E-Book (WW)-Print Book (US) Meowmoirs of a Klepto Cat GA-1 Winner-and Guest Post by Patricia Fry-Ends 8/16

You gotta love Rags, the klepto cat in this series. He gets himself into and his humans into and out of more trouble then you can possibly imagine. He can be ferocious or gentle depending on the circumstances. I have read and reviewed all 29 in this series, I don't think I missed even one of them--guess you can tell I love these books! The author is giving away to 1 lucky US winner a copy of the print book Meowmoirs of a Klepto Cat and to 1 lucky winner WW a copy of the e-book. You will find the giveaway form down below! By the way if you did not read my review of Meowmoirs you can find it here.


And now for the Guest Post written by Patricia Fry on how she gets her ideas!

Where Do All of Those Story Ideas Come From?

If you’re a long-time Miki’s Hope follower, you’ll recall my previous blog tours—in July of 2014 after I’d produced five Klepto Cat Mysteries and in March of 2015 when there were nine. You may be surprised to learn that the Klepto Cat Mystery series is now twenty-nine books strong. And Book Twenty-nine is a bit unique to the series in that it’s the main cat character, Rags’s, memoirs—meowmoirs, if you will. Yes, it’s the Meowmoirs of a Klepto Cat.

Even my family members find it difficult to believe I’ve published twenty-nine cozy mysteries in a mere five years—that’s seventy-one books in all over my forty-five-year-long writing career. You may not be surprised to learn that the number one question I get from fans and other curious bystanders is, “Where do you get all of those ideas?” They want to know how I come up with so many plots and they ask, “Are you afraid you’ll run out of ideas?”

Curiously, finding ideas is probably the easiest part in this fascinating career I’ve chosen. My head swims with ideas and overflows. There’s no writers-block syndrome going on here. And I attribute this at least partly to my forty-year stint as a writer of nonfiction—give me the facts, ma’am type writing. As a freelance writer, I contributed articles on a wide variety of topics to hundreds of different magazines and newsletters. My earnings depended on ideas and I learned how to find them, generate them, recycle them, and expand on them. That skill has helped in my fiction writing more than I ever imagined it would.
So where do my ideas come from?

• The news—what’s happening?
• Research—what’s trending?
• Observing—what are other people doing?
• Eaves dropping—what are people talking about?

It’s also highly important to write about what you know and this is true whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. I also write about things that interest me—things that I know about or that I’d like to know more about.

Here’s how I’ve used some of these techniques in my Klepto Cat Mysteries. I listen to the stories other people tell about their experiences with cats. Book One, Catnapped, loosely features a true story one of my daughters told me about cats going missing in her neighborhood. In that story, I used some of her comments and experiences and a lot of fabrication.

Rags, the klepto cat in my mysteries, is for the most part fictional. HOWEVER, I’ve patterned him loosely after my mother’s cat, Smokey (a half Ragdoll cat who looks nothing like a Ragdoll), and my sweet Lily, a formerly feral tabby. I chose Smokey, not for his looks (sorry Smokey), but for his wonderful sense of confidence—the way he carries himself and the way he manages his kitty-cat life and those of his caretakers and visitors. Mama wanted a quiet snuggle cat who would stay inside the house with her all the time. What she got was a cat who certainly loves his lap time, but he’s a wanderer. He just has to be outside adventuring. Lily is the cat who carries things around in her mouth—her stuffed toys, mostly, and occasionally my slippers. So Rags, the klepto cat, is an interesting and humorous blend of these two purrsonalities.
As I said, I do a lot of research and observing, but I also write what I know. I broke my foot some years ago and have stories of that struggle. So I had Aunt Margaret break her foot. (Sorry Maggie.) I drive a Jeep Liberty and so does she. I’ve always wanted to live in a turn-of-the-century farmhouse, so I gave one to the staring human in my stories, Savannah. And I had horses at one time, so of course I brought a horse into the mix. When I heard a true story of a modern-day rustling situation, I just had to let Peaches (Savannah’s mare) lead the charge in search of the culprit.

Many of my ideas come from topics I covered while writing articles for magazines. One theme I’m particularly fond of is therapy animals. In Book Six, Celebrity Cat Caper, I have Rags acting as a therapy cat for a children’s reading program. Naturally, Rags found enough trouble at the library to make a tantalizing story. Rags was also a therapy cat for pets during a veterinary clinic around the holidays where the staring veterinarian in the stories was giving free vet checks and treatment for dogs and cats living within the homeless community.
Seven years ago I created a daily blog all about cats. This is another great way for an author to discover good story ideas. As I said, Smokey (my mom’s cat) is an adventurer and we often wonder where he goes during the day, who he encounters, if he has a relationship with other animals in the neighborhood or people. We’ve joked about tracking him with a GPS device or something. So when I did the research for blog post about cats and dogs being fitted with tracking devices for various reasons, I thought that would make a good story. So in Book Nineteen, The Amazing CATventure, I sent Rags and a kitty-pal on an journey which we tracked for the readers’ amusement.
As you can see, the ideas are not a problem. Ideas are everywhere, we just have to learn to become aware of them. Then there’s the next step—creating a tantalizing story around the theme or concept.

Spoiler alert! I know of a house in our county that sits vacant. It’s not off by itself somewhere. It’s in a neighborhood sitting between two well-kept homes, yet this house sits abandoned, paint peeling, yard dead, apparently no longer loved. My curious mind asks, “Why?” I can only imagine. And imagine is what I’ve been doing. My next story will include this scenario with my, perhaps warped, twist and plenty of speculation. You can bet that Rags will be right in the middle of it all.

If you don’t know Rags yet, let me tell you, he’s a sneaky, clever, gutsy guy. He doesn’t have a speaking part in the Klepto Cat Mysteries. And he doesn’t have a point of view. But he’s large and in charge throughout the stories. A beginning point for this series is, of course, Book One, Catnapped. Or, you can read Book Twenty-nine, Meowmoirs of a Klepto Cat and get a peek into Rags’s and his human family and friends rather unique and fascinating life. If you are familiar with the Klepto Cat Mysteries, this book includes never-before-told stories of Rags in his early years as well as snippets from some of his more harrowing and interesting escapades.

About the Author: (from Amazon)(picture from her website)

There is a comprehensive biography of Patricia Fry which can be viewed here. This is one interesting woman! She also writes an amazing blog all about cats!

Goodreads
Website
Twitter
Facebook

Anyone 18 years of age or older may fill out the Rafflecopter below for a chance to be the one lucky winners WW to win either an e-book or a paperback. Rafflecopter will be used to pick the winners. I will email the winner who must reply to my email within 48 hours with the email address they need the e-book sent to or your snail mail if you want the paperback (US only) I will then forward this info to the author who is responsible for getting the prizes to the winners.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

All opinions expressed are my own honest opinions. For more information please check my Disclosure Statement. Our giveaways are in no way sponsored or promoted by Facebook or Google.