The donkeys love being brushed by Maria.

My Daily Egg, seconds before the wind blew it off and it splattered on the ground.

  July 12, 2009 – I finished the first draft of my novel, “Rose In A Storm,” a few minutes ago, and I’m very happy about it. When I became a writer about 20 years ago, I want to write fiction. I wrote one novel and six mysteries and then turned to non-fiction, for all sorts of  reasons. I hope this novel will be the beginning of a series of novels sparked by my life on the farm.
  My life changed, and so did my work as a writer. It has been too long since I wrote fiction, and this book was by far the most challenging for me. It is written from the point of view of a dog, and I talked to a lot of behaviorists about how a dog thinks. I am on fire to get going on the next one.
  This fall will be an important time for me. My editor will read the novel and then scheduled it for publication if she likes it – possibly next June. The HBO movie “A Dog Year” will be out Sept 3, a few weeks after my new book, “Soul Of A Dog.” I am working on two children’s books, “Lenore Finds A Friend,” and “Can Frieda Stay?” awaiting my editor’s approval. Am I am taking a lot of photos.
  I had a great time at Saratoga yesterday, but there is a disconnect between the photos that excite me and the ones people say they want to buy. It’s a strange process, the sale of art by artists to the public. Writers like me are insulated from that. The publisher deals with the money.
  Got to figure out this artist thing with the photos though. I’m not really drawn to selling photos. A number of people have e-mailed me asking if it is okay to use the photos I take for screensavers or to print out. It is. I love the idea of the photos being used that way.
  At the end of the week, I’m going to Mary Oliver country – Provincetown – where I have gone all during my life. It will just be for a couple of days, as there is too much going on. I will hike on the dune shacks. Also this week, I will continue work on revamping the website, making it easier to navigate and simpler, and to expand its reach by going on Facebook
and Twitter.

  July 12, 2009 – I enjoyed our excursion to the arts fair, but was thinking how different the life of an artist is from the life of a writer. Arts fairs remind me of the old carnival’s I used to cover as a reporter, communitys of individual creative spirits traveling around with tents and pole’s and their hearts works, as streams of people with their hands behind their backs come strolling by to look, but rarely buy. The fun is in the going and the showing, and I enjoyed sitting with Maria and her mom, watching the people as much as they watched us and our work. I learned a lot about showing and displaying photos, and will be prepared for Poultney, on August 8. I also saw the power of having dog. Lenore draws crowds and she will be at Poultney.
  Maria is used to this artist’s thing – you put it out there, and put it out there. I have pre-arranged book tours and am lucky. I am confused about the photography. The stuff I like won’t sell, the stuff that will sell I don’t really want to print up and haul around. I’ll figure it out.
  I have finished all but a few changes on my novel. Sending it off this week.
  Setting up Twitter this week, and already have more than 400 people signed up on my Facebook page. This is good. I could see yesterday how reluctant people are to spend money right now. Writers and artists have to get their stories out. I welcome that challenge.