Gizmo Memorial Portrait Revealed

A year ago, my beloved and faithful writing companion Gizmo the Cat passed away. Many of you all knew her through her photogenic and adorable ways as I posted many pictures of us, usually me writing with her curled up beside me, or me trying to write and her sitting on my hands, me trying to write and her sitting on my keyboard…you get the picture.

While her death was sudden and traumatic (I was a day overdue to give birth to my son), I’m not here to talk about her death, but her life. Because in her life, she modeled and inspired a beloved character, Sir Edgar Allan Kipling, magical talking cat extraordinaire.

While Gizmo, obviously, had little in common with Sir Kipling physically, her spirit of loyalty, care, and inquisitive independence was the foundation upon which Sir Kipling was formed. I was Gizmo’s human, whether I wanted to be or not, and it was her job to take care of me. She was my husband’s cat before we got married, and the first time I came to his apartment (after our second date), Gizmo greeted me at the door and immediately adopted me as her human, thus sealing the deal (we knew we were getting married by our third date).

She was also extremely vocal, we think because she had no tail (removed because of an injury) and so learned to communicate more with her voice. She would chirp and murf at me all day long, and we would have long conversations!

I remember about Gizmo every time I sit down to write Sir Kipling. And now that Gizmo is gone, I think of her as a sort of guardian angel, continuing to comfort and inspire even though she can no longer warm my lap.

A year ago, you all were so very supportive, generous, and kind to help defray the costs of her medical bills (which were in the thousands), and I used a little bit of that extra support to commission a memorial portrait of her. On the anniversary of her ascendance to Guardian Angel Cathood, I wanted to share it with you all. (portrait painted by Sarah Tidwell, an AMAZING artist. Check out her work here: https://www.theinkingdragon.com/)

To mark Gizmo’s one year “going away” anniversary, I’ve put Sir Kipling’s solo adventure, Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Cat Magic on sale, this weekend the ebook is just 99 cents. Grab it on Amazon now and laugh over snarky and adorable cat antics—your laughter and joy are the best memorial Gizmo could ever have! Do share the book and news of the sale with your cat-loving friends, and spread the joy!

I also would love to gift you all with one of my short stories that I wrote a few months after Gizmo died. It stars Sir Kipling, with a very special guest. You can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21697744

(if you want to read more Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus universe short stories, you can join my supporters on Patreon)

I went through some old photos and dug up pictures of Gizmo “helping” me write over the years. She was a great writer’s companion!