I’ve been typing all day with one eye on Rio, trying to discern from every little sigh and moan and how long she’s been napping and how much she’s been eating, how she’s feeling and if she’s getting better. It kills me that we aren’t sure what’s wrong, and so we aren’t sure if what we’re doing is helping or what would indicate recovery (other than eating). She’s been eating, some, though certainly not as much as usual, and everything appears to be in working order. But I can’t see her liver and her liver is what is worrying the vet. She seems low energy/spirits today, but it has been gray and snowy out, which always signals “nap day” for my pup. She did rouse herself this evening to go bark at the squirrels in the backyard, and when I came home tonight she was standing on the back of the couch, tail wagging, and watching me through the window. These are things she didn’t do while sick.

But her nose is dry. And she left chicken in her bowl. And she still seems sad. I don’t know if she’s still fighting off the illness or she’s just mad at us for leaving her in the hospital all weekend.

I’m also dealing with other major household diversions of the non-Rio variety. I think it may be time for some outside writing dates. Jess, Lavinia, call me.

I also just have too many darn projects on my plate right now. Plus the siren call of promotion for my upcoming releases, website updates, reviews that have just started trickling in, and the awful chirp of twitter @replies.

Is it any wonder I’m going a little nuts?

Oh, for a writing retreat. Unplug, get out of the house, put my head in one project and FINISH it. Then again, this whole thing with Rio started the last time I left town, and I don’t like leaving while she’s still under the weather.

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Because both Carrie Ryan and I offered to match donations up to $1000 with donation to local animal rescue groups, that means I’ll be donating $543.27 to Reach Out Rescue, which is a local Maryland all breed dog Rescue Group I volunteer with.

But that’s not all! The balance of the “matching money” ($456.73) will be split among the following local rescue groups, which come highly recommended to me by fellow author and animal lover Michelle Hodkin:

• Jasmine’s House (a pit bull rescue group named after one of Vick’s victims)
• Recycled Love (a dog rescue that specializes in abused and neglected animals)
• The Fallston Animal Rescue Group (an all-breed rescue org)

Thank you so much for bidding on the auction. wishing you and all your furry friends a safe and happy new year!

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Home:

1. Declutter bedroom: If you’ve been paying attention, this has been on the to-do list for quite some time. I’m kind of a tough customer when it comes to saying goodbye to clothes — even if they’re clothes I never wear anymore (like my office wardrobe, when I haven’t worked in an office since 2006).
2. Organize attic, basement, and spare closet: the downside of all the reorganizing we’ve done in the rest of the house is that certain areas of the attic and basement have become catch-alls. I know a lot of the stuff in there is not needed anymore, and I should toss it.
3. Get rid of unused furniture: Also a long-held to-do. This includes one dresser in the guest room and one dresser in the master bedroom that have both sat empty for months… and yet there they sit, taking up valuable real estate. I need to get my act together and Craigslist the darn things.
4. Resod yard/rip out side garden: This is SB’s pet project for spring.
5. Fix fence: We really need to get on this. We’ve been dragging our feet for almost two years now. What happened was a tree fell over on one corner of our chain link fence and pulled the whole thing out of whack. The gate hasn’t latched right since, but since it’s just one corner and we don’t want to replace the whole fence, we’ve had a tough time finding someone who wants to do that little job. (Every fence company I call quotes us replacing all the fences on our property). This is par for the course in home repair I’ve found. We have one cracked floorboard — but all the repair folks won’t do anything for us unless we let them rip up our entire floor. It’s ridiculous. You have to either become a DIY expert or get taken to the cleaners for every tiny piece of home repair.
6. Plant herb garden: I’ve already started on this with winter hardy rosemary and sage.
7. Plant veggie garden: I’m grateful for all the success I’ve had with tomatoes but I’d really like to start expanding my repertoire. However, everything else I’ve ever tried has been middling to full-on bust, including: lettuce, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, radishes, strawberries, and bell peppers. The hot peppers were okay, but we rarely ate them.
8. Keep working on that Ent.: I spent days ripping down vines last spring and I don’t know how much good it did — most of them grew back. This year I’m going to try attacking it in winter. Maybe when they’re dead/dormant it’ll be easier to detach them.
9. Fix bushes in front yard: Some of them are starting to look super raggedy and our last attempt and trimming/shaping didn’t go too well.
10. Fix refrigerator ice machine: see above re: repairmen as to why that hasn’t gone over so well yet.
11. Do at least two other home improvement projects. I have a few potentials on my list.

Family:

1. Spend quality time with Sailor Boy: And that means more than just being couch potatoes in front of Netflix once Queenie’s gone to bed. If we’re going to be couch potatoes, it should at least be in the pursuit of finally finishing Portal 2’s 2-player game.
2. Spend quality time with Queenie: Somehow, I think this will be the easiest resolution of all to keep, if only because Q herself actively pursues QT with us at all hours.
3. Put Rio in agility (or similar) classes: This is part of my “Rio needs more QT” resolution. I also think she needs to spend more time with other dogs. Ever since we lost Gracie and stopped fostering, she’s been pretty dogless, and while in Florida for Xmas with my parents’ and brother’s dogs, it showed.
   
4. Take Rio for a hike at least once a week: I miss our hikes.
5. Take a family vacation: This is a biggie. We haven’t been on a real vacation since before Queenie was born, and she’s getting to an age where she might have fun on a vacation. We just have to decide what to do.
6. Put Queenie in swimming lessons this summer. I think she’ll love it! She loves swimming here in Florida.

Work:

1. Promote the six new releases and four reprints I have coming out in 2012. Yes, that’s how many I’ve got in the US alone. I have a few foreign releases planned as well. Schedule forthcoming.
2. Pursuant to previous, update website!
3. Finish Major Secret Marketing Effort for FDSTS #1. I’m actually haflway through that.
4. Finish MSMEfFDSTS#2. Barely started on this one.
5. Finish new book. About half way through this as well.
6. Finish Secret Project #1. Have been making good headway here in Florida.
7. Finish Secret Project #2. Or, you know, start it.
8. Attend at least two writing-related conferences. Not sure which yet.
9. Get invited to at least one short story anthology. Putting that out there in the universe. I love me some short stories, and I have a pretty good track record so far.
10. Follow up with co-conspirators re: Secret Project #3. Hear me, co-conspirators? I haven’t forgotten!

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This is the result: a huge, multi-author auction, multi-state fundraiser, and multi books available!

I’m so excited to be a part of this fundraiser for the Humane Society of Indianapolis (where Christine is located). As many of you know, the plight of homeless and abused pets is one that’s very near and dear to my heart. Before Q came along and risked us out of the activity (she’s a bit of a tail-and-whisker puller, which Rio puts up with, but is definitely too much for a scared homeless foster), Sailor Boy, Rio, and I used to foster homeless dogs as part of a rescue organization and I still do what I can (like home visits for potential adoptive parents) to help great pets find forever homes.

This is what I’m doing to help now.

First, we’re auctioning off a signed set of Rampant and Ascendant (hardcovers). Rampant the hardcover is out of print, guys. Which means you might get one of the VERY LAST COPIES in existence. The lot also includes a limited edition ARC of Jeri Smith-Ready’s SHINE.

You can’t imagine how happy this makes me, given that Jeri is the one who got me into dog fostering to begin with.

ALSO:

Carrie Ryan (another big animal lover) and I will be matching the aggregate of all donations/bids up to $1,000 and donating that amount to our local animal rescue groups.

This is an amazing chance to get your hands on some signed, limited edition books and do wonders for animals in need.

And, since I know I’m getting a lot of visitors right now due to the Cassandra Clare giveaway, I thought I’d point out that one of the lots includes signed copies of the entire Mortal Instruments tetralogy.

So go now! Check out all the lots. Bid on something and know that you are going to make a real difference in some poor animal’s life this Christmas.

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I’d like to say it’s not easy being a writer’s dog, but that’s not true. I know if my mommy worked at an office, I’d be left alone in the house all day. Here all I’m asked to do is sit on Mommy’s feet during the winter. Mommy can take off in the middle of the day to take me for a walk, and there are people on the internet who think I’m cute.

But the gig has its downsides, too. For instance, I have to admit I get a little jealous of all the fictional animals Mommy creates. First, it was Voldemort the snake, who I don’t mind telling you I do NOT like one bit. Apparently, he’s even older than I am, because he was created before I was born. So, for that matter, was Bonegrinder.

Bonegrinder is, quite possibly, more popular on the internet than I am. We can’t have that, folks. See how cute I am?

So, whatever. Mommy made Voldemort the snake and Bonegrinder long before she met me (and boy was I cute then):

but what’s her excuse now? Why can’t I be in every book? Why can’t I be a unicorn hunting dog? I like unicorn hunters:

Lately, she’s gone totally overboard in creating animals, ever since I started hanging around her. It’s like she’s obsessed. It wasn’t enough that she had Voldie and Bonegrinder and Bucephalus. She added a whole host of new unicorns in Ascendant. (I mean, come on, guys. Angel? That was a ploy for unicorn sympathy, plain and simple.) And of course, there was Flayer. And Enyo.

And then, to add insult to injury, she created some DOGS. Gotta make fictional ones, Mommy? Think they’ll keep your feet warm in the winter? Gog and Magog, which I’m sorry, are very clearly ripoffs of Temp Dog #2. This year, she made another dog character, Goneril. You haven’t met Goneril yet. She’s in next year’s Under My Hat anthology. And, for the record, she is NOT AS CUTE AS ME.

And now she’s at it again. You should see her. I have to lie here on the floor by her desk, pretending to nap as adorably as possible, letting my little feet twitch as if I’m dreaming of chasing things (in a land where it’s not flooding, darn it ALL) and trying to distract her with my undeniably toxic levels of cute, and she’s sitting there, typing away and giggling at the antics of her latest animal creation.

Guys, I fear it might be cuter than me.

WE CAN NOT HAVE THAT.

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Hello. My name is Rio Peterfreund-[Redacted], also known as Rio McBeo, Ree-bot, Puppy-uppy-uppy, and, since last week, “Hrree-aah!” (according to the one you know as Q).

Speaking of the one you know as Q and I know as “that crying thing I’ve finally forgiven Mommy for bringing home last fall because now she is finally interesting, given the way she likes to drop cheerios over the side of her high chair”, we get along great. Check it out:

Yes, I know this picture is a few months old, but look at the more recent variety:

Luckily, Q has finally figured out “Pet nice” and so I am willing to get near her again. (Well, the constant stream of dropped cheerios helps, too.) There was also that week or so that she thought my food and water dishes were the most fascinating things in the universe. You should have seen me standing there whining while she got into my kibble. I’m not sure why Mommy said I was such a good girl after that little episode. Usually she doesn’t like it when I whine, but I guess that it was preferable to me trying to take the kibble out of Q’s hands myself (Mommy didn’t even have an easy time of it.)

Anyway, I’m not here to talk about Q. (She’s all anyone ever talks about around here anymore.) I’m here to issue a formal complaint about the weather.

I’VE HAD IT.

Look, I love to swim. I don’t mind getting wet. But two weeks of rain? Come on, guys. I haven’t been on a proper walk in days. My favorite trail down at Rock Creek Park is completely underwater. Mommy and Daddy even planned a big Labor Day hike at Great Falls that got rained out. It’s dark and boring in my house and I’m not a huge fan of getting rained on, so I haven’t even been doing my usual exploring-the-backyard thing. I’m going stir crazy in here. Mommy’s at her dumb computer all day and Q left toys all over the floor that I’m not allowed to chew on and it’s so cool out that they turned of the A/C so now I don’t even have the simple pleasure of napping on the vents.

SIMPLE. PLEASURES. I don’t ask for much, world. But can’t I get a break in the rain so I can go chase a ball or two?

Bored now.

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When I was a teenager, I thought this song was, like, soooooo romantic. Oh, a couple rediscovering the romance in their relationship through a case of mistaken identity.

This morning, as I was listening to the lyrics, I was horrified.

“I didn’t think about my lady, I know that sounds kinda mean.”

YOU THINK? Your wife is SLEEPING IN BED NEXT TO YOU, and you’re planning your tryst with some stranger who’s out trolling for tail in the personal ads?

But the wife doesn’t get off scot-free, either. After all, she’s the one who PLACED the ad. Lady, how do you sleep at night, in bed next to your husband, knowing that you wrote and placed a personal ad for another man?

“It was my own lovely lady, and she said ‘Oh, it’s you.’”

Does she sound excited here, or disappointed? Sorry, Mr. Narrator, but I think she might be bummed to find out that her “exciting new lover” is actually you. Though if I were her, I’d be like “Oh, S***, he found my personal ad.” I wouldn’t think he’d ANSWERED it.

So the lesson we’re supposed to take from all of this is that if they both are sneaking around, then they belong together? Hmph.

And all set to a boppy summer beat. I switched stations and found Cee-lo’s “F*** You,” in its radio-friendly “Forget You” iteration. And then Katy Perry’s “Fireworks” which is my favorite of the current crop of gay anthem pop songs.

Y’all, I’m kind of into Katy Perry. I feel like Katy Perry is doing what Lady Gaga keeps shoving down our throats that she’s doing, i.e., fun pop music as a backdrop to a weird pop art experiment. I mean, bizarre costumes? Check. Awesome music videos? Check (If you follow my Twitter feed, you know that I asked my publisher if my next cover could look like a Katy Perry video). Gay anthems? Checkity check. And, on the whole, I like her music better.

Of course, this is all based on radio play. I hear that Gaga is an incredible live performer and does amazing acoustic renditions of her songs, but they don’t play those on the radio, and I haven’t been to a live show of any variety since the last time Phish broke up.

Q, we’ve learned, is a big fan of pop music. She loves Madonna, Beyonce, and Kanye. She also likes They Might Be Giants, but I think every baby of geek parents must. Her favorite piece of classical music is The William Tell Overture, but only if she’s on our knees or her rocking horse. She also likes all songs that have her name in them, and so we’ve retrofitted quite a few so that they do.

Rio’s favorite band is Duran Duran, natch.

I didn’t have a playlist for For Darkness Shows the Stars, like I did for Rampant. But there are a lot of songs that make me think of the book, most recently Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”, and, last year, Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone.”

How weird is it that my contemporary novels have playlists of obscure recordings of visionary music written by medieval nuns, andmy post-apocalyptic book has a playlist of radio-ready pop songs?

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It’s not how they bark at leaves, or chase the squirrels, or run after cars.

It’s not the hole they chewed in your shoe, or your couch, or your door.

It’s not the way they track mud into your house, or shake it on the rugs, and the wall, and you.

And it isn’t that time they ate that favorite thing of yours — the item of clothing, or the piece of furniture, or the Thanksgiving Turkey.

It’s not the infuriating tendency they had to act perfectly behaved until such time as they need to act behaved, and then they jump, or they beg, or they pull on their leashes.

Or how they have that “poor me” look down so well that they can make you feel guilty for not paying attention to them five minutes after taking them for a two hour walk.

It certainly isn’t how warm they are when they snooze on your feet, even in the heat of summer.

Or their wet doggie kisses.

Or their stinky doggie breath.

Or the way they can destroy a tennis ball in four seconds flat.

It’s not the way the whole house shakes when they decide that they just have to scratch that spot, right there, right now, and for the next five minutes.

Or even when they just have to lick that other spot. You know the one. And then try to lick your face afterward.

Nope, it’s not even that.

And it certainly isn’t the way they love you so much, even when you know you don’t deserve it, because you haven’t been walking them, or playing fetch with them, or even petting them as much as they deserve.

Or the way they always greet you at the door when you come home and want to play, even if you’re so exhausted all you want to do is collapse on the nearest flat surface.

It’s none of these.

The only bad thing about dogs is that they don’t live long enough.

Rest in peace, Gracie. Your owner is my best friend, and you were Rio’s. We loved you lots and we’ll miss you terribly.

2000-2011

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The other point of interest is that we got a foreign sale for Rampant: Grasindo in Indonesia has bought the rights.More info on when the book will be available when I’ve got it.

And finally, Ascendant made the Daily Beast’s Best Young Adult Novels of 2010 list.

Also, the baby has been asleep for seven and a half hours now. W00T!

The sun has not yet made an appearance in 2011, which is why I’m already falling down for the year in terms of walking Rio. But we’re definitely going out today — and it looks like the sun will be, too.

The writing — well, the baby has been really sleepy for the past few days, which means I’ve had the opportunity to write. But the muscles have atrophied somewhat in my months of maternity leave. I have written and discarded about a thousand words this weekend. Now part of this is I’m starting a new short story and I’ve has a few false starts, which are very normal for me, in terms of voice. I’m trying something very different with this short story — because, hey, if you can’t experiment in your short fiction, where can you? For instance, I experimented with present tense in “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” and with dueling third person narratives in “Errant.” I do not have a title for this short story yet, but I’m kind of madly in love with the heroine’s first name.Today we go for attempt #3 — hopefully, this one will be the keeper.

So that’s what I’m up to on this third day of the year. What about you?

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I guess that’s preferable. Maybe someday she’ll forgive me. In the meantime, I’ll settle for her friendly curiosity about the newest member of our family.

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