Tag: pet illness

new blog post: April 2026 wrap-up post April 2026 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

April 2026 Wrap-Up Post

Kara JorgensenLeave a comment

April has turned out to be the month I realize I need to slow down and let myself recover from all the chaos that has been going on. This month’s accomplishments will probably be scant, but you know what? That’s what needs to happen sometimes. Here was what I thought I’d get done in April:

  • Write the rest of “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Edit “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Rewrite some of Flowers and Flourishing
  • Take Katie for her CT scan
  • Take Katie for her radiation treatments
  • Maintain my mental health as best as I can
  • Finish grading for my classes
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out monthly newsletter (with AUC)

Books

My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 10 in April.

  1. The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko- 4 stars, technically this is part of the Raybearer series, but you don’t need to read those books to understand this one. A young disabled woman with vitiligo works as a maid and realizes she’s more than she thought she was. Of course, this means becoming entangled with a crocodile deity who is rather attractive and wants to help her. It’s also a story about revolution and making society better for everyone.
  2. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe- 5 stars, a queer graphic novel classic, but I just read it. Kobabe goes into how xe figured out xeir gender, pronouns, and xeir journey to finding where xe fit in. It was highly relatable as a nonbinary person.
  3. All the Murmuring Bones by A. G. Slatter- 4 stars, a dark fairytale about a woman trying to fight against a generational curse and live her own life. It’s a bit of a slow burn in terms of the story, but I really enjoyed the audiobook.
  4. Liberated: the Radical Art and Life of Claude Cahun by Kaz Rowe- 4 stars, Rowe’s graphic novel is about a queer artist from the first half of the 1900s who created avant garde art and managed to survive the war despite being targeted by the Nazi’s for resisting. It’s short and well worth it as an intro to Claude Cahun’s life.
  5. The Titan’s Bride (#6) by ITKZ- 4 stars, (CW: lots of on page sexual content) I love the two MCs and how they are trying so hard to both be good for each other and for the kingdom they represent. The human MC is so earnest and trying so hard to do right by everyone, and it’s refreshing.
  6. The Titan’s Bride (#7) by ITKZ- 4 stars, see above
  7. Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher- 5 stars, T. Kingfisher is a fav of mine, and if you want a bug horror book that feels like something Guillermo del Toro might create, this one is for you. It’s more gross than scary, and the MC is a naturalist painter with anxiety, which felt highly relatable, lol.
  8. Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar– 5 stars, I adored this anthology of stories and poetry. El-Mohtar writes fantastic sapphic stories and stories that focus on women’s lives. Her stories are rich with texture and speak to the longing for places you can no longer inhabit or have never been before.
  9. River of Bones and Other Stories by Rebecca Roanhorse- 4 stars, if you enjoy Rebecca Roanhorse’s work or want to read more work by Afro-Indigenous authors, I highly recommend this short story collection. It collects a lot of Roanhorse’s shorter works in one place and highlights her horror and scifi stories especially.
  10. Painter of the Night (#3) by Byeonduck- 4 stars, (CW: this is a dark romance with dub-con) what I really enjoy about this series is the scenery and set design involved as well as the way the artist MC is losing his innocence in regards to the world as he goes deeper into his relationship with the lord he works for.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • Wrote some of “An Unexpected Christmas” (TRM #4.5)
  • Brainstormed some changes for the Flowers and Flourishing rewrite
  • Graded a ton of stories, projects, papers, etc. for my students
  • Took Katie for her pre-radiation CT scan
  • Took Katie to 3 weeks of daily radiation treatments (1 more to go)
  • Printed, collected, and celebrated my students’ literary magazine and its launch
  • Paid Q1 2026 taxes
  • Participated in the Narratess Sale
  • Sent out newsletter
  • Blogged weekly
  • Had to put a new battery in my car .-.
  • Realized I was burning out and tried to mitigate the damage by slowing down

Blogs

Writing

There isn’t much to say here. I posted about this more on Instagram, but I ended up realizing I was burnt out due to the emotional stress from February onward. I hadn’t dealt with the grief and other feelings I was having, and that combined with work stuff and the chaos of the US government caused me to inch closer and closer to burn out the more I tried to force myself to write. Halfway through April I decided to put all my creative stuff on hold until I could decompress a little, which means when the semester ends and Katie’s treatments are over. They have been slowly stressing me out more and more. I plan to start writing again in May, but I’m giving myself the space to just exist for a bit and refill the well.

Hopes for May

  • Write more of “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Brainstorm more changes for Flowers and Flourishing before I rewrite it
  • Finish grading/turn in grades
  • Finish Katie’s radiation treatments
  • Figure out next steps for that
  • Take partner to get glasses
  • Plant pumpkins and peppers
  • Continue to avoid burnout
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Monthly newsletter

new blog post: march 2026 wrap-up post March 2026 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

March 2026 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

I had high hopes that March would be calmer than February, but spoiler alert, it was not. It also somehow felt like the longest month where I did not get nearly enough done because my brain was in chaos 24/7. But, anywho, let’s see what I foolishly thought I would accomplish:

  • Write the entirety of “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Edit “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Send “An Unexpected Christmas” out to newsletter subscribers
  • Manage my mental health as best I can
  • Juggle a bunch of doctors’ appointments
  • Keep on top of work stuff
  • Send out newsletter
  • Blog weekly
  • Read 8 books

Books

My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 9 this month.

  1. Ladies in Hating (#3) by Alexandra Vasti- 4 stars, this can be read out of order despite being the third book in the series. Two Gothic novelists get into a spat over potential plagiarism only to realize they know each other. A visit to a spooky old house cements their second chance romance as they work together to find a missing teenager.
  2. The Titan’s Bride (#2) by ITKZ- 4 stars, I was dubious about this series at first because it’s definitely a little… size fetish-y (not really my thing), but the two MCs are super sweet together and the storyline is interesting. It’s nice to see them figure out how to help the kingdom and become a better couple.
  3. The Titan’s Bride (#3) by ITKZ- 4 stars, see above
  4. The Titan’s Bride (#4) by ITKZ- 4 stars, see above
  5. The Titan’s Bride (#5) by ITKZ- 4 stars, see above
  6. Me and My Beast Boss (#4) by Shiroinu- 4 stars, a workplace procedural featuring a full-beast man (very scary in world) and his human secretary (very weak in world) as they navigate taking on the systems that work against humans. This is a slowburn romance, and I am loving it.
  7. I Know What I Like by Vincent Price- 4 stars, a memoir told by Price about his journey into the world of art. In our current climate of anti-arts/humanities, it’s really nice to read a work told by someone who is so obviously passionate about art. Dated in places but still good.
  8. Nobody’s Baby (#2) by Olivia Waite- 4 stars, definitely need to read book 1 for context, but in this story, the problem isn’t a death but a life. New humans aren’t supposed to be born, yet one appears on the ship parentless. Our ship detective must find the parents and figure out how and why a new human has appeared all while her nephew falls more in love with the baby.
  9. Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian- 5 stars, two stars on a long-running TV show who seemingly dislike each other take a road trip to find the one star’s missing step-father only to realize they have far more in common and far more chemistry off-screen than either anticipated. I love a prickly, anxious MC falling for a more affable yet complicated MC, and this hit the spot.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

Cw: pet illness/medical stuff

  • Waited for Edgar’s biopsy results- not cancer, yay!
  • Took Katie to the vet to get a lump on her face looked at
    • It was cancer- boo, but it’s one less likely to spread
  • Arranged Katie’s surgery to have the lump removed
  • Arranged for her to get a CT scan/radiation in April
  • Set up a GFM because the treatments are draining my savings
  • Spend most of the month vibrating with anxiety
  • Finished putting together the university’s literary magazine with my class
  • Sent it off to the printer
  • Joined the Narratess Indie April sale
  • Kept up with my grading
  • Did my taxes and actually got some money back, yay
  • Took my partner to her one year HRT appointment
  • Took myself to my specialist (yes, it really has been a month of doctoring)

Blogs

Writing

I’m not going to lie, I did not get much writing done this month. As you can see from the admin section, I spent the vast majority of my time running around to different doctor or vet appointments or stressing about dog biopsy results. It has been a rough two months, and I know April will be semi rough too due to the schedule of Katie’s radiation treatments. I’m not sure when they’re going to start, but they will run Monday to Friday for three and a half weeks. That means, I will be running around most of the month. The good thing is that I can use the time I’m waiting for her treatments to be done to get work done since I’ll be waiting in the parking lot to pick her up (they only take an hour or so). I’m hoping that April will be when I can get back into a routine and knock out “An Unexpected Christmas.” I think this story will be really cute, and while stressful for poor Oliver, it ends well.

Hopes for April

  • Write the rest of “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Edit “An Unexpected Christmas”
  • Rewrite some of Flowers and Flourishing
  • Take Katie for her CT scan
  • Take Katie for her radiation treatments
  • Maintain my mental health as best as I can
  • Finish grading for my classes
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out monthly newsletter (with AUC)

new blog post: why kara is struggling to write Why Kara is Struggling to Write
Personal Life

Why Kara is Struggling to Write

Kara Jorgensen4 Comments

I don’t do personal posts nearly as often as I used to, but I wanted to update you all on why I am so behind on basically everything. I apologize if this one is a bit heavy, but my life has been a bit of a shit show since February to the point that I feel like a bad news bear. CWs for pet death and pet medical stuff.

If you’ve read through my monthly wrap-ups for January and February, you know some of this. In January, I worked up to the wire on The Reanimator’s Fate and then, decided to take a few weeks off from writing to recover my brain. In mid-February, I decided to start working in earnest on “An Unexpected Christmas” (TRM #4.5). Within two days of doing this, Finn, my oldest and best boy had repeated seizures and had to be put to sleep. He was eighteen years old and lived a very long and good life, which is what I take solace in. He was a very healthy and robust dog until the last six months or so of his life where he needed a lot more care and attention. I miss him immensely, especially hugging him and giving him sweet baby kisses, and still catch myself checking on him, even though it’s been over a month. We celebrated my partner’s birthday a few days later on a rather somber note, and the week immediately after, Edgar (15 year old soul dog) had a medical problem.

Edgar is fine now, by the way, but he scared the ever-loving shit out of me. He went outside and suddenly, his mouth started bleeding nonstop to the point that I thought he was going to bleed out in my kitchen. I took him to one local vet (not my usual one as he was closed), had an absolutely traumatizing experience with a vet who was incredibly unprofessional and ageist regarding my seemingly healthy but bleeding dog. Long story short, he said that he probably had cancer and should be put down. I was like fuck that and fuck you and took him to an emergency vet half an hour away. Somewhere along the way, his mouth stopped bleeding and in the car, he spat out a glob of tissue that turned out to be the tumor that had been bleeding in his mouth. The emergency vet was lovely and took the tissue glob to be biopsied. Even after Edgar seemed okay, I was freaking the hell out because Edgar was anemic and not himself for over a week, which once again tested my nervous system. Luckily, he recovered fully with some antibiotics, and the tumor turned out to be an encapsulated piece of plant material that somehow ruptured/ripped open in his mouth. An absolutely bizarre ending to that horrific experience, but I’ll take anti-climatic at this point.

Following Edgar and Finn’s medical episodes, we took Katie (10 yr old dachshund mix) to the vet because she has had a lump slowly growing on her nose for several months. At first, we thought it was an allergy lump because she has allergy problems and rubs that spot. The vet did a biopsy on it, and it turned out to be soft tissue sarcoma, which is a kind of cancerous tumor. Luckily, it doesn’t tend to metastasize, especially if it’s a low grade tumor. This past Friday she had surgery to remove the tumor from her nose. The downside is that they can’t get wide/perfect margins on a dog’s nose due to how little space there is, so while the vet got most it, she will probably need a follow-up treatment like radiation or chemo to kill the remaining cells to keep it from growing back. We will find out next steps once the full biopsy is in and her face heals up. She’s only ten and a small dog, so she could live another five to eight years without issue if those remaining sarcoma cells are nuked. I made a donation thing in case anyone would like to contribute to her cancer treatment as it will be a lot of money by the end. My mom is helping us pay for it, but after her and Edgar’s repeated trips to the specialty vet, I am scraping the bottom of the barrel on my savings.

I also want to give a giant thank you to everyone who has donated to her care so far. Everyone has been so lovely asking after her and offering their support, and I appreciate my fellow writers and readers so much ;—; It’s been a very rough two months, but this has made it slightly less anxiety-inducing. I struggle to ask for help and continually feel guilty when I do so, but for my dogs, I will do it.

My dogs are my babies. I spend all my time with them when I’m not at work. They are my constant companions, and unfortunately, when they are having issues, it is very hard for me to focus on anything else. I feel like my brain is finally hitting some equilibrium now that Katie’s surgery is done with, but writing has been a very slow-go. I plan to work on “An Unexpected Christmas” while starting the rewrite and expansion of Flowers and Flourishing, so there shouldn’t be too much lag with the latter. I’m actually really excited to flesh out Agatha and Louisa’s story for rerelease, but I also want to give you all a fun Oliver and Felipe story. I appreciate everyone’s patience when it comes to getting AUC out. If you can hang in a little longer, I promise it will be worth it. Oh, and there will be dogs.