Doggone Cute!

I am such a happy doggy mommy! I couldn't resist sharing this picture with all of you.

Beemer, the tan and silver yorky came to us first. We had just lost our very precious and what I thought was my favorite dog, Buckeye. We were left with just two cats and couldn't take the quiet in the house so we raced off to find a new puppy. Buckeye picked out the perfect puppy for us! Beemer even looks almost identical to Buckeye. Beemer has a few "potty" issues and hates being outside but other than that, she is the sweetest dog in the world... to people. Not so much other animals.

So when we brought Punch (the black dog) home, I really worried that Beemer would be horrible to the new puppy. It's so funny because Punch has just idolized Beemer from the day he set eyes on his new older sister. Beemer thought of Punch as just a big nuisance and still to this day doesn't appreciate sharing her toys with Punch. In fact they've gotten into many "teeth" showing fights over toys and treats. Beemer is such a greedy baby! However, although they yell at each other in these fights and toss their vicious teeth around, it's all for show. They have NEVER even come close to actually hurting each other. It's pretty hilarious!

Now that they have lived almost 3 years together, Beemer has finally realized "Punch is here to stay!" Beemer even rings the bell to go outside sometimes for Punch's sake. Punch is a bit slow and just can't catch on to the ringing the bell thing. But now, look at them! You'd think they were best buddies. (please pretend you don't see their ugly mother with no makeup and barely awake)

These dogs just mean the world to me and give me tons of story ideas! What a couple of cutie pies!

Last week I shared a great list of steps to follow when writing your picture book and I hope some of you got something out of it. This week I want to share a book I recently purchased that is "rocking my world!" It's called The Emotion Thesaurus A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi. They also have a website http://www.thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/ that I've used for years. But there's something about having the book in hand that seems even more useful.

This book is excellent when you're having trouble describing character's emotions. Sometimes I get carried away with dialogue and just end it by saying "she said." But this book is helping me add visualization to my characters expressions, body language, and thoughts.

I know that having this book in hand is helping my stories come more alive! Maybe it can help your writing too.