Slow Blink: A Memoir #author Louise Ross

A lyrical meditation on the mysterious bonds that connect us across species, across time and across the veil.

Slow Blink is a memoir about more than the weight of loving something you cannot keep. It recounts Louise’s relationship with a stray black cat whose bond with her transcended the ordinary, changing her understanding of the liminal space between life and death. Exploring the transformative power of loving something wild, this memoir reveals how one cat taught her that love persists even when we must let go.

To connect with Louise ...
https://louiseross.com/
https://www.instagram.com/louiserosswriter
https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-ross-7084bab/
https://www.amazon.com.au/Slow-Blink-Memoir-Louise-Ross/dp/1913529363

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

It's good morning, LaWizz. Ross, welcome to Yellow Shelf.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Thank you so much, Joe. Look, it's a real pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Ah, it's my pleasure to have you. Congratulations. Your book is out now, available now. I know it's morning time for you. You're based in Lisbon, evening time for me here in Australia. So it's good to make this interview happen. Tell us all about your new book, Slowblick.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Okay, well, thanks, Joe. So this is a this is a novella-length memoir. It's only about a hundred pages, and it's set across three countries. The introduction gives readers some backstory. It's in rural Australia, where I grew up, and then it transitions to Colorado in the US, where the bulk of the story takes place, and where I lived for many years. And the epilogue is or it touches on my move to Portugal, where I live now, where I've lived for almost 14 years, and where I wrote this book just last year. So place really grounds the story, which at its heart is about my relationship with, or my relationship with and love for this stray black cat. And he's actually on the front cover. Yes. And that's a photo I took of Archie many years ago when he first came into my life. And he he actually enters my life when I'm recently married, living and working in a university town, nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Now the story's resolution is most unusual, even unbelievable, otherworldly, in fact. And I think that's one of the reasons that I didn't talk about it or write about it for 35 years basically. I wondered if people would even believe what I have to say in this book. But last year, suddenly Archie was very present in my mind again, so present that I finally found the courage to write this memoir. And that might all sound a bit vague, but I don't want to give too much away. But what I do want potential readers to know is that this is more than a story about Australia Black Cat. It explores themes of love, loss, and what lies beyond by asking questions of a spiritual and metaphysical nature, such as you know, what happens to our love of something or someone when they die? Um, how do we grieve what was never fully ours to keep? Questions that go beyond cats. They're questions about all the loves and losses that that shape a life. And so if you've ever been undone by your love of a wild animal, the the loss of a pet, a significant other that that felt fated, or by any love that defied easy explanation, I think this this story will resonate. But spoiler alert, it's a it's an emotional read. And I I mean I still find myself self welling up periodically when I I think about this relationship that I had with Archie. But I really do feel that that some things just can't be explained. And and Archie was proof to me that the universe is a it's it's a mysterious place, I think.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah. And Louise, I'm I'm gonna share with you, I've never owned a cat, but I have owned dogs. So when I read the book, um, as much as it's a story about your connection with a straight black cat, uh, it's much more than that. So I connected to animals that I'd lost or I'd connected to. So that, like you explained, a very deep, um, very thought-provoking story.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yes, yes. That was my intention because I think that that's what my experience with Archie evoked in me. I mean, he he my relationship with him took me to places I'd never been before. It it he required that I ask questions, that I'd as a as a 30-year-old, I'd never really asked those questions before. And my background is in psychology, in Jungian psychology, dream analysis, smith and symbolism. And I was studying, or I think maybe I just graduated at the time he came into my life. And I think that that foundation of study helped me explore this story in depth. Um, so I think it it gives readers um a whole lot more than just a story about an animal. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

And no spoiler alerts. I think if people are curious, they really need to get a get a hold of the book and dive in and make their own connection. Make their own connection. Um, Louise, do you want to tell us? You mentioned about your work in psychology and your studies. Um, I said you're based in Lisbon these days. Do you want to tell us a bit about yourself? Anything you want us to know about you as an author and your writing journey?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Okay, okay. Well, I've been a writer, I guess, since my my graduate school days when I uh moved to Colorado, and I've I've written seven books, not all of which have been published. Previous two, prior to Slow Blink. Um, you know, they they evolved out of my life here in Portugal, where I was meeting some pretty extraordinary people who'd moved many countries on life to uh on route to a life here in Portugal. So I interviewed women and men and wrote two um interview-style biographies, I guess, that um explored this international life that mirrored something of my life. Um and then I guess Slow Blink sort of evolved out of a writing life here in Portugal, but it certainly wasn't based on any interview style questions that I was just thinking that the next phase of my writing journey might be a memoir. Sure. Um, but you know, I'm not someone who loves to talk about myself, so I thought, well, what part of my life can I focus on? And I took myself to see a uh Mat Nay movie, uh Flow. It's an animated film that won the Academy Award for Best Animation in 2025, and I found it mesmerizing. It's it's there's no dialogue dialogue, just an evocative soundtrack. And it's about a black cat that faces many challenges, and as a result of it, uh it's cross-species relationship, it survives this massive transformation it goes through. And so when I came out of the movie in that sort of post-movie days as happens, Archie suddenly felt like he was very, very present in my in my mind again. And and and I think I just felt, well, I need to tell his story or our story. And um, and so that sort of set me on the journey to just focus on this this it's only about a year, the bulk of the story place about a year, but but the backstory of my childhood reminded me that that cats and my relationships with them had uh been very much a part of my history, although not part of my life now, because moving in the way that I do and feeling a responsibility to caring for a pet or an animal, I choose not to have a pet when I'm not so firmly placed in one one, I don't know, one house, one apartment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Well Louise Archie lives on in this wonderful story. I hope the audience uh get curious about what is a quaint, beautiful story that you've you've written and shared. Uh Louise, is there more writing in the future? Do you think you'd write again?

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, this is this number seven. So um I have a couple of ideas, um, one of which I've been working on probably the last six months, but but it's way too early to discuss this. On my website, Joe, I do have a page where I talk a little about my writing life and some of the other projects that I have in mind that are that are coming.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Yeah. Well, future books, I would love to support you again. Um, so know that I'll be here. Uh, and thank you for mentioning your website. I'll put that link in the show notes. Louise, do you want to point us in the direction of anyone who's watching and listening? They can get curious about you and get curious about the book.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Yes, so my website is the best place to land, louisross.com. Um the front page has links to my three most recent books. At the bottom of the page are links to all my socials. Fabulous.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Well, Louise, it has been a delight. I hope you have a lovely day ahead of you in Lisbon. Uh, thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Thanks, Joe. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Cheers.