A week or so ago I said I was looking for guest bloggers, and one daring soul piped up and asked if I wanted to be interviewed by her cat. I didn't see a reason to say no, so here it is, my interview with Meankitty, the star of www.jodywallace.com. I'm sure Jody doesn't mind sharing the spotlight.
1) Why did you decide to be a writer instead of a cat sanctuary owner?
Hmmm.... good question. I think it’s because I had four cats in high school and wanted to try something else. Also, bad books do not poo on my bed or pee in my shoes when angry.
2) Why do you think cats are better than Mastiff puppies and beta fish?(Since you call yourself a writer, I trust your answer will be eloquent.)
Oh, dear, let’s see.... Cats are much better at being felines, they travel better than mastiffs or fish (especially on airplanes), and they are excellent at eating mice. Mastiffs only step on mice and then leave you mouse pancakes to pick up. Meankitty should consider getting a mastiff for a chef. They make excellent mouse pancakes.
3) Why is your household currently deprived of a cat?
Sadly, most cats would fit into the mouth of our mastiff, and the puppy hasn’t yet learned how strong she is. Also, the position of Diva And Tyrant is filled by our four-year-old, Tyranna Regina, who believes she owns the universe and all things therein. A cat would only be competition, and the four-year-old bites competition for attention.
4) Tell me about the felines in your fiction. How often do they appear and
how big a part do they play in your narratives? Are any of your VILLAINS cat
owners, because they should be.
None of my villains are cat owners, they are minion owners because pets require too much selfless love for villains. However, you will be pleased to know that I have a series where cats are the heroes. Several of the heroes are tigers, but at least one of them is a common tabby cat, his name is Baldric and he is very good at research. There are currently four books planned in that series, which I hope will appease the Meankitty fandom.
5) On the off-chance you have yet to incorporate cats into your fiction,
when or how do you plan to rectify this egregious error and demonstration of
poor writing skills?
The first book in the Cat series is due out in 2018, if the stars align properly.
6) What are your favorite works of fiction or cinema involving cats or
favorite fictional cats?
I love THE CAT WHO TALKS TO GHOSTs, because who wouldn’t love a crime solving cat? But my favorite fictional cats are the twenty-some cats the witch Morwen lives with in the the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Not only are those cats sassy, and able to turn a rabbit into a flying blue donkey, but they also have healing powers. They’re quite lovely cats.
7) Do you have any amazing, or at least humorous, real life cat stories
you'd like to share? Barring cat stories, you may share stories about your
Mastiff puppy embarrassing itself if you like.
My first cat was a black stray named Javiera, who wandered through my open bedroom window and had kittens on my parents bed when I was a toddler. Although the kittens were rehomed, Javiera and her friend Fluffy (a Persian) lived out the rest of their lives with me.
My favorite kitten though was Paisley, a calico manx. She was the result of an unwanted pregnancy (spay and neuter your pets!), and the person who had her planned to feed the kitten to the snake. I asked to play with Paisley, stuck her in my coat pocket, and told the woman that the kitten had run into the shrubs. Then I smuggled her upstairs to my bedroom and wouldn’t let her out for a week. I’m happy to say my mother let me keep Paisley, and she’s still living with my mom today (I wasn’t allowed to take her to college and Old Lady Cats do not like infants).
I do have funny puppy stories, but it’s mostly about mastiffs running and not being able to stop before they hit – and break – the fence.
8) How do your puppy and your fish get along?
Spike, the beta fish, tolerates everyone but loves only Tyranna Regina – the resident Diva and the keeper of his fish food. The mastiff puppy was told not to drink Spike’s water, and has since forgotten that Spike exists. Mastiff puppies do not have good memories.
9) What does your dog do to interfere with your writing?
Sometimes the puppy demands to be written into my stories. Puppy is our third mastiff, and the youngest one we’ve ever owned (the others were rescue dogs and older). Sadly, our Big Dog died suddenly this summer and there was a Dog-shaped hole in our lives. That sadness resulted in a scene in one of my books. Puppy’s arrival is also documented in the form of Bosco.
10) If you were going to write a paranormal or SF book about cats (assuming
you haven't already), would it be romance, mystery, thriller, or what? And
where would dogs and fish play a role in your fascinating, wonderful cat
world?
As I said, I am writing a series with cats as protagonists. It is a science-fiction book with romantic elements, and lots of gene engineering.
My favorite cat in that series is Ice, an 800-pound white tiger with a bad temper and killer blue eyes. He is friends with a fish (a shark to be precise) named Maggie, and winds up owning favors to a dog named Wolf (because I was bad at naming things that day). They go on adventures, save the universe a few times, and blow up way more than the budget allows for. They get yelled at.... Ice snarls, Maggie smiles, and Wolf sneakily does things in undisclosed locations.
Ice also knows a human child who he sometimes babysits, and one time he let her ride to school on his back because she was running later. Arriving to school riding a tiger makes an impression on the other kids at school. She was a lot more popular after that. But so is anyone who has cats who love them. J
Jody Wallace grew up in the South in a very rural area. She went to school a long time and ended up with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. Her resume includes college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and general all around pain in the butt.She currently lives in Tennessee with her family: 1 husband, 2 kids, 2 cats. One of her many alter egos is “The Grammar Wench”, which should give you an indication of her character. She is a terrible packrat and likes to amass vintage clothing, books, Asian-inspired kitchenware, gnomes, yarn, and other items that threaten to force her family out of the house. She also likes cats. A lot.
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