My typist, Ray Rhamey, asked me to tell you a little about him. Since he’s been an excellent associate, what with the catnip and typing up my story and all, I’m happy to oblige.
Ray’s quite catlike, actually—independent as hell and really loves to have his back scratched. I think he was purring when this picture was taken.
His wife, Sarah, reminds me of my Siamese paramour, Queenie—elegant and beautiful. Ray has four fine offspring, too: Abby, Molly, Becky, and Dan. They’re also catlike, especially on the independence part.
I never met anybody better with words
He has made his living with this writer thing he does for quite a while now. He did a long turn in advertising as a copywriter and then a creative director. His sense of humor laced much of his creative work, capped by his droll Budweiser TasteBuds commercials that ran on Saturday Night Live back in the '80s.
But he left advertising and did screenwriting for a while—kids enjoy his TV adaptation of The Little Engine that Could. Then he moved on from that.
I get tired just watching this guy
Here’s where Ray is less like a cat than, say, a cat—he doesn’t sleep most of the day. No, he keeps trying stuff. He’s also a cartoonist, and just about sold a comic strip about an actor pig. He’s planning to do a graphic novel about that character one of these days. I’ll be looking over his shoulder and advising him on the animal point of view.
Ray gives good read
Ray tells me that he’s always been drawn to storytelling. It was only natural that he turned to writing novels after his screenwriting period. He read a couple of them to me, and they’re darned good—they were the primary reason I agreed to let him help me with telling my story. If you get a chance to read one, you won’t be disappointed, even though they’re not funny. There’s one—The Summer Boy—that's a real page-turner of a mystery and love story that happens in 1958.
He’s also an editor who teaches writing and designs books, too
Digging into the craft of writing novels to tell his own stories led him to doing freelance editing of book-length fiction, and that led him to create his blog on writing compelling fiction, Flogging the Quill. I’ll be honest, some of the things I learned from him helped me do this book . . . okay, that’s a plug, but, hey, I’m biased. Full disclosure.
Anyway, his blog led to him publish his book on the craft of writing, Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling. Even though he lives in the Pacific Northwest, he’s got fans all over the world, and I can see how much he enjoys being a member of the writing community and helping other writers. One of his favorite things to do is conduct workshops on writing craft at writers' conferences. But I don’t hold it against him as long as I get my full share of his time.
Now he's helping writers who want to publish their books with editing and book design, both covers and interiors. If you're one of those folks, visit his website, crrreative.com. I know this sounds like I'm shilling for him, but, hey, I'm a fan, okay?
Well, Meg and I are packing for California. I have a feeling that Ray and I are not done yet—there have to be adventures awaiting us in Hollywood. I hope to see you there.
Keep on purrin’.
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