blame it on Mary
Here’s a little bit of trivia about the Top Secret Projects 
I’m working on at the moment:
Two of the three stories involved so far have pets in them.
You all know what a huge animal lover I am, & as often as humanly possible, I like to promote the idea of animal adoption/rescue, spay/neuter, etc.—in real life & in my novels. (Yeah, it’s a soapbox…so sue me. smilie#22 )
So for Top Secret Project #1, I wrote in an adorable set of rescued cats. (I’ll let you discover for yourselves whether they were rescued by the hero or heroine & what their names are.)
And Top Secret Project #2 contains a really cute adopted bulldog. I sort of fell in love with him as I was writing; if he were real, I 
think I’d steal him. smilie#21
Now it’s time to start Top Secret Project #3, & I want to include pets again. But because the hero & heroine are turning out to be a little different from my original plans, I’m thinking the pet should be a little different, too. But what kind of pet could it be? smilie#29
Well, this is where the “blame it on Mary” part comes in. I’ve decided Top Secret Project #3‘s loveable pet(s) is going to be…a RAT!
And we get to blame that on our own Darling Mary Kirkland because she has pet rats & regularly talks about/posts pictures of them! (I actually think she may have been subliminally trying to get me to write about rats all along! smilie#9 )
I’m very excited about this, because even though I’ve never had a pet rat of my own, I’ve always loved rats! I think they’re adorable & make wonderful pets, especially (over hamsters, gerbils, etc.) for children.
At the moment, I’m leaning toward one brown-&-white or gray-&-white rat named Marbles, but that could change to two or even three. And I should probably ask Darling Mary‘s permission to use that name for one of my character’s fictional pets, since I’m pretty sure she has a furbaby named Marbles of her own.
So what do you think? Are you ready for a romance with a rat in it? I think you’re going to love it. smilie#32
And how about it, Darling Mary—can I use your baby’s name? (And do you think I can pull this off? smilie#20 )
Comments
31 Comments • Comments Feed
Mary Kirkland says:
Oh Heidi,
I think my Marbles would have loved that idea. He was a grey Rex rat. Rex rats have soft, curly coats and if you breed two Rex rats together you can get a hairless rat, which I also have.
Marbles lived to be 3.5 years old and I just love the fact that you are going to incorporate a rat into one of your books.
Of course you can use the name Marbles. I would love that!
smilie#32
On November 6, 2014 at 2:08 am
Gerald Rennie says:
As the author of The Rat Chronicle series, I have always seen rats in a good light, like I portray them in my books. I love the idea that there are other authors who see them the same way.
On November 6, 2014 at 2:24 am
Donna A says:
My son had a black and white rat he named skunk.
On November 6, 2014 at 7:30 am
Kathleen O says:
The only Rats I have any knowledge of, is the two-legged variety.
On November 6, 2014 at 10:04 am
Barbara Pomales says:
smilie#19 cool u can care and travel for rat easy right??
On November 6, 2014 at 10:17 am
Mary Kirkland says:
They are really easy to take care of. The only thing different from a guinea pig or hamster is that they really like to live with other rats and you have to spend time with them each day. Rats like to come and hang out with you.
On November 6, 2014 at 2:20 pm
Laura J. says:
We took our 3 original rats (we’ve had/have a total of 14 over the last few years) with us to Gatlinburg for vacation one year.
On November 6, 2014 at 6:19 pm
Brooke C says:
I’ve always loved rats too and really wanted one as a child, but my mom HATES mice and any sort of rodent was off limits. But I got to babysit my grade 5 class’s rat for March break (this was before we had a dog). His name was Ratatouille smilie#11
On November 6, 2014 at 6:06 pm
Laura J. says:
Mary has been very helpful when I’ve had questions about our rats!! They really do make great pets.
On November 6, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Ruth C. says:
smilie#35 I love the idea of pet rats in your story. I had pet mice when I was a young girl. Loved them. Had hamsters for my daughter. Female hamsters were nicer than the males. smilie#32
On November 6, 2014 at 8:37 pm
Sharon Stogner says:
I love Mary’s rattie posts. My daughter had two ratties at one time. Drake and Josh 🙂 they were fun and playful. I miss them. Wish they lived longer. You should definitely have rats in your book!
On November 7, 2014 at 7:30 am