Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Conversations with the cat

We adopted a bengal cat about three months ago - with health problems that include sneezing goo worse than a toddler that has a cold and no hanky handy.
Having sat and listened to her though, I've been fairly amused to work out she has her own language - one 'meow' for I'm hungry, usually accompanied by licking, desperate snuggling up, headbutting and begging shamelessly. Unfortunatly, her old owner gave into this, where we're trying to train her that she eats at various times (and she's on a diet) so though I 'understand' that one, I try to ignore it. Mainly because feeding her at 4am is a bad plan.
The other is 'Ouwww' 'Ouwww'. She's insistent and firm when saying this - usually standing by one of the doors, or batting the glass of the back door and stretching up to nearly hip height, claws extended (she's a fairly petite bengal, but really long). We translated this to 'out please!'
And she gets out - she defends her territory, and comes in either looking a bit shame faced, or proud, depending on what happened and how dark it was.
You might wonder what this has to do with writing.
If you've got a muse like mine, you get the 'I'm hungry' behaviour (translated to 'write this piece now/pay attention to me!) - usually at 4am in the morning. 'Ouwww' 'Ouwww' or 'Out please!' for muses is usually just another 'pay attention' though, some people feel that thier muses/characters also encourage them to submit. Again, I know mine does. And just as Kushie refuses to go into the garden when it's raining, ten to one, your muse won't be at her 'best' when conditions aren't right. That said, and also like Kushie, 'muses' also need to be trained into behaving appropriately. If that means training yourself to sit down and just get on and write, then that's a good thing too.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say Kai - that I really look forward to each and every one of your posts - I know you've commented on your other blogs that you might be pulling back from 'random' posts. I'm just here to say - on one of your shared blogs - please don't. You're an inspiration to me - you're an inspiration to WRITERS, and never forget that.