Say a big MIAU! to Bella, proud owner of children's author Deborah Underwood. Deborah writes fun picture books, easy readers and chapter books, and also nonfiction. Check out what she's up to on her website! Don't be lazy and also check out Facebook fan page, ok? Woof!What's up, Bella. What kind of cat are you and why are you named like that Twilight girl?
I am a beautiful brown tabby. My name was Sheyenne in the shelter, and Deborah took a few weeks to figure out my real name. She had about eight possibilities, like Shayla, Emily, and Charlotte. At one point she even wrote them all on pieces of paper and spread them all over the floor to see if I'd choose a name by sitting on it. She finally settled on Bella because it means beautiful and I am.
My name has NOTHING to do with Twilight. Twilight Bella is passive, and I am very active. Twilight Bella needs to be rescued. I am the rescuer in my home--every night I save Deborah from the foot-shaped lumps under her covers. (She is so happy when I catch them that she howls with joy.) Also, I do not fall in love with sparkly vampires. If a sparkly vampire came anywhere near me, I would rip him to shreds.
How did you come to live at Deborah's household?
She looked at lots and lots of cats in shelters all over the Bay Area before she decided on me (of course, actually I decided on her). I was living at Pets Unlimited in San Francisco. When Deborah came in the first time, she coaxed me down from my cat tree. I crawled into her lap, started purring, and fell asleep. She seemed pretty nice for a human, so I agreed to live with her.
I was very sneaky in the shelter, though. I know writers like to sleep, and that they like quiet. So I acted like a calm, quiet cat who didn't play at all. But after I got home, I started to tear up and down the hall, do death-defying leaps, and talk a lot. I totally fooled her! I should get an Oscar.
Nice work, Bella. You seem like CIA material...
Anyway, I hear she has a bunch of picture books out. Tell us all about it and how Deborah ignores you and spends her days writing all day long.
I like the picture books because they are big and nice to lie on. One is called A Balloon for Isabel and it's about a porcupine who wants a balloon. It's very colorful, but why would you write about a porcupine when you could write about a cat? Another is Granny Gomez and Jigsaw. It's about an old lady who adopts a pig. A pig?? What's wrong with a cat? And the other one is The Quiet Book. I wouldn't know much about quiet. The Loud Book is coming out on April 4th. That's more my style.
I am a hard cat to ignore. If she ignores me for too long, I sit on her arms so she can't type. Or I meow and look pathetic. I'm missing a canine tooth, and I can leverage this to look extra-pathetic if need be.
Forget about cats. What about DOGS??? Obviously your mom doesn't have any imagination...
So you're not in any of her books?
Not yet, since I just moved in with her last August. But she's planning to put me in a middle-grade novel. My c
haracter is so rich and complex that a picture book couldn't do it justice.Does Deborah let you sit on her lap? I'd love to sit on my mom's lap, but I'd probably suffocate her.
She loves having me sit on her lap. In fact, I'm in her lap right now! And if I'm in her lap, she doesn't like to disturb me, even to go get food. Humans are silly. If she were in my lap and it were dinnertime, I'd push her right out.
Deborah also writes nonfiction, I hear. How does she manage her time and still doesn't forget to feed you? (or does she?!)
Are you kidding? I remind her to feed me regularly. For example, last night I reminded her at 3 a.m., 4:15 a.m., and 5:15 a.m. She looked kind of grumpy this morning. No idea why.
How does she manage her time? Not very well. Sometimes she goes to meetings (which means she's not home playing with me). Sometimes she goes on writers' retreats (which means she's not home playing with me). Sometimes she goes out to buy office supplies (which means she's not home playing with me). I will definitely bring all this up during her next performance review.
Leave us with some feline words of wisdom.
For cats: Choose your humans well.
For humans: Feed your cats well. And here's some advice from a human writer, Aldous Huxley: "If you want to be a psychological novelist and write about human beings, the best thing you can do is keep a pair of cats."
Cats, cats, cats. Bah! That Huxley didn't have any imagination either...
So nice to meet you, Bella! Sounds like you're a very well loved kitty!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen! I am very well loved. Deborah shows good sense at least in that area, if not many others. Purrs, Bella
ReplyDeleteGreat interview. Very fun!
ReplyDeleteExcellent interview. How nice to meet you Bella. I have a kitty who looks very similiar to you in my home. She also came from the shelter. Oh, she's not very quiet either.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to cut down on the number of retreats Deborah takes, get to the mail before she does. She won't miss one tiny postcard.
Cheryl
Thank you, Lynn! And nice to meet you too, Cheryl. Thanks for the mail tip! I'm not usually a paper-shredding cat, but I can certainly make an exception for conference confirmations.
ReplyDeleteBella, I really like the photo of you guarding your mistresses' works in progress. And it's good to see that you near her carotid artery, making sure she's alive. You're a very fine, cat, indeed! Camille
ReplyDeleteowner of the kind of cat that gives cats a bad rap
Aw, Bella is so sweet! I love the interview! I have 2 shelter cats. Our first one acted all calm and lazy, which is one of the main reasons I picked him. Then got him home and he was a terror! LOL! That was 12 years ago and he's our old man now.
ReplyDeleteYou are beautiful, Bella. I'm glad you have a nice home. My cat adopted us too. She appeared on our patio one day. I loved her from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you will be getting a YA book of your own Bella! Your mom looks pretty busy with those great books, I love the idea of the porcupine one. Oh, and missing a canine tooth? Of course, why would a cat want a canine tooth!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your nice comments! I'm glad to see a cat is appropriately appreciated around here. Cam, yes, it's not always easy to tell if she's alive. She'll close her eyes and say she's "thinking," then not move for an hour. Michelle, there is a shelter cat actor training program all shelter cats go through. It sounds like your cat was as good as I was! Don't feel bad; you humans fool easily. Beverly, Deborah's first two cats just showed up, too (at her window on the third floor of her apartment building!). I never got to meet them, but she loved them a lot, too. Peggy, you are so right about the canine tooth!! Ick! Now I kind of want to get rid of the other one!
ReplyDeleteClearly, both my cats passed their shelter cat actor training program with flying colors! They learned How to Hide the Crazy very, very well. :) Fun interview!
ReplyDeleteHi Aquafortis. I'm glad your cats did so well! Sometimes Dustin Hoffman's cat comes in to give shelter cats extra coaching. You may have seen him on Inside the Cat-ctors Studio. (I like that name because when my human says it, she sounds like she has a hairball.)
ReplyDeleteBella, You are one attractive brown tabby. I'm the only tabby at my house--the other two felines are HUGE black cats. I'd really rather sleep beneath the couch or in Mom's chair than hang out with them. They're big suck-ups, jumping on everyone's lap every chance they get.
ReplyDeleteI wish you hadn't spilled the beans about the fact that we cats "act" in the shelter, however. Now my mom knows why I'm no longer the shy, timid creature who curled into her arms...
Thank you, Linda's cat! Black cats are okay, but we know that tabbies are superior. No worries about spilling the beans, because I don't think humans can read very well. My mom reads and writes very juvenile books with big print, so reading a blog is probably impossible for most of them. (They're not very smart, but they're kind of cute. And they can open cans.)
ReplyDeleteAwww. Bella looks and sounds so much like my cat Sona. Brown tabby, shelter kitty, likes to perch in bookcases, talker ... except she had a bob tail, that she also used to leverage sympathy. She passed away recently at the ripe old age of fifteen :( Wish you and Bella many years together.
ReplyDeleteHi Nandini. I am so sorry to hear about Sona. She sounds like a great cat, and I'm sure you gave her a wonderful life. My Sports Fan passed away almost a year ago, and I still miss her. I just have to think they're up in kitty heaven waiting for us. Thanks for the good wishes, from both Bella and me.
ReplyDeleteThis was adorable. Glad to see, Bella, that you have your human quite trained well. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gloria! She's slipping a little with the morning feedings; might need to take her back to Obedience School. But basically she's not bad for a two-legger.
ReplyDeleteBella looks just like my boy, Jeeves! She is darling. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy! Jeeves must be a very handsome cat if he looks like me. And is naming a cat after a servant an example of what you humans call irony? Give him a pet from me! Purrs, Bella
ReplyDelete