Just Dogs

Sometimes they are life’s solution

I’ve been out of town. This has been a crazy week full of worry and dread. During the trip home, I was thinking about a time, decades ago, when I was an instructional aide for a community college adult continuation school. I was getting my teaching credential and was a student teacher during the day (working for no salary—yay!) and and then working at night to pay my bills.

In one of the classes I worked with, the teacher was applying to a master’s program. I can’t remember if it was a MFA program, but she was submitting poetry with her application. She allowed me to read the poems. One was about the unfairness of hanging someone else’s dirty laundry on your own line. It had an effect on me—poetry does that—and all theses years later I am thinking about it.

My worry and dread is over someone else’s ‘dirty laundry.’ So not my story. But I’ll take any positive energy anyone wants to put out in the universe for me.

Podcast Interview

My videocast interview on Life of JEM was converted to an audio podcast. We talked about my books and their connection to love, loss, spirituality and more. We also talked about where ideas come from and how they land in stories. It was great fun! You can find it here on Apple Podcasts.

Meanwhile, I saw on social media that yesterday was National Dog Day and people were sharing their pups. This brightened my emotional state (from an ongoing sorrow) on the long trip home . So, no prompt or craft essay today. Just my dogs. If you are a dog lover, please enjoy!

The Story of Four Dogs in 30 Seconds!

Here’s a little video I made about how we found Loki and Curiosa and why.

Here’s a little 30-second video of Loki and Curiosa all grown up.

Next week, I plan to look at my second small press book cover. That’s the cover of my chapbook The Mortality of Dogs and Humans, so there’ll be a bit more dog fun. My post on the process of coming up with a book cover for Acts of Contrition is here: Success, Failure, and Small Press Joy.