Meankitty Wants to Know: Leah Braemel

Author Leah Braemel who writes hot romantic suspense novels gets extra points for some attack cat action in her work in progress. The humans in that book will have no need of guns when they have a guard cat on duty!

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1) Why did you decide to be a writer instead of a cat sanctuary owner?

My dreams of having a cat sanctuary had to be put on hold when I discovered my eldest son was allergic to cats. :( With that dream destroyed, I started listening to my eldest son, and another friend of mine, who told me that I'd regret it the rest of my life if I didn't "put myself out there" and let others see my writing.

2) Why do you think cats are better than dogs? (Since you call yourself a writer, I trust your answer will be eloquent.)

How can they not be? Cats clean themselves, dogs need to be groomed. Cats can sit on your lap and be stroked. Try that with an 80 pound labrador. (Actually our lab often tried to sit on our laps.) Cats don't need to be taken for walks the way dogs have to be. Cats can be litter trained so you don't have to do the old stoop & scoop routine. (All right, to be honest, I can write an article about how I love dogs too. But I had a cat first, so they've got that special place in my heart.)

3) Tell me about the felines in your fiction. How often do they appear and how big a part do they play in your narratives?

I love to use animals as a way to showcase a character's character. I believe you can tell a great deal from someone by how they treat their (or other people's ) pets.

Unfortunately, there are no animals in Private Property or Personal Protection, but I've rectified that omission in my work-in-progress which will be a sequel to both those stories. My heroine shares her apartment with an orange tabby cat named Marmalade. Being an incredibly smart and intuitive cat, Marmalade shows excellent taste in his reactions to the hero, offering the proper amount of disrespect to keep the hero humble, as well as ensuring he'd provide a satisfactory lap to knead. My heroine considers him an 'attack cat' and though at first the hero is skeptical, Marmalade proves himself worthy.

4) On the off-chance you have yet to incorporate cats into your fiction, when do you plan to rectify this egregious error and demonstration of poor writing skills?

It took me a while, but I have rectified this horrific oversight.

5) What are your favorite works of fiction involving cats or favorite fictional cats?

CS Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, was one of the first books I read involving a "cat" and what more majestic cat can you have than Aslan? I love Hermione's Crookshanks from Harry Potter. I kept expecting JK to reveal that he had powers of his own and was dreadfully disappointed she waited until after the series was over to develop his character a little bit more (I would like to have seen his "kneazle" side explored in the series with much more depth.) And I like JR Ward's inclusion of "Boo" in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series--I have to smile when I picture those big 250+ pound, 6'6+ warriors with the cat purring on their lap.

6) Do you have any amazing, or at least humorous, real life cat stories you'd like to share?

We had two cats when I was growing up - an orange short-haired tabby named Big Kitty and a black long hair named Little Kitty. (Very original names, but there you go.) Naturally enough Little Kitty grew to be bigger than Big Kitty, but the names stuck. We lived out in the country, and while they were housecats as opposed to barn cats, they were both excellent mousers. Since we lived in a bungalow and my bedroom was closest to the front door, they would jump up on my bedroom windowsill at 3 AM and pluck at the screen to get my attention. I had to make sure I turned on the outside light and checked them first, otherwise they'd often bring in their "toys" to play with before meal time. I can't count the number of times I forgot and had to chase out the mouse or chipmunk - or the occasional snake - from the kitchen. If I didn't let them in, I had to praise them and tell them they were "good kitties" before they'd ... um ... dispose of their toys.

Little Kitty, while a good mouser, was brought into the house after my parents had bought an English Springer Spaniel named George. She unfortunately came to think that George was her mother and I believe to this day, she may have thought she was a dog. (I know, how horrible for her!) They slept together - often LK sleeping on top of George, or they'd both stretch out full length, side by side, bellies up.

7) Multiple choice 1. What is your preference and why?
A) Long hair
B) Short hair
C) No hair
-- Note: I am not, of course, referring to the hirsute qualities of your most recent hero or heroine.

Tough choice. Probably B) Short hair, though it really is a coin toss between A and B. I've had both, but I think short-hairs take less care. But definitely not a no-hair. I know people will say I could still own a cat that way considering my son's allergy but I prefer my cats not to be bald. There's something soothing about stroking them.

8) Multiple choice 2. You have a writing deadline but the cat who rules you wants some attention. Desperately. Do you:

A) Lock the cat in another room and keep working?
B) Pet the cat for a couple minutes and then toss her cruelly aside?
C) Pet the cat as long as she wants because you know it will inspire and refresh you? -- Note: If you answered anything besides C, we suggest you consider the fact you could have written a much better book if you had been inspired and refreshed instead of mean to the cat.

D) Encourage the cat to sit on my lap while pet her (or him) and talk to him with one hand while trying to type with the other. Or turn on my voice recorder and dictate while I'm petting them. (I have done this.)

User submitted:

How goes the discussion about discipline in your house?

Unfortunately, when I had a cat, they had their work cut out for them because I wasn't always an obedient human. After all, I kept insisting they leave their live toys outside. Now I've had young of my own, I may be even more stubborn.

What one thing would you change about your pet?

As the human, the one thing I'd change about my pet is the litterbox - I'd love to have one trained to use the loo. I've seen others' cats do it. What would my cat change about me? Probably my insistence to get it spayed or neutered. Other than that? They'd probably want to get me away from the computer computer and pay more attention to them. Or their litterbox.

Do you think pets and humans come to resemble each other over time?

I think this is more true of dogs than of cats. Cats are too smart to try to resemble their pets.

Can you type with a cat stretched out across your wrists? If not, why not? Otherwise, how's the carpal tunnel?

I can, though my speed and accuracy does decrease.

When you're in the zone with your writing, what does your pet have to do to get your attention?

I had one cat who would jump onto my desk and sit on my keyboard. Or he'd sit on top of my monitor (it was a CRT type) and bat at the screen. That definitely got my attention.

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Sincerely,
Meankitty
http://www.meankitty.com/