Today we’d like to introduce you to Janet Vormittag.
Hi Janet, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In the summer of 2006, both my parents were dealing with cancer, my husband and I were battling through a divorce, and my freelance work at The Grand Rapids Press was drying up.
So what did I do? I started a business.
I had been meeting weekly with a friend and going through Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way. Her book helps people discover and reconnect with their creativity. In doing the exercises at the end of each chapter, I concluded my two passions in life were writing and animals. I had a brainchild that combined those interests—to start a monthly magazine devoted to pets. That was the beginning of Cats and Dogs, a Magazine Devoted to Companion Animals.
I made a list of what it would take to follow my dream. It turned into a daunting list, which made me hesitant. I remember talking to one of my sisters about the idea while picking blueberries.
“If you don’t do it, you’ll always wonder what would have happened if you had,” she said.
That clinched it. I leaped. And as the saying goes, “Leap and a net will appear.”
My net came in the way of friends and family.
One friend had seen a similar magazine when she traveled in South Carolina and was able to get me a copy. When I held that publication in my hands, my idea became viable. That same friend owned a printing company. Her business didn’t do the type of printing I would need, but she offered to print me a prototype that I could use to sell ads. It would be a free magazine with local content with revenue generated through the sale of advertisements.
One of my nieces had a degree in graphic design. She recommended I buy an Apple computer and use Adobe InDesign software for layout. She also designed a template for the magazine and taught me basic design principles.
“Call me if you need me,” she said. Call her I did, on numerous occasions.
When I bought the computer at the Apple store they offered me tutorial sessions. For $100 I got in-store, one-on-one, hour-long sessions on how to use the computer and software. I could attend once a week for a year––I used all 52 sessions.
I had another niece who had a degree in English and worked for a time as a proofreader. She offered to proofread for me.
Another friend had a quirky bull terrier. She said yes when I asked if she’d write a monthly column about her Sally.
Another friend helped sell ads. Other friends suggested drop-off spots and offered to help with deliveries.
The first issue of Cats and Dogs, a Magazine Devoted to Companion Animals was December 2006. It had a print run of 5,000 copies.
My dad died in September 2007. My divorce was final in October of that year. Four months later my mom passed. What kept me sane during those life-altering events was my work, the monthly rhythm of planning, organizing, writing, layout and distribution.
After publishing Cats and Dogs became routine, I needed another challenge. I always wanted to write a novel so I took that leap. In 2012, I self-published Dog 281, which was the first book in the Save Five Series. Its sequel, More Than a Number, was published three years later, and was soon followed by The Save Five Club.
Thanks to the magazine, I got involved in fostering cats and began to worry I was becoming a crazy cat lady. I found an online quiz that would determine how cat crazy I was. LOL I was only 68 percent crazy, but it inspired me to write a humorous memoir, You Might be a Crazy Cat Lady if…, which is a collection of short stories about the cats in my life—owned, fostered and strays. It was soon followed by a second volume.
While publishing Cats and Dogs, I met countless compassionate people involved in animal rescue. My next book, Cat Women of West Michigan, the Secret World of Cat Rescue, tells the stories of more the two dozen women who are devoted to helping cats. Thousands of cats are euthanized each year in this country. Their only crime was to be born into a society that thinks death is the solution to overpopulation. While adoptions are nice, the real answer is spay/neuter including TNR—Trap-Neuter-Return where outside cats are live-trapped, taken in for spay/neuter surgeries and then returned to where they were caught.
Next I wrote about men and their love for cats in Cool Cats, Stories of Extraordinary Cat Dads. I had no idea so many men were crazy about cats.
Cats and Dogs was published as a monthly until 2018. It was a quarterly until its demise in 2024. After taking a break from writing for 18 months, I’m now back to writing fiction and, of course, it’s about cats.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My biggest challenge stems from being an introvert. Selling is hard for me, be it ads for the magazine or my books. It always comes with an inner struggle.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Although I no longer publish Cats and Dogs, I still get calls and emails with questions about pets. Usually it’s someone wanting to rehome a cat. In my circle, I’m the go-to person for questions about cats. I’m out of the fostering business and work hard to say no to adopting any more pets. All I can do is pass on information about local shelters and rescues.
Today my focus is writing. I’m working on a cozy science fiction series involving cats.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
What drives me is my compassion for animals and the innate need to be their voice.
After the death of a pet pig in 1983, I became a vegetarian. I grew up on a farm and never ate much meat to begin with, but when Edward died I said no more. No animal was going to die so I could eat.
My compassion is for all animals. The novels in the Save Five Series are suspense mysteries that involve issues facing animals; factory farming, canned hunts, research labs—there’s no end to the ways humans exploit animals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.janetvormittag.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjanetvormittag
- Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/authorjanetvormittag
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=janet+vormittag&crid=YSIELGI71UMR&sprefix=%2Caps%2C126
