Vacuuming The Cat Is A Good Idea

Dear Diary,

I have come with the perfect excuse for why I cannot do NaNoWriMo this year: my cat won't let me.

I admit, freely and without reservation, that I am too slow a writer to achieve NaNoWriMo. I can approximate the experience, however, with something I call a Rough Write. It's hand written, it jumps off the board with no good goal in sight or even a way to get there, it plows ahead without revision, and it taps into a very creative part of my brain. After doing the Rough Write, I can then do the first typed draft. Followed by a serious revison or two, then a serious polish, then another polish, and so on. This November my need to do a Rough Write coincides with the challenge, so I am aiming to finish the section I am Rough Writing by the end of the month. I've got what, fourteen hand-written pages?

However, I have discovered that my opportunities to sit down with notebook and pen are limited. Today I had to flee to Starbucks to get some done. I really thought that I would have more time to sit and write once my children were out of the house, but I found that their place has been taken by the cat.

Pet me! Pet me! Love me! Pet me!

He comes begging for attention every time I install myself on the couch with pen and paper. And if I do not pet him, with my right hand no less, he starts reaching out with his paw and touching me. Pat. Pat. Pat the author. And if I do not respond, then he continues to pat.

With his claws out.

I have a request you can't ignore...