My cat Crunchy is a Summer Cat competitor at mediabistro’s blog, Galley Cat, this weekend and you can vote for him! As you can see from the photo, he had the moral support of my dog, Roxie, in coaxing me to continue my editing taken some time ago and I couldn’t ask for a better set of cheerleaders. I can’t tell you the number of times Crunchy and Roxie kept me company while I wrote the novel underway in the photo. Crunchy often curled up beside me or behind me on the back cushion of whatever couch I sat on.

I’m in the final editing pass of this same novel — the second half of which I’m really raking through the coals — and Crunchy still urges me on. Almost every afternoon, he curls up on the floor next to the tote bag where the manuscript rests, reminding me to work. (His napping somehow keeps me from being lazy. Talk about inverse proportions!)

Let’s give Crunch his day in the sun. (Roxie already had hers outside on the deck this morning — a perfect 69 degrees!) Vote — and vote often — for my loyal companion now through Sunday July 13th.* Tell your pet-loving friends and family, too.

*The winner goes into a final show-down next week with Thursday’s winner .