"Everything I Know About Writing I Learned From My Cats: 1" - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the writing files of
children's author and educator
Barbara Jean Hicks,
Guest Columnist

“Books. Cats. Life is good.”

I can’t bear to part with the faded old book bag that bears that quote. Doesn’t it say it all? My family didn’t have much when I was growing up; nine of us lived in a two-bedroom, one-bath house. But we had each other, we had books, and we had cats. I didn't even think about asking for more.

I’ve never gone book-less, but I’ve been cat-less. In fact, I'm cat-less now. College dorm life, apartments with no-pet policies, and housemates who didn’t like cats or had cat allergies all conspired against me. (Fortunately, I do have friends with cats!)

For ten years of my adult life, though, I shared a home with a partner who was both a book lover and a cat lover. In those ten years, our library reached over a thousand books, and we adopted two remarkable (at least to me!) rescue cats. Each of them lived with us for about five years.

I'm not sure either Miguel or Patches could be described as literary cats, although Miguel was partial to sharing a lap with the daily newspaper. But these two feline friends (or should I better say masters?!) definitely inspired my own literary achievements.

In fact, Miguel and Patches taught me five invaluable lessons about writing (and living) creatively:

Be curious.
Make daring leaps.
Scratch where it itches.
Sleep on everything.
Stretch!

Over the next five weeks I'll share more specifics about those lessons. In the meantime, think about a few things in terms of cats and art--for instance:

What's so wrong about eavesdropping?
Are you a planner or a seat-of-the-pantser?
What do you do when an idea just won't leave you alone?
What time of day is best for doing creative work?
What does it mean as a writer or artist (or a human soul?) to "stretch"?

See you here next week!

NOTE: THIS IS THE FIRST OF A SIX-PART SERIES.