Tag Archives: Novel

Humor, Writing

Do You Know What Day It Is?

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It’s Saturday here in Florida. Sunny, windy and cool. And it’s November 1, 2014. This day arrived much too fast, and I’m not prepared. Not even close. But you know what?  I’m a brave soul, so I’m going to do it anyway. Plunge right into the shadows.

I’ll be attempting to write my second novel during this month.  A fairly complete first draft. NaNoWriMo is here, and it starts today. Unlike last year, I won’t get any help from Bumble. Why? Is this sweet dog suddenly becoming uncooperative? No, it’s really simple. He was not there, in Africa. But I’m sure he’ll sympathize, and offer a warm paw on my shoulder on a daily basis. In exchange for a light back massage.

Africa Moon (2)
Digital photo art “Africa”

So I’m all alone with my recollections of that time. And what I might have learned from those adventurous days, months and years when Africa changed my perspectives on life. Here’s a little teaser.

It’s all about perspective. When you lay on your back on the parched ground, you will see bright blue skies through the opening formed by your body in the tall elephant grass. It’s yellowed and crispy. It doesn’t move. You see, there is not a breath of wind. Instead, the air is vibrating in the heat, adding shifting patterns to the sky. And you think of dance. Relaxing, slow dance of the universe. Music in B flat. Your perspective on life is being adjusted by Africa.

african crocodile 3
An African crocodile

This will not be easy. There will be some pain along the way. And doubts about the value of my story. Or how it’s being told. The crocodile is waiting. But I have to try. This story has been bugging me for quite a while now. And know myself. I work best under tight deadlines. Always have.

To reinforce the time aspect, and make it a bit more difficult to quit,  I’ve put a validated word counter on my side bar. I’m hoping for some butt-kicking from my friends here when the bar doesn’t move. Such a kind act would improve the meager odds of reaching my goal of 50,000 words in November. I’m also hoping some friends will join me on this journey. It would be easier to suffer through the upcoming 29 days together.

I’ll probably post short poems and quotes to express my mood of the day along the way. And maybe one or another tiny update on Papa Osprey. I’ll need to exercise too when I sit nailed to my chair most of the time, right? I’ll also try my best to hang around your blogs to fetch inspiration for my journey. But it’ll probably be late in the day and a bit less than usual. I hope you’ll understand.

pelican just taking off 2
A pelican taking off

So here we go… taking off… it’s now or never.

Have a wonderful weekend. Love always, Tiny

Dog Life, Just Life

Confessions of a Rescue Dog

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“I’ve learned to trust again. I’ve learned to play again. I’ve conquered my fears. But most importantly, I’ve learned never to lose hope.” That’s Bumble’s message to his readers on the back of his new book “Confessions of a Rescue Dog“.  He generously shares what he has learned and let’s the reader peek into his world through touching and humorous observations.

Bumble plans his escape.
Bumble plans his escape.

Bumble hopes this book will be a heart-warming treat for pet lovers of ages 10-100, but more importantly, he hopes it will raise awareness and much needed funds to help more shelter animals find loving forever homes. He wanted to post an excerpt for you to read here. It’s about one of his favorite activities, visiting a small uninhabited island for a swim and a nice picnic:

“I love to go to this one particular island. It’s uninhabited and few people ever go there. It has shallow white beaches, and the sand is soft. My family likes the crystal clear water, and we spend hours snorkeling. This is where I also go into the water to swim and snorkel. It’s such a wonderful beach….Last time we were there we got a surprising visitor, completely unannounced. We were all swimming and suddenly mom was screaming. I thought she’d been bitten by a big fish, like a shark or something. I was ready to swim to her rescue!

Bumble goes swimming.
Bumble goes swimming.

Then I looked more carefully and saw a large dolphin. They are nice, intelligent animals and not fish. Mom had told me that earlier when we saw two of them swimming ahead of our boat. This one was swimming around mom, who was now standing waist deep in the water. She had been a bit scared when the dolphin first came to nudge her, but now she was delighted. The dolphin stayed with us for a while and then swam out to the ocean. The whole experience was very special.

Another thing that I love about these small outings is that we usually go out in the morning and return just before sundown. That means lunch on the beach somewhere, and I mean an excellent lunch on the beach. Mom never brings my bowl or my food, so I get what they get. Usually chargrilled chicken breasts or yummy sausages! I love the lunch time on these trips. I get pieces from everyone, and no one keeps a count. That’s what I call a picnic! I’m suggesting we make a small boating trip a regular feature in the weekend calendar, every week. No one would ever be bored.”

You can read another excerpt here. It is about the time when Bumble had just come from the shelter to his new home and was rediscovering how to play.

His book is finally available on Amazon US as a paperback and also on Kindle! In addition, it will be available on other on-line book sellers in the US and on Amazon’s sites world-wide in the next few days.

We both hope you’ll enjoy it!

Writing

OMG! He Did It!

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Finally we are up for air, my writing partner and I. You see, last November right around NaNoWriMo time, Mister Bumble insisted that he wanted to write his story. He would call it “Confessions of a Rescue Dog”. He asked me to type it since I’m a bit faster than him.  When I hesitated, he went to his archives and brought me a quote. That did it.

Bumble borrowing laptop ed

The quote was written on a simple piece of white paper and it read: “Rescue animals aren’t broken. They’ve simply experienced more life than other animals. If they were human, we would call them wise. They would be the ones with tales to tell and stories to write… animals dealt a bad hand, but who responded with courage. Don’t pity a shelter animal. Adopt one! And be proud to have their greatness by your side.” -Anonymous

I thought his story was worth telling. In fact, it’s quite heart-warming and uplifting. So he started narrating and I started typing. And typing. For the whole month of November. Then came December and we both got busy with other things. I re-engaged in some income generating activities and Bumble concentrated on his work, namely protecting our home from shady characters. We made a few efforts towards editing the manuscript late at nights, but achieved little.

the manuscipt ed

The holidays came and went. The manuscript was covered by soft cushions in a corner of the sofa in my office. Until one day, when Bumble was digging there to make a bed for himself, it fell down on the floor. And I knew we had to finish the book.

We got to work. Reviewing, editing, reviewing again. Then one day great illustrations appeared in my inbox. My son had finalized the cover and several other images for the book. Now we just had to get to the finish line.

front cover final

So finally our joint labor is bearing fruit. 175 pages of treats for pet lovers.  Just before midnight yesterday, the book was submitted for publishing. Bumble did it! He wants to help other animals find loving forever homes so he committed us to donate a portion of the sales to the Humane Society’s shelter here at home.  We have been there, seen all the dogs, cats, rabbits and birds waiting for a new home. It’s a large and well run no-kill shelter.

We’ll let you know when and where Bumble’s story will be available. When you read it, please remember not to take all his observations about me literally. While I think that he’s a fairly accurate analyst of human behavior, I have noticed that he tends to exaggerate a bit when I’m concerned.

Have a wonderful weekend ♥ Tiny and Bumble

Just Life

Stirred to Your Taste

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This week’s weekend reading will be just a short greeting to wish all friends and visitors a wonderfully scary pre-Halloween weekend. These are the last days of October, which means November starts next Friday. And November means we all go NaNo, right?

Bumble has persuaded me, and he’s good at that as my readers know, to participate this year. Last year’s plans were ruined by sudden work travel, but this year I’ve tried my best to be able to stay put on the ground for November. Done work in advance, filled my pantry with soups and my freezer with meals to heat, and stocked several pounds of coffee (and just a handful of cookies). Keeping my fingers crossed.

This probably means less time to read the lovely blogs I follow and I apologize in advance. It will also mean less frequent posting on my own blog for one month. But I promise not to whine or cry about my trials and tribulations. We need to stay positive. Confident that we’ll make it to the finish line. 50,000 words. To add some motivation (read pressure) I have displayed the NaNoWriMo widget on the side bar. It will show progress, or lack of it, on a daily basis…

Anyway, that marathon starts only next Friday. Wonderfully scary. Be good now and have a suitably spooky weekend, stirred to your taste. Hugs, Tiny