Regret is not when you could not finish what you started, but regret is when you do not start what you could have finished.
~Apoorve Dubey~
Mom says, “We’re finished here” a lot. Mostly to me. She says it when I tippy-toe along the curb instead of walking in the grass like a normal dog.
She says it when I nap in the gutter.
Or the street.
And sometimes “we’re finished here” when it’s time to make the bed.
To me, things are never really finished. They’re just “done for now.”
Mom’s monthly 12×12 Challenge stories are not really finished either. I mean they have a beginning, middle, and ending, but the month ends and the stories still have a long way to go.
First drafts are like that. They’re just “done for now.”
Part of Mom’s challenge is also to revise a story a month. Revising a manuscript means that after the story has slept in the computer undisturbed for a while, Mom opens it up and says, “Ugh. This stinks.” and “There are some good bones here, but it needs work.” and “Get up, lazy bones.”
So, let’s drink to starting whether you’re ready or not, finishing what you start, and living life with no regrets…
…and plenty of naps and treats and an occasional lick of cake batter.
Cupcake Speaks 
Comments on: "Inspirational Quote of the Week" (46)
that is a very good quote and we agree with your mama, when we write something it is never finished it is just done for now… who knows what good ideas we have tomorrow and how great that story looks when we include that new ideas… the opposite of that case is, when your laptop has a bad hair day and the story is neither finished nor done for now because all the smart words go to space nirvana… then your story is never done, it mostly stinks because it never ever gets the esprit and the special note it had once before windows killed it…
Glerb, P. If Mom’s computer ever had a bad hair day, she would burn the house down. She has no patience for computer problems. If she talks to tech support for 30 seconds, she says, “Connect me to the sales department. I’m moving on with a new computer!” #nopatience
Love and licks,
C
Too cute 🙂
Thanks, pop. In my mind, Cute is my middle name.
Love and licks,
C
🐶🐶💕💕💕
Excellent quote and such a purrfect way to show your finishing touch…😹You have a remarkable balance, Cupcake, couldn’t have done it any better👍Pawkisses for a Happy Week ahead to the both of you🐾😽💞
I am like a cat that way, Little B. Except when I take a wrong step and crash-land on my face. That’s how I roll.
Love and licks,
C
Cake batter? Cake batter exists? You can eat it? Cupcake – you may have just changed my life. Your mum always works exceptionally hard. One day, when her stories are published all over the world, you can say to the world: I was there. 😃
Monty 🐾❤️🐾
I WILL say that to the world, M, because I am there. If you want to learn more about cake batters, crank up your most intense stare and use it 1000% every time your mama is in the kitchen. Sooner or later there will be cake batters.
Love and licks,
C
Cupcake, you and your Mom have the RIGHT IDEA! Especially cake batter snacks….oh boy! I knew you took street naps but a gutter nap? Maybe that’s cozier than out in the street!
Hugs and stuff, Teddy
Thanks, T. The stone curb is actually more comfortable than it looks. Mom never lets me stay as long as I want to, especially when it’s a billion degrees.
Love and licks,
C
She doesn’t want your furs to get singed!
Cupcake, you and your mom are so wise. Oh and we need to find out more about being a cake batter licker upper. Yum! ~nose nudges Bonnie Pup
Thanks, B. Getting the mixer-cleaning job involves a LOT of begging-face and a LOT of focus in the kitchen. Stick with it, even if your My Margret says “OUT” a hundred times.
Love and licks,
C
Cupcake! I just had a kitty idea! What about your mom taking one of her stories she’s finished with, but pit aside to will work on some revisions maybe later; and reads it to the kids in the library!? Get THEIR reaction…real kids. Grownups who read her stories have grownup minds. Let’s see what the kids will say. After all, these stories are for them. Right?
XO
Katie Isabella
Your kitty idea is just like a human idea, KI. You are a smart girl. At school visits, Mom will often read some of her work to the kids, for fun. The problem is – the kids like her and are excited to see her (and sometimes me) so they straight-up LOVE everything she reads. #notanimpartialjury
Love and licks,
C
But still, Cupcake…they LIKE it! I know they like you two, but they like the stories too. You know, I so wish there were kids in door neighborhood that the stories could be read to… or their parents perhaps do it..and get their reactions. I meow that these are for children and adult judges your mom contends with aren’t always going to feel the magic a child will.
Words to live by, indeed! And the two orange pups and I hope that things cool down near you soon.
Thanks, P. Tell the pups that it is slightly under a billion degrees today, so we’re on our way to more normal NJ summer life.
Love and licks,
C
Revising is so much worse than writing. 🙂
Mom agrees 100% – probably because she always likes what she writes. #noinnercritic
Love and licks,
C
I like what I write too until I read it. 😁
I understand that…I’m just done now, thing. Boomer
You get me, B.
Love and licks,
C
I like “done for now”… 🙂 I am working on living life with no regrets. I get pretty excited about getting to eat cake batter but only off the beaters. I did not know until today that your Mom reads her stories to the kids… cool.
The No Regret Life is the best kind of life. Especially when there’s already been water under the bridge. We knuckle up and move forward without looking back, of course, but also focused on the moving forward 100%.
Love and licks,
C
We’ll drink to all that! Cake batter? You get cake batter? We never get anything sweet. xox Lucy and Xena
Don’t get too excited, girls. I get a lick or two and it’s over when it’s barely begun. Ditto when I get a Puppachino – a few licks and that’s it.
Love and licks,
C
Living life with no regrets. Yes! Good advice from a good dog. Start, middle, finish. Like drawing or painting. Or writing. Yes! Enjoy the process. 🎨 ✍️ 🐶❤️
You totally get it, G. It’s all about the process and the journey. If that’s not fun, then what’s the point!? #taketimetosmelltheflowers
Love and licks,
C
You always manage to provide such great advice, Cupcake!
Stick with me, M. I always know the answers.
Love and licks,
C
My ghostwriter has lots of ideas for stories, but can never get herself to “Sit!” and “Stay” at the computer long enough to put the ideas into words. She says if the words don’t flow, she gets distracted and starts doing something else. Either that, or I come and bark at her for something … but you know I’d never do that … heheheh.
Of course not, C. You are the goodest and quietest boy. Sounds like your Ghostwriter is stuck mind-writing. That’s fine. When the time comes, that will help the words to flow.
Love and licks,
C
Let’s have a toast to your clever ways, Cupcake, Will a glass od iced nip tea do ya?
Shoko
Thanks, S. I have always wanted to try nip. My kitty friends swear by it. Count me in.
Love and licks,
C
It looks as if you might be saying “We’re done here.” when you lay down on the walk. BOL! BOL!
Ha! Yes, M.K. I am, except Mom is NOT, so up I go to keep walking.
Love and licks,
C
Lulu: “Humans are always in a hurry to be done, aren’t they, Cupcake? How do you think they would like it if we were to go bang on the bathroom door while they’re in there asking them if they’re done yet?”
Charlee: “Oh I do that to them all the time.”
Chaplin: “Yeah, so do I.”
Lulu: “Oh … Do they like it?”
Charlee: “Who knows? We’re cats, we don’t pay attention to things like that.”
Chaplin: “We just do it because it’s fun!”
I never looked at it that way… As a non-cat, I will tell you – they do NOT like it. I do not like it either.
Love and licks,
C
I am about to pledge to pay more than the rely cursory glance at my comment before I hit send. The typos are plenteous!
Katie Isabella
Don’t even worry about it. Mom used to be a teacher. She reads right past the typos to see the message.
Love and licks,
C
Ha! For me, revising a manuscript means that after the paper has slept in the computer undisturbed for a while, I open it up and say: Is it really my work? I cannot remember! Then, after a while, it begins to dawn on me.
That’s a good thing, K. Nothing wrong with having a life and a career (or hobby) where every day is a new adventure filled with surprises!
Love and licks,
C
🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks!!!
Such a great advice , that too with this cute post! Thank you🤗