THE WRITER’S GRATITUDE LIST, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

With Thanksgiving just around the corner (again!! Where did that year go, anyway?) it’s time to turn our thoughts to things we are thankful for. Big things; little things; things that matter only to ourselves. As a writer, I have a special list of things, and it goes something like this:

Higher Power,

Thank you for the gift of craft,

the quirk that makes me prefer to sit in a darkened room writing about a sunlit beach to being on that sunny shore in person;

that creates a playground in my imagination that Disneyland couldn’t begin to rival;

that opens up a universe otherwise denied me.

Thank you for the gift of eccentricity and introversion,

and for the gift of never being bored.

Thank you for my laptop, where I can instantly erase my mistakes… except when I don’t mean to erase them.

And for spell check… except when it doesn’t know the difference between pain and pane and Payne,

For Thesaurus.com, that fills in the blanks when the only word that comes to mind is “thing.”

Thank you for cats, my muses,

who walk on the keyboard, making

contributions of their own.

Thank you for writers, who inspire me,

readers, who validate me,

editors, who magically see the plot holes,

artists who turn my words into pictures.

Most of all, thank you for letting me be me, this crazy old cat lady writer.

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

NOTE: I am having the same trouble with commenting in Blogger as Kaye Spencer. For some reason, I cannot comment or reply to comments. I'm so sorry not to be able to respond. Your comments mean the world to me. This is really frustrating! 

FLEETING, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

Artist, M. Boulanger unsigned

Spring has sprung. Here in Portland Oregon, the gardens are abundant with blossoms. Lilac, calendula, wisteria, snap dragons; even the roses have decided it’s close enough to June to show their pretty heads. The grass is green and growing like the weed it is. The foliage is fresh and new.

But as I ponder my back yard garden, I see brown creeping into the color. The lilacs are already fading; the hot-pink rhododendron poms are beginning to bleach. Azalea petals dangle from their filaments to fall and litter the ground. The hyacinths and daffodils that started this flower frenzy are relegated to memory.

Fleeting. So anticipated; so beautiful; so quickly gone.

Yes, I know there will be buds to come: lilies, zinnia, and of course more roses. There will be daisies in the fields and marigolds in the borders. Gladiolas will reach up bright, colorful stalks. Fuchsias will hang from baskets on porches where we can sit quietly, evading the summer heat.

Before we know it, chrysanthemums and dahlias will push their way through the drying soil. Reds and browns and golds, mimicking their season.

Which brings us to winter. All in the blink of an eye.

For me, writing is like the flowers of the seasons: the anticipation of the new story, so perfect and unique in my mind; the first draft giving way to a second and a third (and a fourth). The editing, the publishing… 

Where did that virgin story go? Is it still abloom somewhere in the finished product? (yes, I said “product”.) That seed from my imagination— will it be what people take away when they read the book?

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

WORDS THAT SPEAK, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

Some word are greater than others. Names, for instance, hold a power of their own. Titles, also. There are words that resonate in most people’s minds, words such as war, peace, love, hate.

Then there are words that are more personal, words one discovers over a lifetime. You may not even think about it, but chances are there are certain words that resonate specifically with you, words that when read, project an immediate subjective draw. These special words in a book title may compel you to buy the book, or in a movie description, may pique your interest in the film no matter what it’s really about.

Here are some of my words. I don’t know why these particular words. I don’t know when I developed the connection. I don’t know if these words speak only to me or to people in general. I only know that I stop, look, and listen whenever these words come about:

Dark: I recently read this apocalyptic noir cat mystery by Clea Simon, “As Dark As My Fur” 

Lost: One of my favorite films for one of my most compelling words is “The Lost Room,” the 2006 SyFy Channel miniseries that was far too unique and intelligent for its time.

https://vimeo.com/62914731

Noir: Noir is a genre of dark crime drama with no happy endings, such as the 1944 film, “Laura”, or the modern Lennox Cooper series by Lily Gardner. Noir translates to black in French, but it is so much more. Even the artwork is compelling.

Twilight: As the word, twilight, gained notoriety through the vampire books and movies, it lost some of its personal draw. To me, twilight summons a different image, the lessening of the light, the lengthing of shadows, and that day-meets-night period when anything can happen. Then there’s always the Twilight Zone.

Moon: So far and yet so near, moon is a perfect jumping-off point for the imagination. Movies include Moon (2009), Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902), and Cat-Women of the Moon (1953). Books, Bouncing offthe Moon, by David Gerrold, De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne 1865), and of course the classic Goodnight, Moon. People whose names are Moon include Moon Unit, daughter of Frank Zappa, and comic character Moon Mullins (1924).

Rose: Is it because I was born in the City of Roses I felt compelled to incorporate the word, rose, in two of my former art businesses, Woodrose and Rainbow Rose?

Sky: To me, the word, sky, brings infinite possibilities. Authors, song writers, and film makers seem to feel the same. Here are only a few titles: Sky King (TV), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Film), Ghost Riders in the Sky (Ballad), and October Sky (Movie).

Ion: Simple, elegant, scientific. What’s not to like about the word, Ion?

(This photo is on a molecule, but as close as I could get.)

There are many other words that command my attention, such as cat or trek, but those make sense because they stem from my interests. The list above has crept into my psyche from who-knows-where, a very different place indeed.

Do certain words draw you down a rabbit hole or zoom you up into the stratosphere? Bring sudden images of the universe expanding, or maybe just make you want to buy a book when you see them in the title?

Golden Twilight, by Irene Sheri

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!