Hi everyone! Whew, while I am no longer president of the Cat Writers’ Association (CWA), I’m still heavily involved in the organization, specifically, helping to coordinate our 27th conference and awards ceremony that was held October 22 – 23, 2021 and it was a lot of work to pull it off! The conference was virtual this year – a first for us – and while it presented some technological challenges, overall, it was a great event with some superb speakers. Registration was required to attend the sessions, so I can’t share specifics on the sessions, but what I can share is our communications contest awards ceremony which was open to everyone (details to follow)!

As I’m sure most of you notice by now, I don’t have the time to blog like I used to, so I really don’t have many pieces I can enter in the contest. That said, I’m honored to have received three prestigious MUSE medallions. One for a post I wrote last year, “Ten Great Reasons to Celebrate Jazmine for Her 7th Birthday,” one for an article I wrote for Catster magazine – Cool Cats: From Motherless Kittens to Ambassadors, (published in the May/June 2020 issue; about the decreasing Florida Panther population) and my Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles Facebook page for Rescue/Advocacy.

With limited time at my disposal – between my day job and trying to write my next latest and greatest non-fiction novel, Facebook is my primary source of communication, so I was really thrilled to receive recognition for the page. If you don’t currently follow the page, I hope you will after this.

And for those of you that would enjoy watching the CWA awards ceremony in full, check out the video below for your viewing pleasure! Thank you all for your support over the years as well. You all are so dear to me and I appreciate you sticking by me and my feline gang!

P.S. One of my proudest moments as CWA president was starting the tradition of holding a fundraiser for a cat rescue in conjunction with our conference. I’m pleased to say that tradition continues and there is still time to donate if you want to participate in this year’s fundraiser. Donations are welcome by anyone and we have some great door prizes, too. This year, our rescue partner is Help With Cats, a nonprofit organization that coordinates resources to help community cats in the Greater Phoenix Area with their primary focus on targeted and sustained trap-neuter-return.

Help With Cats was chosen by the incredibly talented Kate Benjamin of Hauspanther, our keynote speaker this year, to receive our support for cats who are in need but often forgotten. You can learn more about Help With Cats, the fundraiser, and the prizes, by checking our fundraiser page here.

I’ve met so many cool people (and cats) since becoming a blogger and writer in 2010, one of them being Arden Moore, America’s Pet Health and Safety Coach and Pet Safety Cat Casey. I actually met Casey – a handsome and dapper ginger cat at the Cat Writers’ Association (CWA) 25th-anniversary conference in St. Louis in May 2019. Yes, imagine that. Mere years ago, in a life where we once got on a plane, traveled, met people (and cats) in person, did not wear a mask, and we could stand closer to one another than 6 feet (or paws).

A little kiss from Casey. On the left is Arden Moore and on the right, Amy Shojai, CWA founder.

Arden was hosting our communications contest banquet and assisting her was Casey. I was president of the CWA then, so I also had a lot of podium time, including sharing the spotlight with Casey and a special kiss from him! So, when Arden asked if I’d like to join her, Kathy Black, approved judge for the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), Casey, and Casey’s “brother” Rusty to be their featured guest for the CFA’s weekly online Meow Hour, I jumped at the chance. Not a literal jump – I’m getting up in age – this September will have me at 427 cat years, so I’m not quite the jumper I used to be.

If you missed it, or care to take a listen, let’s see… Maine Coon cats, Bengal cats Ragdoll cats, black cats, rescue cats, Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day, book giveaways, the Cat Writers’ Association, how many times I’ve moved, Makin’ Biscuits, Purr Prints of the Heart, Orange Crush Ginger Cat Love, Pawsitively Humane, Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles, Cat Fancy, t-shirts, a drink that will give you the zoomies, and yes, even dogs! I guess it’s more like what didn’t we talk about!

All I know is I had a blast and I hope you enjoy it, too!

My first CWA conference in 2011 – White Plains, NY. I’m here with friend and fellow blogger/writer, Janiss Garza.

Wow. It’s been ten years since I’ve joined the Cat Writers’ Association (CWA) in 2011 and with a blog, three books under my belt, and several national print and online freelance writing gigs, it still sometimes feels like a dream. I didn’t start life out thinking I’d be a published writer, it just sort of fell into my lap when a tough economy in 2009, along with my two cats – Zee & Zoey – who had a litter of kittens that helped get me out of deep depression and inspired me to write my first book – The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey – A Journey of the Extraordinarily Ordinary, that it all changed. Read more

For those that follow this blog, you may well have thought I fell off the earth it’s been so long since I’ve posted and in many ways I have. Once this COVID pandemic really kicked in several months ago, forcing the Cat Writers’ Association to cancel their 2020 Cat Writers’ Association 26th Annual Conference and Awards Banquet that was supposed to have been held July 16 – 18, 2020, in Iselin, NJ in conjunction the CFA/Garden State Cat Show and Expo, my life took on a whole new direction. Read more

I shared this graphic a couple of weeks ago on a Friday but it remains true to the landscape of COVID-19. Just what day is it anymore?

The dichotomy is interesting and not one I’m entirely capable of expressing or even understanding. I’m living in the present, going through the motions of life, but somehow, I’m detached from it all, as if perhaps it’s happening to someone else as I watch it from the sidelines. Each day runs into the next with no real beginning or end, time seemingly defined by body counts, not days, with the only real marker of time the loud and persistent daily reminders from my cats who demand meals with regularity, showing no regard for my malaise or inability to comprehend the newly defined COVID-19 landscape all around me. Read more