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Cat Rambo is Rambo Cat!

Cat Rambo reports for duty!
RAWR!

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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."

~K. Richardson

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Snippet from Hearts of Tabat

Abstract drawing that vaguely resembles rain, or a portal, or something like that.
What did it mean? Because surely it must, happening three days in a row. It couldn't just be that she'd had the same dream randomly dropped into her head three times. She'd mulled it over, standing in her office staring out over the street steaming in the warm spring rain that pattered on the patterned paper umbrellas, printed with political slogans, that everyone carried.
I’m working on the sequel to recently-finished Beasts of Tabat, whose working title is Hearts of Tabat. Here’s a snippet I wrote this morning.

Adelina did something she’d mocked other people for doing. She consulted a Dream Reader.
Everyone sensible knew that Dream Readers were frauds, making up stories to suit the needs they could read in their clients. Everyone’s dreams were as individual as their minds, everyone had their own internal cartography leading to entirely different parts of their brains.

But the dream had come three mornings in a row. Three mornings when she woke up with a start, fear clamping its fingers, slender as reeds, strong as iron, around her throat, her hands clenched so hard that her nails bit into the heels of her hands.

She was walking along a bridge, which narrowed further and further, so much only a single person could walk across it, then crumbled away in the middle, leaving a two foot gap. She knew a wide enough step would take her across it, but when she looked down, she saw the water, seething with toothy eels, their lanterned eyes staring up at her, waiting for her to fall.

She saw Bella far, far away, down the long road on the other side, back turned as she walked away, too far to hear Adelina calling after her. Snowflakes were falling around her, as though a cloud echoed her progress overhead, and moonlight glinted on the snow, tinting it purple and red.


Finally she gathered her wits and went back a few steps. She crouched, then pushed herself forward and ran to jump and land on the other side. Far below, the eels ground their teeth, a sound that crawled up her spine and along her shoulders.

A headshake, like a dog cleaning itself of rain, chased the sensation away.

Bella had vanished over the horizon. Parks lay to either side, and she knew they were Tabatian parks, but ones she’d never discovered before. The notion delighted her: she’d investigate their histories, incorporate that into her long-time project, a complete history of the city.
But which one to enter first? She hesitated.

The left-hand one held a fabulous menagerie surrounded by a high, green-painted fence. She could hear the creatures roaring and whinnying, baying and moaning and a calliope’s wheedle. Fireworks arced and popped above it.

On the right was a more sedate water-park. But it held nooks and crannies as enticing as any brightly-colored booth: serene statues had placards waiting to be deciphered, and a massive fountain in the center roiled with carp colored white and purple and red.

It came to her that the righthand side would cost her no coins, but that the menagerie would require the price of admission, so she fumbled at her belt, thinking she’d let the lack or not determine which way she went. But the coins in her pouch were unfamiliar and she was uncertain whether or not the ticket seller would accept them.

She hesitated, torn between choices.

Something was coming padding down the road towards her. A Sphinx and a Manticore, unchained, unrestrained. They walked without hurry, placid and implacable and deadly. Their mouths moved as though they were talking to each other, but they were too far to hear.

Where had Bella gone?

She looked from side to side, but something in the way they walked told her they would follow, no matter where she went.

They came so close she could smell the stink of the Manticore, hear the sound of their steps on the road. They were silent now as they came towards her”¦

Then she’d wake.

What did it mean? Because surely it must, happening three days in a row. It couldn’t just be that she’d had the same dream randomly dropped into her head three times. She’d mulled it over, standing in her office staring out over the street steaming in the warm spring rain that pattered on the patterned paper umbrellas, printed with political slogans, that everyone carried.

***
Love the world of Tabat and want to spend longer in it? Check out Hearts of Tabat, the latest Tabat novel! Or get sneak peeks, behind the scenes looks, snippets of work in progres, and more via Cat’s Patreon.

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Links from the Blogging 101 Class - SEO Resources

SEO is HUGE, and while one could do a class on that alone, I’m pretty sure I’m not qualified to teach it, having only explored the iceberg’s tip. If anyone’s got a text or resource on it that they’d recommend, please drop it in the notes.

Mentioned in class:
Keyword resource: www.trackur.com
Free tools for SEO analysis on your website: woorank.com, websitegrader.com
Way to see how search engines see your site:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp#p/c/B52807846359D2EA
Beginners Guide to SEO: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
SEO Basics: http://knol.google.com/k/seo-basics#
Search engine ranking factors: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
Keyword investigation: http://adwords.google.com and http://knol.google.com/k/seo-basics

Useful information:
Building a Monthly SEO Action Plan: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/building-a-monthly-seo-action-plan-whiteboard-friday
Conversion Tweaks: http://www.copyblogger.com/test-and-tweak/
Dirty Little Secrets of Search Engine Optimization: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=1
Get Ahead with a Grasp of Semantic Web: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10755.asp
Google’s Cat and Mouse SEO Game: http://www.seobook.com/googles-cat-mouse-seo-game
How Google Makes Its Billions: the 20 Most Expensive AdWords Keyword Categories: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2095210/How-Google-Makes-Its-Billions-The-20-Most-Expensive-AdWords-Keyword-Categories
How Will Google+ Affect SEO?: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/07/google-plus-impact-on-seo.php
Intelligent Site Structure For SEO: http://yoast.com/site-structure-seo/
Keyword Discovery Tips:http://www.suite101.com/content/keyword-discovery-tips-a126098http://www.suite101.com/content/keyword-discovery-tips-a126098
SEO Copywriting: The Five Essentials to Focus On: http://www.copyblogger.com/on-page-seo/
SEO Higher Learning: http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Algorithm-Matters/SEO-Higher-learning.html
Shoestring Budget SEO Tips For Small Businesses: http://www.seobook.com/shoestring-seo
Sitemaps XML format: http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php
Tutorial: Web Information Retrieval: http://www.tcnj.edu/~mmmartin/CMSC485/Papers/Google/icde.pdf
Website Optimization: The Art of Making Websites Awesome: http://www.sofionik.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/website-optimization-the-art-of-making-websites-awesome
What Social Signals Do Google and Bing Really Count?: http://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389
Will Google+ Affect SEO?: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/07/google-plus-impact-on-seo.php
5 Easy Ways to Boost SEO: http://socialmediatoday.com/len-ostroff/268803/five-easy-ways-boost-seo
5 Free Tools for Keyword Research: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-free-tools-for-competitor-keyword-research/28015/

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