Guest Post: Holly Robinson Author of Sleeping Tigers

I am happy to welcome Holly Robinson to Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf today!  Holly is going to talk about a subject dear to my heart - her furbabies and how they inspire her!

Sometimes Animals Make the Best Muses

~~Holly Robinson              

It isn't easy to stay in your chair long enough to write a novel.  There are the usual demands on your time:  paid work, kids, spouse, house chores.  Then there's the distraction factor:  Who's on Facebook?  What's hot on Twitter?  And who ate the last Oreo?

There is also—and this is big, for most writers—the creeping self-doubt about your own work, which sometimes feels like a thick and hairy vine growing up around the legs of your chair and slowly winding its way up your legs until it squeezes your rib cage and chokes off your air supply.

That's where pets come in handy as muses.  I have two dogs and two cats, and each of them plays a big role in helping me create sentences.  My old Cairn terrier, McDuff, is so feeble that he can scarcely make it around the yard.  It's maddening, trying to walk as slowly as he does, but because he's creeping about, I have plenty of time to ponder things like plot arcs and character development.

On the other hand, when I need to clear out the mental cobwebs, I take Leo, my lively Pekingese, for a brisk walk through the woods, enjoying his little grin and fancy feathery tail waving through the weeds.
 

My cats help ground me as well.  The big tomcat I adopted from a shelter, Mini Wheat, is curled on my lap as I write this, anchoring me in my chair so that I don't get up every twenty minutes when the writing is a slog.  And Jaffa, our smaller gray tabby, is reliably curled on my bed, waiting for me to join her for a nap when I run out of steam.

As I wrote Sleeping Tigers—an adventure novel about a young woman who starts her own life over by trying to save her brother from destroying himself—all four of my pet muses kept me company.  The book takes place in San Francisco and Nepal, so there were plenty of details to research and remember from my own travels to these places, like what it feels like to breathe at 15,000 feet, or how scary it is to cross a bridge that seems like it's made out of toothpicks and twine.  It was exhilarating and exhausting, scary and fun to write this very emotional story.  Thank goodness my four-legged companions were there to help me cross the finish line.  

The lesson here?  Take your muses where you find them, and don't overlook the furry ones.

THE BOOK:

Sleeping Tigers

By Holly Robinson

Jordan O'Malley has everything she ever wanted: a job she loves, a beautiful home, and a dependable boyfriend.  When her life unravels after a breast cancer scare, Jordan decides to join her wildest childhood friend in San Francisco and track down her drifter brother, Cam, who harbors secrets of his own.

When Cam suddenly flees the country, Jordan follows, determined to bring him home.  Her journey takes her to the farthest reaches of majestic Nepal, where she encounters tests—and truths—about love and family that she never could have imagined.  

Funny, heartbreaking, and suspenseful, Sleeping Tigers reminds us all that sometimes it's better to follow your heart instead of a plan.  

THE AUTHOR: 

Holly Robinson is a journalist and comic whose work appears regularly in national venues such as Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Huffington Post, Ladies' Home Journal, More, Open Salon and Parents.  Her first book, The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter: A Memoir, was published by Harmony Books in May 2009 and was released in paperback in June 2010.  It was a Barnes & Noble memoir selection as well as a Target Breakout Book.  
Ms. Robinson holds a B.A. in biology from Clark University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  She and her husband have five children, two cats, a single gerbil and two very stubborn small dogs.  They are currently renovating an antique house north of Boston, and will probably never finish it.

Find Holly:  Website | Blog 

Find Sleeping Tigers: Goodreads | Amazon | BN