Musetta's fifteen minutes

Musetta, with her editing hat on (metaphorically speaking, though wouldn't that be cute?) has made it into Galleycat today. She's not alone, and it's a toss up whether this book-industry blog is forging some kind of a comment on the popularity of pets as authors' animal companions or simply making a shameless bid to have people like me link to it. But hey, I've got a blog called "Cats & Crime & Rock & Roll," so who am I to talk?

Enjoy!

PS - thought I'd post this here. When I read the rest of the Galleycat blog, I felt that I wanted to respond to Lissa Warren's first point (about the commercial nature of cat books). I won't argue with her that such books make the publishing of poetry and first authors (especially literary authors) possible. But I do know what motivates at least some authors of cat books. Anyway, this is what I wrote her and Ron, one of the Galleycat bloggers. Thoughts? Comments?

{my email to Lissa Warren and Ron Hogan}

Please don't think me disingenuous, but it's not simply the commerce (though my "Feline Mystique" is my best selling book to date). It's the coming-out nature of our admission. We love our pets. If we're rational, literate adults, we're a little embarrassed by this fact. But every time we post a picture of our cats or buy a copy of "Catmas Carols" or spend any time on mycathatesyou.com, it's an admission of that fact. Takes the pressure off.

I honestly believe that writing about my screwed-up mentally ill family ("Mad House") freed me to come clean about my love of cats ("Feline Mystique"). Which then freed me to at least temporarily abandon serious, depressing nonfiction and write the kind of fun mysteries that I truly enjoy reading. I am serious about my writing, just not about myself.

Just a thought. Gotta go now, Musetta is staring at me.
Clea
cats & crime & rock & roll
http://www.cleasimon.com