Wow – thanks to my dear friend, the wildly creative and talented Angie Bailey of the award-winning blog, Catladyland,  and Texts from Mittens, I am about to go on tour! No, not the kind of tour like musicians who make gobs of money while wearing outlandish costumes (unless you count my penchant for wearing leopard ears) on stage and who make outrageous demands for things like green M&M’s only in their dressing room. This is the kind of tour where I make no money whatsoever, I eat whatever is put in front of me, whether I like it or not, and I wear old and baggy sweat pants (i.e., comfortable) with the hem coming undone. Yes, I have been invited to go on the Writing Process Blog Tour that has been making the rounds of late!

This is what I look like on tour – comfortable clothes and unkempt hair with my feline roadies at my side helping me every step of the way. Sigh…the life of a cat writer is very glamorous indeed… (Archive photo from 2010)

It’s pretty easy in premise – after a writer accepts the invitation to join the tour, they answer 4 set questions about, yes, you guessed it, their blog writing process, then when they are done, they invite two other people to join the tour who will write about their blog writing process at some point! So, go grab a cup of coffee and a cat for your lap. My tour is about to begin – and don’t worry – there is no admission charge and I won’t be trashing any hotel rooms after the tour either!

What am I working on?

Besides Zee and Zoey’s blog that I try to post at least twice a week on, I am thrilled to announce I have completed the first draft of my second book that is about the life and death of my beloved cat, Jazz. It is a story that is written through his voice and is a warm, compelling, and heartfelt account as to what it is like for an animal to eventually get to that point where they most cross to the Bridge and what that journey feels like for them.

Welcome to my world – seen here, I am putting the finishing touches on the first draft of Jazz’s story and my step-daughter, Jackie, is sharing my “office space” (the dining room table) with me. Jazmine is also assisting and is worn out from the entire writing process!

I am very excited about the story – not only is it dear to my heart, but I think it came out very well and that readers will really gravitate and relate to Jazz’s take on his life and death journey because it really causes us to think through the mind’s eye of our pet. And while some of it is undoubtedly going to be sad, the story itself is actually quite joyful, sweet, touching, and uplifting and it is my hope it will become a useful resource to helping people who have lost a pet as they try to process their own grief.

Now that the story is done (almost a full year after Jazz’s death ) the hard part begins – the dreaded red pen where the editing is done and then getting it ready for publication. I’ll keep you all posted as things progress. I am also working very loosely on a story that has, gasp, nothing to do with cats! I am very much a fan of the late Erma Bombeck and want to try my hand at writing something that pokes fun at the nuances of everyday life. Currently that story is a muck of scraps of paper that I have tucked in a folder that contain little snippets of my random stream of consciousness.

I also have a couple of Cat Fancy Magazine articles in the queue for 2015 and I continue to write at the Catster.com  site as much as I can. I actually have two recent articles you can check out – one is titled “Have You Ever Faced the Sudden, Unexpected Death of a Cat,” written in response to the unexpected loss of Harley back in June, and the other article is a fun poke at how my cats take care of all the mountains of stuff they have collected over the years titled, “How Do Your Cats Rate in Organizational Skills?”

How does my work differ from others in my genre?

Being that my work is primarily about cats, I can’t say that it is always different from others in my genre, as inevitability we write about the same things, but I feel that my work is most unusual in that I really try to think outside of the box, giving people a new and different perspective on a subject that they might not think of otherwise. I really like people to ponder, question, and reflect and my writing inspires that. My work is also different in that I try to make the act of reading an all-encompassing experience. From descriptive and compelling words to stunning photographs, I try to invite readers into my posts as if they are right there with me while reading whatever I am writing about.

Writing a blog post or story is like art to me – I start off with a blank canvas, then I fill it in with a compilation of carefully crafted words and complementary photos and images. Seen here with me is my muse of the hour, Mia.

Why do you write what you do?

I write about cats because for as long as I can remember, it has been the one true-love constant in my life that I have always had a passion for. The words come out of me in a free and honest fashion about them because I feel at the very core, that I understand them. They fascinate me. They entertain me. And they inspire me. I can’t imagine ever not being able to write about them and it is my hope that through my words, that I can help make the world a better place for them. And that is the best part about my writing – I love being able to take the gift I have for being able to craft a story that can either entertain, educate, inform, or initiate a cause to action on  behalf of cat welfare.

It seems no matter where I am, I find a cat to inspire me. Seen here is a sweet kitty that we happened upon while visiting Hollywood Beach last year that reminded me so much of my beloved Harley. This great photo was taken by Jackie.

How does your writing process work?

I am a very loose structured writer when it comes to my blog – I really don’t have an editorial calendar unless there is a specific event that requires I post on a certain day and my topics are inspired primarily by a random thought that pops into my head and because of that, I am somewhat chaotic in how I organize my thoughts. I guess you could say I have an old-fashioned process, meaning that I typically write my thoughts down on a napkin or a scrap of paper or whatever is handy to document an instantaneous thought I am having. My mother told me it all started when I was a young girl and picked up a lipstick tube to write something on the bathroom mirror. I have since gravitated to other methods, such as using eyeliner to write my thoughts on any piece of paper I can find in my purse while sitting at a red light, daydreaming when I am driving home from work.

It would appear I was on the couch, relaxing, and watching TV – but  actually I am writing in my head.

Truthfully, I am a perceptual writer in motion. I write in my sleep. I write in my head as I am talking. I write while I am gardening or watching TV or just about anything else you can think of. I find it impossible to shut my brain off and as a result, the entire process is out of my control and most of it is extremely basic – I am like a combination of Jerry Seinfeld and the late Andy Rooney – I love the everyday of life and can take the tiniest of any ordinary situation and turn it into a 1000 word post that leaves people going, “yeah, I can relate to that – that has happened to me!” I love that kind of writing that is inspired by both nothing and everything at the same time.

That’s it – thank you for taking this tour with me – I hope you enjoyed it! Now on to meet my esteemed invitees who will be sharing their writing processes in the near future! Both of these ladies are great friends of mine that I admire deeply and I know you will enjoy getting to learn more about them!

Bernadette E. Kazmarski of  The Creative Cat

From the studio of artist and writer Bernadette E. Kazmarski, The Creative Cat is an award-winning blog that was founded in 2009 as a creative way for Bernadette to share her experiences caring for her felines as well as to share current portraits in progress and other artwork, images, and professional and creative writing. She continues to write daily, featuring articles, stories and images celebrating cats, pets and all animals.

Bernadette has been working as a commercial artist for 30 years in graphic design, photography and illustration and writing for promotional and corporate materials, and for over 20 years as a fine artist creating commissioned portraits of others’ animal companions and works in other media. For the past 12 she has been self-employed working at home, supervised by her family of felines.

She is also a Master Gardener keeping a Backyard Wildlife Habitat and writes monthly articles about developing a habitat and maintaining balance in your yard naturally as well as articles about Living Green with Pets.

Bernadette is also a member of the Cat Writers’ Association and local art and writing organizations. To read more about her body of works, please visit her site at The Creative Cat.

Bernadette and I at BlogPaws 2013 in Tysons Corner, VA.

Teri Thorsteinson of Curlz and Swirlz, Life with Cornish Rex Cats and a Sphynx called Disco NoFurNo

Teri has been a veterinary assistant, technician, and manager for over 40 years and currently shares her life with 4 Cornish Rex cats and a Sphynx cat named Disco NoFurNo. She began blogging in 2008 when she felt a calling to write about her daily life with her cats, their antics, cat health issues, pet fashion, feline behavior and her life in the veterinary healthcare field.

About a year ago, she was invited to New York for a fashion photo shoot with her cat, Coco, and it inspired her to to give Coco her own blog and persona. With Coco’s blog, Teri plans to focus on the creative ways that people can help cats in rescue and she also has a book featuring Coco that will be released this October, Coco LeChat, the World’s Most Fashionable Feline, and she will be promoting it with personal appearances and book signings, with a portion of the proceeds to be donated to cat related causes.

To learn more about Teri and her feline gang, please visit her site at Curlz and Swirlz and to keep up with the fashionable Coco, please her site at Coco the Couture Cat.

Teri, Coco, and I at the 2012 BlogPaws Conference in Salt Lake City. With Coco being featured in a book, she is going to be one busy and famous kitty cat!