A big thank you cuddle to Donna from On The Write Track for mentioning ME in her post today. I apparently inspired her to inspire other people (and dogs) with her positive, uplifting words about facing adversity and overcoming obstacles while keeping on keeping on.
Here is a bulletin board full of some of the sayings and good luck charms that inspire Mom:
Here’s what inspires me:
Today, we are counting down about fear. Mom is writing a story about courage. I have no experience with courage, but fear is my specialty.
Things That Scare Me
3. Squeaky Wheels – There’s an old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I would like to say to the lawn guys, “GET SOME OIL!” Last week, they rolled around a wheel barrow with a squeaky wheel that scared me half to death. The wheel sounded like a screaming panther, a crying poodle, and a baby who wants a lollipop. I ran and hid and ran again and hid again. Mom said, “What are you afraid of?” and “It’s a wheelbarrow!” and “I’m trying to write a story about a brave chef, and you’re NOT helping!”
2. Cats – A cat down the street watches me all the time. Whenever I walk down that way, I see him staring out his window wondering how he can kill me. I slick my ears back as far as they go, and walk as fast as Mom will let me. Cats – ugh.
1. The golf cart – Sometimes people in my neighborhood ride in a golf cart. I have seen it many, many, MANY times. It scares me anyway. Yesterday, Mom brought me right over to it so I could smell it and stop being afraid. I was reluctant at first. Then I took a sniff. OMG! It smells more terrifying than it looks and sounds. It has clearly run over a squirrel or two, driven through some mulch and fertilizer, and was filled with *gulp*power tools – yes, tools scare me too! The driver was a fire breathing DRAGON. After he talked to Mom for a while, he pulled a burning stick out of his throat and crushed it into an ashtray. Then he drove away puffing smoke out of his mouth. *shiver*
Things That Scare Mom
3. Being a one-book-wonder. Mom loves her book named Keep Your Ear On the Ball.
It helps kids understand how to be a friend, and it gets good reviews from people who read it. Mom calls it her “first book” and hopes nobody asks, “What’s the name of your second book.” Lots of times, she visits schools to talk to kids about being an author, and she play games with them (while I wait at home hoping the golf cart doesn’t come back).
2. See #3
1. See #2
Soon, it will be Memorial Day – unofficial start of summer. So, today, on this non-Friday, my 5 words are about summer.
1. June – June is the 6th month. That means Mom will have written 6 picture books for her 12x12in’12 Challenge. One of them is about a dog named Oliver. Oddly enough, he acts a lot like me, but is named after a dog that Mom met at the dentist office.
2. Sunshine – I love sunshine. When I sit outside with Mom, the sun likes to tickle me. I can feel it running all over my fur!
3. Bugs – When bugs come near me, I try to eat them. I think bugs are delicious. I also think maybe it’s not the sun that runs all over my fur and tickles me….
4. Swimming – I am not allowed to go swimming, and I’m not sure I even know how to swim. But lots of times, Mom and I go to the park and we see turtles and fish and butterflies and dragonflies. Last year, Mom had an idea to write a story about a dragonfly. She still has that idea, but didn’t write the story yet. Maybe she’ll write it in July.
5. July – Independence Day – ‘Nuff said. Summer! Yay! Bring it on.
Today, on an actual Wednesday, Mom and I are counting down facts about learning new things.
What I Know About Learning New Things
3. It’s tough. I’m trying to learn bowling, but I still need Mom to point to each pin (which is really a water bottle) and say, “Touch it.”
2. It’s fun. When I try to learn something, it makes Mom laugh a lot, because of my tiny brain. Plus I get to eat a lot of Cheerios to help me.
1. There’s always something new to learn. Mom is planning to buy a hula hoop and teach me to jump through it. She better pick up a couple of extra boxes of Cheerios. This may take a while.
What Mom Knows About Learning New Things.
3. It’s tough. That’s why Mom has her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. They help her figure out the toughest stuff. The rest, she figures out by typing on the computer and talking to herself.
2. It’s fun. The best fun is putting a submission in the mail or pressing Send. Waiting is fun, and Mom never loses hope that good news is on the way. If bad news comes instead, she says, “We can work on this.” and “Better luck next time.” and “It’s time to practice bowling!”
3. There’s always something new to learn. Just when Mom learns that she needs more conflict in her storis, she needs to learn about point of view and voice and a million other things. DavidLaurieandOtherDavid better pick up a box of Cheerios!
Writing a book is 10% inspiration and 90% not being distracted by the Internet.
George Dyson
Sometimes I get distracted.
In obedience school, Mr. Clark taught me to always keep my eyes on Mom, and always follow her. And concentrate! That’s more difficult than it sounds. Between yummy smells, geese, strollers, birds, lost baseballs, bikes, cats, airplanes, left-behind potato chips, motorcycles, joggers, cars, and the ice cream truck, Mom has to keep fighting for my attention – and mostly losing.
She says, “Look at me.” and “Heel.” and “Are you eating a peanut shell? Really??”
Mom gets distracted, too. She works on writing, just about every day, but I’m not sure she’s writing the whole time. She laughs at the TV, checks Facebook and Twitter, drinks coffee, pays bills, looks at Pinterest, reads blogs, shops online, eats cookies, and answers email. That’s not writing!
When I want to play, she says, “I’m working.” and “I can’t be disturbed.” and “Come back here with my shoe!”
…See what I mean? She’s distracted again.
I see everything from my own “special” (Mom calls it “twisted”) point of view. Three things I see very clearly are:
1. Furniture is really FURniture. It’s supposed to be covered with my fur.
2. Old toys do not deserve my attention. New toys are the best.
3. Food found on the ground is delicious, even if it’s not really food. I should be allowed to eat all the goose poop, birdseed, orange peels, Doritos, and candy wrappers I find.
My point of view is crystal clear to me.
Point of view is important in stories, too. Mom brought her Dragon Sandwich story to her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. Everyone liked it, but they were confused about the point of view. They said, “Is it the princess’s story, the chef’s story, or the dragon’s story?” Mom said, “How should I know?” and “I’m just the author…” and “Who wants to see a picture of Cupcake in her sailor dress?” (Nice try, Mom….)
Now she is working on the dragon story again. She still isn’t sure whose story it is. She said, “I’m leaning toward Chef Edward.” (That sounds safer than leaning toward a scary dragon!) and “I need to think and mind-write for a while.” and then my favorite words of all, “Who wants to go to the park?”
Park! Yay! I hope somebody spilled some Doritos!
For the last day of National Poetry Month, Mom and I are counting down some titles of her poems.
Poems I like:
I like these because they have animals in them.
3. Simon
2. Changing Shells
1. Golfin’ Dolphin
Poems Mom likes:
Mom likes these because they’re about school.
3. Lost and Found
2. Mad
1. My Teacher’s Grandma
…We both like this one, because it has my name in it.
Raining Cupcakes
It’s not about when it was raining on me (which I hate).
It’s about the other kind of cupcake (which I love).
Here is an acrostic poem that Mom and I wrote together. It’s about the Veteran’s Hospital that I visit in my Therapy Dog work. See if you can tell which part Mom wrote and which part was written by me….
Hospital
by
Cupcake and Mom
H – Hugging brand new friends.
O – Open doors say, “Come on in.”
S – Sick friends need cheering up.
P – People smile at Cupcake.
I – In the hallways we take it slow.
T – Take me into that room! No that one! And this one! And that one!
A – And let’s give kisses to her! And him! And them!
L – Later we’ll come back. I can’t wait! Tomorrow? Please. Please! PLEASE!!
Today’s five words are about poetry.
1. Rhyme – That’s when words are kind of like each other. Kind of. I’m kind of like the dog planter. Kind of….
2. Alliteration – That’s when words start the same. Lots of Mom’s sentences start out the same. They are usually, “Cupcake…” and “Cupcake!….” and “CUPCAKE!!…” And then, “Ugh!”
3. Haiku – Bless you.
4. Imagery – That’s when words make a picture. Why can’t a picture make a picture? Like this!
5. Onomatopoeia – Thats when a word sounds like a sound. Like bow-wow, woof, ruff, slurp, meow, tick-tick-tick, and bzzzzzzz. That last one is the dreaded sound of the evil mechanical hamster. Soon, I am hoping to make the sound of CRUNCH, RRRIP, and SMUSH with that horrible thing.
Today, Mom gave me something different to snack on.
It’s cabbage! I never even had that purple-y, crunchy thing before. It took me a long time to eat the tiny piece she gave me. I chewed it, spit it out, licked it, made a sick face, chewed it again, spit it out again, licked it again, and made a sicker sick face. Finally I swallowed it. It was good!
Something different happened to Mom, today, too.
Acceptance email! To an online magazine she’s never been in before!! Yay!!! Her story Fly Fishing will be published in the August/September issue of Stories for Children Magazine. A link to the magazine is in the Blogroll on the right. I can’t wait to see it!
I’m glad the story will be on the computer. Otherwise, Mom might chew it, spit it out, lick it, and make a sick face, because that’s what you’re supposed to do with something different… Right?
Today is my 100th blog post! Yay, me! Mom said, “Let’s celebrate with 100 MilkBones.” and “What a fun party!”
and then, “Sorry, Sweetie. You can only eat one of them. The rest are just for the picture.” So the party wasn’t quite as fun as I was hoping.
Mom changes her mind a lot about the number 100. Long ago when she first started writing, she said, “I’ll try submitting this and see what happens.” and “This pile of rejections is starting to grow.” and “When I get 100 rejections, I’ll give up and stop trying to get published.”
Well, she did get 100 rejections, but she changed her mind and kept trying. 101 – still trying. 102 – still trying. I think you get where this is going…. She never did give up. After collecting and counting those rejections for a while, Mom decided they had bad karma. She put them into the shredder one by one.
Now she says, “Each rejection is like a stepping stone that takes me that much closer to a contract for Book #2.”
That’s fine with me, but I’m keeping an eye on that bowl of MilkBones, in case she decides they have bad karma and decides to pour them into the shredder.
