I have always been an animal lover and through the years have had and loved many animals of different species. Through the course of my life with my animals inevitably many situations arose, some funny, some tragic, some heart-warming. I always knew I’d write about my life with animals but it seems I needed a little impetus to get started. That impetus came through a series of some simple exchanges. I was having a conversation with a 7th grade teacher friend wherein she was describing an assignment she had given her English students. The assignment had to do with stories about unlikely heroes. Within moments I was telling her my ‘unlikely hero’ story. It was about my cat Rajah, a Siamese who indeed rose to hero status years before in an unlikely series of events. She was enthralled by my story so I told her I’d write so she could share it with her students. I wrote the story, she shared it and the students loved it! I called the story “The Hero.” And that was when I became a writer of animal short stories.
Serendipity dipped in a bit later when an author cousin of mine emailed me a link to a website for the Ontario Veterinary College. The announcement, a Call for Submissions, announced that in honor of their 150th year anniversary, The Veterinary College planned to publish an anthology of animal stories. I submitted “The Hero” and it was accepted for inclusion in their book entitled: Animal Companions, Animal Doctors, Animal People which was published in 2012.
It seems fitting that Rajah, my first beloved Siamese, led my first foray into the world of publication!
The book is available through Amazon.com and if you get the chance to read “The Hero” I would love to hear your comments!