On cats and creativity

I am a writer.
Two cats live with me.
Now many people would say that they "own" a couple of cats but, to me anyway, that would be incorrect. No one truly "owns" a cat.
That's not PETA talking, that's just a fact. Dogs and cattle have been domesticated. Cats haven't been, not in any true sense of the word. They agree to share space with humans but they retain their independence and, periodically, they feel obliged to remind us of that fact.
That's not to say that they can't be loving companions. They certainly can be and mine are.
But, and this is important, they do so on their own terms.
So, what does all that have to do with the creative process?
For me, there are three answers to that single question.
First, and perhaps most important, is the fact that cats never lose their sense of wonder.
No matter how old they are, they are always fascinated by flies in the summer, by small boxes they can hardly squeeze into, and by random bits of paper. They watch the world through eyes that are alive with curiosity about those things they can see, taste, smell, hear, and touch.
If you are a writer of any stripe - poet, journalist, novelist, essayist - it's a quality that's essential to the creative process. If you do not see the world as a wonderful place - sometimes terrifying, yes, but always wonderful in the full meaning of the word - I can't imagine that you can write a book, a poem, an essay or a news story.
In fact, I can't imagine that you'd even want to do any of those things.
The point: If we lose our sense of wonder about anything and everything we lose the creative spark.
Second, cats are keen observers.
That's another vital part of the creative process. Many people stumble through life in a sort of haze. They don't notice what the people around them are wearing as they walk down the street. They don't register the smell of frying fish coming from their neighbor's apartment or the patterns that shadows make as winter sunlight passes through the branches of a tree that has lost its leaves. They are too busy trying to get someplace, to go somewhere.
Cats aren't like that. In the wild they are both predators and prey and survival demands that they be aware of everything around them. It's possible to startle a cat, but that's a rare occurrence and something that only happens to cats that are living in a home.
As writers we must also be keen observers. If we are, we can add those small but essential details to our work that makes reading a story, a poem, a Page One article, or an essay an enriching, pleasurable, and rewarding experience.
If we aren't, we don't add those details and our work is flat, boring.
Finally, cats are unpredictable.
Completely unpredictable.
They can be playing with a ball or with each other and suddenly stop and wander off for a nap. They can be sitting in your lap, purring as you scratch behind their ears and, just as suddenly, bite your thumb and then jump to the floor and stalk off.
Why?
No one really knows because no matter how long you and your cat(s) have shared living space you can never truly know what goes on in their minds.
As writers we also need that quality.
We need to be unpredictable in the characters we create, the situations they find themselves in, their relationships to other characters, and their reactions to other elements in the narrative.
It's easy, for example, to write about the brave soldier who never flinches - easy and boring. There's no depth to that character. If, however, our brave soldier flinches but goes forward anyway, he's a more interesting character. He's even more interesting if - despite past heroic acts - he not only flinches but runs away.
Is he a coward?
Has he just seen too much?
The point is, being unpredictable keeps the reader interested, involved.
So, I am a writer.
Two cats live with me.
And they are constant reminders that creativity demands a sense of wonder, keen observation and unpredictability.

Mike Billington, author of "Blood Debt"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJCCII2