Cyber Monday: Start your day with a big dose of Whimsy!

Posted on November 30, 2015 by

Okay Boys….. It’s Cyber Monday and you know what to do… Let’s get out there and sell those books…

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TOO CLOSE?

TOO CLOSE?

It’s me, CHECKERS… My assignment as I understand it is to push (oops… I mean) promote the newest book.  It’s In the Company of Cats.  It’s all about my brothers, Bugsy and Knuckles, and their rescue from the animal shelter and the first year of their life with HH.  It is funny…. one caper after another and it also has Lessons Learned.  You will enjoy it. I did (although, I don’t think I was mentioned in the book … nope, not even once).  Have a great shopping day in cyberville and hop right over to Amazon to support the boys….  Click Here

 

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My turn… It’s ME, Knuckles… I highly recommend that you buy HH’s first book called, The Zen of Max (a memoir of great wisdom and many naps). This is her first cat book, and it is a gem of unconditional love and caring.  It’s about Max (of Max the Quilt Cat fame). It also has Lessons Learned throughout the book.  In fact… brilliant idea… buy both The Zen of Max and In the Company of Cats  as a set and give them to one of our cat-loving friends  for Christmas.  You’ll find The Zen of Max  on Amazon…. Click Here

 

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It’s me, Bugsy:  My assignment is to promote our cartoon book…. It’s called, Double Trouble A thru Z. I’m sure I got to promote this one because I’m a fun guy and it’s a fun book (not cuz I’m in trouble all the time — whoever is spreading that rumor is in big trouble himself, just sayin’) … but I digress….  This book is an alphabet book and it’s narrated by Checkers the Mouse. What could be better than that….right?  Please go over to Amazon to buy it….  (shhhhh…. we’re not supposed to tell you this part), but whoever sells the most books today gets extra treats….. So, as I’ll readily admit that I am completely driven by my tummy it won’t surprise you when I say, “Please, please, please go to Amazon and buy Double Trouble”… CLICK HERE

Thanks for listening to us…. Have a great CYBER MONDAY EVERYBUDDY!!!

hugs, Checkers, Knuckles and Bugsy.

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Sunday Funnies… A Review…

Posted on November 29, 2015 by

150628checkersIt’s me…. Checkers… Sorry we’ve been gone so long…. You know it wasn’t our fault.  Nope.  HH (fondly known as Lou) was off earning treat money for Bugsy and Knuckles.  And she said last night when she got home, that she did okay. So you know what that means? Yep, the first cut goes to the rescue shelters,   the second cut to treats for The Boys, and third cut to a nice wedge of jarlsberg for me. Whatever is left, we’ll let her have that….

So, since she’s been so busy with the writing and the painting while getting ready for the book fair last weekend and the studio open house yesterday, we thought we’d curate a little show of our own and show you a couple of paintings and a couple of cartoons.  Hope she likes what we pick out….

First, here are a couple of her pen and inks you might like… They appeal particularly to The Boys.. Here’s Bugsy’s favorite…

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it’s called Cats in the Garden…

And Here’s Knuckles’ favorite, called Plenty of Fish…. he joked and said he wanted to call it Lunch, but I told him that might not be politically correct…

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Now for our favorite cartoons of the week. It’s the tutorial on decorating the Christmas tree.  …

 

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Hope you all have some quality tree time coming up.  (You didn’t hear it here, but remember, this decorating process is even more fun when done in reverse…)

Next week… new cartoons….

Have a great week and don’t forget about the Sunday Selfie Blog Hop put on by The Cat on My Head blog.  Here’s our selfie for the week. It’s me and Bugsy….

 

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Have a great week…

hugs, Checkers T Mouse

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Are you feeling the pressure….?

Posted on November 15, 2015 by

checkers2Hi, it’s Checkers…. we’ve been in a frenzy over here. We’re helping HH get ready for the two-day Meet the Authors Book Fair. It’s next weekend and she’s just about ready.  We just have a couple more things to do….

It’s gonna be a great event. Fifty Florida authors will be there with their books and who knows what else.  If you’re in the Melbourne area, stop by.  It’s gonna all happen in the Eau Gallie Civic Center on November 21 and 22, 2015, in Melbourne, Florida, in conjunction with the ArtWorks Eau Gallie Fine Arts Festival…  It’s each day from 9:30AM to 4:30PM. Don’t miss it!!!

We (meaning me, Bugsy and Knuckles)  …. of course…. will not be there.  Something about wreaking havoc on the place…. But, we will be thinking good thoughts for HH to sell lots of books so we can buy treats for the boys and cheese for me.

On to other things. We’re participating in the Sunday Selfie Blog Hop sponsored by The Cat on My Head blog. Bugsy won the honor of posting his latest over-the-shoulder selfie today… here it is:

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Have a great day and week…

hugs, Checkers and the Boys

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Writers write!

Posted on November 11, 2015 by

meme writerWriting book-length fiction or non-fiction is a big job. So often I hear, “I have an idea for a book. I’m going to write it one day.” I would love to know how many of the people who have told me that over the years have written their dream book.

My guess is, if your idea isn’t burning a hole in your brain trying to get out of you, if it isn’t clamoring for you to write it way into the wee hours of the night; you may never write it. And if you’re not, in the meantime, writing shorter pieces (stories, a daily journal entry, a blog post) every chance you get, I can say, with almost absolute certainty, you’ll never get around to writing that book.

You see, it’s a fact. Writers write… They really do. They get up early to write before the hustle bustle of the family starts. They stay up after everyone has gone to bed to write just one more scene or to tweak something they wrote earlier.  Yes, they write on napkins during lunch and probably on toilet paper in the john.

I’m not kidding. If you have a book in you, you’re probably a person who HAS TO write. So get busy. Don’t wait for retirement or to win the lottery.

At the very least, if you feel you’re not ready to unleash the book, you better be in the batters’ box warming up. That means carrying a notebook or journal with you and cultivating the habit of writing in spare minutes you grab between items on your to do list. That’s what writers do. And their writing is all the better for it.

 

 

 

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Writing…. reclaiming a bit of Before You Write…

Posted on November 9, 2015 by

Before You Write…

I don’t know how many of you have noticed that the original name of this blog is Before You Write. 

In the beginning, this was my blog.

I was– or I should say, I am — writing a book containing information I hope will be helpful to would-be and advanced writers before they embark on a fiction or non-fiction book-length project.  To that end, I used to post about a variety of writing/editing topics  and then….  and THEN…

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Then… I moved the boys (Bugsy and Knuckles as well as Checkers T Mouse) over to the blog, and  I got carried away with their stories and the cartoons.

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Exactly, but I’m back working on the Before You Write book now and making real progress this time, and…

movingNo, you’re staying right here.  We’re gonna share the blog. It seems like the best of both worlds to me.  So,  just shove over a bit–we can all have our say and share the space…. Right?

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Easy Like Sunday….

Posted on November 8, 2015 by

It takes a lot of energy to launch a book….  We had no idea. We were not around when HH launched Max’s book, so we didn’t know that it was not all glory and parties.

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No, we’ve been hauling books and helping HH write stuff for other blogs — in addition to having to hold our big heads up… HH still contends our heads have swollen up with pride over our book… Now, I think she’s crazy.  We looked in the mirror and we think we look the same. What do you think?

Anyway…. we are taking an Easy Like Sunday day today. But we did want to pop on to participate in the Sunday Selfie Blog Hop put on by The Cat on My Head blog.  Can’t miss that.

And, HH said to  tell you warn you that she will start some blogging about writing stuff again next week… (shhhhhhh…. if they are too boring for you after reading about us, you can skip those posts…. but don’t tell her we said that).

Anyhooooo…. have a great week and here’s the selfie for the day.

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It’s me, Knuckles, practicing my balance beam act….

 

Hugs, Bugsy and Knuckles

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AND THE WINNERS ARE….

Posted on November 3, 2015 by

pick a flowerKnuckles was honored with the task of announcing the contest, so I (Bugsy) get to announce the winners….

I got mixed up at first and thought HH wanted me to pick a couple of flowers, but I found out quick what I was really supposed to do….

numbersI was not sleeping on the job….. Okay.. Listen up… I have picked the numbers and the winners are:

The Island Cats

and

Hannah and Lucy

Congratulations to the winners…. We will mail the books to you as soon as we get your snail mail addresses…

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Please send your snail mail addresses to HH at her email…. [email protected]

Thanks for participating… we’ll tell HH to get busy writing another book so we can have another contest.

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