Things I Learned From Penny

According to the 19 thank-you notes I received from Natalie's 4th grade classmates (following a presentation I did about LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE) these are the Things I Learned From Penny...

1. "it can take awhile to get the pictures to mach the story" [SIC]

2. "I learned there are two ways to write a book, pantsing and plotting."

3. "every single word has to count"

4. THANK YOU FOR THE CHAPSTICK!

5."if you self publish you do all the work yourself"

6. "My mom wrote a book and she got it published by a company" (this one is the equivalent of "my mom is better than your mom")

7. "I love the saying 'puke out the story'--I think that's really funny."

8. "The lip balm smells so good!"

9. "editing a few words can make the story better"

10. "I really liked how you used Natalie as your advisor"

11. "I think I will publish a duck book."

12. "I learned when you write picture books it can take a long time because you might have to erase things."

13. "I like how Lucy has a licking problem."

14. "If Lucy could talk she would say thank you because you got her famous."

15. "I like how you take Lucy to the groomers and people go crazy."

I was extremely impressed with Natalie's class. The kids were smart, inquisitive, and enthusiastic. Fun!

Hope everyone has a lemony licky day,
Penelope

Penny Vs. Decapitated Barbie Head: I'm Putting My Money On Barbie

For some God-forsaken reason, my daughter loves Decapitated Barbie.

That's what I call those huge Barbie heads that were created to practice styling hair, putting on make-up, or perhaps act as a stand-in imaginary friend for sad little girls.

I stupidly purchased Decapitated Barbie for the first time when she was about four years old. After she and her posse of girlfriends were finished with that thing, it looked like Chuckie (see photo below)...

...another disturbing doll, had done unspeakable things to Decapitated Barbie Head that involved Sharpie markers, sharp objects, glitter, and some pink nail polish.

Decapitated Barbie Head was dumped, unceremoniously, into the garbage can.

A few hours later, she showed up on the dining room table.

Undeterred, I tried again. Decapitated Barbie Head was dumped in the trash bin in the garage.

The next day, I found her on the stairs.

OK. So I was perhaps slightly discombobulated by seeing Barbie's glittery eyes staring at me from the stairway.

I covered her with a rag and put her in a trash can hidden in the far corner of the garage.

By dinnertime, Decapitated Barbie mocked me from the kitchen counter.

It was full-on war, and I was determined to win this battle.

On garbage day, I waited until the truck pulled up in front of my house, and hand-delivered Decapitated Barbie to the garbage men. Her hair had been hacked and was standing up like an electrocution victim. Her face was covered with Sharpie doodles. I don't think Ken would have been too keen to go out on a date with this Barbie.

The garbage men, God bless their souls, raised an eyebrow and chucked Decapitated Barbie into their truck.

Victory!

One month later, as Natalie opened her birthday gifts, I stared horrified at not one, not two, but FOUR Decapitated Barbie heads. Without my knowledge, she had asked all of her friends to get her Decapitated Barbie Head as a birthday gift.

(Yes, my daughter is diabolical if you haven't figured that out yet).

And so the battle continues to this day. Decapitated Barbie Head taunts me. I attempt to dispose of her. And lo and behold, she turns up in the laundry basket. (See photo above I took this morning).

I concede defeat.

Decapitated Barbie Head has kicked my sorry ass.

✂

Some exciting news and updates...

Some great reviews for LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

❀ From Tales of Whimsy: "The art is pure whimsy...The story is equally clever and whimsical...Lucy is one fab pooch and I look forward to her future adventures. 5 STARS"

❀ From Darlene Marshall: "The illustrations are dynamic and vibrant, and the story by Nina Clark captures the essence of diva dachshunds."

❀ From Pearls Cast Before A McPig: "...it is an awesome book...the story is cute, touching and funny and the illustrations not only fit the story very well, they're really beautiful in my opinion."

❀ From Babbling About Books: "How can you not want to read about an adorable doxie who becomes a super weenie dog with special powers? Also the illustrations are wonderful!"

❀ From Pam Smallcomb, author of EARTH TO CLUNK: "Lucy (a licking-obsessed wiener dog diva) is sure to tickle the funny bones of young kids and wiener dog-lovers of all ages. The bright, charmingly wacky illustrations build the perfect world for a wiener dog with a newly-found superpower."

❀ From BookHounds: "...absolutely loved it...This should be on any dog lover's book shelf."

ALSO, BookHounds loved LUCY so much, they are offering a give-away! So please stop by to enter the contest. Here is the link...

GIVE-AWAY AT BOOKHOUNDS FOR LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

❀YIPPPEEEEEEE!❀

LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE is now available in paperback and digital formats!

Have a great day! (Even Decapitated Barbie Head)
Penelope

I Am So Hip And Happening! LUCY Goes Digital, Baby!

Suffice it to say, I am not the most technologically advanced person on the face of the earth.

Case in point, when I have a computer question, I ask my ten year old daughter who generously helps me out with my problem, although she does roll her eyes.

Anyhow, I knew my new kiddy book LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE would be released in print, but it took my hubby to convince me that families and children are now eagerly reading books on Kindle and iPads and other color tablets, and that it would be a nifty idea to publish my book in that format, too.

And so I did.

Thanks to the formatting master-mind Jayne, LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE is now available as a full-color ebook for Kindle. Jayne BLEW MY MIND with this ebook. It is banana nut crunch cray cray fabulous. I am not kidding!

Also, I am only charging 99 cents right now!

So, in conclusion, if you own a Kindle Fire or other color tablet and you would like to read this "crazy cute" story (from Carolyn Crane's Amazon review)....check out LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE in digital format!

PURCHASE HERE FOR 99 CENTS!

Have a weenie-licious day!

Penny

I Would Just Like To Thank The Academy...

For everyone who told me how gorgeous I looked at the Oscars...thank you. I know. I looked freakin' fantastic in this sparkly silver dress.

✯

To everyone who told me how delicious these lemon thumbprint cookies turned out, thank you. I know. They kicked ass. I made them with Julia Rachel Barrett's home-made lemon curd. Also, I started Julia's Daughters of Persephone series, and I loved the first story! Great combination of sci fi and romance. It's FREE right now at Amazon.

✯

To everyone who recommended Jayne Ann Krentz's book ALL NIGHT LONG, I would like to say thank you. I loved it! This is a great suspense novel, with a super sexy and eccentric ex-marine, a determined and quirky heroine, lots of great chemistry and humor, and a nice mystery thrown in for good measure. The intervention scene is hilarious!

✯

To Duncan, the 4 year old boy who read LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE and said "It's alarious" I say...thank you. I know. It is alarious. And I'm super glad you liked it!

✯

To all of you, I say...

Have a great day!

Penelope

LUMBERJACK IN LOVE only 99 cents! Woo hoo!

FREE! CHEAP! BALLOONS! CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES! MARTINIS!

(Imagine those words in neon blinking lights!)

1. CHEAP!

LUMBERJACK IN LOVE is on sale for 99 cents at Amazon. Latest review at Goodreads: "What a charming and delectable story Penny Watson has penned." Yippeeeee! 

GO TO AMAZON AND GET LUMBERJACK STORY FOR ONLY 99 CENTS!
GO TO BARNES AND NOBLE -- ONLY 99 CENTS!
GO TO KOBO -- ONLY 99 CENTS!

2. FREE!

5 copies of LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE are available for a FREE give-away on the WEENIE blog! (Not that kind of weenie. The other kind of weenie).

GO TO WONDER WEENIE BLOG AND ENTER GIVE-AWAY! YIPPPEEEEE!

3. BALLOONS!

4. CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES!

5. MARTINIS!

Have a great day!
Penny

Weenie For The Win!

Painting by Sara Pulver, copyright 2013

I have been keeping most of Sara Pulver's paintings under wraps (TOP SECRET!) so I wouldn't ruin the surprise of our awesome book coming out. But I decided today--RELEASE DAY!!!!--to treat everyone to one of her special paintings. This is one of my favorites from our new book LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE. It's nothing short of brilliant. I wrote the text for this book, sent her an idea for each picture, and let her go with her imagination. Every single time, she surprised me with a vision I had not anticipated, and she created something more, something better, something simply amazing. I cried when I saw this painting for the first time.

Just in case, you didn't know....

TODAY IS RELEASE DAY FOR LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

What is it?

A 32-page, full color, 8.5x8.5 picture book, in paperback, about a super hero weenie dog with an obsessive compulsive licking problem.

Who should read it?

Everyone! I would especially recommend parents and kids snuggling together, surrounded by stuffed animals and real animals, hopefully with a plate of cookies close by.

How much is it?

$9.99

Where can I find it?

AMAZON! Here is the LINKIE!

Where can I find more information about LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE?

Our blog, LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

Reasons to buy LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE....

1. You are super bummed you cannot attend the Westminster Dog Show in New York.

2. You need a birthday gift for the 8 year old best friend of your daughter, and the kid is spoiled rotten and already has everything.

3. You like dogs.

4. You love dogs.

5. You love animals.

6. You love super heroes.

7. You have a wee little obsession with dachshunds, that might include a collection of doxie figurines, stuffed animals and salt and pepper shakers. (Ahem).

8. You need a coffee table book that doesn't have photos of naked ladies in it.

9. You need a dose of something positive, happy, and inspiring.

10. You love books that make you happy.

I can think of many more, but mostly, I would recommend this book because it will make you happy. That's the best reason of all.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!

To Sara Pulver for creating this vision! And being amazing to work with.

To Vicki Garbe and Kate Sohl and Margot Roth for helping with edits and feedback.

To Anne Nydam for being a Create Space master of disaster.

To Sharon Breitbart for designing my author web page.

To all my friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues for love and support.

To Lucy. The cutest, lickiest, most super heroic dog I know.

All my best,

Penelope aka Nina Clark aka Penny Watson aka Lucy's Mom.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

✯THE NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP✯

I was asked by Judith Arnold to participate in this blog hop, and I decided it would be fun to talk about LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE since the book will be released soon. 

1: What is the working title of your book?

LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

One morning I was making breakfast for the kids, and I got this idea for a funny story about Lucy, our dachshund. She has an obsessive licking habit, and I thought it would be amusing if her licking problem turned out to be a super-heroic power.

3: What genre does your book come under?

Children's Fiction

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Julia Roberts would be Lucy, Vanessa Hudgens would be Natty, Tommy Tinkerknuckle would be played by Justin Bieber, and "Mommy" would be played by Kate Beckinsale. Of course.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

What happens when an ordinary weenie dog consumes a pile of magic beans? She turns into a super hero! 

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

Self-pubbed.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It took me twenty minutes to write the first draft. Then I had to find an illustrator! You all know I am a huge Etsy fan, so I went to Etsy and researched artists who did fun, quirky artwork with animal subjects. Luckily for me, I discovered Sara Pulver at 3Crows. She is a brilliant artist with a quirky sensibility and a fabulous sense of humor. I sent her an email and asked if she was interested in writing a book with me, and she said yes! We had a great time working on this book together. Sometimes Sara would come up with an adorable painting, and I would adjust the text to reflect her vision of the story. We worked on the book for months. Sara's artwork blows me away. She is an awesome collaborator with amazing creativity. I feel very lucky and blessed to have found such a perfect partner-in-crime for my first children's book.

Sara's painting Cat Road Trip, available at Etsy.

Her paintings are full of fun, color and humor!

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I'm not sure exactly, but I do see some similarities with Richard Scarry books. Sara adds a lot of fun detail into the background of her paintings, so it creates a really entertaining vision for the reader, examining all the characters and unexpected treasures that add so much to the story.

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Lucy, my dachshund. She's a nine pound long-haired, black-and-tan miniature doxie who is a total sweetheart, but lazy as anything. She hates going for walks! Seriously. Who has ever heard of a dog who hates walks? Diva!

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

This is going to be a series! We are already brainstorming additional stories for Lucy. I have a fun one for Christmas that involves Lucy stealing a stocking and wrecking Christmas. Then she has to use her super hero powers to fix it! 

Another cool thing about this book is that we're releasing it in hard cover, paperback and digital formats. There's something for everyone. 

Thanks so much to all of my readers, colleagues and friends who have supported me on this crazy adventure. I can't wait to release this book. Should be soon. I will make a big announcement when it's release day!

❀❀❀

Please stop by Heather Rigney's blog Mermaids Love Sushi to check out her post for this blog hop. I adored the story idea she's working on now. Really fun and funky!

Stop by Judith Arnold's blog to see what she's working on next--a women's fiction novel called The April Tree. It sounds wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by!
Penny

A Quick Message From Lucy

Hello there! This is Lucy, long-suffering weenie dog who lives at Penelope's house.

(Yes. That is a HORRIBLE, ill-fitting tomato red sweater that Penny and the other humans in my house thought would enhance my wardrobe. Personally, the collar alone works JUST fine for me. No need for this asinine sweater. After they finished laughing until they cried, they removed the offending garment from my body. *shudder*)

Just wanted to say a quick hello to everyone and let you all know that Penny is hard at work finishing up LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE, the most brilliant book she will ever publish, with the most stunning and exciting heroine ever to grace the pages of a book. (That would be me. Lucy.)

Happy New Year to all the humans and canines and I guess cats, too, and also birds, alpacas and any other quirky pets out there.

Penny will be back when she finishes my book and makes me a star.

Time for my 149th nap of the morning,
Lucy

P.S. Penny made a cool new blog for me today. LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

Coming Soon...LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE!

Drum roll please!

I have been working on a super-secret (not really), hilarious, fun, adorable, inspiring, and humbling project for the last six months. For some kooky reason I decided to write a children's book. I was lucky enough to find an incredibly talented artist--Sara Pulver--who was also interested and shares my same quirky sensibilities. Her paintings for this book have brought me to tears on more than one occasion. We will be self-pubbing the print book with Lulu, and I will let you all know when it's out. Definitely before Christmas, hopefully a lot sooner!

Speaking of Christmas, for some insane reason I have THREE books on the docket which I am attempting to publish before holiday time.

(Yep, I got those crazy eyes going right now).

Anyhoo, LUMBERJACK IN LOVE is Book #1 and it's already out and doing extremely well. (My new favorite quote from Goodreads is this..."a good book low on the angst, and high on the cute.") What a great description! That's just how I like my romance novels.

Book #2 is LUCY THE WONDER WEENIE, a wonderful children's book illustrated by Sara Pulver and written by my alter ego, Nina Clark. It's the story of Lucy, a black-and-tan miniature dachshund who eats some magic beans and turns into a superhero. (Modelled after my very own super heroic doxie Lucy!) Sara's artwork is nothing short of magnificent. (See cover above! SOOOO AWESOME!)

Book #3 is SWEET INSPIRATION, the first book in the Klaus Brothers Series. I have the rights back from Wild Rose, and will be self-pubbing it this holiday season.

All of this means I will be not be blogging as frequently. But I will be drinking frequent martinis.

Coming up next week....a big bloggy celebration for LUMBERJACK IN LOVE. We'll be discussing favorite beardy dudes and giving away fun lumberjack-inspired gifts.

See you soon!

Penelope

Shout-Out to 3Crows

Peace Offering by Sara Pulver

I wanted to give a nice shout-out today to Sara Pulver, the wonderful artist who is doing the illustrations for Lucy The Wonder Weenie. Her artwork is quirky, sweet, and puts a new twist on the way we see the world around us. She has a lovely Etsy shop with paintings, prints and cards for sale. Stop by and check out her adorable artwork.

3Crows Etsy shop

Info about Sara Pulver

Her Facebook page

Her blog...The Talking Crow

Sara and I are collaborating on a children's book, and every day she sends me a new painting which is bringing this story to life. Many days I cry when I see her paintings. They are so sweet and whimsical and funny and true. Yesterday she sent me a painting of Lucy the Weenie Dog embracing a little girl, and I realized the devotion we get from our pets is the equivalent of a huge hug of unconditional love. That is the perfect symbol of a pet's love for us.

Thank you, Sara, for all your hard work and inspired vision!

For those of you interested in our book, I am hoping it will be released sometime this fall.

Hope you all have a happy Friday, a wonderful weekend, and get lots of hugs and kisses from your furry friends!

All my best,

Penelope