As we are counting down to the release date for my shelter novel, I thought it was about time I properly introduced my pets. Presently I have three cats and one dog, and all have something to say about my work – especially when I’m reading it aloud.
Pest has been with me the longest. He is 14 years old, too large for his own good, and a happy mix of orange and white. He is also the cat that regularly rage-pukes if I leave for more than a day, and interrupts phone calls with my mother to give us a piece of his mind.
And it is mostly when I’m talking to my mother. I think he can hear her on the other side of the line and is trying to tattle on me for switching him to healthy weight cat food. The joke is on him, though. We had a cat when I was growing up who bit my mother’s ankles when the Vet ordered the cat go on a diet, so she is 100% on my side for this one.
Why have I named him Pest?
It seems awful of me, right?
Well, according to his official documents his name is Little Brother. But we all know that pets have two names: the one we give them, and the one they earn.
Pest earned his name by leaping onto the back of my computer chair and bopping my head – no claws, I guess I should glad of that much – to alert me when I have been on the computer too long. I thought maybe this was a matter of the chair being too high, so I purchased a new one that was shorter and he still finds a way to leap back there and make a… well, a pest of himself.
When I have finally had enough, I collect him for cuddles in my lap and we watch some videos. Lately it has been Masterclass videos since I accidently renewed that this year.
I call Pest my Editor Extraordinaire because he is generally the one closest to me while I am writing. The other cats will sometimes make appearances and cast judgement on my work, and the dog is often at my feet countering all those judgements with happy thoughts, but for the most part it is Pest I talk to when I’m brainstorming a troublesome scene. He is also the most vocal of the cats, so when I talk to him I don’t seem entirely insane because he responds.
OK, so it still seems a little insane to anyone looking in from the outside, but it works for us and we’re happy.
AJMaguire 