What's Up Wednesday

Busy, that's what's up. Lots and lots is going on, most of it of little interest to those following this blog. But there are a couple things you may be happy to hear.

I actually have a marketing update. Woo hoo! My agent emailed me this morning with some really good news, but nothing definite yet. I'd love to reveal the details, but that would be unwise. Suffice to say we have a very interested editor who loves KNIGHT'S CURSE, but needs feedback from further up the food chain, so to speak. So keep fingers crossed for me. This is a big publisher and I'm impressed with this editor. That said, there are four other publishing houses still considering the manuscript. So hope lives eternal!

On the puppy front, we had an incident on Sunday that was kind of scary. Kinsey ate some grapes out of the compost pile in the backyard. Dummy us weren't thinking when we put the shriveled things in there, but grapes are toxic to dogs, as are raisins. They cause kidney failure. I saw her speeding by the window with a bunch of them in her mouth and ran outside to stop her. I didn't know how many she'd eaten, but she was chewing so chances were good it was grapes she was chewing on. I called the emergency vet.

The vet said to bring her in and they would induce vomiting. And how much was this going to cost me? It would be $95 for the exam, and $68 to make the puppy throw up. Times are lean and we don't exactly have $158 to toss around unless absolutely necessary. If the puppy had to vomit, my husband and I decided we'd make her do it ourselves.

I went to the store for some Ipecac syrup. Did you know it's not a common item in the pharmacy aisle anymore? No one had it, and we were running out of time. So we decided to use peroxide instead.

A tablespoon should do it. It was easy to give it to her, she swallowed it right down, and then ran around out back like it was nothing. So we gave her more. Still nothing. I held her upside down and shook her a few times, hoping gravity would do the job, but no luck. A few minutes later we were rewarded with 2 big upchucks that yielded about a half dozen grapes. She's fine now. Phew.

I'm closing in on the final scenes of the WIP and then I'll take it with me to the coast on Friday for some heavy duty edits and revisions. That's my favorite part! It's like putting the finishing touches on a sculpture where you polish and really bring out the details. Fun stuff!

What's this about the coast, you ask? Oh, yeah. I'm going on a writer's retreat this weekend with some friends from my RWA chapter. We do this once a year and it's so much fun. I can leave my worries and cares behind, and just concentrate on myself for a few days. Pacific City is beautiful and my friends and I rented a house on the beach there. I'll take pictures and post them when I get back. I did this last year, too. And the year before. It's become a ritual.

Okay, gotta walk the pup, then back to work on day job stuff. I'll keep y'all posted on how the pub subs go! *happy dance*