I recently finished a short book about my kitty, Missy Shadow Heinemann. Titled, Shadow in the Window, it traces our relationship from the time I brought her home from the SPCA at seven weeks old through her third year with me. She’s four now. I’m looking for a publisher, but worry that the word count is too high for a gift book and too low for a nonfiction pet book.
Apart from my concerns, I discovered that writing about a pet is more difficult than I expected it to be. Trying to characterize Missy was challenging. Oh, her physical appearance was not so difficult, but getting the essence of her personality on paper was no easy feat, in part, because she’s a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. She vacillates between being a drama queen with an attitude and Mommy’s sweet girl. When I do something she doesn’t like, she hisses at me. At other times, she gets comfortable on my lap and gives me a bath with her pink, sandpaper tongue. The two of us have a great time watching the birdies and listening to them sing from the bay window in the TV/reading room. Sometimes Missy sings along with them.
Describing cat behaviors, preferences, and dislikes rather than human ones took considerable observation. On one occasion, I found myself counting her breaths per minute and comparing them to my own. And all the different meanings a meow has–not easy explaining them to the reader. Cats move differently than we do and communicate their needs and wants in unusual ways. Routine is very important to them, at least it is to Missy, and altering her schedule or one of her well-established habits creates tension and stress for her. Not only did I have to learn about cat behavior, but I had to show how Missy is different from other cats–what makes her unique.
Overall, I think writing about Missy made me a more sensitive pet owner. I came to know her better, anticipate her needs quicker, and love her more, if that’s possible.
Language use that bugs me:
Meteorologists who use double prepositions when forecasting the weather. For example, the rain is moving on up north, or my number one irritant, the storm went on off the coast. Now I ask you, “Can it be on and off at the same time?”
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Writing Then and Now
I’ve always loved to write. I was editor of the school newspaper in ninth grade and on both the newspaper and yearbook staffs in high school. I wanted to major in journalism in college, but knew my parents couldn’t afford to send me so I went to a three-year school of nursing instead.
In my senior year of nursing school, I co-edited the yearbook, and as a nursing student was published for the first time–a speech I gave in a Miss Student Nurse contest. No, I didn’t become Miss Student Nurse, but preferred the publication anyway. My speech appeared in Nursing Outlook, the official magazine for the National League for Nursing (1964). After I became a nurse, I worked for several years in labor and delivery and the intensive care newborn nursery, then went to college to get a bachelor’s degree. Professors told me that if I wanted to write, I should have something worth writing about so I earned a Ph.D. in sociology with a specialty in gerontology. I published in academic journals, books, professional newsletters, and co-edited a book. My topics were widowhood, aging and health, and health care teams.
As I approached retirement age, I asked myself what I wanted to do when retired, and of course I wanted to write. I explored the local writing community, took some writing workshops, joined a writers’ group, and began “writing my little heart out.” I enjoyed the writing so much more than my job that I retired in 2006 to devote more time to it.
Presently, I write nonfiction and have had 11 opinion pieces published in the “My View” column of The Buffalo News, an article about my mother in Reminisce Magazine (2005), three chapters about writing in the book, Educators as Writers (2006), my major professor’s eulogy in Footnotes, the newsletter of the American Sociology Association (2005), and her biographical profile in the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2006) and the Encyclopedia of Human Development and the Life Course, Later Life (2008). My most recent publication was a limerick in The Saturday Evening Post.
I recently finished a short gift book, Shadow in the Window, about the antics of my kitty. I’ve sent it out to several publishers. I’m also finishing a memoir about my parents–working title, Twice in a Lifetime: Reflections of My Father/Memories of My Mother.
I try to write something every day. I would like to write travel and health feature articles as well as personal essay/memoir.
Language use that bugs me:
- beginning a sentence, Me and you . . . . instead of You and I . . . .
- the sign in the coffee bar at my local grocery that reads, Only two biscotti for $1.00!
- punctuating sentences with “like,” “you know,” and “I mean”
In my senior year of nursing school, I co-edited the yearbook, and as a nursing student was published for the first time–a speech I gave in a Miss Student Nurse contest. No, I didn’t become Miss Student Nurse, but preferred the publication anyway. My speech appeared in Nursing Outlook, the official magazine for the National League for Nursing (1964). After I became a nurse, I worked for several years in labor and delivery and the intensive care newborn nursery, then went to college to get a bachelor’s degree. Professors told me that if I wanted to write, I should have something worth writing about so I earned a Ph.D. in sociology with a specialty in gerontology. I published in academic journals, books, professional newsletters, and co-edited a book. My topics were widowhood, aging and health, and health care teams.
As I approached retirement age, I asked myself what I wanted to do when retired, and of course I wanted to write. I explored the local writing community, took some writing workshops, joined a writers’ group, and began “writing my little heart out.” I enjoyed the writing so much more than my job that I retired in 2006 to devote more time to it.
Presently, I write nonfiction and have had 11 opinion pieces published in the “My View” column of The Buffalo News, an article about my mother in Reminisce Magazine (2005), three chapters about writing in the book, Educators as Writers (2006), my major professor’s eulogy in Footnotes, the newsletter of the American Sociology Association (2005), and her biographical profile in the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2006) and the Encyclopedia of Human Development and the Life Course, Later Life (2008). My most recent publication was a limerick in The Saturday Evening Post.
I recently finished a short gift book, Shadow in the Window, about the antics of my kitty. I’ve sent it out to several publishers. I’m also finishing a memoir about my parents–working title, Twice in a Lifetime: Reflections of My Father/Memories of My Mother.
I try to write something every day. I would like to write travel and health feature articles as well as personal essay/memoir.
Language use that bugs me:
- beginning a sentence, Me and you . . . . instead of You and I . . . .
- the sign in the coffee bar at my local grocery that reads, Only two biscotti for $1.00!
- punctuating sentences with “like,” “you know,” and “I mean”
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Missy Shadow as Kitten
Meet Missy Shadow Heinemann. These are her early pictures. She is four years old now--a one person kitty who is mischevious and always in trouble. She's also "Mommy's" sweet girl.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Why write?
I write about my past.
You ask me why.
To recall memories,
To laugh, to cry.
I write in the present.
I’ll tell you why . . .
To connect with others–
Seeing eye to eye.
I write for the future.
The reason why . . .
To leave a legacy
When I die.
You ask me why.
To recall memories,
To laugh, to cry.
I write in the present.
I’ll tell you why . . .
To connect with others–
Seeing eye to eye.
I write for the future.
The reason why . . .
To leave a legacy
When I die.
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