A Dog Dreams of Paris Release

Available on Amazon. Paperback only.

Part of book proceeds go to Animal Rescue.

 

 

 

 

A Dog Dreams of Paris is my dream come true! I've been missing in action for some months now. Hard at work finalizing my picture book and getting it up on Amazon before I went in for hip replacement surgery on May 12th. I am happy to report the book made my surgery deadline and I am six weeks out from surgery doing outpatient physical therapy and driving again. But this post is not about me, it is about Miss April in Paris, rescue dog turned diva. It is her diary of the places she would visit if she traveled to Paris the city of lights. From a shy rescue dog who could not find her place with the other dogs in my house to the star of her own picture book! I am happy to report, Miss April in Paris is taking her fame in stride.

 

April's story began in January 2010 when I brought her home to become the sixth dog in my house. The year started out with my adopting a mate of hers, Rascal, from a local shelter. I had seen April's photo online and it was a hard choice to make, which dog I wanted. A week after adopting Rascal I adopted April. She was a shy dog with dark brooding eyes that watched across the room as I wrote on the computer. Even though she had a ready made friend in Rascal, she held back, until one evening she walked up to me, bumped my elbow and help me delete my work. I looked at her solemn face and asked, "April, who are you?" I knew she needed to feel special so I renamed her Miss April in Paris and kissed her nose. Some days later I did a photo shoot of my dogs in hats. I placed a vintage pink chapeau with a huge silk rose on April's head. Expecting it would be tossed to the floor, I was surprised to see April held her head higher and posed for my camera.

 

 

The extra attention the hat and photo session gave her boosted her confidence to start to bloom into the outgoing dog she is today. I started a blog for April to tie in with the release of my memoir, The Unfaithful Widow. It was short lived, but so much fun.

 

April's story has always been close to my heart. I needed a project. The idea to make Miss April in Paris' diary into a picture book took form and with the help of my book designer PD King Design we made it happen.

 

A Dog Dreams of Paris is an amazingly beautiful full color picture book. It is not a children's book, but a book for dreamers of all ages. I used my original photos of April and my other dogs, along with many purchased stock photos, and vintage ephemera from my personal collection. I ran the photos through an online editing site, giving them the feel of watercolors, but not loosing the photographic quality. The text was written from a dog's point of view . . . only a dog would want to meet new friends by sniffing butt in Paris! I have to thank my designer (who is also my sister) for meeting my deadline and seeing my book in Technicolor. She has made April's story a classic!

 

While dreaming of traveling is fun, April realizes she would miss her friends in her forever home. My six dogs have their forever home. I hope the sale of A Dog Dreams of Paris will help other dogs find their forever homes, as a portion of all proceeds will go to my favorite dog rescue groups. In addition, A Dog Dreams of Paris is available at my wholesale price for groups to use for fundraising.

 

Next week starts my blog tour with Wow! Women on Writing. I will be posting our progress here!

 

 

Dreams Can Come True

I've always dreamed about owning a Harlequin Great Dane. Lucky for me that dream did not come true. But, even better, I have six wonderful dogs. I wonder if I added up all their weights if they would total what a Great Dane weighs? Never mind, I can't count that high on my fingers.

This month finds me following my writing dreams. I am working on my new book: Covered In Fur: Life With Dogs and I am going to start an online magazine on dogs. Pretty outrageous for the gal who doesn't know how to do a print ready PDF. But I have some great helpers!

Trying to find a new Print On Demand Company made me a little crazy. I wanted to try something new for my dog book, something a little easier and lots of fun. I found CreateSpace, an Amazon Company. I have already started the process and am working hard on the book of my dreams. You know how much I love dogs and this book will be a great gift item and a tool for helping my favorite animal rescue groups. I am wagging my tail doing something this fun.

While checking on how to get my book in the works I found a great company ePaperFlip that converts your PDF to an online magazine where you flip pages. I hope to have my magazine online and ready to read, hmm, flip through, by December lst.  I'll keep you posted on this one. A big challenge for the technically challenged.

I like to dream big. The worst that can happen is that I learn something new. My brain spins at night thinking of things I want to create. It does leave me tired in the mornings, but then I have the dogs to get me out of bed!

Pay attention to your dreams - God's angels often speak directly to our hearts when we are asleep. ~Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994

Sleep tight! Tomorrow is another day for something great to happen!

Widow Lesson Learned: It is better to dream of great things and work hard to see what happens then to sit on your butt and eat potato chips. However, I have found that eating chips while you sit and dream is totally acceptable.