Sarah Chauncey on dealing with the lack of a pet, the drawing that turned the beginning of the ebook, and being counterintuitive.
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The grief we really feel on the lack of a pet remains to be a form of disenfranchised grief. Sarah Chauncey’s PS. I Love You Extra Than Tuna is a poignant and touching meditation on pet loss, fantastically illustrated by Francis Tremblay. It is the proper reward for anybody who has misplaced a cat, or certainly any form of pet. It made me cry (however in a great way) and I’ve given it to associates to assist carry them consolation once they have misplaced their pet.
You’ll be able to hear Sarah Chauncey discuss in regards to the ebook at Bark! Fest, the ebook pageant for animal lovers. She’s on a panel known as Our Bond with Cats with Sarah Chauncey, Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey), and Rachel Wells.
P.S. I Love You Extra Than Tuna is on the market from all good bookstores, together with through Bookshop (and Bookshop UK) which assist unbiased bookstores, in addition to my Amazon retailer.
Beneath, Sarah Chauncey solutions my questions in regards to the ebook, and shares the drawing that began all of it.
Why did you write this ebook?
When my first soul-cat, Hedda, died in 2016, I couldn’t discover a lot on-line that addressed pet loss grief, particularly round cats. An artist buddy of mine despatched me a sketch of Hedda with a observe “from” her that ended “p.s. I like you greater than tuna.” By way of my tears, I believed that might be a terrific title for a pet loss reward ebook, and the imaginative and prescient was born.
{Our relationships} with animals are distinctive—pets see and settle for features of us we’d be hesitant to point out one other human. But we stay in a tradition that largely denies the facility of the human-animal bond, so when an animal buddy dies, family and friends typically don’t know what to say, or they are saying unhelpful issues, like “Can’t you simply get one other one?” I wished Tuna to supply readers comfort and inspiration—and their associates, the patrons, the flexibility to supply tangible consolation.
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| The unique sketch by Francis Tremblay that finally led to this ebook. |
What are the primary themes of your ebook?
That the whole lot that’s born finally dies. Saying goodbye is painful, and we’ve to grieve, however it doesn’t imply something is improper. That is simply a part of the human life expertise, like love.
The primary legislation of thermodynamics says that power can’t be created or destroyed; it could actually solely change kind. Like us, our animals are stardust—the iron of their blood, just like the iron in ours, is identical mineral that makes Mars pink. A caterpillar has to die in kind earlier than a butterfly can emerge from the very same natural materials. So although our animal associates’ our bodies are gone, the life power that animated them isn’t. It’s throughout us, at all times.
What stunned you whilst you had been writing the ebook?
How little it really needed to do with ‘writing’. I’ve been knowledgeable inventive author for nearly 40 years, and the primary draft got here pouring out in about two hours (the ebook solely comprises 500 phrases). In contrast, as a lot of my associates have identified, my common e mail comprises at the least twice that quantity!
It’s humorous that my most seen ‘success’ occurred with little or no of my very own enter. But—that is my shock on the response—almost each reader has mentioned that it made them cry in a great way and helped them to heal. That was true whereas I used to be writing it, too—I cried each time I learn the strains.
Inform me one thing about your writing course of and the way it formed this ebook.
TUNA was completely different than something I’d ever written earlier than. That I might by some means write one thing that turned out to be so highly effective in lower than 500 phrases nonetheless amazes me.
To pay the payments, I’m a non-public writing coach and developmental editor, and with that hat on, my course of tends to be “spend a variety of time in nature and with animals,” as a result of each of these permit my thoughts to cool down and my unconscious to supply up concepts. I’ve written extra about this on Jane Friedman’s web site and for Author’s Digest (July/August 2024).
Who will particularly take pleasure in this ebook?
First, anybody who’s grieving the lack of a cat, who anticipates dropping a cat, or who loves cats. That’s the obvious viewers. I believed it will solely be the primary group, however readers have advised me that even individuals with wholesome younger cats have appreciated it.
Though the primary character is a cat, the ebook has been given to individuals grieving all types of animal associates, from canines to bunnies, birds, horses and ferrets (amongst others). The cat’s journey is a metaphor for all of us, human and non-human alike.
The thought was/is for associates, household, neighbours and colleagues to offer this ebook to somebody who’s grieving; that half grew out of my very own expertise with a each day giving follow. The follow brings me a lot pleasure that I wished to share that, too. After all, it’s high quality for anybody to purchase the ebook for themselves, too!
What are you engaged on proper now?
On the Tuna entrance, I’ve a Substack the place I share tips about caring for a senior or in poor health pet, getting ready for the eventual loss, and navigating that loss. I solely ship about one e-newsletter a month, however there’s a variety of useful content material within the archive.
My ardour venture, The Counterintuitive Information to Life, comes from hundreds of notes I took over the course of seven years of solitary contemplation and deep interior work. It’s about serving to individuals discover interior peace by studying methods to query their conditioning and launch what isn’t serving them. Many people undergo life on autopilot—I actually did for many years—with out questioning why we’re so inflexible round sure beliefs or why we behave particularly methods. In my expertise, discovering peace is a mixture of slowing method down, growing self-awareness abilities, unpacking our conditioning, and studying to navigate the inherent paradoxes of life. These additionally contribute to making a extra equitable world. My intention is that this may finally result in a Counterintuitive Information ebook sequence.
And naturally, I’m nonetheless working as a developmental editor and author coach, a lot of which I do with my present cat, Ariel, perched on my lap.
Each week, I make some extent of spending at the least sooner or later immersed in nature. I stay on the normal and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples and the Snuneymuxw First Nation, and I’m grateful to have the ability to discover untouched nature often.
“Though the primary character is a cat, the ebook has been given to individuals grieving all types of animal associates.”
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