Ivan the Great

Like Talia, the story of my pet, Ivan, is inextricably linked with my writing. Check out Talia's post if you haven't already. Huckleberry came into the picture, ostensibly, as "research" in part. I like that strategy. I can't help but imagine all the requests I could make to my husband in the name of writing:

• "My character's cousin went to Hawaii once and it might come up in this scene I'm thinking about drafting, so we should probably get out to Maui soon. You know. For research."
• "I'm considering writing a car chase so a sports car purchase might be in order so I can write about the experience authentically. Perhaps a black convertible Porsche? You know. For research."
• "There are no grocery stores or dirty laundry piles in the post-apocalypse and I need to make sure I'm living like my characters, so.... I can't do it. You know. For research."

I'm definitely going to try that approach. Thanks for the tip, Talia ; )

No, Ivan the Great did not come in the name of research. There are no cats in UNDER THE NEVER SKY, sadly. Ivan happens to be my "I got published" gift to myself. I have a dog, Lola, but a cat seemed so quintessentially writerly.

He came along a few months after the book deal. As soon as the ink was dry, I went in search of a cat to sit on my desk while I wrote. Now I can't remember what it was like to work without my little (okay, not so little) companion snoozing nearby. For more on Ivan, head over here.

Here are a few shots of Ivan,  as he grows up on my desk.

He was only a few weeks old here, and already helping out with the writing.

Getting a little bigger here. You can see that space is running out.

I had to relocate him to the left of the computer because he became too big.