Kipling Puppy Time: A 2nd Thank You

I love sharing the Kipling puppy love as much as possible, and it has been quite a long time since her growing cuteness has graced A Writer’s Life Blog. Hopefully these photos will make up for any lost cheer. Eartha Kitt’n was getting over an eye infection and loved to rest on a guest bed. Zippy thinks his job is to protect Eartha Kitt’n from Kipling’s puppy teeth tendencies.

Kipling puppy would love to just make friends with Eartha Kitt’n, but Kipling is a bit pushy, can’t help herself, and Zippy has to place himself between them, make peace.

They don’t act like they love to be read to, so I don’t bother, but Sandcastle and Other Stories has been out for almost two months and I’m in the middle of a virtual book tour, and this is pulling me away from proper pet and petting time. They are an insistent bunch. Ajax The Gray is not anywhere near this animal pile-up; he’s the smart one.

Kipling doesn’t make Eartha Kitt’n run away anymore. She holds her own. Under Zippy’s watchful eye, Kipling is getting closer to calling Eartha Kitt’n a pal, and not just another squeak toy.

 

 

 

The other reason I am writing this post today, beyond the pets, is to thank four wonderful writing friends who have gone out of their way to support my writing life and Sandcastle and Other Stories. The first person to offer me an author interview was Tonya Cannariato, and I enjoyed the opening venture into this new world of intimate writerly questions very much — to read that interview, please click HERE. I’ve known Tonya since October, and she’s astounded me time and time again with her passion for books, and great writing. Her own first novel just came out and is called Dust to Blood (Red Slaves) — just click the title to view Tonya’s book at Amazon. She also has the cutest huskies on the planet (and that’s not hyperbole). I began reading Tonya’s writing on her wonderful blog, A Book A Day (click to find out how great yourself and while you’re there, please subscribe), a very long time ago, and subscribed so that I could catch up on all the books she reads — Tonya is one of the fastest and most thorough book reviewers this side of the Mississippi. Please Follow Tonya on Twitter @tmycann.

Gratuitous sleepy Eartha Kitt’n photo — Kipling and Zippy don’t care if the cat needs rest.

 

 

 

The next person I want to thank for her early support of Sandcastle and Other Stories is a wonderful brit named Cathy Dreyer who is in her writing element, the school side, the exam follies, and she also finds time to blog about her experiences while caring for her family — not an easy thing to do. She asked me if I’d be up for writing a Guest Post about the creation of the most shocking story in the collection, titled, Sandcastle. I hope what I wrote lived up to her scholarly standards. This suspense tale haunts me still. Brenda, a single woman spends one afternoon reading a favorite novel on a beach and begins to think too much of her past while observing the crowd around her . . . watching every little thing . . . listening. You can find the Guest Post over at Cathy’s terrific blog writeanovelin10minutesflat (click to read). While there, please subscribe to Cathy’s writer-centric musings. For me, anything Cathy writes is required reading. Please Follow Cathy on Twitter @CatherineDreyer.

 

The next writer and social media enchantress who has helped bring Sandcastle and Other Stories to the public as if by magic is Rachel Thompson. I cannot say enough superlatives about Rachel. She is in charge of two fairly new businesses, BadRedheadMedia (click), which helps authors and businesses reach their Social Media world potential, and the many book promotional sites that she began with Indie Book Promo (click – Rachel now offers 4 book promo sites in different genres, YA, Romance, indie, and traditional), and Sandcastle and Other Stories happened to be the very first book chosen by Rachel’s new team of book operatives to find a home there. One of my favorite blogs out there is Rachel’s at RachelintheOC (click) — Rachel collects her writing, fiction, poetry, Guest Blogs that are part of a series of true stories that reveal the guest’s life in an open and honest manner. It’s a safe, wondrous place to take a look at different lives, what secrets we all try to work through. Here’s a link to the Guest Post I wrote for Rachel about the time, long ago, half my lifetime away, when I decided to make a better change: Why the Boys Run. Rachel Thompson is an accomplished author as well, publishing her first two witty books about how women and men communicate, and all within the space of a year, A Walk In the Snark and The Mancode: Exposed. Please click on them to find at Amazon. Her third book, Broken Pieces, a departure in subject and tone, will be published by Fall. Please follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelintheOC or @BadRedheadMedia.

The last person I want to thank this week is none other than the nervy creator of The Daywalkers (click to read about a trio of cool vamps), Erica Lucke Dean. The Daywalkers is Erica’s weekly vampire serial, and I began reading the first season of Daywalkers a little bit late, but caught up quickly last fall. Erica is also an accomplished novelist, and I look forward to reading her books. Since meeting last October, Erica and I have laughed a lot, helped each other with little editing problems, and marveled at how similar our interests are. “I adore anyone who adores Emerson.” And that line, from our favorite film, What’s Up Doc?, says it all. I adore Erica. When Erica first asked me to write a Guest Post for her Daily Blog, I had not yet experienced the Guest Blogging wonder, and I kept putting the task off — too busy creating and writing, and a bit shy about sharing my past. After Rachel’s post breakthrough, I threw that old thought pattern away and finally put pen to paper for Erica. What came from that is called The Name Game (click to read) which recently appeared as an added bonus in the time frame of the virtual book tour. I talked about why I shortened my name, Justin Bogdanovitch, to the easier to remember pen name, Justin Bog for the release of Sandcastle and Other Stories. I even named one of the characters in the short story Typecast after Erica. Please Follow Erica on Twitter @ericaluckedean.

I thank all of these wonderful writers, and many more who have contributed to the success of Sandcastle and Other Stories. You all rock.

Justin

 

 

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