All writers know—and despise!—writer’s block, the dreaded time when you just can’t…write. At all. Or well, at least. But do you have that one distraction that prevents or interrupts your writing? A clingy toddler? A messy room? (got to have your feng shui in order!)
For me, it’s my cat. A creature that is the very paragon of feline-ness: pointedly ignores all when you need companionship most, but then protests for attention at the most inconvenient of times. This is Bootsie. She is as far from a dog as you can get.
Initially I was writing a different post but Bootsie made known her need for attention: meowing pitifully at my door, breaking up my writing thoughts. I tried to ignore her. After all, she could’ve cuddled with me when I took a nap this afternoon. I even have her “nest,” or her favorite blanket, all set up at the end of the bed. But nope! Cats choose what they need, when they need it. This is what makes them so human, and why I love them so much (however much they irritate me at times).
Ceding to my cat’s wishes, I abandoned my initial post and opened the door. She shot in, hopped on her “nest,” and demanded that we CUDDLE RIGHT NOW, B%&$! She saw my lap top and decided for the moment that she wouldn’t crawl onto my lap. Normally, I don’t mind juggling cat and computer on my lap while surfing the web, but during writing time? NOPE! Whenever I was home from college right before finals week, she’d ALWAYS interrupt my studying: meowing at the door, hogging my desk chair, WALKING and SITTING across the keypad (she nearly deleted one of my essays)!
But tonight, I made known to her that I was going to resume writing, no matter how pissy she got. Unable to resume my other post, I started this one instead. I know it won’t be the last time Bootsie interrupts my writing time. Like my muse, the cat shows at the oddest times. So now it goes I type this sitting against the side of my bed, Bootsie just above my shoulder and purring like a motor boat. Annoying though she may be, I’d like to think she’s cheering, or rather purring, me on. It’s nice to know I have support in my writing endeavors.
And plus…ever since Flash entregar el alma (one of my fave Spanish colloquial phrases; best translation is “gave up the ghost”), Bootsie has been unusually loving and more purry. So thank you Boots. I mean it.
POST SCRIPT: Right when I finished this and got ready to post is when Bootsie decided to make her exit. Figures. Friggin’ felines 😉
~LMC