tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19749883.post7044657784303029946..comments2023-11-03T04:06:59.105-07:00Comments on Murder Your Darlings: CLBledsoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03142933987365726568noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19749883.post-61899002486452696802011-12-29T18:48:12.120-08:002011-12-29T18:48:12.120-08:00As fiction editor of issue 34 (and many others) I ...As fiction editor of issue 34 (and many others) I can assure you that there was hell to pay for letting that cat slip into a story. In my defense, it wasn't really about the cat. Or the penis.F. John Sharphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15951448685656900359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19749883.post-82887784152458020652011-12-29T06:19:57.670-08:002011-12-29T06:19:57.670-08:00Careful readers of Right Hand Pointing, the online...<i>Careful readers of Right Hand Pointing, the online journal I founded and have edited for nearly 8 years, will recall (and be amused) that I specifically exclude writings about one’s pets in the submission guidelines.</i><br /><br />I mustn't have read your guidelines well enough, since I submitted a story ("After Gilda") about, among other things, a pet. But you mustn't have read the story well enough, since you published it (in Issue 34). There must be a lesson there.<br /><br />I'm right now suffering anticipatory grief over my cat Lucy, 17, who has been on death's door four times and is more active now than ever. After reading your article I gave her yet another anticipatory hug, as I do frequently every day. I think she wants me to knock it off and let her sleep. Except when she, like your Memphis, interferes with my typing by settling on the arm of my office chair and petting me, at which time she also wants her chin (and neck) scratched, and body stroked. But not her tail. Never her tail. I only get a couple of brief pets of her tail a day before she loses patience with me.<br /><br />I also had a dog come to stay with us (a long story, and a long time ago) and I also felt the guilt when he collided with my cats. The dog ended up in a no-kill shelter that night, for the bargain price of $100 (they told me two weeks later he'd been given to a rural farm family where he'd have plenty of room to run off his energy. I worked hard at believing this was true). All cats involved (including Gilda) lived for years thereafter. I'm not sure if they ever forgave me, but I think so. Maybe that's the difference between people and animals.<br /><br />My sincere condolences on the loss of your mother.And thank you for this lovely piece, it meant a lot to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com