The Cat Who Hates Me

I’m a cat person. Some of my friends even jokingly call me the Cat Whisperer because I pretty much get along with all of them. I love cats and they love me… mostly.

My dad’s cat, Katie, does NOT love me. She hates me. With a passion. Now to be fair, she pretty much hates everyone with the exception of my dad. She tolerates my mom, but probably only because Mom feeds her.

Katie - Can't you just see the disdain for me on her face?

It still kills me though, every time I visit them, I try to play with her, try to feed her, try to pet her, all with no joy. If I get within two feet of her cat tree, she starts to growl! If I get too close, she swats me.

As for my dad, he gets along with most any animal, especially, of course, his rotten cat. My cat, Luna, however, doesn’t like him very much… but he has been known to spit gum at her occasionally… don’t ask!

Luna - The epitome of cute.

It occurred to me today that cats and readers have something in common. Not that they growl and swat me! But because what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another person… or cat. How many people love love love 50 Shades of Grey? Yeah, soooo not me. But I adore The Stand by Stephen King and I’ve found quite a few scathing reviews of it that I completely disagree with. Taste – and the love of a cat apparently – is subjective.

So the next time I get a less-than-glowing review, I’ll try to keep Luna and Katie in mind. And I’ll do my best not to growl at the reviewer.

Advice from Janet and Steve – Books on Writing

In between the fiction books I love to read, I try to squeeze time here and there for a non-fiction book or two. When I’m editing, like I am now, I pull out a few books for tips. Tonight, I grabbed How I Write by Janet Evanovich and On Writing by Stephen King. These are two of my favorite authors, and I love their distinct voices.

Janet first. I flipped to the chapter “Revising and Editing.” She gives a great rewriting checklist that I think is especially helpful. A couple of these items are some that I’m finding I have to revisit in my book: “Is the villain strong enough to give the main characters a true challenge?” “Is it clear what the main characters want and what are their motivations?” “Have you edited out words that have no function?” My villain isn’t nearly as vicious as she could be, I haven’t yet introduced one of the main characters, and I’m hacking through the forest of unnecessary words: really, very, just, that, etc.

Stephen King is also full of fantastic advice I’m taking to heart. One of my favorite pieces of wisdom is the Rewrite Formula: 2^nd Draft = 1^st Draft – 10%.  I’m tossing quite a bit from the rough draft, from those unnecessary words to sometimes full pages of things that just don’t work.

I also find myself stumbling a bit on the backstory. This book is a sequel, and I have to bring the reader up to speed on some topics. S.K. says “(a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting. Stick with the parts that are, and don’t get carried away with the rest.” I’m doing my best to trim the excess and leave only the info that directly impacts the storyline in this book.

But I am making progress! And I’m pretty pleased with it so far. I started with a printed out copy of the book and a red pen. I’ve made notes and changes for 15 of 24 chapters. It’s clear, though, that when I translate my notes from the written pages to my Word document, I’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s a little daunting, but I’m encouraged by how the book is shaping up so far.

I think I have just enough time to edit another chapter before bed, so I will sign off here. Happy writing, ROW80-ers!