pleading puppy eyes

I've been working on a story about the service dog my mom is training. I wanted to work on a nonfiction story that I could submit to children's magazines since they say that nonfiction is a big need. So I looked around my life for something I could write about and found the service dog.
I finished the story and got approval from the marketing specialist at the organization. I also got approval for pictures since some nonfiction articles need pictures to go with them. Unfortunately my favorite picture could not be used because Jack was wearing a Gentle Leader.
As I prepared my submission to send it out I felt like I was breaking one of those "What not to do" rules in submission packages by including pictures.
I hope that the pictures of the dog don't seem like some pleading dog saying "Please buy my story."

Contributor's copies

The other day I drove to St. Paul to pick up my contributor's copies of Good News at Good Ground Press. I got to see some samples of the different publications. They have Sunday School publications for all ages of kids from pre-school to high school.
I also got my contributor's copies. After deciding that I would keep two for my own purposes I called my mom so that she could tell me who the remaining three should go to.
Me: Well I have five copies and I need to keep two for myself to prove I've been published so that leaves three.
Mom: I get one, of course and then you have to send one to Uncle Rick. Where do you want the third one to go?
Me: I'd like to send it to Sue J.
Mom: Oh well OK. What about Tina. I guess I can share my copy with Tina.
Me: Oh I guess I can send that copy to Tina.
I guess what this boils down to is that my mom is the boss of my contributor copies. I imagine that in her quest to get more copies she may start visiting all the Catholic Churches in town in hopes that some Sunday School attendee will drop their copy and she will be there to claim them.

My cat is in hiding

So I just read about this contest in the New Yorker called Critterati
Basically you dress your pet up like a character from a book.
I am currently brainstorming what to dress my giant cat up as. My cat is currently hiding under the bed trying to stay out of the way.

What's the worst thing that could happen

Today I went to my local neighborhood coffee shop to write.
Sometimes it is too quiet at my house and I need the energy of being around people to get any work done. Also I don't take my computer just my spiral bound notebook so there will be no temptation to use their fast internet to check my facebook page or whatever.
So I sit down and I am next to these really chatty people which is OK but somewhat distracting today. Maybe the people I sat next to were really chatty or maybe it was that my ear was facing the direction to pick up most of what they were saying or maybe it was that their conversation about journals and meditation was way more interesting than what was going on in the world of my novel. So after 3 tries of beginning chapters that weren't working I asked the question "What is the worst thing that could happen to my character right now?" Then my writing got interesting. 7 pages later I'm still really excited about what developed. Not that I want bad things to happen to my MC but it is still a cool development.

Sometimes I go on craigslist and I look at the writing gigs. I look to see if there are any places seeking submissions for anthologies or whatever. I always see people looking for people to write their book for them. They usually have an amazing life story or a story idea they know would make big bucks. I also see ads for people looking for illustrators for their children's books. What bothers me about these ads are the errors. People if you are going to post an ad on craigslist seeking an illustrator for your children's book or someone to write your amazing life story at least spell check