Big Cat, Little Cat: Interrobang The Interrobang and Other Matters Has anyone actually seen an interrobang? I mean just been reading along and… BAM! INTERROBANG. I’ve been reading stuff for more than thirty years and I’ve never seen it once. Which reminds me that there are a lot of features of a language that seemingly…
Category: Writers on Writing
Jokes (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Bad Jokes Dumb Jokes I have a particular relationship with bad jokes. I come from a family of bad-joke-tellers. And I swore I would be better. That sounds like a joke; or the premise for one. But it’s actually not. My parents and grandparents and uncles and so on would say…
Impostor Syndrome (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Impostor Syndrome Impostor Syndrome It seems like nothing is as integral to the writing process as impostor syndrome. I should really have called this website 3 Rules of Writing. And the third rule should have been: “Stop it with this impostor syndrome bullshit. You’re not fooling anyone. We know exactly how…
Finding my Place as a Writer
I’ve had a pretty beastly journey with anxiety. There have been times I’ve really struggled with anxiety so bad that I experienced agoraphobia. When simple things like leaving my apartment to take the trash just a few feet down the hall to the trash chute might trigger a panic attack. When going outside my building…
Depression (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Depression Dealing with Depression… in Story I was reading a really interesting book the other day. My friend had asked me to be a beta reader for her new novel, written from the perspective of two house-cats. The background characters are a woman who suffers from what appears to be severe…
If you Love Someone, Give them Books
I’m a writer now. And it’s been an exhausting journey to get to the point where I can say that without feeling ill. With plenty of obstacles. But I’m a writer because I’m a reader. I love books. I love the feeling of a book in my hands. The smell of a new book. Or…
Mistaken Identity (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Mistaken Identity Mistaken Identity: The Oldest Trick in the Book It’s interesting to me that we continue to read Shakespeare’s comedies. On a separate note, it’s interesting to me that we no longer read the comedies of his contemporaries, such as Ben Jonson. But in a way, it’s the most natural…
World Read Aloud Day
Today is World Read Aloud Day. I’m not one for anniversaries; my mind doesn’t work that way. But I thought I had something to say about this one. Reading aloud is particularly important to me. I once invited a few people over for Shabbat dinner, and read the entire text of the story “Yentl” to…
The Fourth Wall (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: The Fourth Wall Was the Fourth Wall Always There? Back in my dissertatin’ days, one of my particular interests was: the occasions on which an epic poet talks in the first person. You might say: times when the poet breaks the fourth wall. For example, the way Homer does at the…
Writing Fiction: Learning to Say “I Can”
About two years ago, fueled by COVID and general upheaval in my life, I started writing again. Writing was something I’d loved doing. Until I let someone into my life who destroyed my confidence in so many ways. And, as a result, I stopped doing things that brought me joy. That was almost twenty-five years…