Roosters on the loose

I've been walking on the hike and bike trail every morning (it's what I do before I write) for almost ten years now. And for the first time, about a week ago, I thought I heard a rooster crow. When I didn't hear it again, I dismissed it as an iPod malfunction.

But then, the next day, I heard it again -- and sure enough, nestled on a branch up in the trees, there was a black-feathered rooster. Parrots, I've seen. Miniature horses, I've seen. But roosters? In downtown Austin?

Well, today, I heard it again. And would you believe it -- another one crowed back!

That's right. There are two roosters living along a fifty-foot stretch of the hike and bike trail in Austin. And despite the fact that the trail is ten miles long, they're squabbling over territory. Go figure.

When I'm not out rooster-hunting, I'm writing hard on my new project -- I outlined it this week, and am now modifying the two chapters I 'seat of pantsed' to fit into the outline. But of course, there's a scene too fun to cut, so I'm changing the outline, too! Ah, the writing life.

But I'm having fun, and that's what counts, right? :) And doing a lot of interesting reading -- you should see the variety of books in my house right now. If I have anyone from my daughter's Episcopal school over, I'm going to have to do a werewolf and magic book round-up first. I just bought a handy dandy 'spell book' the other day to equip my character's mother for her job as a psychic witch. Unfortunately, there wasn't a thing in there about enchanting your keyboard to type for you...

And in case you were wondering, I still haven't URLed my Malice post... maybe I'll get it done in time for next year's conference! ;)