Authors and cats
“As an inspiration to the author, I do not think the cat can be over-estimated. He suggests so much grace, power, beauty, motion, mysticism. I do not wonder that many writers love cats; I am only surprised that all do not.” ~ Carl Van Vechten
To me, being a writer has a lot in common with the way I feel about living with a cat.
Cats can be difficult. They wreck your furniture. They wake you in the middle of the night, retching up fur-balls. They have no compunction about using their claws and teeth on you whenever they deem it necessary. For instance only last week my ‘darling’ Kuffer played rough and sliced open my lip so badly that I thought I might need stitches!
But all these issues fade into insignificance when a cat purrs at you when you’re sad, or snuggles up against you when you’re worried or ill. Or simply delights you by doing something cute or funny or loving clear out of the blue and just because he or she can.
Even without consciously being aware of it, cats give back a hundredfold to compensate for any trouble they might cause you.
It’s the same with writing.
Ideas are hard to find. Plots seem impossible. A work in progress can be a dead duck that drives you crazy and makes you wonder if you’ll ever write a single interesting word, ever again.
But all this angst is forgotten in those breathtaking moments when your characters are suddenly alive and talking and acting in a world that you, yes you, have created. When they make you smile and exclaim and sigh and they reward you for all the effort and the stress and the swearing that you’ve expended on them. The moments when your eyes fill with tears over their trials and tribulations, and when your heart sings at the end of their story because they’ve achieved the beautiful happily ever after that can be so elusive and hard to hang on to in the real world.
That’s why I write. Because when it purrs you forget the scratches and the fur-balls.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Great post. Maybe that’s why I’ve been dreaming about cats the last few nights!
October 25th, 2007 at 1:07 am
ROFL - great post Portia. Although I’m not sure the furball on the carpet, an inch from the hardwood/tile or lino is made up with any sort of purring, but I’ll agree anyway.
Just cause I’ve had my cat for 18 years, and most of the time he thinks he’s a dog. Hey, maybe that’s what’s wrong with my writing! LOL (yeah, you can send me to Freud and see if he can figure it out, it’s late and I’m trying to be funny).
October 25th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Yes, Cats and Writing, I can completely see the similarities.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:25 am
Yeah, when I had blood streaming from my lip last week I wasn’t so sure any amount of purring would compensate… but once I was out of shock, he was back around being affectionate and loving again and it was impossible to be upset with him.
The same with books… I had a tough time writing one of my recent WIPs because it was a sequel to something I wrote over ten years ago. Time and again, I thought I would *never* get it right and it was going to end up being a complete turkey, but when I’d eventually finished it and edited it, I loved it to pieces!
October 25th, 2007 at 3:46 am
How you feel about cats = how you feel about writing?
Oh dear. I am so screwed, LOL
October 25th, 2007 at 3:49 am
So true! You made me chuckle, lovely post.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Don’t worry, Kim! It’s just that I’m a complete cat nut… I’m sure the same principle would apply with any rewarding but challenging presence in a person’s life… children, other pets, husbands! LOL
October 25th, 2007 at 6:45 am
sometimes I think my writing efforts are a bit like my cat, buried under the magnolia he used to lie under on hot days when he was alive, sigh
October 25th, 2007 at 7:35 am
I loved the post, Portia. And you are so right. The books I end up loving the best are the ones I had to struggle to write, the ones I had to push the heroine or yell at the hero because the effort to accomplish it makes the victory that much sweeter.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Awesome post Portia! I love writing and I love my furkins. Even when the baby (who will be 4 months on the 27th) made his first kill (a fly. ick) and brought it directly to me, I was kinda proud and queasy. Hehe.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Emma! LOL on the First Kill.
I used to be owned by a smartypants housecat and his sister. He used to sit by the (whitewashed) living room wall and stare at a point dead ahead. Then his paw would shoot out sideways, squishing a wasp dead on the wall (leaving an obligatory red dot) and eating it. Stinger and everything.
I don’t have a cat at the moment - but my hero has one!
Remember what they say… Dogs have owners. Cats have servants.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Great post, Portia!
October 25th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Dogs have owners. Cats have servants.
Gosh, that could not be more true at our house. Our cats are waited on hand and foot! I don’t think there’s anything more that could be done to make their lives more pampered…
October 25th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Rilly, maybe your writing mojo is just sleeping? Ready to wake soon, and refreshed?
October 25th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Silke, Emma… My lot don’t catch insects all that much. They tend to go for larger prey. And there’s nothing less likely to make you sharp and fresh in the morning, and ready to write, than having to re-catch the stuff they’ve ‘released’ into the house in the middle of the night yourself!!!
October 25th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I loved the post Portia! I’m owned by five cats. They’re usually pretty good at entertaining themselves (they’re all indoor cats) unless I’m in my office writing. Then they like to keep me company - I get them draped on the window ledge, on top of book cases . . . ocassionally one will poke it’s nose around the screen of my lap top to make sure I’m still working. They’re great!
October 25th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Brilliant post, Portia. I have one cat who has a black hole she takes with her to every house we’ve lived in. That corresponds nicely with the way my characters hide from me when I’m first getting to know them. Not sure how the cat that shreds me tooth and claw relates to my writing. He is one of the most affectionate cats though so maybe he does correspond with how I feel about my wip. Thanks for the reminder of how much I love what I do.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Oh my goodness, Portia — I just *love* this post! Spoken like a true writer and a true cat lover.
My four cats are all so different from one another; it would be an interesting exercise for me to think about what parts of writing they would represent for me. Hey, it sounds like a fun challenge — I love thinking about my cats, and the better I know myself as a writer, then the more confident and sure-footed I’ll be on the writers’ path!
Cats and writers have a lot in common: Cats are incorrigibly independent creatures. So are writers. Cats need space to contemplate, to breathe, to be. So do writers. Both cats and writers can be hard to get to know, but once we let you in and learn to trust you, we’re fiercely loyal. Neither writers nor cats are known for our gregariousness, but we are known for the intensity of our emotions.
And both cats and writers appreciate life’s simple pleasures: a good meal, a good snooze, a good chase (whether of a mouse or a well-realized story).
October 26th, 2007 at 2:42 am
I know *so* many authors who own - or more correctly are owned by - cats. There does seem to be a natural affinity… and you nailed the reasons perfectly there, Thomma.
Having said that, I also know lots of authors who are devoted dog owners too, and who value the supportive companionship of their canine friends just as much as I value my moggies!
I think the company of any pet just enriches the writer’s working day.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
*Sigh* I wanted a kitten but I’m married to a biology teacher: we don’t keep pets, we maintain research projects. Turtles it is!
October 27th, 2007 at 11:23 am
My kitten gave me ringworm (which I had a stunningly bad case of and was covered in spots for months), but I still adore him. I like the connection you drew there between the writer and the kitty.
October 27th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Ringworm? Ooh… sounds nasty! Amazing what we can put up with and still love our feline friends, isn’t it?
October 28th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Hi Portia.
This is funny. I was just telling someone about my cat today. She’s a hunter, swipes insects out of the air, catches mice, torments spiders, and she brings me her “trophies.”
She’s also a seat stealer. She likes to curl up against my side when I sit on the couch to write. If I get up to pee she steals my seat. If I put my laptop down she sits on it. I have to close it or she IM’s my friends and worse.
She always seems to know when I’m really into a scene and of course, that’s when she needs immediate loving.
October 29th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Wonderful post. I’m right there with you. I’m owned by 3 cats, and 2 other cats jointly own me and some other humans.
No matter what they do, you love them.
My three even hang out with me in the home office when I’m writing. They mostly leave me alone when I’m actually writing. But, they make huge pests of themselves when I’m just mucking about on the ‘net, though. Maybe they’re little furry Svens?
October 29th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Aw, I love that! Little furry Svens…