Persuasion, Purr-suasion

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a young cat asleep on your chair must not be moved. Have you ever tried getting a cat to do something in a timely fashion? I used to think the trick was to gently persuade, but alas, that never worked. Kitty O would snore on, occasionally twitching his tail to let me know 'Yes, I hear you, but no, you are not persuading me off your chair.'

Just yesterday, he was stretched out right in the middle of a doorway. I had to step around him, of course. No persuading him to take his grey furs elsewhere.

Ah, the doorways of my life as a writer. It seems to me I am always trying to get to the next room. It's either the next book (which I am hoping to put out in August, entitled "While the children slept") or the next blogger/reviewer to contact for the book I published last year, "The girl who went missing." And so often, there is something preventing me from stepping easily across the threshold. Either I have writer's block, or the blogger won't accept a self-published novel, or the reviewer has a very long TBR list, or I have no idea at all how to use social media.

Then I wish I could turn into Kitty O, who uses purr-suasion to get his way. He will rub against my legs, purring madly, until I bend down and pet him just so, or put more food in his bowl....the list is endless.

We writers are meant to persuade readers with our words. I so wish I knew how to make my PR attempts work, the way Kitty O's purrs work immediately. But, just like a book takes a long time to write, persuading others to read it by getting the word out, in this new age of net working, takes time as well.

Or so I persuade myself.