I’m not bitter that my mistress is going to lots of conference sessions today, about writing, and I’m not. At least I get to play with Spencer for the day. To be honest I can’t help thinking that my day is going to prove a little more lively than hers is. Add to that mine isn’t likely to involve finding I’ve failed to win yet another competition. What she really needs to do is ‘network’. She needs to be talking to all the right people and impressing them. This would be far better in theory if it were my master on the conference. He finds talking to complete strangers quite easy and just naturally seems to pick up contacts. My mistress on the other paw, hates small talk and prefers to sit in a corner and watch a room full of people, than to have to talk to any of them. Now whilst that might be very useful for a writer looking for characters, it isn’t going to impress an agent or publisher. When she went, I packed her off with a whole pile of business cards and told her not to come back until she had given them all out. I may have been a bit mean, it could be that will take her months rather than a weekend. But I must do my bit to encourage her. I have realised that my previous policy, when the post came, of saying “Oh no, not another rejection,” may have been a little insensitive and it is perhaps my duty to say something trite, such as “I still believe in you.” It’s these little tender touches that make me the perfect pet! That and the muddy paw prints all round the house. In my defence I am still only 19 months old.