Cindy Vanous

Ziva the Great Is Out in the World This story took a quiet path to get here. It came together slowly, the way some stories do, asking for patience and care along the way. Now it’s finished, released, and finding its way into readers’ hands, which is always the hardest and most meaningful part for me. Writing Ziva was never about explaining her past or solving the mystery of who she was before. It was about noticing what happens when trust starts to return, little by little. I wanted the story...

Some of the most unforgettable stories begin quietly. With a glance. A feeling. A mystery no one can quite explain. That’s how it was with Ziva. Ziva is a real cat. She's proud, cautious, and full of mystery. She came to the Fredmans as an adult, and although she loves and trusts them fully, she didn’t trust anyone else. If you were a stranger entering her home, she made sure you knew this was her  home. She protected herself the only way she knew how. But every time I visited, I saw...

Yesterday, I lost my sister. And in the quiet that follows a loss, I’ve been thinking about how love never really leaves us. It lingers in memories, in the things we create, and sometimes, in the stories we tell without realizing how much of ourselves are tucked deep inside them. When I started writing Ziva the Great , I thought it was simply about a Maine Coon cat with a mysterious past. She is cautious, proud, and unsure who to trust. But as the story grew, I began to see it was really...