If You've Ever Wondered About the Way My Brain Works When I'm Writing, Wonder No More

I'm on tour! Doesn't that sound exciting? It is, but I'm touring from the comfort of my office chair. You see, my talented author-friend, Kristy Abbott invited me to join The Writing Process Blog Tour.

What in the world is The Writing Process Blog Tour?

Don't get sassy -- I'm about to explain it to you. It's a way for bloggers to share their own writing process and current projects with readers, as well as introduce them to a couple of fabulous authors they might not be reading ... which they should.

The idea also intrigued me because on this blog I mostly write about my cats, cat products and and other feline-related topics. I rarely write about myself, and haven't for a few years. When I began Catladyland (then Eclectic Catladyland) in 2009, I wrote about neurotic self, my cats and lots of musing on silly things that pop into my mind. Shortly after that, I switched exclusively to writing about cats. Why? I enjoyed it and felt like I'd found a solid audience -- it was that simple.

This post offers a little insight into me, myself and I, although I promise to bring up cats now and again because how can I describe anything I do without their inclusion? Impossible, I tell you!

On to the Writing Process Blog Tour, which includes four questions:


What am I working on?

I work on a variety of projects every day. I'm a regular columnist for Catster.com, so most every day I'm working on something for that site. I also pick up freelance opportunities for other sites pretty regularly -- they're usually cat-related. Surprise. My first book, whiskerslist: the kitty classifieds came out last year, and I'm gearing up for some fall promotion in conjunction with the companion calendar that will be released very soon. I'm also working on a secret project! That's right, it's secret and it's incredibly cool. Wait and see. Oh, and I've started some writing that has nothing to do with cats. WHAT? It's true. I will share some of it soon.

I also write this blog, and the sites for Texts from Mittens and whiskerslist: the kitty classifieds, as well as maintain the daily social media for all three. I stay busy.

I work. Cosmo cleans his butt.

How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I've always loved writing parodies and designing worlds where cats do people things. When I can combine both of those -- like in whiskerslist -- I'm a happy girl. The same goes for Mittens. It amuses me to no end to concoct that perfect mixture of human and cat characteristics for Mittens. It really has to be just the right combination for it to be funny and outlandish, yet still be sort-of in the realm of what a cat really might think or do. So I think that's maybe what's different: I like to create worlds where cats are still cats, but possess human characteristics as well.


Why do you write what you do?

Because I feel happy when I do it.

Need inspiration? Take a shower. Then feed me.

How does your writing process work?

Haha, that's funny. It really differs all the time and is based on the type of project on which I'm working. I do have a crap-load of notebooks, though. I always have an empty regular-size (college-ruled, of course) one and a small one (in case I want to carry it in my purse) handy. For everything: freelance pieces as well as books, I usually brainstorm in the notebook first, and come up with some main points of a loose plan. I love my notebooks -- they are my brain splattered all over paper. Ew. That sounds kind of gross.

I'm also a professional daydreamer. This used to be an issue when I was in school, but now serves me in magnificent ways. My daydreams often lead to my best ideas. My favorite times to daydream are while showering, driving and vacuuming -- that's the truth. I'm not even trying to be funny with the vacuuming part. That vacuum cleaner has helped me develop the best ideas -- and bonus: my carpets are clean!

When I feel stuck, I stare at my cats and rub their ears. They're my fuzzy little muses, and constantly inspire me. Plus I think that rubbing their ears kind of works like rubbing a magic lamp. Sometimes good ideas just appear!

My portion of the tour has now come to an end. Get your T-Shirt here.



Now meet my talented friends!

Amy Shojai has been reinventing herself for years. She's a certified animal behavior consultant, and the award-winning author of 27 best-selling pet books that cover furry babies to old fogies, first aid to natural healing, and behavior/training to Chicken Soup-icity. She created the Puppies.about.com site as the Puppies Expert, and was the Cat Behavior Expert at Cats. And you'll find her half-hour Pet Peeves radio show here. Amy has been featured as an expert in hundreds of print venues, including the New York Times, Reader's Digest and Family Circle, as well as well as national radio and TV networks such as CNN, Animal Planet's Dogs 101 and Cats 101. She's been a consultant to the pet products industry and a host/program consultant for select "furry" TV projects.

Amy is also a musician, actor and playwright, and brings her unique pet-centric viewpoint to public appearances and performances, audio books (hers and others), writer of webinars, conference keynote/seminars and THRILLERS WITH BITE!

Learn more about Amy when you visit her site.

Deborah Barnes currently resides in the tropical paradise of South Florida and was inspired to write The Chronicles of Zee and Zoey -- a Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary as a result of the lessons learned from her family of seven cats after her life took a downward turn in 2009 when she was unexpectedly laid off at 48 years of age.

She is also the creator of the award-winning blog Zee and Zoey's Chronicle Connection, that not only continues to follow the everyday journey she shares with her cats (including her newest additions, a rescue kitten named Kizmet that she adopted from Pet Supermarket, and a feral Maine Coon kitten named Jazmine that was rescued from an abandoned farmhouse), but covers topics from the humorous behavior of cats to the very serious subjects on pet responsibility. Her current circle of works has brought her where she is today -- a serious cat advocate and Secretary of Pawsitively Humane Nonprofit organization in Miami, Florida, whose mission is to create public awareness and reduce the number of animals on the street and in shelters through an extensive educational campaign.

Learn more about Deborah when you visit her site.

A Tail of a "Sneaky" Cat and Cool News From Friends!

Cats think they're super-duper sneaky; however, some of their skills in this area leave a little to be desired. I think Phoebe needs to go back to Hiding 101.

And before I let you go, I have some exciting news to share with you! My friends Robbin and Joseph Everett's Pet Podcast Channel will celebrate their 100th episode today! Their Pets Teach Us So Much radio show is broadcast live every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in the Eastern time zone. 

It's funny, informative and a must-listen for pet lovers. I've been a guest on their show a couple of times and will tell you that it's impossible to frown when you're around Robbin and Joseph. If you like Catladyland, then you will totally get their crazy humor. 

Joseph and Robbin, you will LOVE them!

You can listen to their 100th show tonight -- and every Thursday -- by clicking here to jump over to Blog Talk Radio. Remember to bookmark the page, because you will definitely want to come back! To learn more about Joseph, Robbin and TPPC, be sure to visit their site!

Congrats, you two!!

Catlady Heaven!

Last week I attended the BlogPaws conference in Salt Lake City. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, BlogPaws is a place where pet bloggers gather to learn, network, meet up with old and new friends, and have FUN! This year was no exception. Unfortunately, Catladyland didn't win the Nose-to-Nose Social Media Award for Best Humor Blog, but we were grateful to be a finalist and thrilled for Yasmine at Cat vs Human for her well-deserved win! 

One of the best parts of BlogPaws is hanging with my catlady friends. It's like catnip for the soul to bond with JaneA from Paws and Effect, Tamar from I Have Cat, Robin from Covered in Cat Hair, Deb from The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey, Kate from Moderncat, Amy from Sebastian the Sensitive Soul, Joanne from Tiniest Tiger, Ingrid from The Conscious Cat, Joseph and Robbin from TPPC.TV, Stephanie from Catsparella, Teri from Curlz and Swirlz, Rachel from We Have a Situation (and her cool mom), Caroline from Romeo the Cat, Janiss from Sparkle the Designer Cat, and Dorian from Your Daily Cute. I also met some great new friends like Peter from Vox Felina, Debbie from Glogirly, Amy from Love Meow, and Jaime from Thoughts Fur Paws. I only wish Caren from Cat Chat could have joined us; it was not the same without her smile.

Now I know you don't need proof that catladies (and cat gents) can rock it out, but here it is anyway!

Amy, Stephanie, Robin, me, and Tamar on awards night -- lookin' hot!!

JaneA, me, and Robin

Janiss, Debbie, and Tamar

Peter and Kate...how adorable are they??

Ingrid, Robin, me, and Sam...SMOOCH! I love me some Robin!

And there was kitty schwag! We always come back from BlogPaws with tons of goodies for the cats. This year, the favorites were both procured from the Moderncat/Jackson Galaxy Catification Lounge:

Phoebe inspects the new scratcher we won from the lounge.

I cannot tell you what a hit the Lickety Stick cat treat was!

And all these shenanigans wouldn't have been possible for me without the generous sponsorship of Royal Canin. This year, they are laser-focused on CATS! We received samples of their brand new spay/neuter cat food. I learned how nutritional needs change once a cat's hormones are altered post-spay/neuter. I am looking forward to offering this food to my cats and sharing the results with you. At the Royal Canin table was a super-cool Kitty Cam that streamed a live view from the Clowder House Foundation in St. Louis. During the conference, every time someone Tweeted with the hashtag #RoyalCaninGives, they donated a bowl of food to the adoptable, on-screen cats at Clowder House! Thanks so much to Beth, Lindsey, and whole wonderful team from Royal Canin -- I enjoyed getting to know you and am grateful for the delicious dinner Friday night!

Another shout-out to Dan and the team from Purina who treated some of us to a super-fun happy hour. It's always fun to hang out that them!

I'm already looking forward to next year! Thanks, Yvonne, Tom, Chloe, Caroline, and the entire BlogPaws Team -- you did it again!   

A Black Cat and a Calendar (and cat butt cheeks??)

For Christmas, I gave my friend Katy a black cat calendar. 

Her ham of a cat, Gorilla, was slightly offended.

Irritable Vowel Syndrome

I love friends.  I love cats. I love friends with cats. One of my all-time favorite cats is named Gorilla and he owns my dear friend Katy.  Gorilla is a mammoth of a house panther who throws his weight around in more ways than one.  Whether he is sprawled in his penthouse cat bed atop the kitchen cabinets, peering at birds through the screen of his custom-made catio, or walking across a Scrabble board, you can't help but be smitten by his devil-may-care cattitude and handsome-boy charm.

Yesterday Katy and I were playing Scrabble and Gorilla insisted on joining us.  Well, we could either let him play or watch him flop on the board and attempt to play a Triple Word Score around his giant snoozing body.  It was much easier to give him some tiles and let him play until he became distracted by the dog's tail.

A Miracle Rescue, Kitten Snuggles, Happy Catladies, and Thank Goodness my Husband is Neutered

You know those mothers who hold an infant and suddenly feel the urge to have another one?  I am the mother of two teenagers, have held many infants since the birth of my two, and have NEVER felt the yearning (not even half a thimble of yearning) for another baby.  After the birth of my second, I promptly had my husband neutered and that was that.  Now kittens, on the other hand... I can hold a kitten and the kind of urge I feel is to stash that baby in my purse and make a break for it.  I could hold kittens all day long.  And I'm really, really good at it.  I think if anyone were looking for a kitten-holding expert, they'd hit the jackpot with me.

All this kitten talk is really going somewhere -- I promise.  Many of you know last week I was in the D.C. area attending the BlogPaws pet blogger conference.  On Friday night, I wandered into the hotel lobby and saw many of my cat-blogging friends lounging, laughing, and holding kittens!!  My desire to cash in my free drink ticket went right out the window and my kitten-radar zoomed in on the babies...especially one little girl named Blaze, who resembled my own Phoebe (and not by just a little)!

We learned the babies and their mama, Amberly, had just been transported by Georgia rescuers, Maria and Bobby to the hotel, where they landed in the safe arms of Robin, the rescue-queen from Covered in Cat Hair.  She and Sam would then take them back to their home in Connecticut and work with Kitten Associates (who also helped immensely and immediately with financial support surrounding the cats' care and transport) to make sure they found loving forever homes.  The story is truly a miracle and you can read it in its entirety on a more detailed post I wrote for Life With Cats.

Now back to the subject of holding kittens!!  We catladies were truly in our element and probably could have stayed in that lobby all night, loving on those babies.  In fact, after some of us went out to dinner, a few of us went back to Robin's hotel room for more kitten playtime.  

Here are some of the photos from that night:

Tamar from I Have Cat cuddles a Petie look-alike named Jack LiLac!

Ingrid from The Conscious Cat, holding Truffles, is a tortie-whisperer!

Here I am, getting a serious smooch from the Phoebe-twin, Blaze.

Nicky from Mew Brew borrows Blaze for awhile.

Caren from Cat Chat doing the two-step with Truffles

Caren, Joanne from Tiniest Tiger, and Tamar with Truffles and Flat Gracey

Dorian from Your Daily Cute gets a giant dose of cute from Truffles.

Sachie from My Himalayan Cat, Goma and Kate from Moderncat share some Jack LiLac snuggles.

A clowder of catladies!  Deb from Zee & Zoey, Ingrid, Sachie, Kate, Tamar, Robin from Covered in Cat Hair, Amy from Sebastian, the Sensitive Soul, me, Dorian, and Caren sharing the shot with Jack and Truffles.

The rescue team!  Sam, Robin, Bobby, and Maria (seated with Mama Amberly)

Amberly and the kittens' care expenses have added up -- please consider making a contribution by clicking on the ChipIn widget below.  Also, those sweet babies and their beautiful mama are available for adoption via Kitten Associates.

Blogging in the Bathtub

What is a blogger to do in the face of an oncoming hurricane?  She prepares.  The hotel at the BlogPaws conference told us, in the case of emergency, lie under a piece of furniture or seek shelter in an area out of the way of windows.  Nicky Westbrook of Mew Brew and I take this sort of thing very seriously so we ran a couple of drills. You may want to click on the photos to see the fine details.

Nicky is frightened of the storm, yet dedicated to getting that blog post written.

In an emergency, blogging is very difficult without a tiny flashlight.

Safe as kittens: in the bathtub, stocked with snacks, laptop, and interesting reading.

Dear readers, these are the faces of prepared bloggers.

Blown Away by BlogPaws

Well, it's Sunday morning, BlogPaws is officially over, and Hurricane Irene has not appeared to affect my flight.  Upon my return home, I shall post some fun photos of friends, general silliness, and some fine cats and kittens I met at the conference.  Speaking of cats, I'm pretty sure I will receive the stink-eye from my three when I get home.  Cosmo holds a grudge if I'm gone for a night...this has been a four-night separation.  Perhaps I'll open the front door and throw all the cat swag in ahead of me.  Then they might forgive me..maybe.

While you are awaiting BlogPaws photos, please enjoy this one of my friend Nicky (the talent behind the hilarious new blog, Mew Brew) and me hanging on for dear life, in the clutches of Irene.

And I wonder why my kids are embarrassed... At least my cats don't care -- as long as I open the cans.

Friends With Cats: The Best Kind

My friends think I visit them because I want to chat and drink coffee or play Scrabble...but my ulterior motive has four legs and whiskers.  Here are just a few of my favorite cats-that-are-not-mine-but-I'd-like-to-catnap.

Gorilla owns my friend Katy.  He is a giant roly-poly slug of a lover.

Tate owns my friend Adrienne.  He's a huge, handsome Tom with a chatty mouth.  

What can I say about Frances?  She owns my friend Marina and basically everyone/everything else.

Catladyland: Friends are Funny

My friend Nicky Westbrook is one of the funniest people I know.  We have been friends for more than 20 years and have spent a good bit of that time in hysterics about some of the most off-the-wall, ridiculously insane scenarios we'd cooked up in our crazy brains.  She was and still is my co-creator in all things deranged and generally kooky in nature.


In addition, she (surprise) loves cats.  You can imagine the shenanigans that ensue when we start laughing about cats and their wonderfully silly quirks.  For a couple of years she created and submitted some of the funniest videos to the Dallas Pet Flix Festival.  Last year she won the Long Tail award at the festival for this mockumentary spoofing the reality show, Hoarders.  We'd talked about how funny it would be if a cat were a hoarder.  Well Nicky makes it downright hysterical. This video features Nicky, her husband and kids, her sister Leah, and her cats Zeus and Hector.

Gorilla: One of my Favorite Beastie Boys

My friend Katy knows I visit her because 1) I love her company and our visits often involve Scrabble and 2) her cat Gorilla is one of my all-time-favorite felines.  Seriously...this giant black beast has oodles of personality -- I am endlessly amused by his haughty air and entertaining expressions.  I want to spend all day nibbling his ears and tickling his toes (shhh...don't tell Cosmo).

May I help you?

A tail of nom

I'm too sexy for this chair...

What?  This was your seat?

Tell me again how handsome I am...

Will this woman leave me alone already?

Shameless!

BlogPaws West: A Tail to Remember

This morning I am getting ready to leave Denver and the BlogPaws West conference.  It was fun, informative, and inspirational! I'm looking forward to getting home, virtually connecting with the people I met, and utilizing some of the tools I learned.

I did not win the Pettie for Best Cat Blog, but my friend Sparkle did.  I was so happy for her and her human!  I know it sounds trite, but I was thrilled to be a finalist among these very popular and established blogs -- I look up to every one of them!

Although BlogPaws West was an experience I will not soon forget, I am looking forward to getting home to my 2-legged and 4-legged family. Will my cats be happy to see me or will they shun me for a day or two?  I'm thinking the former -- I do have cat swag, after all...

Here are a couple of my favorite memories from the conference!

Kyla Duffy's aerial work on opening night -- a performance art message against puppy mills.  Beautiful!

Friends!  Janiss from Sparkle, the Designer Cat and Stacy from Trupanion -- out for a night on the town!

Finally meeting my friend Janea from Paws and Effect!

Getting to see lots of pets, including Snotface the Ferret!  Oh, and I met Stephanie too!

Informative sessions like this one for Lijit -- can't wait to use this on my blog!

The cheesecake....my paws were all over it!

Birthday-Cake-flavored gelato...so good, I enjoyed it two nights in a row!

Contributing to the artist BZTAT's mural, which included participants' heartfelt personal thoughts on animals.

Watching the Be the Change panel was inspirational beyond belief! 

I am the change for animals!  Excited to get home and create some action!

Did I mention the gelato?