I’ve almost always been a writer and I’ve almost always had a cat or two or more. Cats and writers go together, don’t you think so? And they can be such a big….help?
My gorgeous Himalayan once walked gracefully across my keyboard and the entire book I was working on disappeared from the screen. She deleted it!!!!! Thankfully, I pushed the right key to get it back. Whew!
Our tabby, Lily, seems to know exactly which piece of paper I’m working on at any given time and, if she wants food or attention, that’s exactly where she lays. She’s good at hiding my pen, too.
Speaking of pens, Max, our formerly feral snowshoe-type cat, spent a lot of time with me 
in my office. His favorite activity was to bat my pen into the trash basket—he rarely missed.
I know writers who provide a basket for their cat to lay in when they visit the office. I tried that. Nope, my cats want to be where I am—in the thick of things. They watch for items being printed, they play with paperclips and other things they find interesting, they seek out and chew on pieces of tape they find on packaging, they climb in and out of the closet and various shelves, they dig around in an open drawer…Sophie used to rush into the office when she’d hear the fax machine beep. If we weren’t watching, she’d take the fax and shred it.
Are your cats helpful? Mine also enjoy needlework. I do beadwork sometimes—sew beads onto felt—and I generally try to do this when the cats are napping, otherwise… Well, I think you get the picture. Lily and Sophie also enjoy projects involving yarn.
Oh yes, cats can sure be helpful. I even have to watch Lily to make sure she doesn’t drink out of my water glass or drop something into my coffee mug.
Are your cats helpful in ways that you sometimes wish they weren’t? You know, I really shouldn’t complain about this because so many of our cats’ antics help me in creating scenarios for my Klepto Cat Mystery stories..
I am a quilter and just yesterday both Lucy and Zoey came to help me out. Zoey likes to sit in the middle of the cutting table. I use a rotary cutter and that can be a dangerous place to be. Lucy came for some love and attention. Her favorite place is on the sewing machine table when I see her pretty blue eyes staring at me from behind the machine, I know it’s time to quilt and love my girl.
Zoey loves my pins (straight and very sharp). She will pick them up and chew on them. Must watch very closely!
Hi Betsy, Lucy and Zoey sound like healthy, fun-loving kitties who want to be involved. You’re right, there are dangers around sewing projects. I once had a cat swallow a needle. She’d evidently been sitting close to the pin cushion while I was sewing and licked her fur–lapping up a piece of thread that unfortunately was attached to a needle. We discovered the problem in time to remove it and save her. Gosh that was a scary ordeal. And I had one cat who loved to pull the pins out of the pin cushions and toss them here and there–helter skelter. As you said, we really have to watch our fur babies closely.
Patricia