Cat Pollock Writes

2018 has been a roller coaster ride of a year, hasn't it? Well, before we put on our party hats and usher in 2019, I thought I would wrap up the year with a quick list of the five most viewed posts on the blog that were written this year. I'm pleasantly surprised by the variety - I wouldn't say any of them is much like the rest. Without further ado, here are the five posts written this year that have received the most views: 5) "The Unwinding Cable Car"  (posted 4/2/2018) This was the first blog post to go up this year. I admit, I got a little philosophical with things as I talked about what had been going on in my head and with one of the craft projects I've been working on.  That project still isn't finished, in case you've read that one and were wondering. 4) Slice of Life: That One Good Transit Story (posted 8/16/2018) In case the title didn't tip you off, this post was a quick story from everyday life ...

I'm sitting in my living room writing this blog - laptop on the coffee table in front of me, cup of Earl Grey to my right and a cup of noodles to my left as I scramble to figure out how to summarize the last year of my life. Yes, scramble. This is going to be one of those blogs that gets written off the cuff and thrown up almost as soon as I've finished writing it - because that's been my life so far this week. The last time I wrote a serious life update was about two years ago, at the end of a chaotic year and tumultuous season of life ( Oh, 2016 , in case you feel like reading up on what was going on back then). I won't be formatting my update in quite the same way, though. 2018 has been a much slower year, and only became busier in the back half of the year.  What's Happened in 2018  In July,  I released a second short story collection called "Overload: Stories for When Your World Flips Upside Down". Talk about stories I needed to write f...

Last month, I shared a post with five of my favorite science fiction quotes . While it may not have been the most-viewed post on the blog, it was a fun post to work on. This month, I thought I would share five of my favorite quotes about writing - in no particular order, because this list changes whenever I come across a quote I like. 1. Isaac Asimov Source: @catpollockwrites instagram 2. Anne Lamott "Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it." 3. Judy Collins Source: @catpollockwrites instagram 4) Rainbow Rowell "Sometimes writing is running downhill, your fingers jerking behind you on the keyboard the way your legs do when they can't quite keep up with gravity." 5) Mark Sheppard Source: @catpollockwrites instagram What do you think of these quotes? If you're a writer, what are your favorite quotes about writing? Let me know in the comment section below!

Due to circumstances far beyond my control (namely the birth of a nephew in October that no one knew was coming until the end of September and my father's heart attack last month), the time I had available to read this fall was limited. I would apologize for it, but things happen, right? Right. Here's the list of the few books I was able to get through in the last three months - and yes, the list is sparse on the cover art. Sorry. 1) The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells One of my reading goals for the latter half of 2018 has been to dig into classic science fiction, so I started with the infamous alien invasion tale known as The War of the Worlds . I have a lot of thoughts about this story, but it's more than a blog post can fill so I'll leave it for now at being a story I enjoyed. 2) Self-Editing for Fiction Writers (2nd Edition) - Renni Browne & Dave King A second goal was to get through more professional development books, like this one. I haven...