One Writer Mom. One Teen Kid. One Brilliant Australian Shepherd. One Comical Border Collie Mix. One Dog in a Maine Coon Cat's Body. And Latest to the Party — One Cuddly Cavalier.
Posted in On Writing on Oct 15th, 2007
I hate how hard it is to upgrade! Grrr…. After two miserably failed attempts which have messed up my RSS feeds among causing other problems (if you read through an RSS feed, you may need to resubscribe to automatically get the current posts), I’m giving up! For now anyway. Yes, for a few hours, I’d [...]
Posted in Funnies, On Writing, Web Wanderings on Aug 4th, 2007
I am often asked to play the role of book doctor for writer friends whose manuscripts need a little work. I am able to keep charging through, because at least I haven’t come across any of these! If you need a good laugh, go ahead and click. Here are just a few of the gems [...]
Posted in On Writing on Jul 25th, 2007
Rory, over at Clean Cut Blog has a Group Writing Project . He instructs: “Write your own blog post presenting your first rule of writing. Not a top three, or five – what would you say is the most important rule according to you, and why? What would come before anything else?” Okay, then. I’ve [...]
Posted in On Writing on Jul 23rd, 2007
Nowhere else have I encountered people who take the time to pat each other on the back and say “Good Job!” like bloggers do. That’s because we all realize how much effort it takes to create a blog worth visiting and we understand the value of encouragement. It makes me realize how much nicer a [...]
Posted in On Writing on Jul 16th, 2007
If you’d just spent a good bit of time getting your place spiffed up for company, and you were really looking forward to having them come and visit for awhile, would you then welcome them by piling some of your furniture in front of the door for them to climb over? Surely not. Yet, metaphorically [...]
Posted in On Writing on Jul 2nd, 2007
Heather from TopBlog Magazine gave a few of us writers this assignment: …This is your invite to write something for the next issue. The theme is “I don’t subscribe to…” but don’t use that as your title… I scribbled down a few ideas that popped into my head. For my own use, I left the [...]
Posted in On Writing on Jun 21st, 2007
My friend, Rory, over at Hamelife tagged me for this meme — 5 things I like about blogging and 3 things I don’t. And how fortunate, because several readers have asked me about the pros and cons of starting their own blog. So I can skip two stones across the pond with one throw. :) [...]
Posted in .Best of, On Writing on Apr 3rd, 2007
Several people have asked what it takes to be a successful writer. In order to address this question, it requires that I ask a question in return: What is your definition of success? Because there are many kinds of successes–and failures–one can experience in writing. The writing experience can run the full gamut from simply [...]
Posted in On Writing on Mar 17th, 2007
You might have noticed that I have a spiffy new button on my sidebar. Michelle from Scribbit: A Blog About Motherhood in Alaska honored me with it, saying that she selected me because “she (meaning me) thinks about words and is a good writer.” Those words are high praise. Thanks Michelle. Which brings up something [...]
Posted in On Writing on Mar 12th, 2007
A good friend stopped by for an unannounced visit. “You working on a new book proposal?” “Yeah, working flat out,” I answered. “How’d you guess?” “Dust-bunnies. Dead give-away.”
Posted in On Writing, The Mail Bag on Mar 1st, 2007
From the Mail Bag: Kate writes: I’d like to start writing nonfiction, human interest stories, emphasizing topics such as dogs and life with dogs, health and psychology. I’d like to start with articles (magazine, newspaper or both) and eventually work towards a book. I have done a few small human interest pieces for the newspaper [...]
Posted in .My Dogs and Me, On Writing on Jan 30th, 2007
…Make sure, with all future book contracts, to specify that if I write a book about my dogs, and the publisher is going to put a picture of a dog on the cover, then it’s my dog’s picture that will be used. Not a generic stock photo of a dog that not only is not [...]
Posted in Life, On Writing on Jan 12th, 2007
When I was growing up, we lived out in the country where there were a lot of animals, but not a lot of kids. Animals were my constant companions. When I wasn’t busy with my horses, dogs, cats, and the cows (not ours) out in the back pasture, I’d amuse myself with my mind. Like [...]
Posted in .My Dogs and Me, Dogs in General, On Writing on Dec 15th, 2006
I just found out that my book, Dogs of Dreamtime, has been nominated for the DWAA (Dog Writers Association of America) 2006 awards, in the category for best general interest dog book. I learned of this through a friend who’s on a dog list, who read a posting from another friend, who’d received an email [...]
Posted in On Writing, The Mail Bag on Nov 28th, 2006
From the mail bag: K.W. asks: What do you say when someone has asked you to read something they’ve written, and it really stinks? I don’t want to hurt my friend’s feelings, because I know she spent a lot of time on it. She thinks the story she’s written is ready to be sent off [...]
