Mark's interview with INC has been posted online

Can be viewed here.


Slightly Off the Mark: TV interview up online

Turns out you CAN teach an old dog new tricks

This is Baeowulf, our German Shepard/? rescue pup, lounging on his couch.

That's right - when you're 90 pounds and full of allergen-filled fluff, you get your own couch in our house. He knows the difference; he does not get on the regular couch or the other furniture.

Since we're going to be visiting some relatives and friends at some point this summer (boy was that ever vague), I wanted to make a little cheat-sheet... and brag on our very good boy a little.

Commands/words Bae knows:

• Sit
• Down
• Stay
• Up (to jump up, up on to something, or up for a treat)
• Up-up (to go up and stay up for hugs or a treat)
• Come
• Cross the street
• Outside / Let's go / walk / potty
• Car / Get in the car / Ride
• Home / Go Home
• Mark, Emily, Bitty (a relative's nickname)
• Snuggle
• Ducky (his toy duck)
• Squeaky (his toy that squeaks)
• Treat / Cookie (also the TARDIS sound our 'cookie' jar makes)

He also knows not to take commands, food, etc. from others unless we give the OK, for safety reasons. He's a pretty good judge of character, and of sensing when we like or don't like somebody. He doesn't really enjoy children, but he tolerates them if we tell him to - as well as protecting them and 'herding' them if he thinks they need it (IE making them stay on the path or out of bushes at the state park).

I really need to get a video of his insane bouncing before our weekly walks, when we tell him, "Let's go for a ride in the car to go to the park for a walk with Mark!"

Turning the day around

I woke up today with quite a bit of fibromyalgia pain.

Thankfully, I don't have to deal with it as often as many people do.

However, I pushed through and didn't let it get to me today - mostly because Mark and I went kayaking over the weekend, and I felt like I 'got away' with that. For all I know, I'm just having delayed muscle pain and the fibro is sharing it with the rest of the body. I worked on a few projects, made some food that actually required effort, and did a light workout. I'll sleep like a log later and either feel wonderfully refreshed when I get up, or will be justified in ignoring the alarm clock.

Slightly Off the Mark: Bagpipes, helicopter coming to Albion Fire's 125th...

From Mark's blog:


Slightly Off the Mark: Bagpipes, helicopter coming to Albion Fire's 125th...: The Fort Wayne Firefighters Pipes and Drum Corps and Samaritan helicopter plan to help the town of Albion celebrate its fire department...

Storm Chaser Shorts award nomination

My husband's short story collection has been nominated for an award! The humor anthology he's in, My Funny Valentine, got a nomination as well. If you could send him a vote, that would really make his day:

http://www.efestivalofwords.com/vote-here-for-2013-best-short-story-collection-t397.html

It does require a log-in, but it only takes a few seconds and seems like a pretty active place.

"Smoky Days" for Kindle

I just submitted Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights to Amazon, and it's under review for its Kindle publication. It should be ready tonight or tomorrow, unless I broke something!

Edit:
It's publishing now and will be available in around 12 hours.

Smoky Days release

Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or so with the Albion Fire Department, the non-fiction book my husband Mark wrote that I edited, is officially ready to go in print version. We've got boxes of 'em sitting in the office here. It's starting to get really real - the radio interview and television interview/feature (not yet aired) are a little overwhelming! And boy is it ever good to be overwhelmed by good news!

The book is already up on Amazon, but will officially début at the AFD's 125th Anniversary Celebration on the 20th of this July. It'll be out as an e-book afterward. For more info you can check out Mark's website here.

We've also been getting some progress made on our own side projects; he's working on his beloved science fiction short stories and the sequel to Storm Chaser, and I've been puttering around on my poetry chapbook and designing covers.