Do you know the old song, The Cat Came Back? Written by Harry S. Miller, Christmas 1893.

I remember it as an old recording sung by a man with a deep voice and it was very haunting. People who went up in balloons never to be seen again. People exploding in mines in thousands of pieces, but the cat came back. It was one of those scary things you just seem to want more of, maybe to find out more, maybe to hear about survivors.

Turns out there are a lot of versions of the song. A lot of differences in the words. It’s a song anyone can add more verses to, because that’s how it has grown. I have found a good selection, some I remember from long ago and some new to me. You could (should) write more. Add to the legend of the cat that kept coming back.

Here are some of those I found, to inspire you:

The First Verse (Two Versions)

Now, old Mr. Johnson had troubles of his own. He had a yellow cat that wouldn’t leave his home! A special plan with deception as the key. One little cat—how hard could it be?

Old Mr. Johnson had trouble all his own He had a yellow cat that wouldn’t leave his home He tried in every way to keep that cat away Took him up to Canada and told him for to stay.

The Chorus

But the cat came back the very next day, The cat came back, we thought he was a goner, The cat came back, he just wouldn’t stay away.

Verses

Now the man around the corner swore he’d kill the cat on sight He loaded up his shotgun with nails and dynamites He waited and he waited for the cat to come around Ninety-seven pieces of the man is all they found.

Now the cat had company out in the back yard Somebody threw a boot and they threw it awful hard Hit the cat behind the ear ever so slight And down came a brick and drove him out of sight but

Gave it to man going up in a balloon Told him for to take it to the man on the Moon The balloon came down about 90 miles away Where he is now, I dare not say.

They gave it to a man going way out west Told him for to take it to the one he loved the best First, the train hit the curve, then it jumped the rail Not a soul was left behind to tell the gruesome tale.

Away across the ocean he did send the cat at last Vessel out alone today taking water fast People all began to pray the boat began to toss A great big gust of wind came by and every soul was lost.

On a telephone wire birds were sitting in a bunch Saw them up there & said he’d have ’em for his lunch Climbed softly up the pole until he reached the top Put his foot upon the wire & it gave him quite a shock.

At last they found a way this cat to really fix They put him in an orange crate on highway 66 Come a ten ton truck with a twenty ton load Scattered pieces of that orange crate miles down the road.

So I put him in a box and I tied it up quite well. I had some fellows help me and I paid them not to tell. We put it in a boxcar, the west-bound 7:10 The train pulled away and was never seen again.

So I took him to the harbour and I put in on a ship. I bid him bon voyage! for that oceanic trip! The captain was obligin’ and glad to help us out Tied him to the anchor so that there could be no doubt!

Some have an ending verse, like this. In some the cat lives and in others it doesn’t.

So Old Mr. Johnson’s story unfolds, A tale about a cat and the story is old. The reason why the cat just couldn’t stay away There were seven little kittens meowing in the hay, so.

My Verses (not as haunting as I’d like, something to work on)

Tied the cat to a brick thought that would do the trick Threw it down an old dry well The story he did not tell.

Sealed the cat in a specimen jar left it in the trunk of an old car The car went through the wreckers but he found him playing checkers

People say everything has already been explored. They’re wrong of course. There are oceans (literally) of places yet to be explored. The deep ocean, outer space, microscopic things, the human brain, and probably others which I’m just not thinking of right now.

With writing… I think it is much harder to find new places to explore in writing. Even the unexplored real places have been written about, in many ways, with many theories. Music is all based on a set amount of notes and yet there are millions of songs. Music also has genres and styles. I don’t write music but it seems to be even harder than writing with words. For one thing, we have 26 letters and they work with billions of words.

I think everything (unless it doesn’t exist yet) has been written about. Science fiction covers so much, a wide area of imagination and speculation. Non-fiction explains everything under the sun, just search online for “how to…” and there will be something.

So, what can you do when you don’t feel there is anything new to write about? Some would say “write it better” but I would say – write it your own way. You have your own life experience, your own ideas and ideals, and you can write things from your own perspective.

If that doesn’t help, throw things together and see what you come up with, randomly. Put together ideas and items that don’t go together, are unrelated and make it work in some way. It’s fun once you start.

Sarah Domet wrote a book for Writer's Digest, about writing a novel in 90 days. I started reading the book when it was new out in the bookstores. Then, I got sidetracked and it began gathering dust bunnies on my bookshelves like so many other books I bought with such good intentions. But, Sarah's book, 90 Days to your Novel, stuck in my mind. Her methods were not fluff, or talking about writing like it was a nice job someone else could do.

One reason I don't finish writing the book I want to write is a problem with staying focused on one thing and seeing it through to the end. Sure, you can take breaks, visit family, make dinner, all those ordinary things. But, I tend to make great progress, write up notes for characters, plots and descriptions of scenes and then... nothing. They are all just great notes I made during that hour I let myself actually work at it.

The dust bunnies think I'm wonderful. I give them plenty of fodder. They've built whole villages around my attempts to write a book.

90 Days to Your Novel is a Challenge from Sarah Domet to Every Writer to Commit to Doing the Work of a Writer

In Sarah's book she explains how to outline a plot, how to make progress beyond the notes and ideas and scattered elements (enough for a series of books) I have tucked away. She writes about writing your book scene by scene rather than starting with characters and actions. This is one of the things which made so much sense to me when I first started the book. It gave me so much hope for my own writing because I could see the structure forming rather than dissolving around my bits of paper as it usually does when I try to pick up and work on my ideas again.

I highly recommend 90 Days to Your Novel. The only odd thing I found this second time around with the book is the disappearance of Sarah Domet herself. I found an old Twitter account and an old website, abandoned since 2011. There were several interviews about the book when it was new out and then... silence. So, where ever Sarah is, I hope she is (also) still writing. Her book is one of very few who don't tell writers to be more creative but to actually work at writing, because it is work not a fantasy we are living as the writer from some story someone else has written.

Thanks for your book, Sarah. I'm putting my outline on paper and will start Day One of our adventure together (without finding you) on Monday. Hope you're well.

Sarah Domet - Instagram

You won't need to beg, not likely, though I wouldn't entirely rule it out. Don't be too proud to beg if you think that would work.

The first time I saw this book I passed on it. I thought it was just another book talking about stuff I knew when I was a kid in school. The ABC's of creativity with a finger painting lesson on the side. Later, when I read a blog post from someone, I actually picked it up and flipped through the pages at the bookstore. Still, wasn't so impressed with a book which was kind of hand drawn looking versus actual type and content. So I didn't buy it that time either. I did finally get my copy of the book the third time I saw it.

Don't Exclude Yourself from your own Creativity and Art

I bought the book because it said #3 Write the book you want to read. I was feeling so burnt out and frustrated with trying to write and not getting anywhere and not being happy about anything I was doing. I was trying too hard to listen to what everyone said I should do. I forgot myself in my own creativity.

Austin Kleon's book, Steal Like an Artist, is about being creative any way you can and in some ways you hadn't thought you would try. It's about taking your creativity, dusting it off, giving it a shake and actually taking it out of the plastic packaging - even though it won't ever be as pristine and collectible again. Creativity should not be pristine or perfect, or too tidy either. Get messy. Try something adventurous. Don't be afraid to steal something and make it your own, not literally.

Of course there is still a line you do not cross. Anything you take from another artist (of whatever form or genre) has to be your inspiration, not something you duplicate and then stick your own name onto. Taking credit for something you didn't add anything to (other than cut and pasting) is not being creative.

Being creative is about your own vision, your own version and how you see things and put them together in your own way. Each of us has a different way of looking at the same thing. Like the blind men describing an elephant, we all see the whole from our own smaller, focused perception.

You could stand a hundred artists in a row and have them all look at the same city skyline or sunset or forest (etc.) and each of them would create an image of their own. No two people see the same thing, in the same way. Think of playing telephone as a kid. The more people who repeated the message the more garbled and confused it became. Art is like that. Not that it become garbled but it is all filtered through different minds, different experiences and different knowledge and skill.

Art is Everything

Don't think an artist is just someone who works with images either. That is selling short. Art is such a huge area: words, buildings... what noun can you not find an art form for, somehow and in some way?