Time Well Spent

This is my new bed. It fits me perfectly. Sometimes I rest in it, sometimes, I sleep, and sometimes I use it to stare at Mom while she works.

It beats this.

And this.

Mom has something new, too. It’s her new story that she’s working on for 12×12.

Well, she’s been working on it all month, but she’s not sure she’ll get it finished in time. If she doesn’t finish it by the end of the month, it will be the first time since 12x12in’12 that she missed doing a monthly manuscript.

We’re not sure what slowed this one down. Maybe because she was revising some old stories. Maybe because she entered a contest. Maybe because this story is written in a different format than she usually uses. Mom says, “This is all part of writing, so it’s time well spent.”

Maybe she’s behind because she is trying to teach me to “Park It” on my new mat.

I can’t always get that quite right.

Maybe because she’s teaching me to “Find it” when she hides a bacon treat. I used to know how to do that, but sometimes, I get hung up.

Maybe because she’s teaching me to knock down a tower of cups. Mom says, “Touch it!” and “Touch it!” and “TOUCH IT!!” and “Ugh. This is NOT time well spent.”

Countdown Wednesday

Today, we’re counting down Our Year in Review.

My Highlights in 2012

3. My picture was in a book! Chuck Sambuchino wrote a political humor book called Red Dog / Blue Dog, and he used my picture to illustrate one of the pages! I looked adorable.

2. I learned how to dance. Mom taught me to twirl around on my hind feet for a cookie.

1. I forgot how to bowl! I learned bowling using empty water bottles…..

 But then Santa brought me a bowling set, and I have no idea how to bowl. So I just take a pin and bring it on the couch.

16. I found some bread that the birds dropped in front of my house. It was delicious!

Mom’s Highlights in 2012

3. Mom’s story Fly Fishing was in the final issue of Stories for Children Magazine in November. There was no dog in the story, but there was a trout.

2. Mom’s story Waiting for Petey was in the November/December issue of Turtle Magazine. there was no dog in the story, but there was a teddy bear (I love teddy bears).

1. NWEA bought Mom’s poem Talking Goldfish to use in their online test prep program. There was no dog in the poem, but there was a fish.

42. Humpty Dumpty Magazine is holding Mom’s story Show and Tell Surprise for possible publication in the May/June 2013 issue. There was no dog in the story, but there was a hermit crab.

67. Mom completed 3 challenges this year – 12x12in’12 (3 of her 12 stories featured a dog), PiBoIdMo (9 of her 30 ideas are about dogs), and Goodreads. (about 30 of the 214 books she read had a dog in them).

2012 is in the rear view mirror. Bring on 2013. Happy New Year!

Happy Dance

Some people dance when they’re happy. I dance every day. Move over, Snoopy!

Mom makes me dance for my treats. She thinks it will keep me from getting fat and that it will strengthen my core. Core? Really? If that’s something like “corn” then I’m OK with it. Once I licked a corn cob till Mom’s hands got tired of holding it. So, I dance, whether I’m happy or just feel like a snack. 

Feeling happy is always good. Mom feels happy because of her story in Stories for Children E-Magazine this month and her story in Turtle Magazine next month. She is also happy to be keeping up in her 12×12 Challenge, and she’s thinking about starting another challenge called PiBoIdMo in November.  That one also scares her a little.  I know about being scared.  You should see the freak-head-jack-o-lantern that my neighbor puts in the hallway every year. *shiver*

Something else that’s making Mom happy and excited is the Katie Davis Webinar she is ‘attending’ this week. For an hour, she will look at the computer and learn things about writing and submitting and how not to be a one-book-wonder. I am also excited about this Webinar because Mom doesn’t have to go in the car to get there. That means I can stare at her the whole time…

…and not have to watch out the window or “wait quietly like a big girl.”

Both of us are SUPER-happy that our friends at Our Furever Family let me tell a whole entire story about ME on their blog. Yay me!  What are you waiting for? Get over there and read about me!

Surprises

Mom shopped online a whole bunch last week. Now, packages keep coming to our house. Each one is a surprise. Mom says, “Yay!” and “I wonder what this is!” and “Stop barking at the UPS guy. He is our friend.”

One of the surprises was not even something Mom ordered. It was a gift from my bloggie- friend, Mollie. Her awesome Mom made me a bandana with cupcakes on it to match my name. I think I am very cute in it. Thanks, Mollie!

Sometimes surprise ideas pop into Mom’s head. She gets ideas from people-watching, kids talking, names, signs, games, shopping, the newspaper, driving, the park, the neighborhood, the laundromat, the garage, ….everywhere!  She gets ideas from spider webs, eyeglasses, the broom, flowers, baseballs, the ice cream man, ….everything!

Once, she thought she was fresh out of ideas, but then – SURPRISE- something on the news made her think of an idea. She googled it, got more ideas, thought about it in her head and got MORE ideas, and now she’s writing it into her computer and getting even more ideas. Surprise! She wasn’t out of ideas after all.

One more surprise Mom found on my blog was that I FINALLY have 100 followers.  101, actually.  After blogging for so long we thought we never get to 100, so yay and thank you to everyone who clicked the follow button! I wanted to celebrate with 101 treats, but that was a no-go.

What kind of a celebration is this??

Hope and Things Like That

Sometimes Mom gets rejections.  She got TWO of them the other day.  TWO. At once.  I’m not much with numbers, but I think two means a LOT!  Now she hates the mailman, just like I do.  She said, “This mailman has it in for me.” And I said, “Told-ja.”

But after she marked the rejections in her book and shredded them (so they don’t bring bad Karma), Mom went right back to having hope.  Hope that she’ll finish her next story for 12×12, hope that her writing group (named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid) will give her some good ideas for her last story, hope for Book #2, and hope that I will learn to fetch a ball one of these days.

Our Collie friends and Chuck passed us the Hope badge in the Hope Relay.  Mom says, “That’s a good sign.” and “Hope is a good thing.” and “Bring it here! Bring it here! Bring it here! RATS!”

I have hope, too.  Hope that I can have a frozen ice cream treat today,

hope that we can go to the park later,

and hope that she’ll forget about this fetching stuff and let me keep my baseball in my toy collection on the couch.

My friend, Misaki, has been thinking about me lately.  How do I know? She sent me this!

Thanks, Misaki!

I’ve been thinking about my friends at Hamster Diaries.  They’ve had a rough time lately, and now that they’re bouncing back, I want to pass the Hope Relay to them, and share the Thinking Of You Award, as well.

I’d also like to pass the Hope Relay and Thinking Of You Award to Bassa and Barnaby at Bassas Blog and their Tall Person at Georgia About.

While we’re at it, I entered a fun contest at Mollie and Alfie’s Blog.  Even though we didn’t win, we got this cool badge, anyway.  Cute Huh?  Thanks Mollie and Alfie!

All I had to do to earn it was look like this for a few minutes…..

Something New

Mom has finished writing nine stories for her 12×12 challenge.  She is ready to start something new.  That’s always fun.  Something new for a writer is exciting because they get to start with a clean page and have millions and millions of possibilities in front of them, just ripe for the picking (like when somebody spills a whole bag of popcorn in the field where I walk).  One of those possibilities might be The Idea that leads to THE ONE. 

For Mom THE ONE means the elusive Book #2. She will look at the list of ideas in her phone for a long time.  She will probably mumble to herself for a while.  When she starts typing, she will stall around, looking for just the right names for her characters.  She’ll look in her phone at her list of names, and maybe look online at a name-your-baby website (or a name-your-puppy website if it’s a dog story – which I hope it is).  From start to finish, she’ll mind write a lot, talk to herself a lot, type on the computer, and drink coffee (that’s my favorite part).

Yesterday, I did something new, too.  If I were a writer, this might become my Favorite Idea for MY elusive Book #2.

 

Inspirational Quote of the Week

There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.

Tony Robbins

Mom and I do not even believe in failure. We can’t. It would make things too difficult. When I try to learn new things like fetching (yes, I consider that “new” even though I’ve been trying to learn it for two years), Mom never says, “Forget it.” or “This is an epic fail.” She always says, “Try it again.” and “Almost.” and “Not the couch! Not the couch!! NOT THE COUCH!!! Ugh!”

Apparently, bringing the ball on the couch is not fetching, which is unfortunate because I’m really good at that.  I’ve been practicing that for two years. 

When Mom gets rejections, she does not think that is failure, either. She says, “It’s the nature of the beast.”  (*shiver* I don’t like beasts at all.)  Mom knows that authors get rejections, so she takes them in stride.

It’s not her favorite result, but it’s just a result and not the end of the world. 12x12in’12 helps Mom to keep on keeping on, so she writes more stories and different stories and doesn’t waste time being sad about rejections because writing is not sad.  It’s fun.

Fetching, on the other hand – NOT fun.

Take-My-Picture-Tuesday

As you know, I’ve been haunted and harangued by the mechanical hamster, which I’m pretty sure has been trying to kill me.  Well…

Look who killed the mechanical hamster.  I guess I showed him.  Now I can move on with my life.

Mom is moving on with her life, too.  She looked at the rejected Highlights Fiction Contest story and did a little work on it first thing this morning.  She will stare at her computer and talk to herself a lot about it.  Soon it will be back in the mail heading someplace fun, and maybe will be Book #2.

Mom said, “I’m having a conflict with the conflict in this story.” and “I hate conflict.” and “I’m going to put in a fresh battery and put this thing back together.”

Uh-oh.

This week, Mom will work on two stories at the same time.  Her Highlights reject and her new story for 12×12.  Both need conflict, both need a stronger story arc, and one of them needs an ending!

Mom has her work cut out for her.  So do I.  I plan to get the battery out of the mailman, next. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to kill me.

The Best

A huge cuddle and snuggle and I-hope-I-don’t-accidentally-bite-your-head-off-thank-you to Eve and Dexter and their human at Hamster Diaries for choosing us as June’s Best Blog.  Although I am still a little afraid of my mechanical hamster, Eve and Dexter don’t seem as scary as that baby Frankenstein monster in its evil, unpredictable plastic ball.

Mom also won two awards from our friend Beth at By Word of Beth.  These awards are for being a 12×12 writer, which Mom is.  To me it means Beth likes me.  She really really likes me. 

These awards require us to:

• Link back to the person who gave us the awards – Thanks, Beth!
• And tell 7 things about ourselves

You can read 7 things about me here or here or see 7 of my favorite toys here….

Having 3 new awards is helpful, since yesterday Mom found out she didn’t win the Highlights Annual Fiction Contest.  She said, “This story is SO cute, how did it not win?” and “Oh well.  I’ll enter a new story next year.” and “Being a dog is so simple….”

Halfway

I love to jump – onto the couch, off the couch, onto the bed, off the bed, into the car…

You get what I mean.  So Mom decided to teach me to jump through a hoop.  This sounds simple, but it’s not.  Sometimes I forget to jump, and I accidentally run UNDER the hoop and stand on the other side, waiting for a Cheerio. Sometimes, my front feet jump, but my back feet don’t.  Mom says, “Why did I waste $8 on a hula hoop?” and “Up. Up! UP!! Ugh.” and “You’re only halfway there.”

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Mom is also halfway there in her 12×12 Challenge. She and a bunch of other picture book authors decided to join Julie Hedlund and challenge themselves to write a picture book a month for 12 months in 2012.  Now that it’s the end of June, they’re halfway there. 

Mom is actually a little more than halfway there!  She has written 7 and a half picture books.  She likes most of them, but she thinks a couple stink.  She says, “It’s only a first draft.” and “This one isn’t my favorite.” and “I have Cheerios in my pocket. Let’s play Fetch for a while.”

Yeah…I’m only halfway there, too….

I’m not worried about Mom. She always finishes what she starts.  She has to keep trying like I do, and we can get a new box of Cheerios, so we don’t run out.