Cathy Lamb, whose My Very Best Friend is out now, balances “cat chatting” with writing romantic scenes.

Those of us with cats who also write books know exactly what she means by that. (Cathy, incidentally, is not related to me, though we would obviously make awesome relatives, seeing as how we both have chatty black cats.)

Cathy Lamb: My black cat, KC, keeps me company while I write my novels. As you can see by her glasses, she is very smart and serious, dedicated to her role as Cool Family Cat.

She often sits and stares at me while I type away on my laptop. When she wants to share her wisdom, she meows at me and I meow back. She continues this meowing conversation for quite a while sometimes. If I do not meow back, she gets her feelings hurt, I’m sure of it.

It is rather hard to concentrate on writing while meowing, especially when I am writing a love scene, but I try to be brave and bold and persevere through having a cat chat.

I often use animals in my books. In If You Could See What I See, my character Meggie O’Rourke has a nephew who loves animals. His mother will not allow any more animals in their home as they already have a small zoo, so the nephew, Regan, starts to bring them to his indulgent Aunt Meggie in her tree house. Below is a short excerpt about Pop Pop, a naughty dog who always seems to be grinning; Mrs. Friendly, a male lizard; and Jeepers, a cat with social anxiety problems.

On Tuesday night, with Pop Pop bouncing beside me, grinning, in trouble because he’d had another fight at doggy day care and was on probation again, I came home to a hamster home complete with colorful tubes and a hamster running on a wheel.  A bag full of hamster stuff like food and shavings for the cage sat beside it.

Regan had written a note: “This is a nice girl hamster. My friend, Seth, is allergic to it, so his parents are making him give her up.  Her name is Ham the Hamster. I think you’ll like her because she’s a good listener and curious.  I’ll come and visit. Seth wants to come, too.”

I bent down and peered into the cage. Ham the Hamster was running with all her might on a wheel. I don’t know why. “You’re going to tire yourself out,” I told her. She took no notice.

I carried her in and put her by Mrs. Friendly, the lizard. Mrs. Friendly stuck his tongue out.

Pop Pop darted in and went to play with Jeepers. Jeepers didn’t want to play. I could hear him hissing.

I had a hissy cat, a weird dog on probation, a bored lizard, and a hamster that ran for no reason…

—

My latest novel is My Very Best Friend. This is the best way to sum it up:

 

An old stone cottage in Scotland.

An overgrown garden. A man in a kilt.

Lingerie bike riding at midnight. Tea and crumpets.

Two best friends.

One is missing.

Find out more about Cathy and her books and connect with her through cathylamb.org.

MORE ON HEA: Check out an excerpt from Cathy’s ‘My Very Best Friend’

EVEN MORE: Check out other romance authors and their pets

 

http://happyeverafter.usatoday.com/2015/09/20/cathy-lamb-my-very-best-friend-cat/