If you participated in the recent Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt, then you saw my post about Whisper the cat, which was hosted by Kristi Ann Hunter. Just in case you skipped the hunt and missed it, however, I decided to repost it here today.Even if you did participate in the hunt, don't click away just yet. First you'll want to scroll down and enter for a chance to win my new drawing, which I'm holding in honor of Whisper and his role in my next book, The Amish Quilter (coming in May.) The prize is a Cats & Quilts coloring book and a pack of Crayola Twistable Crayons.
Deadline to enter is Monday (March 19th), so don't delay. Winner will be announced on next Wednesday's blog.
Good luck!
And now for that post...
*******
How Whisper the Cat Made His Way Onto the Pages of a Novel
 |
| Mariette Smith, cuddling with her own cat on the couch |
Readers often ask if I
base my characters on real people. Though the answer is no, at least for the
humans in my stories, I can’t say the same for the animals. Most are fictional, but recently an actual
real-life pet made his way into The Amish Quilter, co-written with Leslie Gould, which will be coming out in May.
So how did Whisper the
cat end up in our story? His owner won it as a prize at the 4th
Annual Ovarian Cancer Walk held in memory of Mariette Smith, an amazing woman
and dear friend who passed away in 2013. Every year since, loved ones have
gathered for an annual walk in her honor, raising funds for ovarian cancer
research, awareness, and support.
 |
| The flyer describing the prize at last year’s walk |
Mariette was such an enthusiastic
reader of my work that my annual donations to the walk’s silent auction have always
been books and/or book-related items. Last spring, the timing of the walk coincided
with the writing of The Amish Quilter in such a way that I was able (with my co-author’s blessing) to offer something
truly unique: the chance for one lucky person to put their actual real-life cat
into our story.
To our delight (and
relief), the winning feline provided plenty of fodder for the tale. The owner supplied
us with pictures, videos, and a personality description that included such quirks
as how Whisper won’t drink water unless it’s running from a
spigot. Love it!
 |
| Whisper, the winning feline, enjoying his penchant for running water |
For story purposes, Leslie
and I decided that the cat would simply start showing up in the barn at milking
time—drawn by the dripping faucet over the cows’ watering trough—and slowly make
his way into the hearts of the characters. Overall, the green-eyed feline’s
role in the story is minor, but his presence is a fun touch, especially the
effect he has on two young family members.
The book comes out in
May, so my hope is that you’ll enjoy meeting the fictional version of this cat—and
the Amish family he adopts—then. In the meantime, you can learn more about the
next Ovarian Cancer Walk for Mariette here. I haven’t yet figured out what I’ll be donating this time, but as always it’s
guaranteed to have something to do with books.
*******
No comments:
Post a Comment