I’ve been involved in a wide range of fundraising projects over the years, mainly by providing graphic design and toting stuff around. They include everything from bake sales to creating and selling products, such as the Tuxedo Party group’s body wash (Stan for Men), plant seeds, and even socks. I have always been interested in finding new ways to fundraise and reach a larger audience.
The idea of creating a book as a fundraiser has been rolling around in my head for years. If you gather cat people together over coffee or a glass of wine, you’ll hear a lot of different stories. Most are heartwarming, some are insanely funny, and some, heartbreaking. I always thought it would be great if someone could capture these stories and put them in a book. While this book isn’t exactly that book, the idea of capturing special cat stories inspired it.
The concept isn’t new. You probably have at least one cookbook compiled by, say, hospital auxiliary members as a fundraiser. Often, these books are sold locally. I thought we could go bigger, like worldwide bigger.
The idea for a short story anthology came to me one day while I was attending a Spay Day fundraiser. As I scanned the room, I realized how many of the people around me were writers or involved in publishing. There were magazine writers and editors, two novelists, and a few non-fiction writers.
My own year-long journey in self-publishing convinced me we could produce a fundraiser book and get it on Amazon and a few other platforms for worldwide distribution. We had the writing talent in our community; I just needed to sell them on the idea. And you know, selling some ideas is like … herding cats.
Of course, anyone with more than one cat knows that herding them is easy — all it takes is shaking the treat bag. The people I approached are very busy, so asking them to write a short story was a big ask. But I think the real treat bag was the opportunity to write about their special relationship with an old friend. People who have shared their lives with cats will have known that one special furry being whose story deserves to be told. This was their chance.
I tested the short story waters myself. I wrote about one of our senior cats, titled Jingles Made a Poop. Surprisingly, the story was well received by the cat people community. That bit of success led me to focus on our relationships with quirky, often medically challenged, senior cats. They’ve always been my favourites, anyway.
We also issued a call on social media to involve our supporters in this project through a writing contest. Folks were invited to submit heartwarming stories that honour the everyday magic of older cats: their quirks, their comfort, their companionship.
With my book, Boring Don’t Sell, I learned much of the book designing basics. Mainly through a lot of trial and error plus studying cover and interior design. I figured out the basics of the book design process. With Nine 1/2 Lives I got to be an editor, interior book designer and cover designer. It was a big challenge, I learned even more about book design plus a lot about the editorial process.