Bandit's Story

From time to time, I post things about my dog, Bandit. He's a pretty special dog. Today, it was proven again. Bandit is now a graduate of Dog Ears and is a certified service dog. He's been in training since October, 2012. Bandit's purpose is to accompany me and be my "ears". He alerts to cars or people that I might not otherwise hear when we out. Other jobs for hearing dogs are to alert to doorbells, oven timers, fire alarms, etc. I am not totally deaf, so many of his chores are not necessary for me. He has discovered the joy of travel and expects to go in the car all the time. The great thing is, HE CAN GO! Being a service dog allows him many privileges. By law, he can go anywhere I go. He goes shopping, to restaurants, doctor appointments, hotels, wherever. Another plus, an establishment cannot charge a fee. If there is a pet deposit required, it is waived for a service dogs. He can even travel on the airlines, sit next to me, not in a kennel, all at no additional charge. Being the dog lover I am, there's nothing greater than being able to take my dog everywhere.

Last week during training, I went to the mall. I was nervous about the escalator. I kept thinking, how am I going to get this dog to go up an escalator? God knew my concerns before I did, and when we got there, the UP escalator was broken. We walked up just like stairs. Now how do we get back down? The DOWN was working. I remembered there was an elevator. Bandit had never been on an elevator, so I knew this could also turn out to be interesting. We go in, the door closes and then I notice, its a glass elevator. Bandit looked out and watched the trip down to the first floor. When the door opened, he acted like he wanted to go again. Silly dog!

Oklahoma's Devastion

It has been quite a week in Oklahoma. The world has watched the devastation via the news outlets. We have watched and communicated via email, text and Facebook. Friends have lost everything and friends of friends have even lost family members. I cannot imagine the hurt that people are experiencing and thank God many times each day that my family, home, and town was spared. Now, the cleanup process has started. Oklahomans are coming out in true form with cash, supplies, time and sweat. On a positive note, God's grace has been shown. The death count had escalated to 91and later it was found to be a terrible error. The death count is in the 20's. Pretty amazing considering the strength of the storm. Kudos to the weathermen in this state. They can't predict a snow to save their necks, but they can tell you what time and what side of the street a tornado is about to hit. Prayers are still needed. Thousands are hurting, but Oklahoma will rise again!

Balancing Writing and Daily Life

I think one of the major challenges for writers is balancing daily activities. Most everything you read will tell you, if you want to be a good writer, you have to write daily. Being a wife, mother, housekeeper, cook, accountant, gardener and everything else I do, often makes writing fall to the bottom of the list. Part of my problem, is the type of personality I have. I took a personality assessment once, and according to that assessment, I don't feel worthy to do fun things (writing, sewing, etc.) until my work is finished. Unfortunately, a woman's work is never done. I sit down to write, and the dryer buzzer goes off and then, oh yeah, I forgot to put those dishes in the dishwasher. The dog wants out and his water bowl is empty.  One cat wants in and one cat wants out. Oh my, look at the time! Time to start dinner. By the end of the day, I am frazzled and my best intentions for getting that story started, were never achieved. Tomorrow it will happen.  Tomorrow comes and its the same vicious cycle! I met one writer that told me she had to leave her house to write. She actually rented an office space downtown and treated her writing like a job. She had no phone in the office and she went to "work" at 8 am and stayed until 5pm. That's great, but I'd never be able to justify spending that money for rent. My personal goal is to set an appointment time each day to mentally zone out of my home and zone into my writing. Maybe I'll go into the closet where the animals won't disturb me and I'll turn off the telephone! Well, its a good thought anyway.

Poor Bandit!

I'm getting geared up mentally for the SCBWI conference this weekend, but Bandit is not cooperating. Last Tuesday, he went into surgery to have a tumor removed from his tail and other things (dental cleaning and check up and nails trimmed).  The surgery went fine, but poor Bandit came home wearing one of those cone collars. The vet staff, not understanding Bandit's contortion skills, gave him the smallest collar that they thought would work. The incision on his tail looked horrible. Six stitches  resembling something from Frankenstein. On Wednesday, Bandit decided it was time to remove the stitches. I thought I would have a stroke. He has this gaping incision, hanging open and bleeding.  Ok, I'll save the gory details! Another trip to the vet. He had successfully removed 4 of the 6 stitches. They could not replace them without putting him out again. The vet elected to leave as is, so now, I have the pleasure of cleaning, medicating and wrapping his tail daily. And as a bonus for such good behavior, Bandit received a bigger cone collar. Now the furniture, doorways, and my legs are banged every time he walks by. It is funny to watch the cats grow three sizes when he walks into a room! Five more days until this nightmare is over...unless the incision hasn't healed enough. If that happens, I may need to be sent to a home for some mental recovery time.

SCBWI Conference

The SCBWI conference will be held next weekend in Tulsa. There are still openings and you don't have to be a member to attend. If you are interested in writing or illustrating children's books, I highly recommend you attend this conference. It will do nothing but benefit you in many ways. For details, check out the state chapter's website:   www.scbwiok.org    Hope to see many authors and illustrators there.

P.S. One of the benefits is listening to editors and agents from New York City.  That's a huge plus, especially if you are attempting to have something published.

Gotta love dogs!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge dog lover. (Not necessarily a lover of huge dogs!) I'm sure, if you have dogs, you will have to admit that you like your dogs more than you like some people. Yep, that's me. I lost my precious Corkie the Yorkie several months ago and my heart was broken. My daughter had just rescued a dog from the shelter and he is young and energetic. He helped to fill the void in my heart. Of course, we still have Bandit, our 7 year old lab/blue heeler mix. I've shifted all my affections to him, trying to win him over. We've always had a good relationship, but Corkie was my dog and Bandit belonged to Tony.  Bandit is more spoiled than ever. He has learned to love rides in the car, daily walks, and many treats. He's still Tony's dog, but I can tell he loves me more than

before. I have been struggling with hearing loss over the past year and a half and Bandit is training to be a hearing dog for me. It's nice to watch the progression of training. He's done pretty well so far, but recently we've discovered that he may have some arthritis in his hind legs. He's on rest (how do you get a dog to rest?) for 3 weeks and then back to the doctor for a check. Hopefully, all will be fine and he will finally graduate from school.

Sleepless in Oklahoma

All of you writers out there, I'm sure you have done this as often as I. I went to bed last night a little later than usual. Watched my nightly episode of the Matlock rerun. Yawning, I turned out the light and then BINGO! A great idea hit me. Writers of stories, songs, etc. have made comments about such an occurrence. You should get up immediately and make notes or get to writing or risk losing the idea by morning. Never being a conformist, I spent the night on the edge of sleep. I wrote and entire YA novel AND a picture book (in my head). This morning, I am wondering what exactly those books were about.  I remember one thing...they were good, very good. Tonight, I hope Mr. Sandman brings me a revealing dream and tomorrow those books become a reality.

2013

The holidays are over (sad face) and the new year has begun.  I've taken down the decorations, not to include the Christmas tree. I haven't brought myself to do it yet. Yes, I may be the crazy lady that has a Christmas tree in July. What can I say? I love it! In all reality, I will probably take it down in the next week. Everytime I think about taking down the tree, I think of my favorite character, Linus and his quote when asked about his blanket..."maybe I'll make it into a sport coat." What does that have to do with my tree? Hmmm? How to repurpose that tree and keep it all year? My husband suggested having a holiday tree and decorating it for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, etc. My answer? A firm, "no!" It's a Christmas tree and that's what it will continue to be. I hate to see Easter eggs hanging from a tree. Wouldn't be prudent! And so, if you hear taps playing next week, it's my poor Christmas tree retiring to the attic for a long rest. 

Writing News

I had a booksigning at The Learning Tree in Oklahoma City 2 weeks ago. Wow! Where does the time go? The best part about it was that also having a signing, was award-winning Oklahoma Children's Author, Tammi Sauer.  She has 3 (yes, three) new books out this fall for a total of 13 books! She is obviously doing something right and it was the perfect time to pick her brain since I had her as a captive  audience! She was so sweet and gave me lots of tips as well as telling me about her journey to become an author.  She visits lots of schools and writing conferences and would be a great act to follow! I am trudging on and taking everything she said to heart. Thank you, Tammi. You can check out Tammi on her website:  www.tammisauer.com

Book Signing

I will be at The Learning Tree, 7638 N. Western, OKC tomorrow from 11-2.   If you are in the area, please stop by and say hello!