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.

Characters

Mom writes about characters – human, animal, bug, and imaginary characters. Usually they’re silly or funny or goofy. Sometimes, she tells me that I’m a character. That’s a good thing, right…? Everything Mom’s characters do and say helps us get to know them. We also learn about characters by their body language, gestures, speech patterns, and how they look.

How I look helps people learn about me, too. My face speaks volumes. There’s my happy face,

my other happy face,

and my face at the vet waiting for my rabies shot. Go figure…

My favorite way of showing my personality is by the things I wear. People ask how I feel about dressing up. Whenever Mom dresses me, I get very excited because I know that something fun is going to happen. Sometimes, we’re going to work at the VA

or the library.

Sometimes, we’re getting company. And sometimes, she’s just going to take pictures of me and give me lots of treats.

This week, I was featured on a blog called Dear Bliary. If you visit there, you will see a lot of my best looks, and also a couple of looks from Mom’s old dog named Smoki (who lives inside me). You can get to know more about both of us in just one click!

Breaking Rules

As a dog, I know without a doubt that rules are made to be broken.

I broke some rules last week, when Mom decided to take me out to breakfast. The restaurant allows dogs at the outdoor tables, and Mom has often seen dogs snoozing under chairs, snacking on table scraps, and generally chilling beside their family. She thought I’d be great at all of these skills. I wasn’t. There was something about the metal chairs scraping on the sidewalk, the window shoppers walking by minding their own business, the motorcycle zooming past, and the firetruck 2 blocks away that just set me on edge.

I twirled and twisted, shivered and struggled, pulled and panted, jerked and jumped,

and eventually sat down IN the water bowl that the waitress gave me.

After Mom choked down part of her bagel and gulped down half of her coffee, we went back to the car. Mom said, “I think my shoulder is dislocated.” and “Why can’t you be normal?” and “You are never leaving the house again. Ever.”

Since when is Mom such a rule follower? She breaks rules all the time in her writing. She loves using sentence parts instead of whole sentences, the picture book rule of three sometimes turns into the picture book rule of five, she calls herself a full-time writer, but she only writes for one hour a day, and once she even wrote a story BACKWARDS. Maybe I should ask why SHE can’t be normal??

Now it’s time for me to break some more rules. I want to thank the blog friends who have so graciously nominated me for awards. If you know anything about me, you know I love winning. I will break the rules of the awards by saying that if you’re reading this, I am nominating YOU to take and enjoy whatever award(s) you like. Post them and follow their rules, like a normal person (or pet). Or not. Normal is definitely overrated.

Thanks to my friends Wallace and Samuel for calling me family with the WordPress Family Award.

Thanks to one of my favorite positive thinkers, Shaun for sending over the Shine On Award.

Thanks to the most mellow and most golden golden retriever, Miss Harper Lee for the Sunshine Award and the Super Sweet Blogging Award. See my answers here and here.

Thanks to a newish friend Nikita (and Val) for a newish award called the Dragon’s Loyalty Award.

Inspirational Quote of the Week

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
~Albert Einstein~

 I use my imagination a lot. Mostly I imagine things that are trying to kill me and then I try to hide from them. Mom drags me near them to show me that they’re not dangerous. That makes me shiver. Sometimes, she picks me up and carries me, but sometimes she is just not in the mood, so we cross the street and decide to fight that battle another time.

I use my imagination to pretend things too. I pretend the street is my bed.

I pretend Mom is going to take me with her in the car.

And I pretend she won’t notice if I walk on the glass table as if it’s the floor.

Mom uses her imagination a lot, too. She tells the students she visits that they should always start with a tiny, little seed of an idea and make it grow by mind-writing. That’s because even though an idea is a good beginning, the best parts of the stories she writes come from her imagination.

Imagination comes easy for both of us, but knowledge is TOUGH. Mom has some knowledge, but not the kind that has to do with math. I have a tiny brain, so there isn’t a lot of room for knowledge in there. In spite of this, Mom insists on teaching me new things all the time. She says, “Find it!” and “Fetch it!” and “Drop it!” and “Touch it!” and “Leave it!” and “26+18?? GAH! Where’s the calculator?”

Lately, Mom is teaching me to find things by sniffing. Here I am trying to sniff out a bacon treat. I know it’s somewhere – In the boxes. Or near them. Or under the rug. Or behind the toy. Or…. GAH! Where’s the calculator?

School Visit

I want to say for the record that going to school was as much fun as I predicted it would be. Wait! No! It was TEN times more fun! When Mom and I arrived, everybody was working in groups to invent their own original math games. We were impressed. These kids sure do love to learn!

The first place I discovered was the shelf with the lunchboxes. Mom said, “We are NOT staying for lunch.” and “Don’t even think about it.”

Then I saw a poster that looked a lot like me. but I noticed it said the word, “Listen Up” which clearly has nothing to do with my life.

The whole time I was there, I was kissed and held and cuddled and touched and hugged and carried and petted like crazy.

The kids showed Mom and me the picture books they wrote and illustrated. Now Mom is worried because they are definitely steep competition for her.

They even gave Mom and me a thank you card with lots of words inside and cupcake stickers on it. Perfect.

After all that fun and love, I was exhausted, so I rested in the car and then took a quick street nap when we got home.

Mom has another school visit on Thursday. I wonder what I should wear…

Sharing

Mom went to a school visit last week to share her book with some 5th graders.

They were a wonderful audience and asked lots of fun questions. They are also writers and are working on writing their very own pictures books! Mom wasn’t too surprised by this because their teacher used to be one of Mom’s students, way back when Mom was a teacher. She was a smart little girl and lots of fun. Now she is a smart 5th grade teacher and still lots of fun. Here she is when she was little – she’s the one in the pink dress standing right next to Mom.

In fact – when that 5th grade teacher was in Mom’s class, she brought a praying mantis egg case to school for show and tell and it opened up and released tons of praying mantis babies all over Mom’s classroom! And THAT’S what Mom wrote about in Humpty Dumpty Magazine this month in her story called Show and Tell Surprise.

She shared that story with the 5th graders and gave them a copy of the magazine to keep in their classroom.

Mom loves sharing. Sometimes she shares with me. We share the big chair in the living room,

we share the bed,

she shares her coffee,

and her car.

And if I beg hard enough, sometimes she shares her food with me.

On Monday, Mom will share ME with the 5th graders! Yes, it’s true. They invited me to come along for the ride when Mom goes back to visit them and deliver some books. Road trip!

Long Overdue Thank You!

I have received some awards, and would like to thank the people who gave them to me (finally). I have learned that being a blogger made me part of a big, giant, always-growing blogging family of friends, and I LOVE that. If you are reading this and you would like to share any of my awards, please grab the badge and go for it. If you don’t do awards, and would just like to share a smile, see something different, or learn something new – take a minute to visit these special blogs.

My friends at Collies of the Meadow awarded me the Blog of the Year Award. I could add another star to my former badge, if Mom could figure out how. Those collies make so much mischief, they may have stolen the stars. (Ginger is like that, sometimes…) To see the rules for this award, click here.

My friend at Another Boomer Blog gave me the Sunshine Award. She always shows me interesting, unusual photographs (sometimes with Duke, Lou, or Augie). She has such a great eye. Click here to see my answers to the Sunshine questions.

My deep-thinking, profound friend at Wiley’s Wisdom surprised me with a new award, that I never had before. Leave it to Wiley to dig up something brand new – The  WordPress Family Blogging Award. Since then, I have also been awarded this honor by SIX more of my cyberfriends. That proves that this is a big family and it keeps growing and growing! Thanks to Granny and Little B. at AngelsWhisper, Chelsea at JennyMac Book Blog, the whole zoo at DogDaz, Buddy, Basil, Nutty, and Nibbles at Hutch A Good Life, Savannah at Savannah’s Paw Tracks and Sue at Kid-Lit Reviews. You all bring us tons of smiles and giggles and great information.

Thanks, friends! xoxo

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.

Park Day

I am celebrating Park Day with some blog friends named Finn and Gizmo. Mom takes me to the park a lot. I am very happy there. Yes, this is my happy face….

One of my favorite parks is in Nutley, NJ.

It has BABY SWINGS!

When I am on the swing, I think, “I can stay here forever.” and “I hope some of my friends see me over here.” and “I wish we had a swing at the house.” and “I wonder if I’ll ever be big enough for the grown-up swing…”

The park is a great spot for dogs, and also for writers. Ideas are all over the place. When Mom looks at the swing, she thinks, “What if….” there were an alien on the swing, or a bully or a fish or a clown. And “What if…” the swing were magic, or broken or a spaceship or a nest. And “What if the swing…” tossed a kid up into a tree, or started talking or had a fight with the slide or started growing. And “What if…” someone got stuck in the swing, or was afraid of it or wanted to build one or figured out a new way to use it.

I think Mom wants to stay there forever, too! But we can’t. We have other things to do….

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.