Fire Star Press: muse

Showing posts with label muse. Show all posts

Friday, September 3, 2021

Meet the Mewse

I'm amazed by the number of writers who have playlists they listen to while writing. I am not one of them. I have to have silence when I write; any noise distracts me, even music. Well, there is one sound that doesn't bother me - the purring of a cat. Those purrs are provided by Molly, my muse - or as I prefer to call her, my "mewse".

Miss Molly, mewse extraordinaire

Due to the recent passing of our oldest kitty (Delilah), Molly and her brother Desmond (Dez for short) are now the old lady and old man of the house at 12 years of age. (They were named for the couple in the Beatles song Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.) Dez is a bit of a fraidy cat but Molly is much more mellow, a nice trait in a writing partner. When I sit down to write, Molly climbs into my lap and quietly demands attention. Once an acceptable amount of affection has been supplied, she curls up in my lap and purrs. For the most part, I couldn't ask for a better writing buddy. Molly is well generally well-behaved and stays off of my keyboard. She does occasionally get annoyed when I insist on doing things such as using my arms/hands and will pop off to her cat tree for a bit. But, once I'm forgiven, she comes back for more cuddles.

Molly and her nemesis (my pen)

Lest you think my mewse is "purrfect" I can assure you she is not. As I said, she stays off of my keyboard but, when it's time for pen and ink edits, all bets are off. As soon as the pens come out, the games begin and my formerly well-behaved mewse goes bananas, swatting at and chewing on the pen. Oh,well. I guess a girl's just gotta have fun.

Until next month, take care and happy reading!

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Sunday, March 17, 2019

PLOT HOLE, by Cat Writer Mollie Hunt

What is scarier than looking down the maw of a Siberian tiger? The plot hole*, by far.

You’ve worked your tail off writing a book. After weeks or months of fine tuning, you get it right where you like it. You dive in for that final read-through, expecting to find nothing more than a few wayward commas or duplicated words, and there it is, glaring you in the face, laughing.

You have a plot hole, and now you must go back and add, rearrange, and often change your perfect story to accommodate this nuisance.

Maybe some writers can pen a clean story with no hiccups, but I’m not one of them. Since I am a “pantser” and write without an outline, I’m often confronted by a plot hole (or holes) by the end. Some are simple to fix; others, not so much.

Though a pain in the patootie and a blow to our author ego, plot holes are not always a bad thing. In my last book, the plot hole led me to a far superior explanation for the murder motive.

And if nothing else, you can always fill your plot hole with a cat.

*In fiction, a plot hole, plothole or plot error is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot. Such inconsistencies include such things as illogical or impossible events, and statements or events that contradict earlier events in the storyline.

Plot hole - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_hole

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

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

Author note: I still am unable to answer comments. Sometimes I can but most often they just fall into a black hole. I do read all comments and hope someday to figure out the problem and get it fixed. If anyone has any suggestions or wants to contact me directly, email MollieHuntCatWriter@gmail.com.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

CAT POETRY, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

Haiku by Cat, "Bit"

Last month I told you about two new ways I’m expressing the writer part of me: Flash Fiction and Cat Poetry. In my previous blog, I discussed Flash Fiction; now let’s consider the second subject, Cat Poetry.

Like flash fiction, a successful poem needs to convey a story (or a feeling or a mood or an image) to the reader. The two forms of writing can be very similar, yet to me, the difference is huge. Poetry is easier than flash fiction. Where sitting down to pen flash fiction feels something akin to doing homework when it’s sunny out, composing poetry is as natural as breathing.

I began writing poems many years ago, long before I’d written or even imagined writing a book. Poetry was something that came to me, artwork in words. Once I’d begun listening to the poem muse, the writing of poems morphed into a sporadic yet integral part of my life.

From poetry to cat poetry was only a simple step, yet it was one I had never considered until I began to read the work of other cat poets. ( Marc-Andre of the Katzenworld blogsite has a weekly post dedicated to cat poetry. You can read my poem, Night Muse, here) The love of cats is so strong in me that the pictures flowed easily once I began to look.

Cat Poetry appears in all sorts of guises. There are haikus and limericks; sincere poems and funny ones; lamentations and harsh realities; scenes from the cat’s point of view and scenes of cats per the poet.

Cat poetry is nothing new. Many of the greats chose cats as their theme. William Butler Yeats wrote The Cat And The Moon; Emily Dickinson wrote a sweet verse, She sights a Bird – she chuckles; T. S. Eliot is famous for his collection of whimsical poems, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) that was adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the musical, Cats; Margaret Atwood, the author of the current hit series, The Handmaiden’s Tale, wrote the poem, February, which may be about a cat and may be about sexual repression or overpopulation or the life principle (it’s Atwood, after all).

Here is the favorite of my cat poems so far:

Stray cat in Strasbourg

THE CAT WHO PASSES

The cat who passes by

Outside the window

Through the yard,

The long grass

That I do not cut,

The wild weeds that I do not pull.

He weaves like a tabby tiger,

Slinks shadowlike with the ease of air,

So beautiful in his ferality.

He claims his territory

With his scent and his spray,

And levels his yellow glare

At me through the window.

Defiant, daring.

The slightest twitch and he will be gone.

He is a wild one, this cat who passes by.

Have you read or written cat poetry?

Check out more by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

MollieHunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Happy "Mew" Year

Happy "Mew" Year, every one! New Year's is a time for new calendars, blank pages, and fresh starts. However, even as we step out with a new spring in our step, some things don't change and I'm okay with that. For example, I hope that I will always have a "mewse" in my life.

Cricket, Toots, and Delilah are always up for a reason to celebrate and help their mom show off her mad Photoshop skills. ;-)

You see, like many writers, I'm a cat lover. I'm not sure why there seems to be such a natural bond between authors and felines, but I suspect it is because most writers are introverts.which means that we need solitude to recharge our batteries. Our furry companions are okay with this because most of them prefer one-on-one interactions as well. It may also have something to do with the fact that a writer in the act of writing becomes a bit of a captive audience. After all, by sitting down we made a lap. Obviously, we made it just for them, right?

When I first began writing, I used a desktop computer. I sat sideways in front of the desk so that my lap would be available for Tess, my earliest mewse. When Tess left us for the Rainbow Bridge, other cats were waiting in the wings to take her place. Over time, I gave up the desktop for the freedom of a laptop. I now spend my writing time in a recliner or on my bed, depending on the noise level in the house and the location of said noise. I will be as far from the sound as I can possibly get since I need peace and quiet in order to write.

In my house, the opening of my laptop has much the same impact on my cats as opening a can of tuna. As soon as my fanny hits my seat and the laptop is open, there is a cat in my lap. While I love their company, it sometimes makes writing physically difficult. For example, Busby, my current mewse, is a large cat weighting approximately twenty pounds. When Busby is passed out on my lap, he is usually lying on my arms, making typing difficult. However, we make it work as this post proves. (He is "helping" me now.)


Busby sends his love!

However, my mewses don't limit themselves to physical interactions. One mewse, a cat named Zombie, became the inspiration for my sweet paranormal romance series set in the fictional town of Kudzu Korners, Georgia. Dial V for Vampire, the first book in the series, will be published by Fire Star Press in 2016. *squee* Expect to learn more about Zombie closer to release date.

My cats have played such an important role in my life that it seems only natural that all of my stories contain animals, especially cats. All of my cats are rescues so I also donate a portion of the proceeds from my book sales to help animals in need.

I'm looking forward to 2016 with my mewses. I can't wait to see what we accomplish together!

Tell me about your furry family in the comments. Dogs? Cats? Rats? Even better, post pictures!

About the author:

Isabella Norse scored major "cool mom" points by playing the same video games as her sons and their friends. In these virtual worlds she slayed demons and destroyed machines bent on galactic extermination while simultaneously wooing cocky assassins and sexy aliens. She fell in love with the make-believe worlds and rich characters that inhabited them and now writes her own tales of love, romance, and adventure.

Still a gamer – and still cool – Isabella lives in Georgia with her husband and a herd of rescue cats. She loves to hear from readers and can be found here: