The Creatures of Rooglewood

My handsome husband and I have now been married for six months, settling into a delightful and busy life in our home, Rooglewood. The writing life has been full and fun, we have decided to become green-thumbs (first batch of dead sprouts aside), and we make every effort to keep up with the jazz and classical music scene to be had in Raleigh. Such a delightful stage of life!

I believe the time has come to introduce some of the important furry people who also live at Rooglewood. Those of you who have read Heartless will have guessed already that I am one of those strange cat-people types. So it had to happen, eventually. You knew I would one day make you read a post devoted to my favorite creautres . . . three very distinct people-cats. Helpful, inspirational, evil--

WOW! There was a big crash in my library just now! Back in a second . . . must go stop fuzzy carnage! Okay, I'm back. The Evil One just broke a clay figurine of a blue cat. Sigh . . . more on her later, though. First, let me introduce you to:

Molly Boots!

(aka: Angel Face, Molly Bootsness, Molly Bootsity, Good-Golly-Miss-Molly, etc).

She is my blonde. Her catch phrase is: "I don't know what's going on!" She either looks content or confused. Admit it, we all know people like that. And we are thankful to have them because we also know people like:

Minerva Louise!

(aka: Fluffy Cat, Bitty Kitty, and . . . The Evil One.)

She is, in reality, the most chill little cat I have ever met (I know you don't believe me, but I mean it!). The thing with Minerva is her compelling need for attention. Which she gets by destroying little blue clay figurines of cats (as an example). Once, soon after I got my most recent kitten, Minerva knocked an entire portrait commission off its easel and proceeded to . . . um . . . hairball it.

Thus she is The Evil One.

Her catch phrase: "Oh, Rohan! Anne Elisabeth has been wretched to me today! But you love me, don't you? Oh, Rohan!"

She is my husband's favorite. And oh, she knows it!

Other catch phrase: "All shall love me and despair! Teehee!"

Moving on.

Prepare your eyes for beauty beyond the ken of mortal men. The next wonder upon which you will look is an Abyssinian, direct descendant from the ancient gods of old Egypt, time-honored and worshipful, glorious in grace and perfection, the awesome, the mighty, the marvelous . . . .

Lord Maramduke Chuffnell!

(aka: Duke, Duker, Captain Marmalade, and Punkadoodle.)

All right, so he's not the most dignified Egyptian deity you'll ever meet. But he's a charmer and a terrible flirt! His tendency is to fall instantly in love with you at first sight, and he is more than happy to leap into the arms of total strangers, wrap his paws around their necks, and nuzzle nose-to-nose. It's a little embarrassing sometimes . . . .

His catch phrase: "You're breathing! I'm breathing! We have so much in common! We should be friends!"

Other catch phrase: "ME TOO! ME TOO! ME TOO!" He is the youngest, after all . . . .

My current work-in-progress is a story heavily featuring Princess Una's cat, Monster, from Heartless. While writing this character, I find myself pausing more often than not to ask, "What would Marmaduke do here?"

One final image:

Molly sits in angelic (if confused) glow, Marmaduke is graceful, and Minerva plots evil. A typical day at Rooglewood Manor!

All right, I've got the galleys of Veiled Rose to finish reading now, catching all the last misprints so that none of you will have to deal with them! Have a blessed day, dear readers.