{"id":2662,"date":"2018-05-09T04:09:37","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T12:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2018-05-09T04:09:37","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T12:09:37","slug":"wild-and-sometimes-crazy-wednesday-meet-some-of-the-cats-who-inspire-my-cat-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2662","title":{"rendered":"Wild (and Sometimes Crazy) Wednesday \u2013 Meet Some of the Cats Who Inspire My Cat Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-548\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/009-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/009-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/009-375x500.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/009.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>As you know, I pattern some of the cats in my Klepto Cat Mysteries after cats I\u2019ve known. Rags, the star klepto cat, is a compilation of my mom\u2019s confident grey-and-white cat, Smokey, and our toy-toting kitty, Lily.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve also brought cats into my stories who have traits and even appearances similar to other cats I\u2019ve known and I sometimes use and embellish actual events I\u2019ve witnessed with my cats over the years. In <em>Catnapped<\/em> (the first book in the Klepto Cat Mystery), the theme is based on a real experience occurring in one of my daughter\u2019s hometown. Cats were being picked up from quiet neighborhoods and being carried off. My daughter actually caught someone taking her cat from her front lawn and was able to stop<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-791\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/PAWSitivelySinister-187x300.jpg\" alt=\"PAWSitively Sinister, a Klepto Cat Mystery\" width=\"187\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/PAWSitivelySinister-187x300.jpg 187w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/PAWSitivelySinister.jpg 278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 187px) 100vw, 187px\" \/> him. Just as in my story, residents reacted and set a couple of plans into motion, finally discovering who was taking the cats and why. While <em>Catnapped<\/em> is based on the story my daughter told me, my story is greatly and more interestingly embellished.<\/p>\n<p>The Siamese cat I introduced in Book Nine, <em>Mansion of Meows<\/em>, and that I featured in a few subsequent books, is a compilation of the many Siamese beauties I\u2019ve known, including my grandmother\u2019s series of apple-head Siamese cats.<\/p>\n<p>The horse in the stories, Peaches, is reminiscent of a foal we raised to become quite a good competitor in local horse shows. Her name was also Peaches.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2663\" src=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/27-Secrets-Trickery-web-187x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/27-Secrets-Trickery-web-187x300.jpg 187w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/27-Secrets-Trickery-web-768x1230.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/27-Secrets-Trickery-web-312x500.jpg 312w, https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/27-Secrets-Trickery-web.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 187px) 100vw, 187px\" \/>Dolly is a tabby\u2014a sweet girl who has taken on a few of Rags\u2019s naughty traits. I used our Lily when creating Dolly\u2019s character. And I\u2019ve definitely called on the precious personality of my Himalayan, Katy, to create a couple of the cats in my stories\u2014specifically Buffy and also Layla.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, I met another walker in the meadows where I walk most days. She was leading a dog on a leash and a cat was following along behind. I took pictures of the cat and ended up creating a character from her.<\/p>\n<p>This week, I met up with the woman and her dog and cat again and told her that her cat had become a character in my Klepto Cat Mysteries. She was thrilled and ran out immediately to buy the book. Well, that\u2019s one way to make a sale. (She&#8217;s the one wearing the necklace.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you know, I pattern some of the cats in my Klepto Cat Mysteries after cats I\u2019ve known. Rags, the star klepto cat, is a compilation of my mom\u2019s confident grey-and-white cat, Smokey, and our toy-toting kitty, Lily. I\u2019ve also &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=2662\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2664,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/2664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}