As the Weather Clears

As January weather heads towards less freezing temperatures, I find the bright clear skies hypnotizing.  This time of year I get the itch to be out in warmer weather, doing outdoor activities.  It is nice to be able to see a clear sky again.

For me, January is the hardest month with its freezing temperatures and inversions.  They act upon my health in a negative way.  Alas, but I have now been told I have a 'sensitivity to cold'.  I didn't even know that was an illness.  Wasn't I surprised to find it was.  No wonder I am always dreaming of warmer places.

I am preparing my novel Always for entry into a contest.  Basically, I am editing and correcting yet again.  And I am finding more duplicates, useless sentences, etc.  It sure would be easier if part of the brain could identify these as we write.  I don't know about you, but I get carried away in my writing and I don't stop for anything.

I will be adding a new tab for 'Always', where I will talk about the novel, the characters, the setting and why I wrote this book.  I will also paste parts of it.  Feel free to make comments on this book.

Here, again, I must say how thankful I am for Florence, who critiqued the first 3 chapters.  She taught me how to find duplicates and had no qualms telling me exactly what she thought.  Without her analytical critiques, I would be oblivious to many errors.  The biggest mistake I made was in my introduction of my main character in Chapter One.  I could feel there was something wrong, but I just couldn't find it.  Florence told me outright she hated Simon.  It made her not want to continue reading and then I knew.  I knew why those who read the book had trouble getting past the first chapter.  I had tried so hard to paint the right picture of this man that I headed him in the wrong direction.  Thank you, Florence, for discovering that obvious mistake.

This time around, I am reading it paragraph by paragraph and recording as I go.  It is surprising how well this works.  When I play the recording back, I catch so many errors.   Alas, but this does slow down the editing.

As does happen in life, I have been busy with family affairs and so my blog suffers.  No use saying I will try harder to write here everyday.  For now, I will write when I can.

Look for 'Always' and you will find it is unique in many ways.  I feel strongly I was guided to write this novel.  Whenever I read it over,  I am amazed that I had any part in it.

LHR

A New Year for Good Changes

I love how inspiration hits.  I was making my breakfast when this poem came to me.  I tried to put it aside until I was done eating.  Alas, you know how our muses are.  You can find it under my poems.

LHR

An Update on Dodger

I thought I'd start this new year off by blogging about our newest family member, Dodger.  I had mentioned before that he was a puppy mill dog.  We have had him in our family just over a month.

Dodger has a most gentle soul.  It is easy to sense this when you are around him.  He doesn't want to harm or be harmed.  He now sleeps on our bed with our two poodles.  He allows us to pet him and hold him.  He still likes a lot of alone time and that's ok.

His true personality is coming out.  He is inquisitive, into everything, a very happy dog who loves to bounce.

Dodger still takes a lot of patience to work with.  He loves to play, but just like a puppy, he sometimes nips too hard.  If visitors come over, he gets over-excited and nips harder.  We're working on this one.  It is important that he not nip at all.  I remember reading once that since the bite or nip doesn't hurt the dog, the dog can't comprehend why it would hurt someone.  I didn't believe this until I learned first hand.  When my son was a toddler, about 3 years old, he began to bite.  Nothing I did would make him stop.  It was my dog Laddie that taught him that lesson.  They were sitting together on the floor and my son leaned in and bit Laddie.  The dog instantly came back with a bark and a very close nip at my son.  I explained that biting hurts (for the hundredth time) and that Laddie would not accept that behavior.  Through his tears, my son said 'but mom, it doesn't hurt me when I bite.'  I've remembered that when working with dogs.  You have to let them know it hurts.

One other problem we are working on is Dodger's separation anxiety.  This is common for puppy mill dogs.  They spend all those years in cages, being mistreated with no love or fun.  When they finally get into a loving home, fear takes over them when they see their family go out.  Dodger's way of reacting to this is to rip up whatever he can find.  When we get home, he is so excited and scared to see us.  This one will take time.  I am trying to work with him on this and find this takes more patience than anything.

He is developing his trust in us and that is amazing to me.  Amazing because of all he's been through and yet he is allowing himself to try trusting again.

His happy loving spirit is a joy to have around.  He sure is filling my heart with love.

LHR