stories and the scanned drawings from children require a lot of work to make them show up better in print (they tend to be drawn in colored pencil or, sometimes, crayon). I was hoping to also have this one completed by today, but it is delayed. If I work really, really hard on it, it will be available for purchase by December 1st. That's my current goal for it. you'll have to wait and see if I can manage it. I think one of the things that made this one more difficult to compile is that it was a more difficult topic for kids to cover, so some kids needed a lot of extra time to prepare their stories. The next kids one we do will be another "pick your own topic per story" kind of anthology like the stories in "The Talisman Chronicles."

While trying to put these together, I am also working on writing a brand new novel for this year's National Novel Writing Month. I was undecided between writing the first novel in my Daughters of Poseidon series, "Call of the Siren," or writing a new idea for a novel called "Ink" about a girl who lives in a world where the existence of paranormal creatures has been discovered and they live out in the open. Werewolves, vampires, witches and ghosts are known to live among humans but other paranormals have not yet been discovered and some of the known creatures are a threat to humans. This girl develops some paranormal powers of her own, namely the power to control ink. She gets tattoos which she can use by making them become solid and living for as long as she needs them. She uses her power to help others and becomes a sort-of superhero. I decided in the end to write "Ink," and I am really loving the story so far. I have been posting snippets from my daily writing of it on my author page on Facebook. I have also written about 3,000 words of the Daughters of Poseidon novel, which is not counted in my overall NaNoWriMo word count.



I'm also creating pre-made book covers for sale over on Melusine Muse Press. I offer custom-made book covers too. I recently made a book cover for my daughter Isabella's story which she is writing for NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program. I am offering my services (on sale right now) for making fairy photos for people too.






To top off the work I am doing with everything mentioned above, I am also posting a weekly Story Starter over on Story Starters, and editing my collection of mermaid stories, Mermaid's Muse, for publication in December.

not the actual cover

And I am hoping to get my non-fiction book the "28 Day Fitness Challenge," and its companion food journal, ready for publication in December as well, although it might need to be pushed back until January.









There are other anthologies which I will have to begin work on soon, but stories are still coming in for them at the moment. From Paw Prints, an anthology of cat stories with proceeds going towards the Swindon Cats Protection League, to four anthologies for the four courts of the Fae World. There is also a call for letters from fathers to daughters for another anthology.

I have also recently acquired a new kitten, and this adorable little kitten named Loki has somehow managed to break a bone in his right paw, so he has required a crate to keep him from using it too much (which hasn't really stopped him), daily medication and a ton of money which I don't really have at this time for X-rays and treatments and veterinary visits.


And there you have it. These are the things that have been keeping me too busy to write on here recently.

What have you been up to lately? I'd love to hear about the things you've been working on. Please share in the comments!