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By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 5/26/2014
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Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin. Robert Collier
Visualizing is an important part of a writer’s journey. Mom always visualized opening a letter of acceptance. She walked herself through every bit of how it would feel. The envelope – the weight of it, the uncertainty – that wiggly feeling in the tummy, the zipping it open – the rough edges, and the finally knowing – somebody said yes. Over and over for years and years, she saw it, felt it, and believed it. 
But guess what. When her first story was sold, no letter came. Her publisher called her on the phone and left a message! 
That being said, Mom still visualizes getting an acceptance letter. Over and over. Every detail. Every single day. She says, “This will happen.” and “It can’t hurt.” and “What is going on in that tiny brain of yours?”
What time is dinner?
I visualize, too, of course.
What time is dinner?
I see and feel and believe in tons of treats, piles of toys, 
long walks, and playtime that never ends. 
My mental blueprint shows how I will get onto the table, into the garbage, out the window, and through the door. 
My brain may be tiny, but it’s busy all the time. Visualizing…..
What time is dinner?
Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.
Mary Kay Ash
I would like to fly. Sometimes, I fly around my house – from the floor to the bed and from the ottoman to the sofa and from the chair to the door.
But I’m not allowed to fly outside. If I could, I’d fly up into the trees to catch birds and squirrels.
They are up there laughing at me, so flying would come in handy to put a stop to that.
Mom writes picture books. But sometimes, she goes outside her comfort zone to write other things. Once she wrote a non-fiction story, but she hated it – ALMOST as much as she hated doing the research for it. She said, “This is too much like work.” and “I dread writing time.” and “You cannot climb a tree – you’re a dog, not a bear.”
Last weekend, Mom wrote a song. Her friend needed a little pre-k song for graduation, so Mom made it up and sang it out loud to herself over and over and over and over and over. She said, “That was easier than I thought.” and “I didn’t know I could write a song.” and “You cannot climb a tree – you’re a dog, not a bear.”
Sometimes we need to go out of our comfort zones and TRY to see what we really can do. Mom is no Paul McCartney, but she wrote a song. I may not be a bear, but if Mom would unclip my leash for 5 seconds, I think I can climb a tree. After all, bumblebees fly….
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 3/9/2014
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Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.
-Bruce Garrabrandt-
Moments matter – Every single one of them. I try to use each one wisely.
Climbing.
Kissing.
Exploring.
Eating.
Playing.
And helping.
This past weekend we lost 60 moments of sleep for daylight savings. Well, the humans did. I got those moments back in spades 60 times over.
Mom uses one hour of moments each day for work. And by work I mean she sits there and types on the computer and talks out loud to herself. Sometimes the Creativity visits her during that hour. I love visitors. I’m not sure I’ve ever met the Creativity Visitor, though. Maybe tomorrow…..
If the Creativity doesn’t visit at that exact work time, Mom still works. Each month, she makes a new story and fixes up an old story (or two or three) for her 12×12 Challenge. She also reads books about writing books, and reads books like the books she writes. Wait. What?
Writing time is not for blogs, not for Facebook, not for email, not for Words With Friends, and not even for TV.
It’s just working on stories in one way or another – writing them, reading them, fixing them, thinking about them, submitting them to agents and publishers, and giving me cuddles and treats…. (See what I did there?) If the Creativity doesn’t come – Oh well. Maybe tomorrow…..
We’ll be ready.
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 3/1/2014
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Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. He would’ve been 109 years old. He is the Best Doctor Ever on account of no needles, no looking into ears with a flashlight, no sticks stuck into forbidden places, and no touching of my bits and pieces.
Waiting for the Doctor. Hoping for the Best.
Mom also loves Dr. Seuss for a million other reasons – his wild imagination, his silly rhyming, his crazy stories, and the fact that his first book was rejected 27 times before anybody said they liked it. Misery loves company.
Mom’s #1 favorite Dr. Seuss book is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins from 1938.
Normally, Mom and I steer clear of anything that smacks of numbers, but counting those hats is so much fun and so suspenseful that we can’t resist it. Also, a hundred years ago, Mom’s 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Nelson read that story to her class and Mom and her friends giggled and counted and were afraid for poor little Bartholomew not being able to take his hat off for the king.
As of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, Mom is up to date on her 12×12 Challenge. She has written 2 new stories in the past 2 months. Now it’s a new month and time to start a new story.
In which direction should she go?
Direction? Up, of course.
King of the Hill of Filth
What will be original?
Original? It doesn’t get any more original than an old dog learning a new trick.
Who will step out of her list of character ideas?
Character? This one.
Or this one.
Or this one.
How will she make the story sparkle?
Sparkle? With a tiara, of course.
Am I sparkling, yet?
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 1/30/2014
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Vision is not enough. It must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.
Vaclav Havel
Mom’s Highlights Contest story is finished resting, and thanks to her Contest Magic classmates giving her tons of help, she revised it – AGAIN – cutting and adding and switching and tightening and tweaking (not twerking – trust me – nobody wants to see that).
Yesterday, we went to the mailbox
and Mom unceremoniously dropped it in. She said, “I could work on this thing for the rest of my life.” and “It’s time to stop staring up the steps and step up the stairs.” and “Where do you think you’re going?”
Mom is hoping to win big, but she is also hoping for her cyberclassmates to win big right along with her. She said, “Their stories are amazing.” and “Can I even compete with these people?” and “There’s nothing up there for you.”
Is she talking to me??
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 1/25/2014
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When I first came here, I had to be fixed. I wasn’t broken, but getting fixed was about not getting any more puppies in my belly. That’s fine with me.
My puppies were adopted at the shelter where I “lived” (and by lived, I mean barely existed) before I was rescued. Nowadays, I feel that puppies would take away some of Mom’s attention – which belongs 100% on ME. Plus, I use my belly for other things, named treats.
Mom’s story for the Highlights Annual Fiction Contest wasn’t broken, either.
But, boy oh boy, did it need to be fixed. Mom’s cyberclassmates and her cyberteacher from the Contest Magic class gave suggestion after suggestion and asked important questions that made Mom think of important answers and make important changes. At the end of it all, the story was a LOT better than it started out. Like me!
Before
After
Some things Mom learned were:
1. She is a mental case when it comes to commas. (She, kind, of, already, knew, that,,,)
2. The story problem needs to be close to the beginning of the story.
Help!
3. Readers need to learn about characters by what they say and what they do.
4. A problem can’t solve itself. Characters need to work at it and make the solution happen. And it can’t be too easy.
5. Conflict and tension are important. (Mom stinks at both of them.)
6. Sometimes, even your favorite parts of a story need to be cut. It might be scary and hurt a little, but it has to be done.
It’s like getting my nails trimmed. Like it or not, it has to be done….
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 12/1/2013
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All the effort in the world won’t matter if you’re not inspired.
Chuck Palahniuk
Experiences inspire ideas. Mom has completed her PiBoIdMo challenge with 35 inspired ideas for new stories.
Some of her ideas will become picture book manuscripts. Some will become poems. One of them might become the elusive Book #2 or eBook #2. Some of them stink so bad that they will stay in her phone and rot. But somewhere, somehow, all of them were inspired for a few minutes by an experience during the month of November.
At her author visits, students or teachers often ask Mom if she ever has writer’s block. She says, “Never.” That’s because as long as she has a list of ideas, even if one story gets stuck, there are a bunch of other stories just waiting to get started.
I was inspired last night, so I started playing the piano with my paws…
…and my face.
Mom came in to see what was inspiring me. Was I a genius and she was just finding out? No. Did I suddenly get skills that no dog in the world ever had? No. Would I play at Carnegie Hall and be famous? No. There was a fly in the house. And I wanted a closer look at it.
*Not actual fly
The fly disappeared after my concert, and later he met with an unfortunate end. Rest in peace, little fly. I think you would’ve been delicious.
*Not actual fly tombstone
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 11/7/2013
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It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
~Franklin D. Roosevelt~
Trying something is important. This Roosevelt guy knows what he’s talking about. What would life be like if we didn’t try? Mom tries all the time. She tries to write awesome stories.
She tries to write funny poems.
She tries to get unusual ideas and to dream up unique characters.
Even though Roosevelt says to – she doesn’t frankly admit failure, but she does keep on trying something.
I try all the time, too. I try to sit on my ParkIt Mat.
This is boring…
I try to reach things on the table.
I try to fetch the ball and to walk past things even if they’re scary.
Like Mom, I never admit failure. I only admit, “Oh well.” and “Maybe next time.” and “Is that pumpkin trying to kill me?”
*gulp*
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 9/16/2013
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But there was one other thing that the grown-ups also knew, and it was this: that however small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance is there. The chance had to be there.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I struck lucky when Mom found me a few Decembers ago. Purrs n Pups found me in Georgia in a kill-shelter, where my puppies had been adopted…
….and I was left behind.
They brought me to foster care and my foster-mom brought me to an adoption event where Mom found me.
She said some bad words like, “Too small.” and “Too old.” But then she said some good words like, “I’m taking her home!” and “This is my new dog!”
My first day at home, I said, “This is my new couch!”
Mom is always waiting to strike lucky. She works on stories, revises them and revises them, makes cover letters, signs them with her lucky pen, and submits story after story to magazines, book publishers, and agents. Whenever Book #2 gets accepted, that will be her lucky day.
PiBoIdMo is helpful. Mom gets a new idea every single day during that month.
Mom’s 12×12 Challenge is helpful. It keeps her writing new pieces every month.
The class she took named Making Picture Book Magic was helpful. It taught her about planning a story to make sure it has all the parts it needs.
Her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid is helpful. They help her stories get better and better.
Where’s the work? This looks like a party!
Her computer friends at RateYourStory help her by giving her a reality check about what she writes.
And of course, I help her by taking her to the park to clear her head,
staring at her while she’s working,
and sometimes, I fall asleep on the iPad and type LLLLLLLL with my ear.
By: Genevieve Petrillo,
on 3/3/2013
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There’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen~
There seems to be a crack in the head of my laughing dog. Plus his ear is missing.
I think his head accidentally cracked open because Mom turned on the switch and he started laughing too much. I’ve heard of “laughing your head off,” but I’ve never heard of “laughing your head open so the light can get in.”
Mom is always looking for where the light gets in. She says if her story is tight enough, nothing can crack it open. So she checks it and checks it. She says she’s troubleshooting. I don’t like trouble and I don’t like shooting, so I hope she is just kidding. But she reads her story out loud to herself all the time. She says, “Does the ending match the beginning?” and “Is my character believable?” and “How much does the problem really matter?” and “Where is the laughing dog’s ear?!”
Mom keeps deleting and rewriting sections of her story trying to make it perfect before she brings it to show her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. She says, “Am I telling too much?” and “Am I showing enough?” and “I guess I’ll have to sew up the rip in his head.”
Mom might be able to make her story perfect, but as you can see, the laughing dog’s head will never be perfect again. I wonder where his ear went…..
Click the video to hear the laughing dog laugh.
Thanks to our writer friend, Chelsea at Jenny Mac Book Blog for giving us the Sunshine Award and to Bubba and Mumma and the gang at Bumpy Road to Bubba for giving us the Why I Love Thee Award. Click here for our Sunshine questions and answers, and here or here for the story of how Mom and I found each other. We love all our sunshiny blogging friends, so feel free to take an award or two and list your own Sunshine answers or Love Story.
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
~Stephen King~
I’m pretty sure this guy Stephen King knows a thing or two about writing. Mom believes him and takes his advice. She also forgives him for Cujo. I am not sure I do, though. *shiver*
Mom reads a lot and writes a lot every day. Well, maybe not a LOT…. But some every day. Well, maybe not EVERY day, but most days.
Mom reads children’s books, young adult books, grown-up books, blogs, magazines, websites, email, reviews, and books about being a writer. She takes some time to play bowling with me, take me for walks around the neighborhood, throw my toys, clean up piles and piles of dog hair from around the house, and dress me up.
She also works on new stories, old stories, stories about dogs, kids,and animals, stories from her November idea list, and poems. She takes some time out to cuddle with me, brush my teeth, give me treats, teach me tricks, and take me to Petco to have my nails cut.
It’s times like this that I wish she’d concentrate on her work…..
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus
Mom decided what she would be a long, long time ago. (I wasn’t even born yet!) She liked writing stories and poetry, but she was a teacher, so she mostly just READ other people’s stories and poetry. Sometimes, she would write a little something during summer vacation or for a graduate school assignment, but she was a teacher, so the stories didn’t go anywhere. (I hate to tell her this, but that’s because she didn’t send them anywhere.)
One day she was strolling around a craft show at the park. (If I were with her, there would have been less strolling and more playing on the swings.)
At one of the booths a man was selling wooden desk plates with jobs on them. Mom bought the TEACHER one, right away. That was a no-brainer. Then she saw the WRITER one. She picked it up and put it down a hundred times, trying to decide whether to buy it. She said no, then yes, then no, then YES! That was the first time she thought of herself as an actual writer and not just a teacher who sometimes writes.
She kept that wooden thing for all these years. It’s on top of her bulletin board, and she looks at it every single day.
When she did what she had to do, it came true. All she had to do was:
- Write every day.
- Play fetch with me.
- Read piles and piles of picture books.
- Take me for a walk.
- Find a critique group (or 3).
- Bring me to Petco.
- Join SCBWI and attend a conference (or 3).
- Buy me toys and treats.
- Study about how to be a better writer.
- Give me a bath, brush my teeth, and have my nails cut.
- Revise a lot.
- Go to work with me at the VA.
- Just plain CUT a lot of words, even if she really really liked them.
- Pick out dresses for me to wear.
- Submit stuff to agents and publishers.
- And study new tricks with me.
Nothin’ to it, right?
There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.
Tony Robbins
Mom and I do not even believe in failure. We can’t. It would make things too difficult. When I try to learn new things like fetching (yes, I consider that “new” even though I’ve been trying to learn it for two years), Mom never says, “Forget it.” or “This is an epic fail.” She always says, “Try it again.” and “Almost.” and “Not the couch! Not the couch!! NOT THE COUCH!!! Ugh!”
Apparently, bringing the ball on the couch is not fetching, which is unfortunate because I’m really good at that. I’ve been practicing that for two years.
When Mom gets rejections, she does not think that is failure, either. She says, “It’s the nature of the beast.” (*shiver* I don’t like beasts at all.) Mom knows that authors get rejections, so she takes them in stride.
It’s not her favorite result, but it’s just a result and not the end of the world. 12x12in’12 helps Mom to keep on keeping on, so she writes more stories and different stories and doesn’t waste time being sad about rejections because writing is not sad. It’s fun.
Fetching, on the other hand – NOT fun.
Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.
~Michael Caine~
Don’t I look adorable in these pictures? It’s an act! I’m calm on the outside, but my heart is paddling like….heck on the inside. (You can kind of tell by my flat ears.) First of all, we had just arrived at the VA Home, where I work as a therapy pet, and I couldn’t wait to get in and see all my friends. Secondly, there was a loose thread on my sundress, and it was tickling me and making the strap slide down. Sexy, but annoying. Halfway through our visit, Mom took the dress off me and left me naked. More sexy, less annoying. And worst of all, Mom was making me pose at the brand new flower beds, and she didn’t even care that the sod was wet and muddy! A few Cheerios helped me settle down on the outside, but inside I stayed over-excited.
That’s how Mom feels when she’s revising a story. She reads a line (out loud to herself) and in her head she’s thinking of 20 other ways to say it better. She changes the line, reads it again (it sounds fine to me), but in her head there are 20 MORE ways to say it better. So on the outside, the story is winding along sounding finished, but on the inside, every line is being checked to see if it needs to be cut, fixed, moved, changed, or left alone. That’s why being a writer isn’t as easy as it looks!
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Inspirational Quote of the Week, last added: 6/10/2012
Writing a book is 10% inspiration and 90% not being distracted by the Internet.
George Dyson
Sometimes I get distracted.
In obedience school, Mr. Clark taught me to always keep my eyes on Mom, and always follow her. And concentrate! That’s more difficult than it sounds. Between yummy smells, geese, strollers, birds, lost baseballs, bikes, cats, airplanes, left-behind potato chips, motorcycles, joggers, cars, and the ice cream truck, Mom has to keep fighting for my attention – and mostly losing.
She says, “Look at me.” and “Heel.” and “Are you eating a peanut shell? Really??”
Mom gets distracted, too. She works on writing, just about every day, but I’m not sure she’s writing the whole time. She laughs at the TV, checks Facebook and Twitter, drinks coffee, pays bills, looks at Pinterest, reads blogs, shops online, eats cookies, and answers email. That’s not writing!
When I want to play, she says, “I’m working.” and “I can’t be disturbed.” and “Come back here with my shoe!”
…See what I mean? She’s distracted again.
“When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt might have been ….Well, he might have been ….somebody, but I don’t like him! I do not like people saying not to play. Playing is the BEST dog-thing ever.
I’m not the only one who likes to play. Mom plays with me a LOT. We play bowling, shake the toy, hide and seek, get the Cheerios, IQ Puzzle, and fetch (well, SHE plays fetch, I play get the ball, bring it on the couch, and stare with a confused look on my face). Playing is the BEST Mom-thing ever.
When Mom writes stories, she absolutely has to play when she works. She plays with characters to see how they like to act. She plays with plot to see where things fit and what sounds best. She plays with conflict to set the stage, build a story arc, and bring resolution. And she plays with words to make everything sound smooth and rhythmic. I have a feeling she may be playing with some other stuff, too, because she’s always having fun when she works.
Mom says, “When writing stops being fun, I’ll stop writing.” and “Don’t forget playing with dialog, openings, closings, and humor.” and “Teddy bears were named after Theodore Roosevelt.”
Really? Maybe this guy isn’t so bad after all….
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
—G. K. Chesterton
Dragons are scary. I wish I had a stuffed dragon, so I could destroy him. That would teach scary things (like soccer players and ladders) not to mess with me.
Mom has never written a story about a dragon. She has written fairy tales and stories and poems with monsters, but no dragons. Whew.
In most of Mom’s stories, there’s a problem. Her characters try to solve the problem, and after trying a few times, they do! Mom says, “It’s good to solve problems.” and “Kids should know that problems have solutions.” and “Did you rip the tail off your stuffed bunny?”
Mom’s characters always solve their own problems. That’s how it has to be. Parents and teachers are not allowed to help. I can NEVER solve my own problems. Once I got stuck behind the big chair, and I just stayed there till Mom noticed. She moved the chair and got me out.
Here I am being a problem solver, with a LITTLE help from Mom. Problem Solver Video
Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.
~ Jim Rohn~
EASY!?? What’s easy these days? Walking nicely on my leash? No. Not chasing squirrels or birds? No. Fetching??! OMG! NO!!
But I AM getting better. I’m mostly better when Mom is holding a treat. Treats are yummy and not being naughty is tough. If I focus on the treat, I can do anything …almost.
Mom’s writing is getting better, too. When she reads really old stories that she wrote, she says, “Slow start.” and “Too much telling.” and “Stop barking at the squirrels. I can’t hear myself think.” Then she works on the stories to make them start out snappier and puts lots of showing instead of telling in the action.
Mom is focused on the treat, like me. But her treat is getting “published”. Published sounds a lot like puppies. I’ll be fine if she gets published, but if she gets puppies, that could be trouble. I don’t need any smarty-pants puppy competition in my world – and by my world, I mean MY WORLD.
Your intentions don’t create footprints, your actions do.
-S.Whyte-
My footprints are the CUTEST! They’re tiny and round with little marks from my little nails. When I walk in the wet grass, I leave perfect footprints in the street. When I get inside, Mom says, “Stand still.” and then she cleans my feet with a baby wipe, and it’s goodbye adorable footprints and hello feet that smell like baby powder.
Mom doesn’t like footprints OR intentions. She remembers a long time ago, when she was reading a story in Highlights Magazine. She said, “Cute story.” and “I totally could’ve written that!” and “What did you step in now? Ugh!” Then she got the baby wipes out - again!
Mom was absolutely right about Highlights. She COULD’VE written a cute story for them, but she DIDN’T and somebody else did. She had intentions, but what she needed was action. After reading and reading in Highlights and intending and intending to write, she finally took action. And guess what – the magical people at Highlights thought her story was great, and they bought it! Ever since then, Mom writes all the time and sends stories and poems to tons of magazines for kids. Then she says, “Yay!” and “Look at my name in this magazine!” and “You’re filthy. Get in the bathtub.”
Goodbye footprints…..
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Inspirational Quote of the Week, last added: 10/3/2011
Visualizing is an important part of a writer’s journey. Mom always visualized opening a letter of acceptance. She walked herself through every bit of how it would feel. The envelope – the weight of it, the uncertainty – that wiggly feeling in the tummy, the zipping it open – the rough edges, and the finally knowing – somebody said yes. Over and over for years and years, she saw it, felt it, and believed it. 
But guess what. When her first story was sold, no letter came. Her publisher called her on the phone and left a message! 
That being said, Mom still visualizes getting an acceptance letter. Over and over. Every detail. Every single day. She says, “This will happen.” and “It can’t hurt.” and “What is going on in that tiny brain of yours?”
long walks, and playtime that never ends. 
My mental blueprint shows how I will get onto the table, into the garbage, out the window, and through the door. 
My brain may be tiny, but it’s busy all the time. Visualizing…..
xx
) I bet all of your mom’s ideas are great, Cupcake, even when some of them”stink” – that sometimes are the best! If you see a fly in your house in winter, you shold keep it as a pet, the superstition says, that’s the “money-fly” and brings good luck&wonga 
I’m going to try that – the visualising a job part, although since you mentioned dinner …
Clearly GRRREAT minds think alike…’cos those are things we think and visualise about all the time too!
Wally & Sammy
She should have asked the publisher to send a letter as well. That was a nice message to have left on the phone though!
I know exactly when it’s my dinner time! I give the bipeds five minutes (because I’m so patient) and then I start reminding them!
My Mom says “believing is seeing” (a little different from the usual!)…..and visualizing is indeed part of what an artist and a writer must be able to do – your Mom does it very well and Cupcake, I think you are a “grandmaster” of visualizing (especially dinner!). :)
Hugs, Sammy
Oh indeed Cupcake…and putting the pictures on fridges and seeing them clearly…this is also part of the creative mind…seeing things that are not there and making them appear..the cakes the rugs the things we make all come from a visualisation…and get out of that bin young lady! hugs Fozziemum ;) xx
I agree with your mom, it feels more “accepted” if you can hold the acceptance in your hand. But nothing is more important than the question: what time is dinner? (or the answer on the question of all questions)
I think your mom deserves the paper as well as the call! You sure are good at visualization Cupcake! I visualize treats a lot! Whipped cream and salmon jerky today NOM!
Oh Cupcake – I absolutely LOVE your visualization techniques. This is a most excellent tip – thank you my friend. XOXO – Bacon
P.S. I’m off to visualize an entire box of Cheerios now… yummy!
P.S.S. Conpigulations to your mom… I think she deserves a paper in hand as well :)
I’m fully on board with this one. Maybe it’s just the placebo effect but I’m convinced it works.
I can see you visualizing that dinner Cupcake. You are so cute and adorable. Tell mom to keep going. Thanks for sharing the beautiful photo’s. :D