Last week my agent and I heard from my editor at Little Golden Books that they want to buy my pet book. Hooray! I'm doing backflips! I'm so so happy I could fly. Not just because I sold a book (by the way, that feeling of an editor saying yes, never EVER gets old) but because this was a manuscript I'd almost written off--literally. Just sort of put it aside and wasn't sure I'd ever revisit it.
When my new office was finished, I made a point to get more organized in my writing life, starting with putting all of my final manuscripts on Dropbox (finished/published/most updated draft). And I started reading them all again. I found that I still really liked this one, and decided to give it more attention. I turned it into a real rescue story, where the family goes to the local rescue to choose a pet. I called it To the Rescue! It's since been changed to "We're Getting a Pet", which I understand, but I will say that I liked my clever title a smidge more. Anyway...I managed to work into the story my own rescued Lab, Teddy, so it is that much sweeter.
This is Teddy. We rescued him last August from the Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue. How cute is he?
While on the high of the book sale, Hurricane Sandy was about to tear up the East Coast. I've learned that my sister and family are safe, but without power. My cousin Kate, however, lost her beachfront house in Rockaway Beach--the house she and her siblings (my other cousins) grew up in, and the house that as a child, I spent a bunch of time in (I grew up in NJ).
From the photos, it looks like the ocean just came in and swallowed up the bottom half of the house. They'd just finished remodeling it, and ironically, were in the process of building a sea wall. Not sure if that wall would have held back the ocean's force, but still. Makes me sick to my stomach. Makes me drop my jaw at the power of mother nature.
This is the view from the beach, looking at the house. This house was 2 stories.
I know they'll rebuild, and Kate is a very strong person, but just wish they could have come out of this unscathed. Thanks for listening.
