Inspirational Quote of the Week

Mom does writing just about every day – but only for one hour. After one hour, her brain is fried, so she spends the rest of the day dreaming, talking, and wishing about writing. Also, she does mind-writing, watching and listening for ideas, reading picture books, and generally living her life.

On certain days she sends a story to Rate Your Story,

reads books and drinks coffee at Barnes and Noble,

and sometimes she submits stories to agents or publishers.

There are some things I do just about every day, too. I watch Mom watch TV,

This is fascinating…

 

snoopervise the hanging plants out front,

take a walk – or a hike,

and get my teeth brushed.

Also, I do street napping,

or grass napping….

therapy dog work at the library

and VA,

and go to the park.

On certain days, I celebrate,

dress up,

and sometimes, I get hiccups.

Inspirational Quote of the Week

Vision is not enough. It must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.
Vaclav Havel

Mom’s Highlights Contest story is finished resting, and thanks to her Contest Magic classmates giving her tons of help, she revised it –  AGAIN – cutting and adding and switching and tightening and tweaking (not twerking – trust me – nobody wants to see that).

 Yesterday, we went to the mailbox

and Mom unceremoniously dropped it in. She said, “I could work on this thing for the rest of my life.” and “It’s time to stop staring up the steps and step up the stairs.” and “Where do you think you’re going?”

Mom is hoping to win big, but she is also hoping for her cyberclassmates to win big right along with her. She said, “Their stories are amazing.” and “Can I even compete with these people?” and “There’s nothing up there for you.”

Is she talking to me??

Fixed

When I first came here, I had to be fixed. I wasn’t broken, but getting fixed was about not getting any more puppies in my belly. That’s fine with me.

My puppies were adopted at the shelter where I “lived” (and by lived, I mean barely existed) before I was rescued. Nowadays, I feel that puppies would take away some of Mom’s attention – which belongs 100% on ME. Plus, I use my belly for other things, named treats.

Mom’s story for the Highlights Annual Fiction Contest wasn’t broken, either.

But, boy oh boy, did it need to be fixed. Mom’s cyberclassmates and her cyberteacher from the Contest Magic class gave suggestion after suggestion and asked important questions that made Mom think of important answers and make important changes. At the end of it all, the story was a LOT better than it started out. Like me!

Before

After

Some things Mom learned were:

1. She is a mental case when it comes to commas.  (She, kind, of, already, knew, that,,,)

2. The story problem needs to be close to the beginning of the story.

Help!

3. Readers need to learn about characters by what they say and what they do.

4. A problem can’t solve itself. Characters need to work at it and make the solution happen. And it can’t be too easy.

5. Conflict and tension are important. (Mom stinks at both of them.)

6. Sometimes, even your favorite parts of a story need to be cut. It might be scary and hurt a little, but it has to be done.

It’s like getting my nails trimmed. Like it or not, it has to be done….

Frenzy

Sometimes, when I play with my monkey in a barrel, it puts me into a frenzy. There’s just too much going on! Too much to do. Too many possibilities. Bite the barrel? Tear off the lid? Growl at the talking? Rip the monkey’s face off? Chew his arm till he stops laughing? Shake the whole thing till I’m dizzy? I don’t know what to do first.

Since NewYears, Mom has also been in a frenzy. She’s not biting, tearing, growling, ripping, chewing, or shaking, like me. But she does have a lot going on, a lot to do, and a lot of possibilities. She may have bitten off more than she can chew. I’ve done that occasionally, too…. (And by “occasionally” I mean every day.)

Gah! Why is my mouth so tiny?!

Mom has entered a ton of challenges, and made a bunch of goals for herself this year. She will read 200 picture books in the Goodreads Challenge again,

she joined 12×12 for 2014, which means she needs to write a new first draft in the next few weeks,

she’ll get 30 new ideas when PiBoIdMo starts,

and she will write 30 poems this year.

In between all those jobs (and a bunch of others – if you can believe such a thing), Mom decided to enter the Highlights Annual Fiction Contest this month, AND take Susanna Hill’s Making Contest Magic class this week.

So Mom is learning, mind-writing, registering, paypal-ing, reading, commenting, revising, studying, listing, rhyming, critiquing, and ….do you see what’s missing here??

Snow pea?? Blech! I may have bitten off more than I can chew again.

Rocky, over at my friend Bacon’s blog told me that January 6 was National CuddleUp Day. So I made sure Mom took some time out to celebrate. Actually, I will make sure we celebrate that thing EVERY day!!

Honors

I have been honored again! I’m sure I don’t deserve it, but I LIKE it! My friends at Praying for One Day nominated me for the Shine On award. I think it’s because my fur is so shiny.

And my friends at Collies of the Meadow nominated me for the Super Sweet Blogging Award. I think it’s because I’m sweet.

Thanks, guys! If any of my bloggy friends would like to share these awards, feel free!

I have also been honored to be the Fur Friend of the Month at My Three Moggies. What an honor to actually be featured after reading the stories of other fascinating Fur Friends there. The moggies told my story and also showed my cuteness in pictures. Wow!

Mom has been honored, too. She has received letters from an agent, a couple of magazines, and a picture book publishing company. All rejections. Yay. That’s a good thing…. Right….?

At any rate, Mom has finally decided she hates the mailman. I been trying and trying to tell her he was evil….

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!

Finally!

It’s FINALLY spring around here – complete with warm air and tulips at the park. Actually there are some crazy thunderstorms and flash floods, too. Next stop – Butterflies.

Soon it will FINALLY be tennis season. Actually, I don’t play and Mom doesn’t either, but I’m pretty sure that other people do. I have a tennis dress and a tennis ball, so I will look good while I’m not playing.

Next stop – Mom will probably try to teach me to hold a racket.

And by the way… FINALLY, Mom has Book #2 out for people to read.

Actually, it’s not the Book #2 she was hoping for. It’s her story in Humpty Dumpty Magazine! They made it the May/June Build a Book Activity.

When kids tear out the page and follow the directions – cut the dotted lines / fold the solid lines – bing, bang, boom, Book #2. Yay!

Next stop – Book #3. Wait. What??

10,000

Last week, we reached 10,000 views on our blog. I’m not much with the math, but 10,000 seems like a lot, seeing as how Mom only lets me post once or twice a week. I am excited that so many people and pets wanted to see what we were up to.

Of course, about 9,000 of the views were probably Mom, looking for mistakes and reading comments and stuff. She is my biggest fan. I am her biggest fan, too!

A long time ago, Mom got a fan letter from a little girl who read one of her poems in Spider Magazine. The little girl said that Mom’s poem made her laugh.

I’d like to say Mom was excited about the fan letter, but excited doesn’t even begin to express how she felt. That letter was her favorite piece of mail of her life, until she got the contract for her first book years and years later.

Even though Mom’s book had a ton of good reviews and won The Moonbeam Award, she has never received a fan letter from any of her readers. She has lots of thank you letters from the kids at the schools she visited…

 

….but no fan letters.

If I could write, I’d send her one, but paws aren’t much good with a pencil.

Thanks to all my fans for visiting Cupcake Speaks. Every Visit, every Comment, and every Like feels like a fan letter to me!! xoxo

Winning!

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and there’s SO much to be thankful for.  Mom and I have many blessings in our lives.  We’re super grateful that we were fine through the storms, and we continue to say prayers for our friends and family members who are still dealing with the sadness and nightmares of what the storm left behind. 

I have a lot of friends to thank today. A ton of awards came our way last week. And I even won a Thanksgiving contest!

Oh and Mom is kind of a winner, too. Her story came out in Turtle Magazine.

It looks really cute with all the fancy illustrations, and she is proud and excited and Blah. Blah. Blah…

But seriously – back to me and my awards. 

Thank you to Chelsea for sending us The Very Inspiring Blogger Award. She inspires us, too. To see some Inspiring facts about me, click here. If you’re inspiring, feel free to take the badge and tell 7 Inspiring things about yourself.

Thank you to AngelsWhisper for another Super Sweet Award.  Mom says there’s no such thing as too sweet. To see my Super Sweet questions and answers, click here. If you are Super Sweet, feel free to take the badge and answer the questions on your blog.

Thank you to Chuck and the Collies for giving us The Champion of the Heart Award. Such a special award from the brave and beautiful Trevor.

Thank you to Misaki for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award. It has stars and everything. Plus a ton of rules!

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!

Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different!

When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!

There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

Which means that you can check out your favourite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

For more information check the FAQ on The Thought Palette.

Whew! That’s a lot of rules (to break), but I can handle it! Feel free to take this badge and follow the rules, if you like stars (and rules). 

Mom sent in my picture for a What Am I Thankful For contest at Pawsitively Pets and I won third place! Yay me! Here’s what I know about numbers – 3 is bigger than 1 and 2. That makes me the biggest winner of all! Thanks Lily and Ann!  Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

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!