Inspirational Quote of the Week

The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Mark Twain

There’s been plenty of lightning and thunder the past few weeks around here.

It’s been bright and loud and unexpected and wild and relentless. I am not afraid of the lightning and thunder at all. Mom says I am afraid of so many things, I don’t have room in my brain to be afraid of storms. Actually, I kind of like these crazy storms, because they make Mom stay home with me.

I also kind of like lightning bugs.

Whenever Mom takes me out at night, I see those blinky things flying all over the place. She won’t let me chase them, though. She says, “Don’t pull me!” and “Heel!!” and “That’s enough craziness for one day. It’s time for bed.” I haven’t caught a lightning bug yet. But when I do, I’m pretty sure it’ll taste like lemon candy.

Mom is not nuts about storms or bugs, but she is nuts about words. They are her favorite things in the world (besides me).

She writes words and counts words and reads the words out loud to herself. Then she deletes them and changes them and takes some out and puts some new ones in. She is ALWAYS looking for the right word.

Mom says adverbs are poison. I am not allowed to eat poison. I tried it once and it wasn’t fun.

Mom uses SmartEdit to find the poison adverbs and get rid of them and then she searches in the  Thesaurus to replace them with a perfect verb that does the same job only better. “Walked quickly, looked carefully, and laughed loudly” are OUT. “Raced, inspected, and roared” are IN.

Maybe tonight, “Heel” will be OUT and “Gulp. Slurp. Yum- Lemon” will be IN.

Five Word Friday

Today’s five words are about important parts.

1. Eyes. When my eye opens, it can look out for danger and treats and toys ….and mischief. When a story opens, it determines whether a reader will continue reading or say, “Whatever…” and go on to something else.

2. Nose. My nose is always on the move – twitching and sniffing and nudging all day. It tells me where my friends are, and helps me find crumbs on the floor, treats in Mom’s pocket, and goose poop. Yum. A story has to keep moving, too. Every single word has to make something happen otherwise, it’s gotta go.

3. Nails. Nails are a problem for me. It’s not just the two-tone colors of them, but also the fact that they keep growing. A story needs to have a problem, and the problem has to keep growing, too. The characters have to spend the whole story trying to make it better, but the problem has to get worse….just like my nails.

4. Ear. My ears stay alert, in case I hear any of my favorite words: dinner, treat, car, out, park, go-get-it, wanna-go, bacon, and kisses. Words in a story need to be playful and sound smooth. They need to tell the story, but show more than tell.

5. Tail. My tail has a mind of its own. It smacks Mom in the face, wags when I see friends, and hides underneath me when I’m afraid. The tail end of a story needs to wrap up what happened, and make the readers feel good.

All those parts (and about ten million more – including a lot of heart) need to fit together just right to make a perfect story. Or a perfect dog.

I Didn’t Do It

My toy bumble bee is broken. I don’t know how it happened, but one thing I know for sure is – I didn’t do it. Mom said, “What’s this?” and “Did you rip your new toy?” and “Why are you naughty?” and I said (inside my head), “My bumble bee’s leg.” and “I don’t think so.” and “I don’t really know what naughty means.” (I do of course, but I can’t help it.)

When Mom goes to her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid, they always ask her questions like, “Whose story are you telling?” and “What is this character thinking?” and “Is this enough conflict?” and Mom says, “I’m not sure.” and “I don’t know.” and “I don’t really know what conflict means.” (She does, of course, but she doesn’t like it.)

The problem is – once she starts writing a story, the characters take over and start doing things and saying things and thinking things that Mom can’t control. So when one of her characters does something odd or boring or out of sequence or simplistic, Mom says, “I didn’t do it.” And she’s telling the truth! The problem is – she is the one who has to fix it.

I wonder if she can fix my bumblebee…..

Unexpected

Picture books and poems work better if they have something unexpected in them. Besides originality, an opening that captures the reader, complex characters, conflict, cause and effect, solution, setting, wordplay, rising stakes, humor, a satisfying ending, and a dog….

… (OK. I made that last one up.), a story needs a surprise. It could be a dragon who likes to cook, crayons that make magic drawings, baby birds hatching inside a motorcycle helmet,

 Photos courtesy of Gemma – http://firstandfabulous.wordpress.com

a super hero baby, or a dog who paints like an artist….. Unexpected surprises. They help make stories and poems more FUN.

I found an unexpected surprise outside by the laundry room stairs, yesterday.

A hairbrush. Why?

Wait! What??

Why is there a hairbrush in the grass outside? Were neighbors fixing their hair before doing laundry? Was a student walking to school doing her hair because she was late? Is the groomer from Petco hiding behind a tree waiting to brush my fur?

What will happen to the hairbrush? Will spiders move in between the bristles and build webs? Will grasshoppers walk through and think they’re in a forest? Will a baseball fly over the garages and land on top of it? Will the lawn guys mow it?

If it’s still there tomorrow, I am going to taste it. I hope the super doesn’t come by and put it in the garbage when he cleans up…. That would be NO FUN.

Countdown Wednesday

Spring has finally sprung around here, so Mom took me to the park. Today, we will count down what we learned there.

What I Learned at the Park

3. Cigars are delicious. At the baseball field, I found a cigar butt. It was all crushed and stepped on, but I liked it anyway. Mom said the word, “Don’t you dare eat that.” She says that a lot. I sat and guarded the cigar for a little while, and I managed to lick it once or twice when she wasn’t looking.

2.  Bats smell good.  There was a dead bat behind one of the benches. I sniffed him and wanted to sit with him (taste him), but Mom said the word, “Get away! Get away! Get away!” She says that a lot, too.

1. Flowers are pretty. We saw some little flowers that looked like stars. They were pretty, but they got even prettier when Mom added me to the picture.

 

What Mom Learned at the Park

3. Pick and choose.  The dead bat, crushed cigar, and yellow flowers reminded Mom of her idea list on her phone. Some of the ideas are dried up and petrified, some stink, and some look like stars. She tries to always pick an idea that seems like a star.

2. Sit with the stars. When Mom starts a new story, with a star idea, she mind-writes with it for a while. She needs to add lots of good stuff to the idea till it becomes a story. She added ME to the star flowers at the park, but she doesn’t add me to all of her stories. I wish she would….

1. Get away. After a story is finished, Mom has to get away from it for a while. She doesn’t think about it or look at it or work on it for a week or two.  After she’s away long enough, she can see the story more clearly – what’s good, what needs work, and what stinks.

If I stay away from the park for a week or two, maybe I can go back and see what stinks.  Yay! I can’t wait!

 

Inspirational Quote of the Week

It’s not always about looking forward to what’s ahead of you. Sometimes it’s all about looking back at the things that define you.
~Amina Tabasum~

Mom likes looking ahead – to the next idea, the next manuscript, the next book, the next poem. But sometimes, she HAS to look back. It’s her worst part of writing. She gets ideas all the time, mind writes, writes on the computer, and takes her characters from the beginning to the end – not always in that order.

Then it’s time to revise. *gulp* She is forced to look back at the story she liked (loved) a lot and start deciding what she hates about it. There are even some rules to follow. Like the rule of three, building conflict, and making the ending special by solving a problem, bringing a twist, or circling back. Nobody likes rules. Ugh. Even though looking back is difficult, it has to be done because it makes stories better. So she looks back at every single story she writes, and fixes and fiddles and cuts and corrects and tightens and turns things upside down. Mission accomplished.

Mom looked back in her rear view mirror while we were driving to the Veteran’s Home on Saturday. This is what she saw.

It’s because of this!

I was heading to work to get petted, eat treats, cuddle, give kisses, and make people smile.

Mission accomplished…

Trying

It snowed again the other day. Just when we were getting ready for spring, and the flowers were starting to grow, snow tried to crush them! But those flowers are tough. They will keep trying.

I used to know how to bowl with 10 water bottles. Then Mom bought me bowling pins and I forgot what to do.

She practices with me a lot. Even though I still get confused, I’m tough. I will keep trying.

 Mom writes, revises, and submits stories all the time. Some get rejected, some get ignored, and some get lost in the slush pile forever. Last week, she got a happy letter and sent a happy contract.

It’s not Book #2, but one of Mom’s stories will be published in Humpty Dumpty Magazine in May. We’re excited and happy to have an acceptance! But for Book #2, she’ll have to keep trying.

Inspirational Quote of the Week

There’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen~

There seems to be a crack in the head of my laughing dog. Plus his ear is missing.

I think his head accidentally cracked open because Mom turned on the switch and he started laughing too much. I’ve heard of “laughing your head off,” but I’ve never heard of “laughing your head open so the light can get in.”

Mom is always looking for where the light gets in. She says if her story is tight enough, nothing can crack it open. So she checks it and checks it. She says she’s troubleshooting. I don’t like trouble and I don’t like shooting, so I hope she is just kidding. But she reads her story out loud to herself all the time. She says, “Does the ending match the beginning?” and “Is my character believable?” and “How much does the problem really matter?” and “Where is the laughing dog’s ear?!”

Mom keeps deleting and rewriting sections of her story trying to make it perfect before she brings it to show her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. She says, “Am I telling too much?” and “Am I showing enough?” and “I guess I’ll have to sew up the rip in his head.”

Mom might be able to make her story perfect, but as you can see, the laughing dog’s head will never be perfect again. I wonder where his ear went…..

Click the video to hear the laughing dog laugh.

Thanks to our writer friend, Chelsea at Jenny Mac Book Blog for giving us the Sunshine Award and to Bubba and Mumma and the gang at Bumpy Road to Bubba for giving us the Why I Love Thee Award. Click here for our Sunshine questions and answers, and here or here for the story of how Mom and I found each other. We love all our sunshiny blogging friends, so feel free to take an award or two and list your own Sunshine answers or Love Story.

Editing and Enhancement

Mom finished her January story for 12×12. Whew! That was the closest she ever came to the end of the month.  Her story is a first, first, FIRST draft, and it will need a LOT of editing before it sees the light of day.  Mom said, “You have to start somewhere.” and “Writing it is the first step.” and “Do NOT eat the hat!”

Soon (Eventually), Mom will look closely at her January story and fix it up till it’s ready to show her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. She said, “I’ll probably have to cut about 100 words.” and “I’ll streamline the dialog.” and “The ending needs lots of work.”

Bob said my picture didn’t need too much work. I guess that’s because of my extreme cuteness.  Check here to see Bob’s comments about what he did to it. Also look here to see more of Bob’s work, or here to enter his Sunday Frameable Keepers Challenge.

Mom said the new picture is brighter and sharper and my fur and the teddy bear’s fur look fluffier.  Thanks, Bob! 

Here I am enhanced!

The original is on the left and the enhanced version is on the right. Cute and even CUTER!

I guess because of my super cuteness, my friends at DogDaz gave me the Super Sweet Blogging Award this week. I’ll keep it displayed on my Awards page.  Thanks, DogDaz!

Take-My-Picture-Tuesday

Mom’s friend Bob at Northwest Photographer is an artist. He is crazy-skilled at taking pictures, and goes around to a lot of places getting amazing shots of animals and scenery and all sorts of wonderful things….including a cat named Jack! Bob is having a challenge called Frameable Keepers every Sunday at his blog. He wants to see photos that you’d love to see framed, and then he will fix them up so they look perfect.

I have begged and begged Mom to submit a picture of me. She says I can’t compete with all that beauty. That’s a good thing, ….right? I think it means I’m ….um…extra-pretty….??? And she should give me bacon….???

Anyway, I finally talked her into it, so here I am.

I hope Bob will work on my picture and make me look even cuter.  (Can I GET any cuter??)  He’ll fix and figure and change and correct and enhance and elevate.

Each time Mom finishes a story, she ALWAYS works on it some more, like Bob does with his pictures. I think she’s trying to make her stories even cuter, like me. She rephrases and revises and cuts and clips and elaborates and embellishes. When mom thinks her picture is frameable, then she’ll talk about it at her writing group and maybe submit it.

I wonder what she’ll do when my picture is frameable…. She framed this one, so I guess anything can happen!

By the way, check my Awards Page to see my newest bling. It’s the Shine On Award from our friends at Angels Whisper. Thanks, A.W.!