A Christmas to Purr About is getting wonderful reviews—mostly 5-stars. All of my Klepto Cat Mysteries have garnered a high percentage of 5-star reviews, such as this one: http://www.mikishope.com/2017/04/book-review-christmas-to-purr-about.html
However, not all readers are so generous with their comments. My first Klepto Cat Mystery, Catnapped, generated one really nasty review. I tried to find it at Amazon to share it with you, but I wasn’t successful. Maybe Amazon deleted it. After reading it a couple of times, I realized it must be from another author who thought it would boost his/her sales if they slammed me or someone with a lot of hate in their soul.
I have to tell you I listen to my readers. I read critical reviews and comments. I mull them over and often I find them useful, helpful, valid and I make some changes accordingly or definitely consider them in a rewrite or in the next book in the series. For example, one reader said she loves my books, but they end too soon. She wants more. So, I extended book 23 (coming out soon). It costs me more to produce, but the reader gets more for his money. Hopefully everyone is happy, except for those, I suppose, who prefer a short, quick read.
I had a reader recently tell me they really like my characters, but in one of the books Savannah, the main character, has become too whiny. The reader wondered where was her backbone.
I was dinged for the near rape scene in one of my books. Some reads are offended by the realities of the plight of the feral cat.
While some fans have told me, “I missed the cat action in such-and-such a book—not enough cat action in this book.” Another said, “I don’t like the cat antics, they distract from the story.”
I was told that I used the word “smirk” too often in one of the books. I have taken that tip to heart. Oh, and some people think my stories are too preachy.
Quite recently, I enjoyed meeting a new fan. She was relishing the books until she came to a comment made by one of the fictional characters about pit bulls. The character said, “When will pit bull owners take these dogs more seriously?” Oh my, this pit bull owner was offended. But she must know that there certainly are wonderful pit bulls like the one she has and maybe she knows many other family pets who are lovely dogs. But statistically, pit bulls throughout the US cause more havoc and damage and death than any other dog breed. And, they are also some of the most well-behaved dogs—it’s true. In fact, as you can see, there’s a sweet pit bull dog on the cover of my latest book A Christmas to Purr About.
How does an author deal with snarky reviews? I don’t know how others do it, but I listen, analyze, make adjustments where it makes sense to do so, and move on to the next story.
I love those little books and random stories about unlikely animal friends. There are even TV programs featuring animals who have chosen pals outside their species—a cat and a duck, for example, a pig and a horse, a dog and a monkey and on and on and on.
and puppies. I left it out for the cats to see and as you can see, Sophie was interested in making one of the puppy’s acquaintance.
Do you have a cat of many colors—a calico, perhaps, or a tortoiseshell? Maybe it’s a tabby with a little orange sprinkled into her fur pattern. How do you define this cat?
And if you don’t like the color of your cat, you can change it. I do not recommend this, but there are people who love dressing their animals and even changing their color to pink, purple, stripes or rainbow depending on their mood or the season. If you do this, be sure to use safe materials or you could end up with a very sick (not to mention embarrassed) cat.
Today, I thought we’d talk more about laws involving cats—some of them, I’m pretty sure you didn’t know about. It’s interesting to me that there seems to be no data indicating that there were cats here in the US until the 1600s when Europeans started settling here. Did they bring their household pets or were the first feline settlers the ships’ cats—brought on board for rodent control? As more people came, more cats came and those cats brought about more cats—you know how it goes. Finally, there came a time when it was necessary to levy some laws upon the family cat as well as the cat-a-large. Well, it all started with larger animals such as cattle and horses. As you may recall, when watching old Westerns, stealing a horse or a steer was a hanging offense. But that was because these animals were worth something. People depended on them for their livelihood.
destroyed. In West Virginia, cats and dogs can run free if vaccinated against rabies. The state of Wisconsin requires that free-roaming cats wear a collar. The problem for most states and cities that create laws for cats are the enormous numbers of feral cats. In 2005, California was the only state with extensive laws regarding feral cats. For more on this and other laws as they were in 2005, here’s a link. 
believed that cats could influence the weather. Sailors, in particular, studied the shipboard cats’ demeanor and actions in order to predict the weather.
We sometimes use music to cover up sounds that we believe might upset or frighten our cats—firecrackers on the fourth of July, for example or construction going on in the home. But does your cat actually enjoy listening to music? Does the beat or the rhythm resonate with Bootsie and Fluffy?
Occasionally I share resources here in case you want additional information, clarity on a cat issue, answers to a feline health problem, tips for changing annoying cat behavior, ideas for entertaining your cat, stories about cats, and so much more. Every week I find new material I think you’d enjoy. Did you know someone has composed music specific to cats? We’re going to talk about that in a future blog.
When a head-strong, long-haired calico came into our life via the Humane Society one summer, she came with the name, Katy. We already had a cat named Katy, so we set out to change this young cat’s name. We threw out a lot of names in her direction and none of them would stick. Finally, we noticed that this cat always joined us when we went into the kitchen, that’s when we realized her name was Dinah. Remember the song…“Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah…?”
cat races: specifically, from the Arabian Sea (Sokoke), the Eastern Mediterranean (Turkish Angora and Turkish Van), cats of South Asia (Ocicat, Birman, Burmese, Havana Brown, Korat, Russian Blue, Siamese, Singapura, and Australia Mist) and cats from Western Europe (Abyssinian, American Shorthair, Bengal, British Shorthair, Chartreux, Cornish Rex, Egyptian Mau, Exotic Shorthair, Japanese Bobtail, Maine Coon, Manx, Norwegian Forest Cat, Persian, Ragdoll, Scottish Fold, Siberian, Sphynx). Where does your cat fit in?
If I were to guess at our cat, Lily’s heritage, I’d say she’s part dog. Well, what cat brings you your slippers and curls up at your feet in the evening? Seriously, I wonder if her heritage might date back to the Angora from the Eastern Mediterranean or maybe the Maine coon because she has very soft medium-length dilute tabby fur and the sort of green eyes I’ve seen on some Maine coon cats. Or she could originate from Western Europe and have Norwegian Forest Cat heritage.
