Anna Palij was kind enough to have me as a guest on her site, The Writer's Pain. I regret to say that I veered into utter nonsense. Like my character, Nancy Carrington, I believe that silliness is one of the highest forms of delightfulness. Others may not agree. If you agree, please visit Anna's site.

In other news: The Dog Thief has received some very nice reader reviews. Some reviewers have used the term "heartfelt," and I'm glad I was able to convey my deep love of dogs and other animals in this novel. When I was a child and imagined my future life, it was a home filled with books and animals. Right now, I only have the one dog, Lola, and a cardboard box with caterpillars that I'm trying to protect from birds, but I watch squirrels, birds, and cats outside the window as I work.

Lola was having Issues of the Noxious Kind, so I did what I always do, google like crazy for alternative brands of dog food. Finally, I thought, the heck with it. I made up a huge pot of chicken, vegetable and rice food for her, enough to freeze and use for weeks. Her digestive problems vanished.

Of course, my mother thinks I'm crazy to cook for a dog. But Lola is a companion who always wiggles in utter delight when she sees me, who always wants to play tug, who alerts me to activity near the house, who nuzzles my hand when she wants to be pet, and who yowls in greeting when I return home. She makes me laugh when she leaps into a mud puddle, or plays chase with her friends at the park.

So I don't mind cooking for her.

I've started the sequel to The Dog Thief and planning on a multibook Coyote Run series. The working title is Trickster Dog, and Maddie will struggle to work with a new Search and Rescue dog and to unravel the mysteries surrounding the death a local vintner.