This post originally appeared on SourPuss Reviews, March, 2017
 

What one thing must I have close by when I’m writing? Hint– it’s small and furry, with pretty white paws. Sometimes it’s sweet and cuddly. Sometimes, it’s wild and insane.
My writerly must-have isn’t an “it,” but a “she.” Her name is Mango, and she’s an orange rescue tabby that joined our family in December, 2014. My husband was puzzling over Christmas gift ideas, and after hearing me squeal over an orange tabby in a Tidy Cat commercial, he decided that his cat-crazy wife needed a feline of her own.  After looking at area pet rescue websites, he found an adorable 6-month-old kitten at a shelter not far from where he works.
It was destiny.
Though I wrote my debut novel Pairing Off without Mango’s assistance, she’s become an integral part of writing each story since. She’ll often come and curl up in my lap, when I’m working at my computer. If I’m struggling with a plotline or character, a quick cuddle with a cute kitty relaxes me.  And her annoying habit of walking on my laptop keyboard helped me learn to use the undo arrow, and to remember to save my work!
She even inspired a feline character in my third book, Getting It Back. The book’s heroine Amy shares her apartment with an orange rescue cat named Milo.
Since my newest release, Heating It Up: A Red Hot Russians Novella, is set at an Antarctica research station, where no non-native animals are allowed, I couldn’t put a cat in this story. But Mango has helped me through the sometimes stressful process of writing my first-ever novella and putting out my first indie-published book.
With that challenge met, I can turn to my next one. How do I bring Mango along when I go out to write at Panera or Starbucks?
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