Don't even think about skipping that deadline, Laura Anne Gilman: Pandora and Boomerang are staked out to make sure you hit your word count on your latest novel every morning. (We're guessing they also make sure she keeps the inventory at the Book View Café up to date...)

Paula Yoo sent a bunch of pictures of Oreo for us to choose from, and the one with the Santa cap was awfully tempting, but in the end, we chose one of the photos with Oreo at the computer. Yoo's first YA novel, Good Enough, came out earlier this year, and we're looking forward next spring to seeing her next project, a biography of film star Anna May Wong for young readers.

"Oreo was a stray cat who would hang outside my house while I wrote," Yoo told us. "He was so cute and friendly so I started playing with him. Eventually, I realized he was a stray cat and began leaving out tuna fish for him. He would stop by every day at 10 a.m. After about a month of our morning get-togethers, he failed to show up. I was so worried that I dropped everything and walked a mile around my house, looking for him! When I came back, he was waiting for me. And that's the moment I realized I had to adopt him."

Meanwhile, Mocha does a quick scan of photographer Miriam Berkley's email. Berkley says Mocha has been with her since 1986* 2006, and is a very curious and smart cat, although cautious with strangers at first. "Unlike my last cat, beloved by me alone, Mocha is a charmer, and people like to visit just to see him," she says. "Many have said they'd love to take him home with them."

*We thought that sounded wrong, but we didn't want to say anything.