• #65 Reviewers too Critical
• The insidious sleep-in

Feline approval is difficult to achieve.

#65 Reviewers too Critical

So, as many of you already know, I’m currently posting a short story, Lady Catherine’s Cat, about an opinionated kitty named Ginger. You would think that would be enough to achieve feline approval amongst the household herd.

But no, nothing could ever be that simple, especially not when you start seeking feline approval. Moving said cat up to title role in a story is hardly enough to elicit happy kitty purrs.

Ungrateful wretch.

You see, this particular gentlecat is concerned with how he might be portrayed. Is his part large enough? Does his character demonstrate kitties in a positive light, or am I giving in to stereotypes? (Stereotypes? You mean they aren’t true? Seems like I remember him yowling to be fed before dawn and playing with empty boxes and stray shoelaces, um-uh, jus this morning.) Does said cat have an actual role in the plot events or is he utterly unnecessary, window dressing to the story? (Rather like Indiana Jones in the Raiders of the Lost Ark was said to be.)

What, wait? I’m the writer, don’t I get to decide that?

Apparently the answer is no, not if I want the five paw prints stamp of feline approval that only he and the rest of his compatriots can offer.

The insidious sleep-in

And if I don’t comply with this list of demands? Well, you can see the glare I’m already getting from the review committee.  And they promise there is worse yet to come. If I do not give in to their demands, they will make it impossible to work, by staging a ‘sleep in’, it’s like a sit in, but more cat like.

In very short order here, I will have no less than two huge cats sleep on my desk, with various body parts draping over both keyboards. Then one will decide to take the place of the lumbar pillow on my chair, becoming ‘lumbar cat’ for the duration. Another will climb over the desk-sleepers to tuck himself under the laptop stand and sleep under the computer, and the final one will inevitably end up in my lap, purring, with pokey-kitty toes tattooing the nearest appendage.

Insidious plot I tell you!

But what’s a writer to do? I guess I’d better go revise a plot…