Daisy Paquet asked Shannon Messenger:

Hi there! I was wondering, and I'm not sure if you've answered this already, but how many cats is an embarrassing number? because at one time I had 15 cats. No joke. don't know where they came from... Other questions I have are these: Have you ever critiqued another author's work? Has your work ever been critiqued? Are any of your friends authors? Do they write different genres from you? Sorry, I'm inquisitive. :p

Shannon Messenger Wow, 15 is a LOT of cats. At one point we had 11 (we were taking care of a mama cat and her kittens) but at the moment we currently have 5. Part of the reason I stick with "an embarrassing number" in my bio is because the number changes. This year we lost two kitties and went from 6 to 4, then adopted a new one and went back to 5.

As for critiquing, yes, I used to be critique partners with several writers who are now published authors, and they did the same for me. And we still read for each other from time to time, though now that I have things like deadlines and an editor, it tends to be more that they'll give me quick opinions on a chapter I'm struggling with--or help me brainstorm a plot thing--and leave the larger edit notes to my editor, since...that's an editor's job. I'm also lucky to be friends with many authors who write a wide variety of things. But I'll hold off on listing any names because somehow that feels strange.

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