Sorry to hear about your cat. I always freak out when my cat (Mojo) gets out. Luckily nothing bad ever happened. It's nearly impossible to write about something you have no experience in. You can't fake experience.And when something does happen, then you're too close to it to write about it well. You've got to wait--often a long time. Years later, after the memories have distilled and yielded up their lessons, their resonant images, and their essences, then you can write about it.
Think of the events like wine. Bottle them up. Put them in your cellar until they age properly. When they are mature and ready, uncork and decant into your fiction...
Of course this isn't true about all things, but think about this: the farther away you get from your own childhood, the more resonances and meanings and amazing images you can distill from it. If you're a parent, you'll think much differently about your children's early years after they've grown and gone than you did when you were experiencing them. It's the distance that allows us the great insights, which might then make it into our writing.
Many people on this forum are so much younger than I am, I don't even know if what I'm saying here will really be understood by anyone, but you fogies out there know what I mean.
[This message has been edited by Magic Beans (edited November 07, 2004).]