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Megan Cashman

Tag Archives: bullying

The Cat That Inspired My WIP

15 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Megan in My Books, The Cats

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abuse, bad luck, black cats, books, bullying, cats, good luck, kittens, kitties, magic, novels, shapeshifting, work in progress, writers, writing

As mentioned in my previous post, I am working on a book about a teen girl who is horrendously bullied at school because of her lack of confidence and timidity. Things start to change when black cats start to turn up in her life almost everywhere she looks.

Where did I get the idea of black cats hanging out on someone’s porch or crossing their path on the way home from school?

I initially came up with the idea nearly 20 years ago, when I was 15 and living in a small town outside of Albany, New York. I was living in that place for a couple of years, and towards the end of my time there, there was this black cat that used to hang around in our backyard.

I remember when I first saw it. I was sitting in the den, watching TV one evening, when something caught my eye. I turned to look at the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard, and saw this beautiful, plump black cat sitting at the door, peering into the house.

At first I was surprised, because who expects to find a cat being all nosy by looking into someone’s house? But I softened up when I saw how the cat looked curious about what was going on in our house. Seriously, it looked genuinely interested in the happenings inside! It also had these big greenish-yellow eyes that looked so gentle. It seemed like a very friendly cat.

Image via Flickr. Click for original photo.

Image via Flickr. Click for original photo.

I didn’t open the door to pet the cat because I didn’t want to scare it away, nor have it think it was allowed inside our house. Besides, the cat seemed quite at peace watching me watching TV.

Over the next few weeks, the cat came back a couple more times. It was a house cat with a collar. So clearly, its owner was allowing it to wander the area, and be true to a cat’s hunting ways.

About a month later, my parents and I moved back to Staten Island, and I obviously never saw that cat again. But I never forgot it. I actually was inspired to write a piece about a girl who lived in the foster care system who was rescued by the magical cats – who actually shapeshifted into gorgeous boys, lol!

I thought about writing such a story as a full length novel, but I figured one about a teen girl abused and passed from one foster home to another was a little too depressing. In addition, my first book is about relationship violence and I don’t want it to seem like abuse is the theme for all my books (although bullying is a form of abuse, but that’s a different topic).

So I chose instead to write about bullying because it is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed. And black cats are the perfect star for this book, tentatively called, “The Cats”. After all, black cats had been tormented for centuries for being associated with witchcraft and bad luck. Even today, black cats are less likely to be adopted compared to other cats, and supposedly, they are still tormented for satanic rituals these days.

But black cats are also associated with good luck. In the U.K., if a black cat crosses your path, it gives you good luck. Sailors used such cats for a good voyage. Even the Japanese see these beautiful cats as carriers of good luck.

It seems like black cats are a good symbol of things not being so bad as they seem. Which gives good prelude to what “The Cats” will be about!

 

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Happy 2017! My Latest Updates

01 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Megan in Miscellaneous, My Books, The Cats

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Tags

am writing, authors, black cats, books, bullies, bullying, cats, Happy 2017, Happy New Year, social issues, writers, writing, YA books

Happy New Year everyone!

I know,  it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. I hope to keep up with blogging, but life calls sometimes. Being an adjunct professor, tutor and freelance reporter/writer does take up a lot of time. I know, lame excuses, but I honestly have been overwhelmed this past month.

Even so, I have been able to do some writing. I was able to finish the first draft of my first chapter to my new WIP. I am now moving on to the second chapter. I cannot predict when I will finish this WIP, but the main thing is not to rush anything. Rush writing a book, and you get a lousy book. I’m sure we’ve all read books where the author wrote something too quickly, only to produce a not-so-great book.

Anyway, I am just glad I completed the first chapter and now moving deeper into the book.

Oh, did I tell you what my WIP is?

Image via Pixabay

Image via Pixabay

I did briefly touch on it in my last blog post. It is about a high school girl who is mercilessly bullied by her peers. She has no friends and her family is unsupportive. But things changed when she starts to notice black cats turning up on her way home from school, or sitting on her back patio.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the working title of this book is, “The Cats”. Maybe it will change, maybe it won’t. Right now, my focus is on writing the story.

The story will explore bullying and social structures. In other words, what makes a someone a target for bullying? Why do some get bullied and others don’t? Why do mean people – in this case, mean teens – get to be popular, while the nicer kids are scorned? I’m sure it is a question everyone wonders, and I hope to successfully explore that.

And don’t worry, the main character of this story has a happy ending 🙂

I’ll continue to blog twice a month: every 1st and 15th of the month. I’ll update on my writing progress, discuss bullying and black cats. I’ll talk about the inspiration behind “The Cats”, and why specifically chose black cats to be the stars of my book.

I’ll also talk about writing in general, publishing, TV shows, books I’ll be reading. And now and then, I’ll write about my old baby, “The Dark Proposal”. I have some plans about this book, which I hope to tell you all either later this month, or early in February.

Either way, I am still here and I’m here to stay!

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