* CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL - CALL OUTS FOR NEW STORIES *

I just received an e-mail from the lovely editors at Chicken Soup for the Soul, asking for stories for a new, upcoming anthology named, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Curvy & Confident - 101 Stories about Loving Yourself and Your Body. 

This sounds like a book that's perfect for us women of a "certain age" and I'm definitely going to begin working on a submission for it. The deadline is June 30, 2016.

After reading the email, I was motivated to check out the Chicken Soup for the Soul website and see if they had other call outs going on...and they sure do! Following are the current ones, with various deadlines. Be sure to check them out!

Angels & Miracles   
Best Mom Ever!       
Blended Families
Dreams and Synchronicities
Parent to Parent
Stories about Cats
Stories about Dogs
Stories about Teachers & Teaching
The Joy of Christmas
        AND
The Spirit of Canada (for Canadian entries only)
College Student Stories (for current students up to age 24)


Here's the link to the Call Out page: http://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics. They even give suggestions about what to write about.

As always, I encourage everyone to submit stories, even if you've never done any writing at all. Just take your time and write from your heart. If your story doesn't get chosen, you haven't lost any money, because there is no submission fee...but if your story IS chosen... "If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $200 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $100. You will retain the copyright for your story and you will retain the right to resell it or self-publish it." Pretty neat, huh?!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHERE YOU SUBMITTED YOUR STORIES!



"The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say but what we are unable to say." - Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) 

Live! Online! It's Wednesday Night!

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Hello Everyone ~ especially all DOG lovers! Tonight, online at Radio Pet Lady, you can listen to a live broadcast about....you guessed it....Dogs! This particular show is "Dog Travel Experts." It begins at 8:00PM Eastern, 7:00PM Central. (Although the website states different times, those haven't been updated yet.)

Radio Pet Lady Network = Tracie Hotchner (daughter of the brilliant, St. Louis born author, A.E. Hotchner, whom I've mentioned before on my blog, and had the privilege to meet!) 

Please check out Tracie's website. She has so many wonderful programs, articles, and interviews about pets, I don't know how she keeps up with them all! So much to listen to, so much to read, so much to learn, so much fun!

She invited me to be a "Special Friend" of Cat Chat & Dog Talk and that's how I received the new blog button. 

Tracie is also the author of two books: 

THE DOG BIBLE: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know 

and 

THE CAT BIBLE: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know.

~~~

One more very important detail about Tracie......She is the woman I wrote about on April 29th. The generosity and support of others continues to find me as I write, following my bliss as I go...

Thank you, Tracie! 

~~~

Don't forget to listen to Tracie's show tonight!

Borders, Books, Dogs & Cats

* Yesterday I made an impromptu stop at a neaby animal rescue, knowing full well I'm not ready to get another dog. So, what did I do? I looked at the cats. I saw one in particular that reminded me of some  friends' gorgeous cats. He/she kept rubbing right up against the cage and letting me pet/scratch him/her. "It" was the only one in the entire room of cats I was interested in, so I went to the desk to ask about being able to hold it. There was paper work to be filled out. Then an attendant walked with me to the cat area. Inside the little "getting to know each other" room, the cat had no interest in me whatsoever. The little rascal only wanted attention while IN THE CAGE. Not to worry, says the attendant. I've got just the right cat for you. She brings back a boney, scrawny cat that doesn't seem any more interested than the previous one. This one, though, has a special effect on me. I STARTED TO BREAK OUT IN A RASH THAT ITCHED. (yes, I have been "kind of" allergic to some cats before, but that thought never occurred to me. Duh!)

Tiger-Girl   1/1/1997 - 12/13/2010  (I miss her so.)

Okay, so I allowed myself to be escorted back to the dog cages. There were about 20 dogs, and none of them did a thing for me. Just proves I am NOT ready for another dog in my life. And maybe I never will......And it also proved to me that I really do NOT want a cat, either...and that's good to know.

* This evening I got an e-mail from Mike Edwards, President & CEO of Borders. Betcha didn't know I was such good friends with him, did ya? Ahhh, I can't lie. It was a mass e-mail to everyone on their mass e-mail list. The good news is that Borders IS NOT going out of business. Whether Borders is your favorite book store or not isn't really important. As a book lover and published writer, I don't want to see any book store or publisher or agent go out of business, but that's exactly what is happening in the industry. Partly due to the economy and partly because of ebooks and self publishing. (That's a whole other subject which I'm not going to go into.) I'm just happy to know that Borders, as of today, filed for Chapter 11 and is reorganizing. Anyone interested in reading more about it, here's the link: www.bordersreorganization.com.

(The book stores and online store are all supposed to be Open For Business, as usual.)

A special Welcome and Thank You to my newest Follower: Beth Fred. Thanks, Beth! I hope you enjoy stopping here from time to time!

And, speaking of stopping by blogs....I want to apologize... I just can't seem to keep up with all the blogs I want to check on! I do peek at some, from time to time and just don't leave comments, and some I don't even get around to very often. I hope no one takes it personally. All my blog friends mean so much to me. Please understand that I'm desperately trying to get my memoir completed. That is at the top of my list, and other things are suffering because of it. But, Wow....is it ever gonna be worth it when I'm finished!

"Give me a home with stacks and stacks of books, warmth in the cold of winter, and coolness during a heat wave. Give me plenty of my favorite drink(s): coffee, tea and diet soda. Give me my loving husband and entire family and friends.....and still with all of this.....I weep because Tiger-Girl is not here to share it with me." -- Becky Povich