By Milli Thornton
As stated in our mission, Fear of Writing promises to put the fun back into writing. We try to do this in ways that will support you in your efforts to be the writer you dream of being—but, let’s face it. You can’t have a well-rounded diet without some silliness vitamins now and then.
Today we’ll be milling around with some of the critters who write. I’m sure you know at least one; perhaps a whole motley herd, as I do. Maybe you’re even a critter yourself.
Let’s start with a critter from northern climes; in this case, Alaska. The Tumblemoose blog is powered by the energy of a tumblemoose, which is like a tumbleweed for those not of the desert. George Angus, the guy who does all the work of writing and posting, is seen here with his friendly taskmaster.
Next, we jump oceans to a critter from Africa. At Zebra Sounds, if you didn’t catch sight of the human photo of our own j, you could be forgiven for thinking that the zebra in the blog header having a permanent sparkly moment is a good writer; one who also incites people to doodle for the doodle galleries and give away hugs to strangers for the Love Project.
Bouncing on via Australia, we have Purple Kangaroos. The PK blog is hand-crafted by Catherine Greti, whose job it is to tame the critters just enough to reap the benefits. Officially, a purple ‘roo is “a whimsical creature who likes to daydream before getting to work. A purple kangaroo knows that all work and no play stiffens the brain and the muscles. So a purple kangaroo needs to hop around a lot exploring many things that will get the imagination and intuition super charged.”
These are a few of the critters I know the best. Looking through my Twitter followers, I found plenty more to get to know. A quick sampling:
WerewolfMike (M.T. Murphy)
I write stuff. Weird stuff. Stuff about werewolves, vampires, zombies, gunslingers, & leprechauns. Sometimes I publish that stuff. Be afraid.
WritersWithCats (Paul and Paula)
Award-winning, professional screenwriters, novelists, literary agents, freelance writers & researchers. Owned by our three cats Grimalkin, Mystery and Karma
HomerBlindCat (Homer)
I’m a blind black cat with superpowers! My mom wrote a NY Times Bestseller about me called Homer’s Odyssey. 10% of our royalties go to help disabled pets!
To balance out the abundance of cats, I should mention that Fear of Writing could have been called Dog Burning His Manuscript—but that probably would not have alerted people to the kind of help we provide.
The desperate doggy on the cover of Fear of Writing is the sneaky brainchild of artist Steve Andrus. What *I* thought happened: The artist and the author agreed that the cover image should be unisex, so we chose to do an animal. Steve’s a dog person. I’m a cat person, but I gave him the green light to go dog. Steve wanted to paint a dog blasting a hole in its monitor with a shotgun. Being a pacifist, I said NO GUNS! So he toned it down to arson and gave the dog a bow tie.
When confronted about the bow tie, Steve declared proudly: “Yes, this is a male dog.” Steve believes men are the true underdogs and when he saw the opportunity to avenge his fellow mutt in public, he grabbed it with both paws.
What are the names of your favorite writing critters? Are you a critter yourself? If you don’t know any critters, who are the writing characters that first attracted you with their kooky or creative names? Here are some of the characters I know:
Square Peg Karen, Crystal Chameleo, One Writeous Chick, Boonies Chick, Kid Stuph, Inky Twig, Milliver’s Travels, Creative Nachos, IQOKIE.
One of my favorites is wordsxo, a blog by Julia Munroe Martin. Not a critter or a character but a passionate statement. As a writer, what else is there to say besides “I love words!”?
OK, your turn. Name those critters.
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LATE EDITION: I couldn’t have my friend, Patrick Ross of The Artist’s Road, sad that there were no monkeys in this post. So after you leave a comment to name your critters, you must go see Patrick’s Easter Monkey.
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Milli Thornton is the author of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers. She is owner of the Fear of Writing Online Course, where her mission is to put the fun back into writing. Milli coaches writers individually at Writer’s Muse Coaching Service.
Twitter: patrickrwrites
Don’t forget the Bronx Zoo cobra on Twitter with more than 200K followers!
I do not have an animal familiar blogging for or with me, but my blog does now have a “monkey” category after adding a photo of The Easter Monkey to a blog post last Friday. I have far more posts with the “bacon” category, which is of course (part of) a pig. Oh, and I have a “Charlie Sheen” category, but that could be a subset of either “monkey” or “bacon.”
Twitter: fearofwriting
You’re a hoot! Bacon category. Now that’s what I call creative interpretation. ;~)
I’ll have to check out your Easter Monkey. I’ve been off the scene the past few weeks dealing with some health issues – need to get my fix of The Artist’s Road that I’ve been missing.
~ Milli
Twitter: patrickrwrites
Oh my, well, I hope you’re back on your feet. My thoughts go out to you.
Well, shucks. That is one awesome collection of aminals right there. Thanks for including the moose in such an eclectic set of bloggers. I’ve seen most of these folks whilst standing in line at the vets to get me rabies shot. 🙂
George
Twitter: fearofwriting
All I can say is……………LOL!!!
And thanks for letting me use the pic of The Two Meeses. I’m so proud to have that on my blog. 😀
~ Milli
Hi Milli,
This is a fun post talking about critters. Gonna check out werewolf mike – sounds funky and reminds me of an american werewolf in london, one of my fav movies. G.
Twitter: fearofwriting
Giulietta, glad you found it fun. I had a blast writing it. I’m still grinning from ear to ear from all the silliness vibes I got from the exercise.
I love An American Werewolf in London too! Gosh, I haven’t seen that movie in so long. I should rent that again. Thanks for the reminder!
Love this! And, I’ve never heard the story of the FoW picture. That is wonderful! Especially the pacifist move from shotgun to arson. Excellent choice. And my sparkly zebra is quite proud to make your list.
I’m kind of wanting to check out WerewolfMike too. What is it about people who threaten right up front to scare the crap out of me, and I’m all, “Yay! Okay!”
Sigh.
Twitter: fearofwriting
The list would never have been complete without your sparkly zebra. 🙂 🙂
By the way, have you thought of naming him? Or did I already miss a cool contest for your readers to name your zebra?
Twitter: wordsxo
Thanks so much for the shout-out! (And although I’m not a critter, did we forgot so soon about the lowly Earthworm?) 🙂 Some of my favorite character/critter names who blog: http://www.bellebeanchicagodog.com, http://www.teawren.blogspot.com, and @blue_eyed_monkey
Twitter: fearofwriting
I actually had your earthworm in my mind’s eye as I wrote this post. (I always say hello to him in your list of popular posts whenever I visit your blog.) And I read your bad chipmunk post! (still need to get back there and leave my comment)
I agree with your Tweet: you do qualify. You ARE a critter blogger extraordinaire. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your favorite critterwriters. I’m checking them out now. I ADORE the blog name “Blue Eyed Monkey Eeeks!”
~ Milli
Thanks for letting me hang out with your other critter friends and relations!
We have a whole stable of critters over here. My husband “Froggy” just launched his iPhone Development blog hopalongDesign.com, featuring none other than a Blue Kangaroo. If you go there and think it’s a foreign language, well – just admire the roo!
Besides those pals mentioned here, one of my favorite critter sites is peterrabbit.com
Speaking of putting the fun back in writing, I smiled all the way through your post Milli. And I love the way Steve gave you your concession NO GUNS then unpolitical by sneaking in a bow tie!
Great photo of George and the Moose. Years ago, I saw his critter while standing in a Montana forest (when watching the salmon come upstream)! Only about 2 yards away I was astonished at his size, but he lumbered along peacefully right by us.
🙂 catherine
Twitter: fearofwriting
Wow, that’s amazing about the moose that sauntered by two yards away as you watched the salmon. Talk about a wild critter moment.
What with the froggy, the purple ‘roo and the blue ‘roo it must be like Mexican jumping beans at your house. 😉
I’ll check out peterrabbit.com. Thanks!
~ Milli
Twitter: Tricia_Sutton
Thanks for the IQOkie shout out. I’m sort of a critter, maybe a hyena.
My Twitter name is from my misinterpreting a personalized license plate of a co-worker. I laughed when I saw it and said something about me being one too (not a lot of Okies in Calif). Things went from bad to worse when she finally told me it said ONE CUTE Okie, as in 1QOkie. Come on! Well, mine is an “I” thanks to that.
Twitter: fearofwriting
Got a big grin from your story about how IQOkie came to be. I’ve definitely wondered about the origins of the name. I like your version better. 😉
What fun! Thanks Milli for adding me as a critter. Remember when we first met that I was really happy to know my Twitter handle was catchy? Sometimes we hope the goal gets met and to hear our aim was good is the best feeling! It seems I have some new critters to meet as listed here.
Patrick Ross and Bacon… too funny. Thanks for introducing me to him by the way. He has some great posts on his blog!
PS: I have a new website for any other critters interested. It may not be as critter-riffic as some others listed but I can dream, right? Comments welcome, even if it is just a comment of “Keep at it!” We all can use some critter support.
Thanks again Milli. 😀
Crystal
Twitter: fearofwriting
Crystal! So pleased you found this post. At the time, I meant to Tweet everyone who was mentioned in it, but Life Happened and I didn’t manage to follow through. I’m tickled you found it anyway.
Yes, I remember when we met and what a cool moment that was, bonding over your Twitter handle.
I will check out your new site and give it some critter love. Off to do that now!
P.S. I’m glad you like Patrick’s blog. He’s very excited today because he just had his first story published in a literary magazine online. Check it out if you’ve got time. His post about getting published (and the comments section) is an inspiration to all aspiring writers:
http://artistsroad.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/literary-baby-steps
Couldn’t resist reading this when I saw the title as I looked for a place to subscribe.
I’ve heard it said, “Some people insist on having FUN!” You must be a founding member of that movement?!?!!
I’m subscribed to two of the sites you mention, Zebra Sounds and SquarePeg Karen—both healthy doses of unconventional.
I was tempted to go to all the links before commenting but knew I wouldn’t make it back to comment if I did. So now I am off to follow the links and to find out how to subscribe to this blog!
Love this article Milli!
While my blog Enlightened Ferret isn’t often written from one of my ferrets points of veiw it does offer a place for homeless ferrets to ask hoomans to check them out to see if they would make a good match.
I follow a number of animal written blogs but one of my favorites is the Anipal Times http://anipalstime.com
A newspaper style blog written by anipals of twitter.
Have a Chittering Good Day,
Jo