Tag: German Shepherd

Spring Cleaning (I Live on a Dirt Road)

Yesterday I spent a sweaty day getting my house together after the short winter season in Southern Arizona. Cleaning behind, under, and in all the furniture. I wiped surfaces and straightened cluttered areas; sorting and putting things in their places.

I’m very lucky because my home is in Catalina AZ which is north of Tucson, and when we came out in 1991 it felt very rural. We bought an unimproved acre and I love to say that every tree, but two mesquites were planted by hubby. Also the roses, and honeysuckle were his work as well.

Thanks to my German ‘Shedder’ Millie contributing to the dustiness the dirt road deposits in my house, every surface gets a coating of fine dust. When the wind blows the doors are closed to help keep the dust down. Also her fur collects in corners and under the coffee table. One swipe through the house with the dust broom and it looks like I skinned a small animal.

Spring cleaning is all well and good, all that work is worth it, except in my case the dusting. One day later and I’ve noticed surfaces are already starting to get covered and I’ve picked up handfuls of fur.

Arrggh!

So the dust cloth is out, and even after spring cleaning I still have to dust every few days.

Cheers!

-N

Writing and Dogs vs Kitten

Good news on the writing front. I sat here in the living room, casting You Tube videos, with my tablet nearby, and the words just came rolling out. The scene I just finished set up an important relationship that will affect several of my characters and will drive the big drama between the main characters.

I looked back at some of the stuff I wrote a few days ago, being a bit more critical and immediately noticed necessary edits. But I’m not going to touch those until this first draft puppy is done. I know better than to mess with it like that when so much is yet to be written. I’m at 16k+ words right now.

I’ve been working on a design for our Galifrey One t-shirts. We are going to wear matching T’s on Friday. I think what I’ve come up with is pretty nice. Simple but gets the point across. I’m so ready to to be there. My kids live on opposite coasts which makes it hard to get together. I need to sell a bunch of books so I have the money to fly to Orlando more often. My daughter in LA is easier, just a eight hour drive from Tucson. Flights are also cheaper from Phoenix to LAX. Next month will be wonderful with all six of us together. I was telling my sister this a few days ago and almost started to cry.

We have some cold nights in the forecast this week so the dogs are spending the nights indoors. It’s 7:30 pm and 38 degrees. It’s been hilarious watching the dogs as they figure out the little furry boss in our family. Cleo runs the show, this teeny calico kitten running the two big German Shepherds around. She isn’t shy of them, and she will play, especially with Millie. We weren’t sure how they would all get on once they were introduced, but with patience they are coexisting.

Hope all of you are enjoying what ever is happening at your place.

Cheers!

-N

Yay Nick Foles and the Eagles!! 

Life is a Steamroller

So annoyed, ready to run away, so much to do, how far away can I get with what is in the bank, four projects due by the middle of February, no writing done since ??

Life has spiraled out of my control.

Wonder who the new football coach will be for the UA Wildcats?

My 87 year old mother lives here, we have two German Shepherds and a cat, and I am feeling trapped. My hubby is very busy speaking my love language – acts of service – and I wish I could just grab some me some vino (whiskey for him) and snuggle up for a make out session. But…the privacy issue is just that, an issue.

Chuck and I have tickets for Galifrey One in Los Angeles Feb 16-18, 2018. When we bought the tickets nearly a year ago we had my sweet Millie and that was it. Easy solution, drop her at the kennel and off we go. But oh no, not now! After a three week long search I was unable to find respite care for my mother that ran less that $150 a day, and only one place would do less than a two week minimum. Plus they all require a doctors orders since she is on prescription medications, and has memory and vision loss.

The two big dogs (even though they are very good dogs) are going to run me $50-60 a day. The cat is pretty self sufficient, just make sure the cat box is fresh, and food and water set out for the time we are gone and she is all good. I love her.

But damn!

I got to the point where I started to develop stress headaches every day at 4pm, I was about to cancel the whole thing. I really didn’t want to since all my kids and my grandson would be together with us for the first time in I can’t remember when.

Oh hell no, I’m not missing this.

Then…God took mercy on me and I found out my great nephew Kristopher is moving to Catalina soon and he will stay here the whole time, helping with his GG (Great Grandmother) and taking care of the animals! Woo Hoo! Did I mention I love that kid?! Last night, for the first time in weeks I didn’t get a headache.

So let’s see if things will settle down and I can focus on what I need to do before my awesome trip to Doctor Who land.

Cheers!

-N

Red pen edits and dog sitting

Greetings you awesome blog followers!

I just got my manuscript back from time spent in the hands of my awesome beta reader and let’s just say the red ink was flowing. But it’s a good thing for the story and the writer. Some of the best responses are “what did this mean?” or “that came out of the blue” or “who is this talking about?” will give me the chance to look with fresh eyes at what I wrote.

I was told my writing skills have improved since my last book which is great to hear. The red pen noted discrepancies, inconsistencies, and just plain old punctuation and grammar errors that eyes too familiar with the story can miss.

So…it’s time to put the writer cap on and dive into this story with new eyes and fresh motivation. The history this tale delves into is fascinating, and curiously enough, quite timely in certain aspects. My fictional humans are living in a tempestuous and challenging time. Gotta get it right!

20161002_1741211For the past four days we’ve been baby sitting Millie’s brother Jake.

These two German Shepherds eat a lot, play rowdy with each other, forget they are not lap dogs, love ice cubes, and whine in exactly the same way. It’s been good for her to have another canine to patrol the acre with, to bark at the neighbor dogs with, and all the other dog stuff.

She has enjoyed it and rather than him being the alpha (which is his nature) Millie has shown Jake 20161002_1745131how to live in our house. He has mellowed since his arrival, learned he has to sit to come in the house, and is sleeping later. Hey, she lives with adults.

He is a handsome fella, with a deep powerful bark, and lots of energy. I’m pretty sure she will miss him when he leaves today.

Hope he can come over for play dates.

Is there a special dog breed your family loves? We are GSD people.

Cheers!

-N

Productive authoring!

This has been one of my most productive writing days in a while. I really knocked it out of the park today. Characters talking, acting up, being bad, and essentially being real fictional humans. Got that?!

My two big rewrites are done, bam!

And if I do say so myself – I did a great job on them. It’s cool being a writer and getting so wrapped up in the story you start talking back to your characters. Twice I actually said out loud “Oh no you are not going to say that!” It was glorious.

I don’t know how others do their editing but mine is done with written notes and post its on a printed manuscript. This is rev#3.

flame-edits

I have two scenes that need elaborating, but other than those most of the edits I have to finish are grammar and punctuation. Hope my beta readers are ready for this story.

Tomorrow night hubby and I have two tickets to see Cabaret at Centennial Hall on the University of Arizona campus. Its a Broadway touring show and I am very excited to experience it up close.

We will be very busy next weekend with a big yard sale, and at the same time babysitting Millie’s brother Jake. It will be interesting since Jake is a big, gorgeous, alpha German Shepherd. His temperament is very different from Miss Millie who has been raised by two adults. I hope the siblings get on okay, since she is a bit intimidated by him. Damn, most people are intimidated by Jake even though he is a very nice boy.

Sometime in the next few weeks I will have some wonderful news to share but not yet. Patience.

Time for a glass of good wine.

Cheers!

-N

I’m back!

It’s such a thrill when people you don’t even know start commenting on your work. I published an excerpt from my book “Blame It On Whiskey” to my author page on Facebook and the comments have been so wonderful. To hear from people who have connected with my characters and enjoyed the fictional world I created is amazing.

As my last blog post indicated I have been sort of out of communication while my daughter was here with my soon to be grandson. I consider him my grandson already and introduced him as such. Boy did he keep us going, but it was great fun. I had my DVD’s rearranged (evidently I didn’t set them up right) and all the glass lids and pans were moved so he could play with the metal pans. You had to watch where you walked because some of those toys are painful on bare feet! Most of the house was toddler-proofed prior to his arrival, but you never know what he can get into or is interested in until the little human occupies the space.

He and Millie became buddies, lots of puppy kisses between them, and Millie was extremely happy to clean up the post meal droppings around the high chair! After I dropped them at the airport Monday and came home the house was quiet. No Disney Junior or Sprout blaring from the TV, no big humans tracking the movements of the little human, no little voice calling out and babbling at the top of his lungs.

It was different. I miss him.

The monsoon season is upon us in Southern Arizona thank goodness. Our location in Catalina AZ just north of Tucson, higher in elevation, and next to the Santa Catalina mountains means we are cooler and get great storms. Woke up this morning to a wet yard and signs of some wind during the night. The storm didn’t wake me since that stuff works like Ambien on me, as long as the wind isn’t too strong.

Now back to my next book, current book marketing, some plot development for future work, more blogging, wine, chocolate and music.

Cheers!

-N

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01CXRU1QA

Blame it on Whiskey KDP file

Learning as I go

This whole self-publishing and self-marketing thing is a world I’m trying to fit into. Searching and researching what others have to say, what they’ve done and what’s worked takes lots of time. I know I will grow with this as I work at it and find success. It is a challenge I am enjoying, but it often feels I am spending a lot of time and thought delving into this process and not on actual writing.

I’ve run an Amazon price promotion on my eBook and once the print book is out on Amazon I am planning a promotion that links print purchase with a eBook discount. What have been your experiences with these types of promotions?

So…time to jump back into my current work in progress. Time to happily wallow in my fictional world with some side trips to my blog.

My twitter peeps have been terrific in following me, and my word press blog followers are adorbs. Just loving the idea humans want to read what I write in this computer letter.

I’ve shared in previous blog posts about my sweet Millie and how she stays with me while I’m working. Sometimes she will get up, come over and nudge me for a head rub, then lay back down. Here is a candid photo my hubby took of us today.

It’s us doing what we do. me and millieGosh I love that dog.

She is so pretty, smart and still very playful. A funny thing about her is she loves water, especially sprinklers and when we use the sprayer on the hose. She bites at it, barks at it, and runs through the water getting soaked. She does the same thing when it rains. Our last GSD didn’t like the water at all.

Her 1st birthday is in June so I’m thinking we need to have a party! What do you think? Will you join us for a blog party?

A question for you writers and authors out there. What do you do with your notes, print-outs and book proofs when you are finished with them? Do you keep everything together or just hold onto a few things. Do you only save the computer files? Just curious what you feel is necessary to hold on to.

Cheers!

-N

That dog

Millie has figured out a way to distract me.

She is eight months old and has come into her own as a guard dog. She still is a little chicken shit as far as really protecting, she hides behind me. She has her big bad German Shepherd bark on and will go at it if someone pulls up to the house or comes to the gate. If they come into the yard then she runs up on the porch or around the house, still barking.

What she’s started pulling is barking and waiting for me to come find out what she is barking at. I will be working or doing laundry and I will hear her bark. This isn’t the full on warning bark that she does but a sharp loud couple of barks. I walk into the room and find her sitting there grinning at me like “Haha you came when I called!”

Ok, dilemma here. How do I react? I am the alpha human when Chuck isn’t here.

I definitely know the aggressive sounding bark, that one is easy to pick up on and it’s accompanied by hair standing up and that defensive posture. I gotta say it is very impressive.

With this other bark, it’s as if she is showing me that she is doing her job and waiting for the “Atta girl.”

We are still working on the jumping up on people bad behavior. She just isn’t getting it because everything is play with her and if she did that to an older person Millie is big enough to knock someone down.

Can you say “lawsuit?”

She is a very pretty dog, loving and loyal, but I will enjoy her even more when she is out of this puppy stage.

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Cheers!

-N

 

 

 

 

Brain dead

My brain is resisting the focus I need to do some writing. As soon as I sit down at the computer all the crazy stuff that keeps me awake at night flitters away. I have a notebook next to the bed but I forget to write in it. Ugh! I’ve been doing lots of webinars about writing, reading writing helps online and the more I do the more my brain screams “Not gonna do it!”

The TV is on and Chuck is watching the Arizona Wildcats play Washington. He is also on his tablet and his phone. I’m not sure which thing he is the most attentive to. The game is going back and forth but he’s not really yelling at the refs through the TV so who knows where his brain is.

I have an office full of banker boxes so I can start packing books for storage. I don’t know if I can work in here without books. They are my friends. Do you know how many character names I have gotten from looking at those books? I may have to keep some of them nearby just in case.

I have to clear it out so we can sell the house.

I’ve mentioned that I am a member of two different wine clubs. I just got my shipment of twelve bottles from one of them (I’m a happy girl) and in two weeks I will be getting eight bottles from the other. Anybody wanna party?? I like dry, full bodied reds with a deep color. When I first started drinking wines I wanted semi-dry whites. To me now any sweet or semi-dry wine tastes like cough syrup.

My palate has really evolved.

I was watching Valerie Bertinelli’s cooking show this morning and it was enlightening. She cooks like I do and it would be fun to cook with her. My hubby says I am good at taking a group of unrelated things and making a meal out of them.  I’m looking to try my hand at minestrone soup. I love it and would like to develop my own recipe. I have a great tuna casserole recipe my husband loves and he’s not much of a casserole guy. My fiery pasta dish is a favorite of his.

I love my dog but German Shepherds shed, a lot. I have this little vacuum I keep in the kitchen to run every day to pick up dog hair. Needless to say our clothes always have hairs. It is gonna be bad when it warms up. The undercoat is like bunny fur and comes out in clumps.

Well I managed to give you readers something. Now to try to work on my story.

Cheers!

-N

She’s a baby

My puppy Millie is a lot of work for me. I expected this and am doing my best but she requires constant watching. I am trying to read her behavior to know when she is doing the potty walk. She puts everything in her mouth and I am regularly fishing out all kinds of stuff out of her mouth when I see her chewing.

She also has strange sleeping hours. Last night for the first time she didn’t wake me at 2am. We were, however, up at 6am which is a bit more normal. Thank goodness for strong coffee.

Just like with a human baby I get things done when she is asleep. I crate her when I shower and don’t ever just relax. I find myself watching for her and being aware of where she is.

The good part is she loves being with me, follows me around and she is starting to get the potty training idea. She is fun to play with and is so beautiful. Her German Shepherd ears are starting to lift which make her look so cute with one flopped over and one standing up.

Puppies are cute but I am looking forward to the ease of having a mature trained dog.

-N