Onset, Wareham, and cats (lots of cats) all serve as inspiration for budding novelist Elizabeth Butts.

The Onset writer recently published a second book, called “Secondhand Purses.” She published her first book, “Singleish,” in May 2015. She describes the books as “chick lit contemporary,” and both are about young women who go through startling relationship changes that alter them forever.

Wareham and Onset feature heavily in both her books, because she has a deep affection for the place.

“I tried to highlight the area, without writing a love story to the town,” Butts said. “I can’t have a love story with a whole town – I’m just not that racy.”

Butts said she draws on other aspects of her life to write her novels. She said she often uses her friends’ stories either as inspiration or as unaltered anecdotes, and a local paper based on Wareham Week (she dubbed the ‘Onset Log’) features heavily towards the end of the second book.

There is a significant difference between her first and second books. Butts describes humor as her “easy place –  so I filled the first book with humor, because it was easy.” But her second book while still humorous, has a deeper tone, she said.

“A blogger reviewed my book and said, ‘I didn’t laugh as much as I did at “Singleish,” but I loved it for a whole ‘nother reason. And I even cried,’” Butts recalled.

Butts said she has been reading her entire life and was encouraged by her mother to become a writer. The youngest of four, Butts said she often lost herself in books and make-believe, surprising her mother in the car one day by reading the paper aloud at the age of 3.

“When I was younger, my mom would play at school with me, to keep me entertained,” Butts said. “She didn’t realize it, but she was home-schooling me.”

She also said she was sheltered, given her parents’ rather conservative roots.

“When I go to high school reunions, I hear people tell stories, and I’m like, ‘What? When did that happen?’ And they’re like, ‘Where were you?’” Butts said.

It wasn’t until she started chatting with a favorite author of hers that she even began to explore writing her own books.

“She said I need to write … so I wrote some stuff, and she said, ‘Okay, what next?’” Butts said.

Butts said she doesn’t know how she finds the time to write, as she works a full-time and a part-time job. She attributes this to her husband who helps to hold down the fort while she writes – even though he is “severely allergic to cats.”

Butts and her husband are animals lovers. They have “a couple dogs, a handful of cats, a few birds, and a horse.” The latter lives in Middleboro, as there is no space large enough in Wareham or Onset to keep him.

The four cats, Butts said, feature in “Singleish.”

“The descriptions actually match all four of them, and I used their actual names, because cats can’t sue you,” Butts said.