When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction.
The above comment was penned by the famous author, Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain. Evidently, he had a real thing about cats. Another quote from Twain regarding cats goes like this:
I simply can’t resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course.
In Authors and Their Cats – Part I, I shared the fact that this novelist/author/writer did not come into a love of cats naturally. In fact, had it not been for my daughter, Rhonda, I might never have discovered what great pets cats can be.
However, even though I love my cat, I can’t say he inspires my writing. I very much enjoy the fact that he is in my lap if he wants to be, or sleeping on the window sill if he wants to be, or wandering about the house if he wants to be. He doesn’t blather all over me like a dog (though I quickly add I have nothing against dogs). But he doesn’t inspire my writing.
There’s just something peaceful about a cat – I think that’s what I enjoy most. And I do have to agree with Twain about a purring cat. It definitely is soothing to hear – and to feel. But still and all, he doesn’t inspire my writing.
What precipitated this line of thinking was this fascinating and interesting article.
Like most writers I was familiar with Hemingway and his famous six-toed cats, but this long list of authors and the cat-loves of their lives was a total surprise
to me.
So now I’m even more thankful that God saw fit to bless me with a cat-loving daughter, so I could then become a bona fide, honest-to-goodness author. Not because I have authored 50+ books, but because I am a cat lover as well. (Tongue-in-cheek!) Yea me!
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