FREE MONEY

Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 16) I'm being interviewed (yes, again) at The Long and Short of It. Their reviewer just gave Dog Nanny 4 1/2 books.

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/interviews.htm

However, this one won't be a Q&A, so it should be interesting to see what they've done with answers I gave them to some rather unusual questions--like can I open a Starburst with my tongue. You may even learn about the time I was "really hot." Yes, moi.

Best of all, I'm also giving away ANOTHER $10 gift certificate from Amazon.com to someone LASR will choose at the end of the week. But you can't win unless you drop by and leave a comment on their contest page below.

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/contest.htm

DOG NANNY unleashed in Waco

I'd originally been told to allow three weeks, but it had been barely one.

It was Wednesday in Waco, and my copies of Dog Nanny were out for delivery. Had I been tracking them? You bet.

On Friday they'd left Nashville. From there they'd gone to Memphis and on to Dallas. Now they were in Waco. On the truck.

So we waited. At 6:27 it was my husband, not the dogs, who heard something at the front door.

As we opened one of the boxes, my own two poodles crowded around, excited about the paper and our mood. Food maybe? Nope, just a book with a picture of two foo-foo poodles on the cover.

Can an Abilene vet tech train two wayward poodles, while harnessing her desire for a handsome Waco pilot?

Get your copy of Dog Nanny now and find out. A romantic comedy set in Waco by local author Ann Whitaker.

Print copies now available at the Waco's Animal Birth Control Clinic, 1531 Wooded Acres Drive, Waco, TX 76710, 254-776-7303; and online at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. Electronic download available June 12 at The Wild Rose Press.

A portion of proceeds from sales goes to Animal Birth Control Clinic.

In Memory

In Memory of Angel Nikki,

"Miss 'Tude"

Beloved companion of Kim

and much loved by her online diabeticritter family

born November 16, 1996

made her journey to Rainbow Bridge, May 21, 2009

Tonight at 9 p.m. CST candles were lit across the U.S. and Canada in remembrance of her life and the joy she brought to all.

Rest in Peace, Nikki.

Can You Really Judge a Book by Its Cover?

Mothers-in-Law Say the Darndest Things

Recently, I inadvertently gave my mother-in-law a sort of Rorschach test of book covers.

First of all, take a good look at the cover for Thirty-Nine Again, by my friend Lynn Reynolds, coming out the same day as my novel Dog Nanny. (That’s June 12, 2009, from The Wild Rose Press.)

When I showed Lynn’s cover to my mother-in-law, she asked innocently (and gotta give her credit—non-judgmentally) if the book was about lesbians. Where did she get that idea? What else—the guy’s long hair.

Everything must look different when you’re almost 79.

Later, I sent her an e-mail with my cover attached. Actually it was embedded, because she doesn’t know how to open an attachment. For her an “attachment” is either a relationship, a part for a vacuum cleaner, or a hook-and-eye.

You see, like many older folks, computer lingo baffles her. “Why do they call it a download? What’s a monitor? You mean the screen?” Heaven forbid I tell her to look on the desktop for the start button or mouse or she’ll start rummaging around on her computer table looking for apparel buttons and vermin.

When I asked her what she thought of my cover, she said, “That was your cover? That picture of a girl with a naked belly?" Observe cover below.

If I scrunch up my eyes just right I can almost imagine those hands are a naked belly.

Here I was thinking AnnWorld (where I spend much of my time) was a freaky place. ShirleyWorld must really be confusing.

First Review for Dog Nanny--5 Cups

Here I was on a lazy Sunday afternoon, poking around on the Internet, when lo and behold I came across my first review for Dog Nanny at Coffee Time Romance & More!

Needless to say, I was thrilled almost speechless (ask my friends—that rarely happens) to find I’d received their highest rating of 5 Cups! Why, the rush from that much caffeine made my heart start thumping like a tennis shoe in a clothes dryer.

Sunday Shannon at Coffee Time Romance says:

A near perfect book. If ever there was a story that made me glad that I am a Texan, this is it. The images of Old Mexico are charming and the Texas portrayals are hilariously true. This book is written in a warm, familiar tone that drips with southern magnetism. I enjoyed each and every character no matter what their issues were. How refreshing it is to read a book that took me away from the present moment and transported me into a small town in Texas where Old World meets New World. This is a magnificent book that is witty in all the right places. There are some books that I wish would never end. Dog Nanny is one of them.

What a great start for Dog Nanny. If she’d said she was buying 10,000 copies for all her friends, I couldn’t be happier.

Click here for the entire review.