Critters That Write

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.

The spirit of Tumblemoose

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!

The Fear of Writing doggy Copyright © 1999 Steve Andrus

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

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.