{"id":344,"date":"2013-08-20T04:38:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T12:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=344"},"modified":"2013-08-20T04:38:44","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T12:38:44","slug":"writing-about-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=344","title":{"rendered":"Writing About Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oaktreealylily-028\"Readers of Catnapped<\/em> and my pre-publication readers for the next in the mystery series, Cat-Eye Witness<\/em>, tell me that they have enjoyed getting to know the cats in my stories\u2014especially Rags, the klepto cat. I had fun designing Rags. And I did so from cats I\u2019ve known. I haven\u2019t actually been acquainted with a true kleptomaniac cat. But I\u2019ve read about them with interest. What possesses a cat to wander off to neighbors\u2019 homes and return carrying various\u2014sometimes large and cumbersome\u2014items? There\u2019s a video on YouTube as we speak showing a cat waddling home night after night carrying bras, sunglasses, tee shirts, flip flops and more. They also scan across a large display of his contraband that they\u2019ve collected.<\/p>\n

While I patterned Rags loosely from my mother\u2019s beloved cat, Smokey\u2014as far as looks and personality\u2014I came up with the klepto angle from watching our kitty, Lily, who brings me stuffed cat toys every day while I work. We call her our little interior decorator. I pick up the scattering of toys when I vacuum and by the time the cleaning machine is cool, the living room, and entrances to my office and bedroom are re-decorated with Lily\u2019s stuffed baby possum, hedgehog, several tiny teddy bears, a few bird toys and various other things from her toy box.<\/p>\n

Rags is a large cat, he\u2019s curious, confident and full of personality. Layla is a friend of Rags\u2019s. She\u2019s small, quiet, shy, soft and sweet\u2014oh yes and beautiful. She\u2019s patterned somewhat after Lily. The other cats in the story just play cameo parts and some of them represent aspects of cats I\u2019ve known. Isn\u2019t that how we develop our people characters, too\u2014from people we\u2019ve known and aspects of others we\u2019ve met? It\u2019s a fun process.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read Catnapped<\/em>, the first in the Klepto Cat Mystery Series, I invite you to order your Kindle copy today. It\u2019s $2.99 at amazon.com. In fact, here\u2019s the direct order page: http:\/\/amzn.to\/14OCk0W<\/a> Read about the cats and the people who interact with them. Catnapped<\/em> is a mystery involving missing cats. It\u2019s a murder mystery. It\u2019s a love story. Order your copy today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Readers of Catnapped and my pre-publication readers for the next in the mystery series, Cat-Eye Witness, tell me that they have enjoyed getting to know the cats in my stories\u2014especially Rags, the klepto cat. I had fun designing Rags. And … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344"}],"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=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}