My inspiration for this post came from my dear, longtime blogging friend, Debbie @ Musings by an ND Domer's Mom, who is not only a gifted...
I don't know if you guys remember the post I shared last September about my longtime blogging friend, Chrissy, who was trying to raise money to get her book published, He Chose Me, The Joy Of Loving a Senior Dog. Well, guess what? She finally got it published. Yahooooo...I am so happy and excited for her that I could do a doggie piddle right here on my hardwood floor!
Last month, Chrissy emailed me a draft of the book so that I could take a pre-peek and it's faaaaaabulous! The photo you see above is the illustrated book cover. Isn't it precious? In fact, the whole book is precious and very well-done.
So, it is with great pride and joy that I turn the floor over to Chrissy today, by allowing her to share with you the journey she went through in bringing her book to fruition.
Congratulations, Chrissy! Wishing you much success!
X ya!
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Hi Everyone!
I was super excited when my dear friend Ron invited me to do a guest post to talk about my new book, He Chose Me, the Joy of Loving a Senior Dog. I left my full time, super stressful job in hospital administration a year ago to pursue my love of writing. Though I had never considered writing a book, I was pretty sure that if I ever did it would be more Fifty Shades of Gray than Goodnight Gorilla. Sometimes you just don't know where life will lead you.
In 2012, I adopted my 4th senior dog, Maddie. She was the kind of dog you shied away from at the shelter. She was an old 10, could barely walk and had patches of fur missing but her sad story touched my heart so I decided to bring her home, thinking I could give her a few months in a loving home before she crossed the proverbial Rainbow Bridge. I started on her medication for her arthritis, gave her a quality dog food and treated her skin issues. This combined with being around my crazy pack made Maddie a different dog! She barked and played with her siblings but still had some mobility issues. She was a great dog and yet, people still would ask me over and over "Why would I adopt such an old dog?" They just didn't get it and nothing I seemed to say would sway their opinion.
My love for Maddie and my frustration with all these naysayers motivated me to write this book. There are millions of dogs that end up in shelters every year and the oldest ones are by far the hardest to place. I wanted to address this serious issue in the most thoughtful and gentle manner and a children's book seemed to be the perfect vehicle to do so. He Chose Me is the story of a little boy named Oliver who desperately wants a dog but is overwhelmed by the puppies at the pet store. A chance encounter with an old dog sends him in a whole different direction to a new best friend.
I launched a Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2013 to raise the money for my book and it was successfully funded! If you aren't familiar with Kickstarter, it's a crowd funding website where people can post projects related to music, journalism, comics, film and video games and then donors who believe in your project pledge the money to bring it to fruition.
I was completely clueless about the entire self-publishing process and it ended up being a much longer road than I anticipated. There are a lot of publishing companies out there who prey on the ignorance of people who have a dream of seeing their book in print and I ran across a bunch. I finally found a legitimate family owned company in Canada that I decided to work with. The other component was hiring an illustrator who was not only super talented but willing to work within my budget. I think it was fate that I found Jay Schwartz because he's not only a skilled illustrator but he has a rescued dog named Louie, the same name of the dog in my book!
Initial runs of the book will be donated to shelters, rescues and schools to use in their outreach efforts to promote senior dog adoption and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of subsequent books will go toward doing the same going forward. Since you're all friends of Ron's, if you are interested in purchasing the book, I invite you to visit the rescue/shelter owner webpage where I am offering He Chose Me to them for 10% off the regular $12.50 price.
www.seniordoglove.com
Thank you, Ron, for giving me a chance to address your friends and thank you all for listening. Let's save some senior dogs!
Chrissy
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| Senior dogs Chrissy has adopted |
Have a SUPER weekend everyone!
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