Guest Post Leann Sweeney

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How/why did you start to write?

I always wanted to write but took a different path first, thinking I could never live my dream. But when I started to nudge my children to "follow their dreams" I decided it was time to set an example.

How did you become an author?

I became an author through taking classes, studying, learning from other writers and most importantly reading. I also entered a lot of writing contests because it taught me to follow guidelines that publishers demand. Editors are always looking for a reason to reject a writer because they get so many submissions. I wanted to make sure that I didn't give them an immediate reason to reject me before they read my work.

What was your first published piece?

I believe it was a short story.

Where was it published?

It appeared in a small magazine and I was paid nothing except free copies. But I saw my name in print.

How long ago?

This was in the mid-nineties.

What did you do before embarking on your writing career? Was it an asset to your writing? How?

I was a registered nurse but I also have a degree in behavioral science. Both those things help me create believable characters.

What inspires you?

Any "what if" question. Anything beautiful that I want to find words to describe. Human nature.

Please share one of your successful author platform building technique

I have to thank the successful authors I knew before I was published. They gave me quotes for my first book—people like Carolyn Hart and Rick Riordan. Their quotes appeared on my covers and I know it helped launch me. It was difficult asking for those quotes because I don't like to impose but it was a step that proved so helpful. I don't hesitate when an editor asks me for a cover quote now.

Parting words

I have two series currently in publication but only one I am writing now—the Cats in Trouble Mysteries with amateur sleuth and quilter Jillian Hart as the heroine. And the little kitty quilts my heroine makes? I've made a few myself.

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Still Life with Cats (short story) (humour) by Leanne Dyck

There was a time I shared my home with three (loveable and well-loved) cats. Sometimes I miss them, but sometimes I.... Read this...

Still Life with Cats

I work from home, so some might think that I'm my own boss--but they'd be wrong. I'm just a servant. 

Let me tell you how I woke up this morning. There was a stampede right outside my bedroom door. 

This pounding of paws was accompanied by a siren, Merow, Meow, Merow, Meow.

A glance at my alarm clock and I roared, “It’s too early to wake up!”  

   

 But I’m merely a humble servant; four paws—two on my chest, two on my stomach—persuaded me to get up. I swung my legs off my bed, and my big toe hit something furry. It was a mouse—headless, but otherwise intact.

Down the hall to get my garden gloves, back to my bedroom to collect my gift—the dead mouse—back down the hall to take it outside, all the while skirting my cats’ paws, tails, and heads. I swear, sometimes it feels like they want to trip and kill their human. Maybe they dream of replacing me with a newer model—one that springs out of bed. 

     

The doorknob felt loose and heavy in my hand. I failed to note the significance of this, stepped out onto the porch, closed the door, and the doorknob fell into my hand. Doorknob in one hand--dead mouse in the other.

"I can't use that door and the front door's locked," I muttered under my breath, as I took the mouse to the tall grass.

           

I keep a window open so my long-tail masters can come and go as they please. They circled around me, jumped inside, and then started to howl, and I knew what they were saying. 

"Come inside, you silly human. It's breakfast time."

I was pulling my left leg through the window when I saw my neighbour out of the corner of my eye.

"Good morning, Leanne," she said.

I answered, "Meow"--at that point, it seemed the most appropriate thing to say. 

Revised on August 24, 2020