Interview with Tigger, proud owner of Chelle Cordero

My guest today is a kitty named Tigger. He shares his home with romance and suspense author Chelle Cordero. Also with two other cats (see below right). Tigger is here today to spill the beans on Chelle...

Tell us, Tigger. How did you come to live with Chelle?

My mom, Chelle arrived at the Animal Shelter in Pomona, NY one day in September 2008 where I had just been dropped off a few days earlier. She had some 2-legged family members with her and they were quite noisy coming into the room where I was sleeping – actually I was imprisoned behind bars!
I heard them come in and began waving frantically for rescue. Chelle heard me and saw my paw signaling to her. I heard her talk with Mark (my
dad) about my age, I was three years old then, and they said I needed “saving”.

I was really thankful and made sure to cozy up to them in the
“acquaintance room”. They started the paperwork to adopt me… but before I could get them to make our great escape, they picked out two kittens to come home with us as well. (Actually I’ve grown pretty close to my new brothers.)

Why did she name you Tigger? Is she a Winnie de Pooh fan?

Tigger was the name on the cage where they found me – the people I lived with before had called me that. I was told they had to give me up because of allergies, it was a bummer. But good things came out of it and I
am very happy being here.

What's it like living with Chelle?

I think it’s pretty great living here. Chelle is “My person” and I’ve made that pretty clear to my brothers, Mario and Luigi, and the other two-legged residents here.

Mom and Dad have always had feline family members and I’ve seen lots of pictures of my past brothers and sisters – the house is fairly well broken in for comfort. We get served our meals twice a day but there’s always water and crunchies if we feel like snacking ‘round the clock. And we have our own bathroom downstairs with two litter boxes so we never have to wait. They also buy us toys and play with us a lot.

I hear she writes books... Tell us about them.

She writes a lot! Sometimes she gets so busy and I try to help her, but I get a lot of typos on the keyboard. I do send a lot of her emails though, that’s easy, I just hit the mouse on her desk for her – unfortunately I don’t always wait for her to finish typing her email.

She writes mostly romantic suspense – quite steamy! (I’m neutered so I don’t really understand about all that) I’ve heard that the love stories are very deep and a lot of people enjoy reading them. Let me see if I can remember all of the titles – Bartlett’s Rule, Forgotten, Within the Law, Courage of the Heart, Final Sin, Hostage Heart and her most recent
A Chaunce of Riches. Final Sin is a murder mystery.

Of all her books, which one is your favorite? Why?

I would feel better about her books if she had a nice cat or two in them…

I’ve changed my favorites a few times with some of her newer books. Right now I think I am partial to Hostage Heart. The hero, Ryan, is not the man that the heroine, Deanna, thinks he is, and that really makes the story interesting. Also Hostage Heart is post Katrina and Ike and Chelle did a lot of research into that since much of the action takes place down south. Just
reading it really makes me want to meow with a southern drawl. Just recently author and editor Carolyn Howard-Johnson named Bartlett’s Rule by Chelle to her Top Ten Reads list of 2009! It’s a really good book with a story that is well worth telling.

Authors are pretty busy... does she have time for you?

She always manages to make time although sometimes I want more. I think Chelle originated the attack-hug and she even purrs at me. I like it when she scratches my ears.

Since she has a home office, I try to “go to work” with her every day. Sometimes it’s a very long day and we are both so tired at the end of the day. I love the commute though!

Are you allowed to sit on her lap while she writes?

I let her type at my desk. Actually it started out as hers but I sort of took it over. I have this one favorite spot to curl up right under her desk lamp so I feel all warm and relaxed. Chelle keeps a small bowl on the desk and a bottle of water so when I get thirsty I can have a drink of
water – it helps me think when we are trying to work out a story plot.

Does she have a website and blog?

Yes, yes and yes. Chelle has a very nice website at http://ChelleCordero.com and she has an author blog at http://ChelleCordero.blogspot.com. Everyone can read about her books and all
of the other websites she is involved with. They also can see how to connect with her on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Chelle also offers a weekly online writing course available with a Kindle subscription called Living, Breathing, Writing (http://bit.ly/pILcG). She gets down to the nitty-gritty of writing and being a professional writing. Her weekly articles are full of great tips and she always offers
writing prompts and exercises – I love it when she lets me try out a writing prompt or two.

Thanks so much for letting me talk about my mom, author Chelle Cordero. I think she’s kind of purr-fect.

Thank you for spilling the beans, Tigger!

Interview with Delaney, proud owner of author Linda M. Faulkner

Delaney is here today to tell us about his life with Linda M. Faulkner and his other pet companions. Linda writes novels, short stories, newspaper columns and a bunch of other things and is the host of the Author Exchange Blog, were she posts interviews, news, press releases and anything of interest to writers. Her latest book is Second Time Around, a mystery novel set in the Rocky Montains, and guess what--it's been just nominated for an EPPIE Award! Way to go, Linda!

Thanks for visiting, Delaney! So tell us, what's it like living with an author?

Hey, Amigo! Thanks for checking in with me. I’m glad to have the opportunity to chat—life’s pretty boring most days. As far as living with an author goes, I haven’t lived with anyone else, so I can’t compare authors to other humans—from a personal perspective, that is. All I can tell you is that Mom leaves the house early most days of the week and drives far, far away to a boring place called The Office. I get to go with her sometimes and, while I love the long car ride, The Office is even more boring than it is here at home. I only get to see some of the people who visit her when she’s there. She tells me that having a dog at The Office isn’t “professional” and that some people either don’t like dogs or are afraid of them. Can you believe that? I’m a lab mix, for Pete’s sake? Who in the world’s gonna dislike me or be afraid of me? Sigh. She spends most nights at her laptop after coming home from The Office --either working on her book or doing that interview stuff for her Author Exchange Blog. Who’d have thought there were so many other writers in the world? When she comes home Friday night, though, she usually stays home ‘til Monday morning and says that’s her favorite time of the week. It’s mine, too. (Although, unlike Mom, I don’t want to be a hermit when I grow up.) She spends most of her weekend at the laptop but she doesn’t seem to be able to sit still (and quiet) for more than about 50 minutes. So, I’m always around when she pops up to make a cup of tea, or do the laundry, or chat and play with me and the other critters, or accompany her outside for a walk.

What do you do while Linda writes and ignores you?

I ignore her back.

Ha! Good work!

I learned that from Dusty, the cat we used to have. But if I want her attention, I just drop my chin on her lap and she pats me, talks to me, and tells me I’m her favorite boy. Bet Dad and her human son wouldn’t like to hear that, eh?

I hear she has a book out. Tell us all about it!

It’s a really neat book—mostly because I’m in it! Only she changed my name. She called me Mac in the book and my big brother Tyson was in it too, and she called him Murph. My sister Charlotte shows up later in the book but Mom let her use her own name—I can’t figure that one out. Anyway, the book is called SECOND TIME AROUND and it’s a mystery that takes place in western Montana, where we live. Mom tells people that we puppies were the inspiration for the opening scene because the idea came to her when she and Dad took us for a walk one day. There’s three dead bodies in the book and a cool sheriff’s deputy named Jack Kendall. The ladies at the book club who invited Mom to dinner said they thought Jack Kendall was hot and Mom really liked that. But how can a human be hot, Amigo? They’re always asking us to climb into bed with them to keep them warm. I just don’t understand humans sometimes…

Does Linda show off to her friends because of her book? What about to those annoying relatives?

I don’t know how she is with her friends because she’s pretty much a hermit when she’s home. She must see and talk to them when she goes to The Office. But she talks to her sister and my grandpa and my human sibs on the phone all the time. (They live farther away even than The Office in a place called Massachusetts. I used to live there and it took days and days to drive here from there.) Not only does my Mom talk about her book all the time to her human family, she bribed them! She said she’d give them free, signed copies of her book if they promised to pass out a bunch of postcards to all their friends, neighbors, and co-workers. They thought it was great. My human sister and brother, Laurie and Mike, actually asked for refills! My other human sister, Beth, let her daughter bring the book to school for show and tell. (Bridget’s in 4th grade.) And you know what my grandpa did? He passed the postcards out at the casino in Connecticut and a couple of old guys actually bought the book! (I miss Grandpa. Haven’t seen him in the six years since we moved to Montana. He’s neat. He calls me his granddog.)

I hear you live with a few other pets. Do you get along?

I get along with Charlotte okay, even though she’s a pain. You’d think she’d grow up sometime soon; she’s 5 years old, for Pete’s sake. But then again, she’s a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix, so you can guess what she’s like. I really miss Tyson and Patience—they both died within the past year. They’re the two Rotties Dad had before Mom rescued him seven years ago. (She rescued everyone in our house.) Tyson was twice as big as me and Patience was a baby at the time. But a couple months after they moved in with us, I stopped being afraid. Tyson stuck up for me when other dogs came around and even though Patience grew up to be almost as big as Tyson, she was the nicest dog I ever knew. Mom still cries when she looks at her picture. Anyway, Mom says I get along with everyone because I have a great ‘sposition—whatever that is. Although I don’t like it when she tells people I’m the only dog who ever liked her X--and that should have been a clue. Everyone laughs when she says that. Do you think they’re laughing at me, Amigo? Or the X, whatever that is?

What's it like living with a fat cat? That must be irritating! Or that malevolent-looking black kitty, Max?

Mom thought Dusty was terrific, but I thought he was a bigger pain than Charlotte. In more ways than one. (Please don’t tell Mom I made a “fat” joke about Dusty. She’s weird like that—doesn’t let us pick on each other or fight—at all!) When Mom brought me home almost 10 years ago, Dusty scared the heck out of me, he was so big. I was only an 8-week old baby, weighing in at 10 pounds, and he weighed 20 pounds! Once I got bigger than him, he didn’t scare me so much, and we’d wrestle all over the place. Until Mom told me I couldn’t hurt the kitty. Cripes, how could I hurt a cat? I wasn’t allowed to bite, but he could! He used to chase me all over the darned house and, when no one was looking, he used to bite my feet ‘cuz he knew I wasn’t allowed to bite back. And he thought it was funny (so did Mom—I’ll never forgive her for that). Yeah, I liked it when he got old and fat and slowed down. Now Max, he’s okay. Mom and Dad got him a few days after Dusty died. The people at the shelter said that black animals are always the last to be adopted. Even though Max is black, I don’t know why he was there for months. He’s not anything like Dusty. He rubs against me and Charlotte just like we were humans. He lays in front of the fire with us at night and hangs out with us most of the rest of time. The only thing I don’t like about him is when he jumps up at my tail and swipes at it when it’s wagging. He thinks I’m trying to play. NOT!

What about that insane parrot? I hear you were planning its murder the other night. Let me know if you need any help.

That’s a rumor about me planning to kill the parrot. But now that you’ve offered, if you and your CIA pals want to visit, we can come up with a plan. That parrot’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen and when Dad takes her out of her cage, I take off to the other side of the room. Dad had the quiet parrot when he and Tyson and Patience moved in, but he begged and begged and begged Mom to help him rescue this Moluccan Cockatoo he met and Mom finally surrendered. Boy, is she sorry! She calls her Bitch Bird because she’s so loud. (Her real name’s Sammy and the quiet one is Angel.) Usually, Mom’s pretty patient with Sammy but I can tell she’s getting mad when she hollers, “Hey, Sammy! Keep it up and we’re having chicken for dinner tonight!” One thing that’s pretty neat about Sammy is when she imitates her former owners. They used to get in loud arguments and Sammy role plays both sides, complete with, “Whatever!” “I don’t wanna go!” and different variations of a nasty word I’m not allowed to say. (It begins with the letter “f”.)

Does your mom have a website and blog?

My Mom has all kinds of websites and blogs—only I won’t bore you with the ones from The Office. Her writing website is http://www.lindamfaulkner.com. She has two blogs; the one for her own writing is http://www.lindamfaulkner.blogspot.com and the one where she interviews writers and other writing people is the Author Exchange Blog – that’s at http://www.lindamfaulknertips.blogspot.com. Maybe you should write my mom and ask her to interview your Mom! Think we’d each get an extra treat for setting them up together?
Woof! Woof!

P.S. Mom changed my name after she married Dad. She let me keep the McHenry as a middle name, just like she did, only no one uses it. Too bad, I liked it better. It’s Irish, you know? By the way, Delaney means black in Irish Gaelic.

It was a riot having you here, Delaney! I'll contact you off-blog so we can discuss parrot annihilation.

Interview with Midnight, proud owner of children's illustrator Kevin Scott Collier

My guest today is a black cat named Midnight. He shares his home with children's book illustrator Kevin Scott Collier & family. Kevin has illustrated over 100 books--yeah, that's right! 100! He also has a fantastic blog where he teaches kids how to draw. Check it out HERE.

Welcome to my blog, Midnight! Tell us, how did you come to live in Kevin's household?

The Collier family adopted me just before Christmas last year. I can from a place called The Noah Project that finds homes for kitty like me.

How is it like to work with a MEGA workoholic illustrator like Kevin?

I watch him draw, and usually fall asleep. So, I don't know how much he actually does!

Does he have any time left for you?

He plays with me. I like playing with his pens and pencils, too. He doesn't like me sitting on his drawings.

I see you always get in the way when Kevin is working...

He says I get in the way, I'm actually helping him, making sure his art is up to par.

Is that one of your tactics to drive him crazy?

Actually, he's the one who drives me crazy. You're only getting HIS side to the story!

How many books has Kevin illustrated?

He says over 100, but I'm not allowed on the bookshelf to check the actual number. I get sprayed with a water bottle when I claw at the books.

He has a cool blog where he teaches kids how to draw, doesn't he?

I don't know. He says I'm too young to get on the internet. But, I have seem him shoot videos of how to draw stuff. I'm going to try to get on camera!

So, like, how many hours a day does Kevin work? 24?

Midnight: That's about how many hours I sleep. 24!

Is that why he named you Midnight, so you can keep him company in the middle of the night?

I had my name before I moved in with them. But, I do keep him company late at night, even if I am taking a cat nap.

What else you'd like to say about Kevin?

He needs to get me more treats and cat toys. I like being spoiled!

Thanks, Midnight!

Interview with ConneryBeagle, proud owner of Doranna Durgin

Happy New Year, everyone!

What a great way to start the year...

My guest today is doggy blogger ConneryBeagle, faithful companion to award-winning fantasy author and wildlife illustrator Doranna Durgin. ConneryBeagle's blog can be found at http://connerybeagle.livejournal.com/ (way to go, dude!). His mom, Doranna, has published numerous books... just take a look at her website. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the interview!


Here's a little about ConneryBeagle, in his own words...

My name is CONNERYBEAGLE.

Well maybe not. Maybe that's what mymom calls me when she says, "I love you, ConneryBeagle!" My special name is CH MACH Cedar Ridge DoubleOSeven CD RE EAC EJC CGC. That means I took a CANINE GOOD CITIZEN test, and I showed off my handsomeness in the BREED RING and now I do a little obedience, a lot of rally obedience, and a LOT of AGILITY! When I got my MACH, mymom went running around the ring like a crazy person with me, and the whole trial stopped and everyone CHEERED. And then I qualified for the 2010 AKC Nationals. BAWHSOME!

What's it like living with an award-winning author who's published over 20 novels? What do you do while she pounds at the keyboard and ignores you?

I sleep on her feet. I sleep on Belle's head. I inspect the yard for stinky things. I put squeaky toys in her lap. I put them on her KEYBOARD. I yodel at her. I sit behind her and I put my paw on her leg to remind her it is time to do TRAINING THINGS.

I can do that for a VERY LONG TIME.

I heard she won the 1995 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall award for the best first book in the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres. Did the award go to her head?

I am NOT THAT OLD. I am not that old by LOTS. So she has the same head she had when I got here. But she HUGS THAT BOOK a lot. She keeps its cover on her wall--it is the new cover from the new publisher, and it is BIG. I don't know if it went to her head but it WENT TO HER HEART.

So you're on the cover of her latest book? How did that happen? Did you threaten her at gunpoint? (that's what I did).

Mymom made the first book with DALE the veterinarian and SULLY the BEAGLE before I was here. She said it was a VERY CLEVER cover but the dog was from the wrong breeding. She looked at me and she squinted and she said, "You don't look like Sully Beagle, really. You don't have a blaze and you are almost two inches BIGGER. But you a LOT CLOSER than STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY." Then she stood on a chair with a big camera and told me to SIT and made LIFE EXCITING so we played the BAWHing game and there I am.

Tell us about your mom's mystery series with a vet and a Beagle? That sounds like something my mommy would like to read!

Mymom goes "hee hee hee!" ALL THE TIME when she writes about Dale and Sully. I think she likes them. She likes Flagstaff where the people in the books live--we lived there for most all the time I have been alive--and she likes writing with animal things. That is convenient since Dale is a vet and Sully is a BEAGLE. Sully isn't supposed to be me. "There is only ONE ConneryBeagle!" is what mymom says. But maybe we both do some BEAGLE THINGS. Sometimes when mymom writes these books I think she has a little bit of BEAGLE in her and that is why they are FUN. But she cares about the people in the books and sometimes she sniffles for them too.

Okay, so I sniffed around your mom's website and saw the photo with her LONG, LONG hair... Is it true she cut it and send it to Locks of Love? What was that about?

SHE DID THAT. It was very long. It was down past her BUTT. But Flagstaff is wind, wind, WIND. So she was sad but she cut it off, and decided it would feel better if she sent it to LOCKS OF LOVE for children who have FORGOTTEN HOW TO HAVE HAIR. And she did.

Doranna also works with horses and with other dogs. Do you ever get jealous of them?

Maybe. If I didn't know I was the MOST IMPORTANT. I might. But I am. Right?

I heard you keep a blog. Tell us all about it!

It is my LIVEJOURNAL and it is at http://connerybeagle.livejournal.com. I have ALWAYS HAD IT. I have friends there! Sometimes Belle visits. She thinks more about what mymom is doing. She giggles a lot, too.

Thanks for stopping by this side of the woods, ConneryBeagle!