Dear George,I am now a celebrity - two huge pages about me in the Daily Mail. Possibly more to come from the Daily Express. A whole book title devoted to me - Tilly the Ugliest Cat in the Shelter. Admittedly the title is awful but the subtitle about how I rescued my human is acceptable.
I am mentioned on the internet and I am something like 7000 in the Amazon rankings for the UK - well, the book is. But the book is me.Do you have any tips on how to handle fame? Do you think it will change me from a home-loving mousing cat, into a show cat? Will humans treat me differently?
Yours anxiously,
Tilly.
Dear Tilly,
You are experiencing a change in status which occurs to many cats. Most of us feline bloggers - and there are thousands now -- become celebrities. I consider that I have been a celeb since about 2009.
The temptation is to give up on your human. I know I went through this phase. I looked at Celia and I thought: "Who is this little person? This non-celebrity human! Couldn't I do better?" I started sneering at her. Well, I have always sneered occasionally, but now I began to sneer almost all the time.
She seemed beneath me - not just below me due to her humble status as a mere Homo sapiens (LOL), but below me due to her lack of public recognition. Nobody knew who she was. She got no fan letters, no interesting emails. She just didn't have a public.
My attitude was a mistake. I admit it now. I got too big for my puss-in-boots. Luckily, she continued to serve me, feed me, act as doorkeeper, bed warmer and general factotum. I started to see that, while she was inferior both in species and celebritydom, she had her place, her humble place, in my life.
It is the mark of a gentlecat to be kind to inferiors. As you cope with the fans and the publicity, keep this in mind.
Yours sincerely,
George
PS. Mousing has never lost its appeal, despite my fame.
Dear Tilly, you are most beautiful and sweet and you deserve all the fame in the world! You are lucky too to have George as your adviser and Celia as your servant (at times...she can be a bit sneaky when it comes to her dutties, but we LOVE her) :-)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your fame! We enjoy the book! (Thank you George! You are a real friend and gentlecat) We love the book and we caught our humans reading it. Actually we devour the book.
Love & hugs to you all
Fluffy & Cayenne
Tilly, you little devil! By the look of you I can tell you'll handle fame very well!
ReplyDeleteYou'll probably be more demanding while ignoring more humans who'd gladly be your servants!
Go girl!
Diego
PS. I have to check if the book is available in North America.
My dear Tilly,
ReplyDeleteFAME is good as long as you don't loose your mousing skills and don't fall pray to rich tomcats like Tomasso. I made the mistake to fall in love and he just ignored me (probably for not being as famous or as rich as him)
Wishing you great success and I'm looking forward to reading your book!
Love
CAT Victoria
Tilly, I love fame! That's nothing wrong with being famous! Don't let anybody hold you back! My sister is not interested at all in being famous but I am. I just hope that one great movie director will read the book and make a movie out of it! We'll make great characters! You can play yourself and I can play Celia :-)
ReplyDeleteLove
Fluffy
My dear Tilly,
ReplyDeleteFame can be a bit of a cross at times, but your public needs you. Just remember: always be kind, look as politely arch as you can for the pawpurrazzi, and be sure that you are kind to your human factotum--in public, or when anyone can see. You may continue to snub her privately as much as you like. Can't have the poor dear getting a big head, or her service to you will suffer. We must keep our priorities straight. If she's very, very good, perhaps someone very famous will portray her in the movie version of your life's story. Maybe even Ronnie Corbett. Best regards, Puss-Puss
Yes, fame might be a cross to carry at times as Puss Puss said but if you get treats whenever you want....it's worth the hassle :-)
ReplyDeleteJust don't let Celia think she's famous too or who else is going to attend to your demands?
Minnie
Dear Tilly, I LOVE your book! Guess my mummy loves it too - I've seen her crying and laughing while reading it...and she won't put it down. Thanks God she still needs to sleep or go to work, so I can put my paws on the book! Tilly, if you could handle Celia and turn her into your humble servant...you can handle fame!Have fun!
ReplyDeleteLove
Cayenne
Tiily, you little devil! I finished the book! It is a great book! And the fact that you put up with Celia's crazy idea to have you trained to her non-sense tricks while YOU WERE TRAINING her to become your humble servant IT'S BRILLIANT! That only show how brilliant we are and how stupidely naive humans are! I give you and your book 5 paws/stars:-)
ReplyDeleteDiego
Celia, what a wonderful memoir! This is your most intimate account of your life and the cats in it so far! Full of good advice for any human pets that want to have a loving relationship with their masters....we mean....us, cats!
ReplyDeleteBravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Love to you, Ronnie, Tilly and George!
Fluffy & Cayenne