Everyone knows about Hemingway’s six-toed cats and that one of them was a drinking companion, enjoying his milk with a splash of whisky. And what literature lover hasn’t heard of Steinbeck’s dogs– Charley because of their travels and Toby for eating Steinbeck’s early manuscript of Mice and Men? Alexandre Dumas and Byron were both renowned animal lovers, with Lord Byron going so far as to bring his bear to Cambridge. Virginia Woolfe had a marmoset. Dorothy Parker had a poodle named Cliché.
Perhaps it is cliché, but I have found that most of my writer friends have pets and inspiration seems to come from the companionship they offer those of us in solitary professions. In 2006, I put out the word that I was doing a piece for the local humane society newsletter and received many letters from writer friends telling me how important our four-footed companions are to working authors. Their pet stories, so many of them rescues, are an inspiration.
‘We rescued Belle, a Belgian Sheepdog who had been abandoned to starve to death in a backyard in Arizona. Now, whenever I’m out of ideas for a scene, I know I can count on her to cheer me up with a rousing game of
Wolves and Caribou. Guess which of us gets to play the caribou? (Hint: it’s the slow one–with only two legs.)’
—H.R. Knight and Susan Squires
‘I have written all my novels with a rescued animal at my feet, on my desk, or in my lap. Our dog, Wacey, was seven weeks old when found in a box on the side of the road by a shelter. As I wrote my novel The Hour Before Dark, he’d sleep on me. It allowed me to relax while I wrote, and the goodwill that a sleeping puppy offers is immeasurable Our cat, Natalie-of-the-Woods, is the daughter of a local feral cat whom the animal shelter caught. She curls up between my keyboard and my chest while I lean forward to write at night. And finally, our bunny, Buddha, found on the edge of a bike trail in New Jersey dumped by someone who assumed domestic fluffy white rabbits could survive among feral cats, owls, packs of dogs and other creatures at the edge of those thin woods. We took her home and now she lives in the library. So, if you come to our house to read, you very often have a bunny untying your shoes or sleeping under your arm while you read a book on the sofa. I don’t think I could ever NOT have a rescued animal as a pet again. And to me, they rescued us not the other way around.’
—Doug Clegg
‘I’ve rescued a cat of late– Squeaky, she’s called, for the sound of her voice– and she has proved to be a source of inspiration. She curls up in my computer chair and wraps herself around me– my own furry fanny pack!– and she keeps me writing when, frankly, I’d rather be doing something else. All I have to do when I’m stuck is reach behind me and run my fingers through her fur. The sensory experience seems to trigger something in my brain.’
—Fran Baker
‘We had a Boxer, named Casper, but wanted to find him a doggie friend. So one day, we went to the animal shelter. We walked down the aisles, seeing nothing that seemed right for us, and then there she was. This little black mix looked at me and yipped “hello”. I pet her, and it was obvious she wanted nothing more than to come home with me. She’d been in the shelter for just a couple of days, and they had a 10-day “hold” policy, so I spent the next week making daily trips to the shelter to walk her through the snowbanks and give her cuddles. I named her Mystery, since we have no idea where she came from. When I’m writing, she curls up on the floor beside my desk and snoozes, periodically getting up to insist her writer take a walk at least as far as the back door.’
–Janelle Taylor
‘I’ve had rescue dogs for about 20 years. It started with a guy named Ben, who had been discarded by his owner because he had a tendency to eat everything, including porches.
He tried to do the same at my home, but finally realized he had a forever home and suddenly stopped. He was the best dog I ever had. He was a loveable coward, afraid of everything. But one day someone tried to break into my house. He woke me up and barked so much the housebreaker left to find easier pickings. This was now HIS home and darn if anyone was going to intrude. He was featured in my second romantic suspense novel, and since then most of my books have featured a rescued cat or dog. The next one will feature a rescue parrot. I might add that each of the subsequent rescued dogs became the “best dog ever.”’
–Pat Potter
‘We took in our Butterscotch from the streets, where he’d been living. We’re empty nesters, and that cat is the joy of our life. He’s an indoor cat, and although he sometimes peers out the door, has no interest in returning to the misery he must remember. He runs into every room as if a party were in progress and he’s afraid he’s missed something, and he lies on the floor with his paws on either side of his bowl and purrs so loud you can hear him two rooms away. “MY bowl.” I’m convinced there’s a special hell for people who dump animals. :)’
–Justine Wittich
‘Do rescued chickens count? I have 8 rescue hens (and since I live in Silicon Valley, the fact that there are hens to rescue here is kind of amazing) … and I find I do my best writing when I’m outside with them when I’m sitting on a stump with my AlphaSmart.’
—Shelley Bates
‘If it weren’t for my dog, I would be growing moss on my north side. I am by nature indolent and by occupation, sedentary. But Daisy knows when it’s time to have lunch, go for a nice bracing walk in the rain, a quick trip out in the backyard for a supposedly desperately needed whiz, play with a jingly toy at my feet, bark hysterically at the monster who has come to the door so that I have to go see which it is (it usually isn’t) and paw at me until I let her up in my lap so she can look out my window. All these things make me move.’
–Edith Layton
‘My pound-puppy (who looks rather like a short-legged sheepdog), along with my Sheltie, and seven cats are the lights of my life. Not only have they made my home and working environment much warmer and more stable, but they’ve also been the spur to get me involved in animal rights activities, especially at the local level.’
–Kay Hooper
‘It broke my heart when my beloved Pandora, a ‘free-to-good-home’ stray from the local newspaper, died at the age of 20 ½. It took two kittens from our shelter to replace Pandora, but they are great–as different as two cats can be and still be feline. I am firmly convinced that they channel creative energy from a higher plane–it’s certainly much easier to write when they’re lounging around the computer room. Not so easy to write when they start using the trackball!’
— Mary Jo Putney
What’s my own story? Those of you who know my husband and I are aware that our first rescue was a kitten brought home by my grandparent’s cat, Raider. Then there was Poor. And Snowy, and Alpine and Butterscotch. And there would have been many more had we not volunteered daily for nine years at an animal shelter where all the animals became ‘our’ animals. All the cats who showed up in A Curious Affair were residents of the animal shelter where we volunteered.
