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Speaker 1: This is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Beeline Boons, Welcome to Coutitude. I'm your show host,

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Michelle Byrne, and what a cool shall I have for

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you today? So my guest is a teacher, a writer,

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an author, a reader, and an agent. And she wrote

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the most adorable book about cats for your kids. So

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stay tuned and we're gonna have her in just a minute.

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We'll be waight back.

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Speaker 3: Take a bite out of your competition. Advertise your business

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large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than

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visit Petlifradio dot com. Slash advertised today.

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Speaker 4: Let's Talk pets on petlifradio dot com.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone. I'd like to welcome Kate Bikean to Cautatude.

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Welcome Kate.

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Speaker 5: Hi, nice to be here, so glad to have you on.

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Speaker 2: So let's talk about your book. What is the title

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of your book and what inspired you to write it?

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Speaker 5: The title's My book is called pay Attention to Me,

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and I wrote the words and Rob Justice did the illustration.

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It's a book for children. And I have to say

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I was inspired by cats on the Internet. And I

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have been working in books for a long time, just

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about twenty years, and a long time ago I used

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to I represented a book called Ken has Cheeseburger, which

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had pictures of cats with funny captions on them, and

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lots of people wanted to get their cat famous on

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the Internet and would send their pictures in. And so

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I was just reading and enjoying tons and tons and

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tons of cats on the Internet, and I imagine what

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it would be like for a kid to try and

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get their cat to be famous on the internet. And

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as I wrote the story and as I worked with

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an editor, it totally changed. My editor suggested I write

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this book from the point of view of a cat

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who wanted to be famous, and I felt like I

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could really get into the mind of a cat from

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just reading and enjoying so many cats online, and I

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tried to get into the head of this cat who

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wanted to be famous so that his people wouldn't leave

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to go places like work or soccer practice. Because he,

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of course is named Edgar, was the best cat in

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the world, and he just thought he should be just

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enjoyed as such.

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Speaker 2: Okay, got it. What a cute bug. So you wrote

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a book about cats and what it's like to, you know,

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for a cat to be Internet famous in all of this,

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But you have a dirty little secret I do.

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Speaker 5: I am allergic to cats and dogs and bunnies and

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I like to say anything with hair that grows unfortunately

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out me.

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Speaker 2: Oh so you don't have to own a cat, own

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cat personal cat.

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Speaker 5: No, I don't, and my almost ten year old is

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very heartbroken about it. But now we have a bearded

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dragon lizard, so that is good enough for now. I

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did have a cat very briefly when I was in

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graduate school, and I decided to ignore the fact that

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I was aware cats. But it didn't work out well

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for either of us, and I was not prepared for

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a kitten, and he was taken in by lovely people

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who loved him to death. So my cat ownership was

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short lived.

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Speaker 2: You know, I still think you can understand and learn

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and appreciate cats just because you're not a cat parent.

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Most of our listeners are cat parents, or want to

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be cat parents, or have a thing for cats. Absolutely,

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and I'm allergic to cats, but I'm well aware there's different,

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you know, variances of allergies. Some people can just take

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over the counter and just be fine, and some people,

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you know, have much more extreme effects. I have a

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friend to this day that's never walked through my house.

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She's at my CaTiO after we cleaned it up because

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she's just so allergic.

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Speaker 5: That would be me, unfortunately. I take a lot of

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vology to medications just to get through the world. And

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I can spend about fifteen minutes in a closed room

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with a cat, and outside I could cet a cat

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for as long as I want, as long as I

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didn't touch my face. But I'm a big, big fan

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of all of my friend's cats, which I ask after

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and hear about all the time, and also of course

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adorable cats on the internet. So I feel like I

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get to live vicariously through my friends and the famous

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cats I follow.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, So let's talk about cats and the Internet, since

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that's what your book is about. You know, I think

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almost everybody can name at least one or two cats

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that are, you know, Internet famous, like hugely Internet famous,

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and in some cases I've done amazing things for the

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world of cats. Why did you want Edgar to be

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Internet famous?

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Speaker 5: Well, I think this actually kind of happened in the

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writing process about me really thinking about it, because I

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was the youngest. I am the youngest child of my siblings.

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There's three of us, and I did a lot of

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turning to get their attention and get everybody's attention because

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I was the littlest, and it was really easy for

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me to slip under the rug and sometimes it was fun.

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I could do whatever I wanted, but I did want

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a lot of the ten. So I think I understood

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where Edgar was coming from in that way, or I

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gave him those feelings I had as a kid, but

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also that feeling of wanting to be close to the

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people that you love, and even if you're going about

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it in a silly way, which is what Edgar is doing.

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He's proving he's very smart by writing his name with

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his claws on the back of the couch, which he

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should not do. He is imagining how great it will

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be to be a famous cat and have his own

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personal messuse and a sunbeam director, and he is doing things.

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My favorite part of the book is he says he

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calls on the wisdom of his ancestors, and that wisdom

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is if I fit, I sit, which is a long

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time cat joke on the internet. And he goes and

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fits in the middle of the family board game, which

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no one is happy about, but he thinks is the greatest.

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And I think that we've all seen cats or have

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cats who have just made some poor choices to us,

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but they think it's the best idea in the world.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's funny if it fits, they sit. I

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want did to show that cats are like liquid because

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they'll just pour themselves into anything that they think they

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can fit in, which is nuts.

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Speaker 5: It's adorable too.

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Speaker 2: That too. So getting back to the cats. Do you

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think cats are more Internet popular than say, dogs?

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Speaker 5: I do. I think that dogs have made a strong comeback.

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I've been kind of a semi expert about animals on

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the Internet for since maybe twenty two thousand and eight,

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maybe when I started working with I can as cheeseburger,

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and I had these strong theories about why cats were

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more popular than dogs, and I thought it was because

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cats have such a range of expression on their face.

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They can look mad, they can look happy, they can

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look bored, they can look suspicious, they can look guilty,

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and that dogs are kind of like happy or asleep.

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And I think that now there are more expressive dogs

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that we see, But in the beginning, I thought that

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cats just had so much more personality and a variety

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of faces to show that we could then ascribe their

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thoughts and feelings and make jokes out of them. I

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still think that I still stand by that. I think

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that cats are more expressive and a lot of dogs,

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not all dogs, of course, but I think that now

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that we are now the internet is more populated by

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video dogs being very active, which cats can be two

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of course makes her pretty good little videos. So I

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think maybe dogs have kind of come back up in

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the Internet standings of who's winning versus cats versus dogs.

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Speaker 2: Yep, I mean I was a dog person first, then

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cats found me, and now just a cat household. Now

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I'm thinking I could name at least two famous cats

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and only one dog.

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Speaker 5: So oh, gosh, I could probably name, well, my favorite

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internet I had. Yeah, my favorite internet kat is Elsie

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the Talking cat from Mary Robinett Cowell and Elsie uses

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the buttons to talk, and I think Elsie is a genius.

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Speaker 2: Now I don't even know who else he is all

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I'm missing out.

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Speaker 5: Oh she's the best. She reviewed the book. Actually, you

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can go on Mary Robinette's Instagram feed for Elsie and

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Elsie really did like the book. So we have that.

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Speaker 2: Well, that says a lot. Let's talk about the diva cats.

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Edgar kind of sounds like a diva. Oh, yes, absolutely,

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which I think is true about most cats. I mean

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I even tell mine Molly, who's the most diva? Just oh,

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come on, stop ready with this attitude? You know, you

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know you have conversations with them, right, I mean I

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think that's normal. So what does Edgar do that makes

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him a diva? I mean, as there are divas, they're

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also hilarious little drama queens. So what are some of

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Edgar's moves that you know portray him as mister diva?

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Speaker 5: Well, first and foremost, he thinks he's right. He has

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the most correct opinions of anybody in the house. And

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obviously he deserves and requires this attention from everybody at

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his command. He even says, you know in the book

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that he deserves all this attention, but he reserves the

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right to walk away from the family at any time

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when he needs a little break, and that's perfectly fine

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for him. But everybody else must be on call to pet,

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given pets and treats. And so I think that Edgar

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is a diva in how he's approaching getting this attention

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from his family. But what he at heart really just

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wants is their love. And he gets it. He has

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all of the family member's heart. He's just kind of

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going about it in a silly way.

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Speaker 2: So from Edgar's point of view, as he escalates his

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antics in the book to get noticed, what do you

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wish that you know? And from your perspective, which is

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unique because you're a cat person, but you don't have cats,

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So what do you think that cats might wish humans

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might pay more attention to in real life?

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Speaker 5: Well, part of the book two mentions that the humans

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are on their phones a lot, and I bet that

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there are plenty of cats out there who will bet

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a phone out of their humans' hands to get more

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pets or I've seen on the internet cats will close

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the laptop and so I can't imagine that a cat would.

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If I had a cat, it would do that to

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me for sure, just to say, hey, get off your

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phone and come, let's play, or let's you know, come

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scratch my head and the cat would be right. We

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probably should get off our phones.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we should. It's crazy. Some people are so glued

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to it. They're important. Yeah, but you got to give

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it a break. Yeah, speaking a break. We're going to

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take a short break and we'll be right back. Talk

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to the paw.

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Speaker 6: Hi didn't Amy sure?

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Speaker 2: Hi?

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Speaker 5: I'm Jane Lynch. This is Mandy Boyne. Hi there, I'm

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Kate Wallach. There's Katherine Tigle.

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Speaker 6: There's only one station that gives you the scoop on

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wagging tongues and tails and who's walking? Who in rent

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and tencil down pet Life Radio, the tail Wagger. Let's

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talk past.

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Speaker 2: Let's pet Life Radio, HETLFE Radio.

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Speaker 7: Pet Life Radio dot Com.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. We're talking to Kate McKean. She has

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written the book Pay Attention to Me, which is inspired

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by cats on the Internet. So Kate, all the research

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he did, I mean on the internet. I mean talk

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about something fun. Watching cats on the internet for research

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must have been a lot of fun. Did you get

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anything that you thought? This is just I cannot believe

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this cat is doing this. This is mind blowing.

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Speaker 5: I actually tried to put in the book even more

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ridiculous things than a cat would actually do on the Internet,

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so I would see the things that they would do,

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like jump on top of the highest point in the house,

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or knock over things, or get the zoomies, or just

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absolutely freak out and jump five feet in the air

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and all these things. And I actually wanted these things

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to be even more kind of bonkers in the book,

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like Edgar does scratch his name in the back of

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the couch, which if a cat scratched its actual name

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and could write English, that would be I mean, it

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would be the best cat video on the internet. But

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it also says he reads the newspaper every day in

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his litter box, and he goes to he sneaks into

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the backpack of the little kid in the book his

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name is Quinn and goes to school with Quid. And

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I've never seen a video of a cat going to

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school with a kid, but I bet you had's out there.

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Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure it's happened. I've heard of people packing

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their cats by accident, not for waw right, because they

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like to cozey in and get into your stuff and everything.

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And I've had my couch scratched. But I don't think

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Dennis put his.

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Speaker 5: Name in it. Just no, that would be something.

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Speaker 2: That would be right. He just did his own artistic expression.

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So if Edgar was an influencer and had his own

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social media account, what would that look like and what

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kind of influencer would he be?

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Speaker 5: Oh, I think he'd be a really kind of casual, happy,

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go lucky he kind of influencer. He wouldn't be like

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perfectly made up with this cat blowout and like perfect

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makeup or clothes or whatever. I think he'd be a

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real casual, friendly cat who would sit on a couch

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and be like, hey, guys, what's up today. We're gonna

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read the newspaper, or we're gonna sneak into Quinn's back

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and go to school. And he would be somebody you'd

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really you almost think you're friends with, instead of somebody

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that would be like perfect that you were like, Oh,

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I want to grow up and be Edgar. I think

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you would say I want Edgar to be my best friend.

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Speaker 2: Okay, what breed is Edgar closest too?

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Speaker 5: Well, he is inspired a little bit by a cat

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that is called Happy Cat for Mike and have Cheeseburger,

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who's a gray Scottish fold and he in the book

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is kind of blue gray and he has some stripes,

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so he's not exactly that. But when I spoke to

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the illustrator to give him like a little bit of

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what was in my head because I'm not a visual

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artist again, I had a picture of Edgar in my head,

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and I was like, I want him to be goofy

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and round and fluffy like Garfield in a way, but

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also kind of have that happy, like dumbness, you know.

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Like I was like, I want a big dumb cat,

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but dumb and the most loving way. But he was

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just happy and that he was just trying his best

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and he might not do everything right, but you still

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love them. And so he is a really cartoony happy cat.

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Speaker 2: Vibe to me, Wow, I think I want Edgar.

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Speaker 5: I want Edgar. I wish I could have Edgar. He

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would be the best cat.

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Speaker 2: I would say. He's probably a little bit main coon

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because they are the coolest cats.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and I don't see him as like long hair,

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but he's definitely fluffy.

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Speaker 2: Well, one of mine is a mix, but he is,

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oh yeah, long hair, and he's lazy, so every so

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often he starts looking like a lion. So I hope

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your book is hugely popular with kids and parents. But

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what do you hope that the kids me adults take

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away from pay attention to me?

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Speaker 5: I hope that everyone takes away from the book just

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to sit down and look around at what's around them,

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the people, the animals, and give them a big hug.

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Just be like, oh hi, I've been a little distracted.

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Let's sit down, let's snuggle, Let's play with a little

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mousey toy, or you know, let's watch a movie, or

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let's go on a walk. If you have a cat

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who will go outside walk just to kind of take

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a second look around and say, oh, yeah, all these

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people I love are right here. I'm going to go

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and appreciate them.

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Speaker 2: And what would you say to some of the people listening,

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that'd say, while you're telling people to go away from

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their phones, but people read on their phones now they're

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just reading, you know, in a book.

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Speaker 5: Oh I love ebooks. Oh goodness, I love ebooks. I

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love audiobooks. Those are fantastic. I'm always listening to an

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audiobook and reading in an ebook.

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Speaker 2: But different than just scrolling on your phone.

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Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, that's the part I need to not do,

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is just get to fall down in the endless scroll.

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Speaker 2: Because that's a huge difference some people. If you're reading

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an e book, it's different, but you're still to me,

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and I'm an avid reader. I love the app Libby.

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I don't get paid by them or anything, but if

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it wasn't for that app, I'd rather have that done

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a credit card. I mean, I have credit but the

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best app that works with your library card, and it's

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just wonderful. I mean, there's plenty of places you could

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buy books online too. I'm a big fan of libraries.

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Speaker 5: You can get my book on Libby. I'm pretty sure.

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I'd have to go back and look the libraries are

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carrying this book, And if you have, it might not

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be the best place to read it on, like say

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an iPhone or something like that. But if you have

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any other color tablet, you can read picture books on Libby.

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I've definitely done that with my kid.

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Speaker 2: One thing is cool about it is that whether you're

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reading digital or you know, hardback, your imagination is working.

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When when you're just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, that's

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just like not so much.

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Speaker 5: Imagination, Yeah, just tuning out.

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Speaker 2: Tuning out, And we're doing that too much. What about

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for those listeners that cats but can't have one because

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of allergies, like yourself, what would you tell them?

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Speaker 5: I feel your pain. I'm woming you talk to your

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doctor about just how much medication you could take you

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the time. I've had shots before and too, and you know, really,

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it just varies so much from person to person. And

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I also hear all those whenever I tell someone I'm

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allergic to animals, dogs or cats or whatever, They're like, oh,

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but you can get this one certain kind of dog

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or cat, and I get no, I cannot. There are

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so many different kinds of allergies and allergens out there

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that the hairless cat, I don't think would make me

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feel any better than a main coon. So I feel

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your pain. And luckily there are so many cats on

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the Internet that you can enjoy and check up on

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and even interact with talk to their owners. They can

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kind of get your fix that way too.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I'm glad again you'd brought up the fact

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that there's different types of allergies, because yeah, my cat

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allergy is definitely much different than yours, because I could,

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I could tolerate to be around them with medicine. But

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I would need that regardless because I'm alergic to other

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stuff as well, like grass. What am I going to

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do live in a place without grass? No? No, you

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just have to take Yeah, I'm not big on Oh

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you have to pop a drug for this. This this

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but helps you get by. It helps you get by. Okay.

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So if you speaking of all this orange business, now,

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I'm gonna look one eighty. If you had one day

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where your allergies were just subside for one day, you

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had this like magical day and you could spend it

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with any cat you wanted, what would your cat date

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look like?

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Speaker 5: Oh? Could I have just like a pile of kittens?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just like for me, it's your your fantasy,

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your cat fantasy.

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Speaker 5: I would like to have a pile of kittens old

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enough to play, you know, like baby baby baby, brand

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new ones. And I would just like to lay around

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with a pile of kittens and play with them and

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snuggle with them, and then maybe actually have about a

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morning of kittens and an afternoon of mature cats who

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wanted to lay around in the sun. So playing in

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the morning, watching kittens be cute and silly and play

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with each other, and then in the afternoon a nice

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lazy cat who let me pritch their ears and pur

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a lot and snuggle.

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Speaker 2: Okay, thank you for sharing. That is there going to

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be a sequel to pay attention to me? And we

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should we expect to see Edgar again?

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Speaker 5: I hope. So we start working on it, and I'm

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definitely going to be writing more children's books down the

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road because it's such a fun experience.

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Speaker 2: So, Kate, we have a vast audience, and I know

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from the emails I received, we have a few authors

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out there listening. What advice would you give people if

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they were writing children's books, or of course cat or

405
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kitten children's books, what would you tell them?

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Speaker 5: I would say to go to the library and sit

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down in the kids section and read one hundred children's

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books because they are their own little animal. And people

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think they're very easy to write because they're short, but

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they're actually much harder to write and say a one

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hundred thousand word novel. They just take less time because

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each little word in the book has to be perfect

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and has to do a lot of work. And it's

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worked that the illustrations are not doing because you wouldn't

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say Edgar is a beautiful blue cat or gray cat

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when there's a picture of a beautiful blue gray cat

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on the next page. You don't have to say those words.

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So it takes a long time to understand what work

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in a story the pictures are doing, and what work

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and story the words are doing. And then I also

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tell people to avoid trying to teach a kid a lesson,

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like let's remind kids that they must say please and

423
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,480
thank you with this cute cat. I mean, there are

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lots of books out there that teach kids wonderful things.

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I think that my book can teach people things. But

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kids can smell homework from a mile away, and they

427
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can smell when a grown up is trying to trick

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them into something. So I think that the most effective

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children's books are ones that talk to the kid on

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their level in whatever language you know, high diction or

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silly words, as they are just the most important person

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in the room because they are, and what does a

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kid want to see? What does a kid want to

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00:22:14,079 --> 00:22:17,039
enjoy instead of I have learned everything about life, and

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I will teach the next generation everything they need to

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00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,359
know with this this funny picture book. And I think

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00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,119
those two things can really get you ahead in the

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long process of writing and publishing children's books.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for sharing that. That's really interesting

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00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,640
to hear. Where can people find Pay Attention to Me?

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00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,559
Speaker 5: You can learn more about it on my website at

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00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,400
Kate McKean dot com, and you can find it at

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00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,440
your local bookstore and anywhere online, especially bookshop dot org.

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Speaker 2: Hiwen, thank you so much for coming on Catitude and

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telling us all about pay Attention to Me.

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00:22:51,599 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 5: And Edgar happy to great talking to you.

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00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,839
Speaker 2: I hope everyone enjoyed this show. Please look for pay

448
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,920
Tention to Me by Kate McKean. So thank you Kate

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00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,400
for coming on Catitude. I want to thank my cat

450
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,200
crew Dennis, Charlotte and Mollie teach me all about cats

451
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,599
and I just do my part keeping my allergies in check.

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Thank you to my Ctitude audience for your loyal listenership.

453
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:24,039
I greatly appreciate that. Thank you to my amazing producer

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00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:27,799
Mark Winter for all you do, and hey, above all,

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00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,720
remember lose the attitude, have catitude.

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00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:37,920
Speaker 4: Let's Talk pets every week on demand only on petlifradio

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dot com