Baby Chelly

My email is still on drugs. I am still not getting emails. If you tried to reach me and we haven't touched base yet (I've already contacted several of you), please leave me a comment here and I will contact you today.

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Greg brought me my favorite picture of Chelly. She was maybe three months old. Yes, that's me holding her. (I can't believe I was wearing pink!) It kinda looks like she was trying to sock me, but actually she got her paw caught in the cowl of my sweater.






Here's how Chelly joined our family. Greg and I were wandering an open-air swap meet and there was a pet rescue organization in attendance. They had a lot of dogs and cats. The puppies were in a pen and this fat little kid reached down and grabbed baby Chelly by the scruff of the neck.

I don't know what got into me but I rushed over, snatched the squirming puppy out of his hands and told him the dog was mine. Some woman (probably his mother) gave me the evil eye but I wasn't going to let the puppy go. The woman who ran the project came over and said the adoption fee was $50. Of course, I didn't have a dime on me. --typical!

I craned my neck looking for Greg and finally caught sight of him. As we neared each other I told him to fork over 50 bucks. We were bringing a puppy home. He looked at me and then at the puppy and took out his wallet without saying a word.

To this day, he asks when I'm going to give him back that $50. LOL! But he loved that dog. She was the toughest, most independent dog we've ever had. (He says she reminded him of his wife)

If you know me, you know I would never make such a snap decision when it comes to animals, but something told me that we belonged together. (It was the same feeling I got when I met Greg. I just knew he was the one.)

Chel was alarmingly shy. The rescue people thought she was traumatized at that critical point in a puppy's development. It took me 3 months to retrain her so that she could trust humans again. That retraining turned us into a team. We were never apart and I probably babied her more than I should have, but I don't regret it. She was my baby even unto old age.

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Thank you, Lexxie Couper (and Hudson)! Lexxie started a new blog. Check it out here. In honor of the new blog, Lexxie gave away the winner's choice of any of her books. I picked her SF collection, Shifting Lust. Look for an interview with Lexxie in the near future!!

Comments

Maria, you were so right to go with your instinct and get that puppy away from that nasty kid. Thank God you were there and your DH did not balk over the $50 or the pup. She was lucky to have such a loving mom and dad. So sorry she's gone :-(

You are also right about building a promtional machine, and developing some online/tech skills like creating a website long before you have a book out because you'll have no time to do that once you do.

People told me I'm nuts to have a blog and a myspace without a having a book out any time soon, but you hit the nail on the head when you said it's all about name recognition, that's what I'm trying to build right now.

But what I can't get over is how much you look like me! Seriously, we could pass for sisters.
Maria Zannini said…
>>Seriously, we could pass for sisters.

Are you kidding me? LOL! That's wild. --Of course that picture of me is several years old. :o)

You know what they say, we each have a doppleganger out there.

PS. Keep doing what you're doing Josie. I wish I had been more assertive in my posting when I started building an online presence. You've done an excellent job. Not only do you have name recognition, but judging by how I've seen others perceive you, you also have the respect and admiration of the writing community and that is gold.
No, not kidding! For real, my doppelganger.

It took me a long time and a lot of effort to build my blog - mostly I got out and visited the big agent blogs, tried to sound intelligent and interesting so that people would wanna see what else I had to say.

Doing book reviews (I'm not doing many now cause of school) also made me popular, but mostly it's the writing advice and relating what I've learned from agents that I credit for my success - that and speaking in a strong voice, and not being afraid to have a strong opinion now and then.
Maria Zannini said…
I told my husband what you said about us being near twins and he said: "That means there are two hot women out there." LOL!

That's why I keep him. :o)