Well, it's official. I think my cat Oreo has written more words than me this past week. Keep reading to find out more about his new novel, "CATastrophe!" LOL!

It's been awhile since my last blog, but that's because I actually HAVE been busy writing. Plus prepping to teach my writing class every Wednesday at UCLA Extension Writers Program. I officially submitted my latest picture book manuscript to my editor, so at this point, fingers crossed she likes it!

Since then, I've been working on a new idea for my next YA novel and I have even written several chapters of my first adult novel. (I started out writing adult literary fiction, but switched to YA and picture books because I fell in love with that genre. But lately I've been itching to work on some adult stuff, so that's how this novel started. It's been fun!)

Anyway, poor Oreo felt miffed at the lack of attention lately. He's been learning how to type, as evidenced in the picture above. To my surprise, he recently started his own Twitter page and has been using it to write his new novel, "CATastrophe!" a few sentences every day. Here's his Twitter site: http://twitter.com/OreoTheCatYoo

He wrote this on June 26th: "CatMommy is still in the writing batcave. So I am starting my own Cat Novel. I will announce my title soon..."

Then he wrote: "Do you like this for my Cat Novel? Catastrophe! Get it? CATastrophe? It will be very exciting. I've written more words than CatMommy today!"

So I decided every Friday, I will collect all the the sentences together so you can enjoy "CATastrophe!" in weekly segments on my blog! I'm actually quite impressed with his writing style. Who knew a budding mystery writer lurked inside my little cat Oreo?

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"CATastrophe!" A Novel by Oreo the Cat

http://twitter.com/OreoTheCatYoo

Friday July 2, 2009 Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE:

She is finally asleep. I sneak down the dark hall.

I notice the front door is open. I hear footsteps. Who can it be? Are they stealing my tuna?

I sneak towards my food bowl. I see a dark shadow and hiss. I hear footsteps. Someone's running away!

I scurry to the kitchen. Someone's overturned my food bowl! Tuna is scattered across the floor.

I notice the backdoor is open. I am about to investigate but ... sniff sniff... mmm, tuna on floor!

After nibbling the tuna off the floor, I notice something's wrong. Where's my owner's violin?

I peer outside the living room window. A black car roars by. My owner's violin is in the backseat!

I meow loudly but the car disappears. I gallop back to my owner to wake her up. But she's gone too!

Suddenly, footsteps! My owner picks me up. I meow loudly, warning her about her violin. But she ignores me.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

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What do you think, everyone? Not bad for a little cat, huh? Hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!