MEET PAGES! OUR NEW PUPPY!

Yes indeedy, we got a new family member over the weekend! Sweet Pages is our newest furry friend. She’s almost three months old, and is a Golden Retriever. She arrived at the Shields residence just before noon on Sunday…and this is a bit of a visual journey of what’s been happening!

If you’re wondering where Jett and I are, we’re the ones holding the cameras! Don’t worry, we’re giving and receiving loads of puppy love too!

My favourite photos are these:

I will admit that I am tired. Pages had some serious separation anxiety last night. She howled and cried for a good twenty minutes – two times! And she only slept at most 2.5 hours at a time. I was up with her taking her out to pee. Dear Oscar was with us too! He’s pretty tired as well. Sometimes I catch him just staring at Pages. His ears perked, his heart open. It’s the greatest. Pages is a puppy – floppy, slippy, and delicious. She keeps chasing her tail and paws. She’s totally wobbly and slipping into the furniture. But she makes great eye contact and comes when we call her name. She also loves to climb on Oscar’s head! It’s so funny! Well, we did it. Got another dog. It’s a lot of work…but so incredible. I mean, her puppy breath alone is worth the sleepless nights!  The love is flowing like flood waters. (Too soon? Yes, yes it is.)

While we’ve been preparing for our new Pages, I’ve been working hard on adding pages to the second novel in my Hangman series. Working title: The Killing Tides. I’m doing National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which means I have a goal to write 50,000 words by the end of November. Huh. I’m averaging just over 1,000 words a day. At this rate, I will not make the goal, but I’ll be happy if I continue to write a bit every day. You never know, I may have some days where I write a lot more…I’m not putting too much pressure on myself! Just enjoying the ride.

The characters from ‘The Guesser’, book one in the Hangman series, are alive and loud in my head, and, incredibly, several new characters have come out of the folds of my writing brain like they’ve been there all along and have been waiting for the opportunity to jump out and wave their hands in my face. Three new characters have emerged and I’m loving writing with them.

Here are my NaNoWriMo stats as of this morning:

Total word count: 9440

Average per day: 1667

If I write 2254 words per day from now on, I’ll hit the 50K goal. That makes me laugh out loud.

I’m continuing to watch movies while wearing joggers, bulky sweaters and no bra. I’ve been making slow-cooker meals like they’re going out of style. And I’m reading my friend Mark Bacon’s new book ‘Desert Kill Switch’. I have to make myself stop reading to get stuff did. I’m lovin’ it! Thanks Mark!

Stay tuned for my next blog with my event listings!