A Writer's Cats

Many writers I know live with cats. They almost seem like a necessary writer's accessory, like a tendency to suffer from depression, being an introvert, and a thesaurus*.

These are the ways my cats help me write:

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Hmm. Can't think of anything. You know how cats are aloof? Yeah. right. The second I sit down to write, a cat sits in front of my monitor. Or, now that I work on a lap top, they climb in my lap or sprawl across the keyboard.

Cats - this is not helping!

After I wrote my first novel, I printed it and planned to give it to friends to read. The cats peed on it.

I guess that was their review of my work. And looking back, I think they were right, but still...

Now I know why the rest of my writer friends have dogs instead. A dog would never pee on your manuscript. They'd cock their head and think, "who's a good girl?"




*Stephen King claims that any word you have to look up in a thesaurus is the wrong word. While most of his writing advice is amazing, I take issue with that. The English language has far more words than most languages, and each has a slightly different meaning. Sometimes I know there's a word that better conveys the meaning I want but can't think of it.

** Speaking of reference books, if you write science fiction with alien life forms, I suggest reading Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice For All Creation. There's almost nothing you can imagine from mating rituals to gender variations that doesn't exist here on earth. Plus, it's funny.