A native of West Chester Pennsylvania, children's author Jeff Clineff now resides in Douglassville with his wife, two children, in-laws, eight cats, and two dogs. Though he has been writing all his life for various people and activities, Too Many Kitties is his first published work. In this interview, Clineff talks about his book, his cats, the difficulty of writing picture books, and he offers some good advice to aspiring authors.
Tell us about your recent release. What was your inspiration for it?
My recent and, at the moment, only release is called Too Many Kitties. It is about a day in the life of a boy and his three kitties, Gracie, Skipper and Maxx. It is based on three cats my wife and I have owned in our marriage. Of course, you don’t really “own” cats; they just agree to share their living space with you.
At 15, Gracie is our oldest. She is very much a lap cat and will spend the evenings sitting on my lap and watching TV.
Skipper was an orange tabby stray that we took care of when we lived in Virginia. He was a big, heavy cat. In the mornings, when he wanted to go outside, he would climb up onto the bed, sit on your chest and stare at your face, waiting until you woke up. This didn’t take long given his weight and our need to breath. The minute you opened your eyes he would HOWL until you got up to let him out.
Maxx was a stray who found us in Virginia was well. He was a light tan color with beautiful markings but the oddest thing about him was he had too many toes. Each foot had an extra toe, the front paw toes looking like thumbs. It was our firm belief that the minute we left the house, the other cats would convince Maxx to use his thumbs to work the cat food can opener or dial out for pizza.
Currently, I share my house with my wife, two kids, our six cats, my in-laws, their three cats and two dogs.
What are you working on now?
I have one picture book manuscript that is going through final edits before submitting it to my publisher. I have one picture book I hope to have ready by fall for submission. There are two tween science fiction chapter books rattling around in my head that I need to start putting down on paper, as well as a comedic fantasy novel and Christian mystery book based on Revelations.
Where are your books available?
Too Many Kitties is available from Guardian Angel Publishing, Borders, or Amazon.
Do you have a website/blog where readers may learn more about you and your works?
My Website is jeffclineff.com. I recently started blogging there, with each new update posted “when the spirit moves.”
Article comments