Karen Wormald
Karen Wormald is an award-winning business writer and author of How to Work Like a CAT, her second book. She’s a contributing editor to PC Solutions and her work has appeared in many other publications, including Cruise Travel, Credit Union Business, Office Solutions, Cats magazine, and at AbsoluteWrite.com. She’s also a member of the Cat Writers’ Association.
In 2002, she left corporate America’s rat race for full-time freelancing as owner of Kew Publications, trading cubicles and annoying co-workers for bunny slippers and cats. She writes copy, edits, and proofreads for businesses across a spectrum of industries, and it still leaves her time to catnap and pursue other interests.
In the spring and fall semesters, she runs Business Writers’ Bootcamp and teaches Power Proofreading at her alma mater, the University of Richmond. She’s also available for private corporate coaching sessions.
A former ballroom dancer and Yankee transplant to the South, Karen is a news junkie with a liberal bent who enjoys visiting faraway places by ship, collecting classic movies, learning French (30+ years and still not fluent), watching travel and cooking shows, reading and writing satire and, of course, communing with felines.
If you ever need writing services large or small, check out her personal site and contact her.
The Cats
The current Cats Working team — Max, Cole, and Adele — lost in separate thoughts for the blog.
The previous team — Yul, Adele, and Cole — taking five.
The original team: Yul and Fred loved to debate blog topics while Adele barely concealed her boredom.
Adele
Adele is also a former shelter cat and joined the family in 2000 as princess and peacemaker, the latter a role she relinquished when Cole came on the scene and shattered her serenity. Now she runs around the house screaming at the top of her lungs at nothing.
Her hobbies include sticking her arms in the VCR; watching TV (Video Catnip is a particular favorite); frolicking in water; fetching toys (when she’s in the mood); over-grooming, because she believes a white cat can never be white enough; burrowing; performing death-defying stunts in places too high and narrow for sensible cats; and nude sunbathing.
Cole
Cole joined Cats Working in June 2009 as a 3-year-old. He was rescued trying to cross a major highway and taken to the no-kill Richmond Animal League when he was only 6 weeks old so, apart from a short time in foster care, he knew nothing but institutional life until he slowly learned to adapt, room by room, to being a house cat with a home of his own at Cats Working. Now he spends most days lounging on Karen’s bed or watching backyard wildlife through the sliding glass door from a pink kitty cube.
It took Cole a while to discover that cat toys can be fun, particularly Da Bird. He loves real bacon and Temptations treats, and enjoys the occasional buzz of a fine ‘nip.
When not sleeping or trying to splash all the water out of the kitty fountain, Cole keeps in shape by chasing or being chased by Adele.
Max
Max, the newest addition to the team, and another former inmate of the Richmond Animal League, joined the gang in August 2011 when he was just 4 months old. Even at such a tender age, he showed a strong work ethic and wasted no time in making himself at home at Karen’s desk so he could peruse the Cats Working archives and learn about blogging.
Max is still trying to find his niche as a writer, and in his spare time enjoys playing with anything that strikes his fancy when he’s not power-napping, and trying to get Cole and Adele to like him.
Yul
1996 – August 13, 2011
- What! You’ve never seen a cat in a sweater?
Yul was a 1996-vintage former shelter cat and the diabolical mastermind behind many unexplained crashes in the night. He didn’t find his voice until he was three, and then nobody could shut him up. His thirst for adventure and black coat once got him accidentally locked in a dark closet. During his Houdini-like attempts to escape, he sustained a minor injury that ultimately cost him his tail. But he didn’t let this “shortcoming” in cat body language keep him from having the last word in any argument — punctuated with well-placed claws.
His hobbies included binging and purging; playing dress-up; filling the food bowls with assorted objects; stealing knives; sassing back whenever he was scolded (which was frequently); lying on his back and contemplating the ceiling; and putting Adele up to stunts that invariably get her in trouble.
In his final year, he suffered from frequent respiratory infections, almost total deafness, and vestibular disease (vertigo). He endured all those conditions without missing a beat but, ultimately, there was no beating chronic renal failure, although he put up a good fight for four months. His wise and wry posts at Cats Working will be his legacy, and a tribute to an amazing cat.
Fred
1992 — May 21, 2009
Fred was Kew’s honorary senior executive vice president because he spent the most time in the office — asleep under the desk. He became alpha cat after appearing on a softball field in 1993 as a mysterious stray with no past. Fred’s approach to life was pragmatic — if you don’t like something, just walk away from it, spray it so it will never forget you, or kill it.
His hobbies included binge drinking from faucets; sitting on whatever you’re reading; catnapping in sunny spots; keeping tabs on the ‘hood from the kitchen picture window; stuffing himself with cat treats; and licking people.
Fred passed away from chronic renal failure, but his wit and wisdom appear in the archives of Cats Working and will endure as long as we occupy the blogosphere.
