Where are my Dogs?

That's a question I don't have to ask at the moment. It's winter, and the dogs are on their sofa.

Or they may be outside, but very soon they'll knock on the door, asking to come back inside. Well, more likely jumping at the door which is their way of knocking.

Lah De doesn't get let outside for long, because, well, he does like to dig. The grass is slowly creeping back where he's dug it up, but I don't think it will be all better before summer, which feels like it's a long, long way away!

Winter is my most unfavourite season. I get chilblains on my feet and I get cold. Give me Autumn, I love Autumn. I live the weather in Autumn, I love the colours of the leaves, I love it all!

Spring is OK, summer is a trial, but Autumn is divine!

All Out of Books!

I sold two copies of 'Dig it!' last week, a good thing, yes?

Maybe not - I've completely sold out of 'Dig it! Gardening Tips for Dogs'! Now I have to make a decision - do I do another print run, or do I relax and just cruise through life without the stresses and strains of book distribution?

I'll leave the decision up to my followers and interested others. The book is fun and funny, the illustrations are terrific, and connecting with other dog lovers is always great.

But the cost! The worrying! Please give me some feedback and help me make my decision!

It all adds to the joy and strain of self-publishing. Fun, fun, fun!

Winter Drives the Dogs Inside

The cooling weather means the dogs don't want to go outside. It would be good if they'd do useful things inside, but no such luck!

We have mice in the house again, but the dogs don't catch them. Our traps catch the mice and occasionally one of the dogs will pick up the dead mouse still trapped and take it somewhere.

Most of the time though, the Pharaoh Hounds sleep on the sofa. Nena, our Schnauzer spends more time outside, but then, she's got a double coat with a woolly under layer of fur.

It's fun watching them when something wakes them up. Noe woofs, then the others go mad barking, with no idea what set the first woofer off. Such fun! Cats will never be able to give that sort of fun.

Our Diggy Dog

Well, Graham and I took our diggy dog La De (pharaoh hound) as well as our schauzer Nena to the dog park two days ago. He could have dug there as much as he liked and no-one would have got upset.

There were some nice piles of sand at the park as well as some interesting looking areas with bushes and dirt. He ran around sniffing and peeing, but he didn't dig at all!

Which just proves the saying 'you can lead a hound to dirt piles, but you can't make him dig.'

The visit was lots of fun anyway, for all of us. It's lovely watching a pharaoh hound run - they are such beautiful movers. Nena seemed to enjoy running around too. She's not as super elegant as La De, but she does move well.

Nena peed on almost as many things as La De did, silly girl!

A good day was had by all!

Writing the Next Book in the Series

Hello to everyone who has popped in for some news about my venture into self-publishing. I have been thinking lately about getting down to my works in (no) progress. One of these is the next book in the series begun with 'Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs'.

In the last part of that book another book to come is hinted at, and now that stocks have run low in the third print run of the first book, I have decided it may be time to get serious about getting book two written.

I have an idea, I have a working title, but I am woefully low on money to buy myself time to write the book. The idea is for a funny book about sex from a dog's point of view (slightly raunchy but certainly not pornographic), the working title would be Doggy is not the Only Style, the money to buy some time? Well, dear reader, this is where you come in.

If I can get enough donations, I can get down to writing this book, and paying my wonderful illustrator Allyson Hean to create some funny but only slightly naughty pictures.

So that is my plan, checkout this website just above the blog posts to donate if you want to help this plan come into fruition.

Thank you

Human versus Canine

We have finally taken back control of the back lawn. Last Friday great work was completed by the men of the family in clearing the path of encroaching grass. This grass was then planted out in the bare sections on the area that used to be lawn.

It was then watered in, and the watering has continued when possible, and it is looking so much better now. It used to look like a bomb site, not it looks like a lawn in progress. The culprit, La De Dah is now only let outside there if he is being watched.

He's coping just fine, spending lots of quality time on the sofa, or down in the back run, where is allowed to dig as much as he likes. As long as we stay committed, this will work!

Man rules, and don't you forget it dog!

How to Self-Publish your Own Book

There’s a saying that “we all have a book in us”. That may be true, but the process in getting the book out can be the hardest thing in the world for some.

Do you ever wish you could write a book? Well, my advice as one who has written a book and self-published it, is start with what you already have. That is how I eventually got my little book “Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs” published.

I am a writer, I love to write things – poems, book titles, articles, story ideas. And I love talking about things to my friends. That is how “Dig It!” moved closer to being a book. It started out as a short humorous article in a local Dog club newsletter “Schnauzer Scope” and it went from there, until it was a real book you can hold in your hand and wonder at (or read and chuckle over!).

I told my friend Allyson Hean about the article and gave her a copy when she asked to read it. Ally loves to draw things. I remember her ‘scribbling’ the most gorgeous pencil drawings in meetings at the Parent Group at Mallala Primary School we were both involved in when our kids were younger.

Allyson took the article, did some lovely drawings and we decided, what the heck, we’d self-publish a book, as simple as that. I already knew a local printer who had done some work on things I was involved in, so we had a chat and away it all went.

I expanded the original article and Ally did more drawings and put the whole thing together using Microsoft Publisher. I applied for an ISBN for the book, and a bar code, and it was ready for the printer. We took along a disc that had our book on it and gave it to the printer with an order for 100 copies.

Those 100 copies disappeared quite nicely, so I ordered another 100 copies. Those were slower to disappear, but that was OK, my costs were covered and the important thing was that I was able to connect with other people who love gardening and who love dogs.

I have sold copies of my book for up to $20 and have also swapped copies for other people’s books. Some copies have been strategically given away for free. Once I had sold enough copies, I ordered 100 more copies, and the remnants of that print run and the copies I still have left.

I have had fun with the whole process, and I’ve learned things about self-publishing. I’ve learned it’s hard work to get distribution and you have to be ready to utilise opportunities as they arise. It is a long way from being a shy and retiring author locked away with our pen and paper, to being a bight and bubbly author promoting your book because you know it is the most fantastic Christmas present for those hard to buy for friends who love their garden and/or their dog and they don’t like anything else.

It’s also great for anyone with a sense of humour and it’s almost worth the money just for the lovely pictures Allyson has done!

If you think you would like to give this a try, there are lots of internet sites there to help you and there are also lots of self-publishing books available – visit your local library, in fact, build a stronger relationship with your local library – they may be willing to help you in many ways you haven’t even thought about. I’ve been to some great book launches at my favourite library, and I know if I had put on a book launch there I would have made more sales.

This website (click here) has lots of ideas but check out the hundreds of other sites to find ideas for your own book.

So that is my story. I am not anybody special, I’m just an ordinary person who had an idea and was prepared to take it to its logical conclusion. You too can publish your own book!