The Sheltie Gazette: In which we attempt to go walking but...🥵
Jul 12, 2025 11:11 pm
Hello, , from my non-air-conditioned writing cave...
Those dogs, people say, have too much hair.
No, say the Shelties. It's just that the sun has too much hot.
We have been trying to get some exercise. Supposedly, the dogs were my inspiration to go for daily walks, but with three of them they can chase each other around our giant yard and I don't actually have to take them out. But I'm trying, so I got a new app that supposedly turns my walks into a "fitness plan." It makes all sorts of extravagant claims that I don't believe, but the Shelties are hopping up and down with eagerness that something, anything, will get me to take them exciting places. As long as they don't have to get in the car. Car is evil, walking is fun fun fun.
The walking app does give me different prompts, such as "walk powerfully, rolling from your heels into your toes. Swing your arms wide!" Then after we do that for two minutes, I must "walk quickly, pumping your arms vigorously."
This does keep things interesting, but they are missing all the prompts that are relevant to my actual walking. Such as "now do five hopping steps to avoid the dog under your feet!" and "stop to give Inish a cookie, because he's a good widdle puppy doggy." The more the app thinks I should swing my arms, the more the Shelties think it's time to do hop-dancing.
And I have to stop to hand out cookies, because I train heeling and good leash manners by "capturing" behavior, which basically means the dog tries different things and you reward them when they do the correct one. Once they're doing one thing consistently, you can give it a name and raise the standard.
Adare naturally walked politely beside me from the beginning, and now he's up to working on a proper heel and sitting when I pause.
Inish is getting towards an actual heel; you can see his little brain light up as he thinks "oh! walk beside my person! I'll tap her with my nose to make sure she's noticing! I'm staring right at her! Maybe she likes this!" Then, you see, I must give him a cookie, no matter what my app says.
Meanwhile, Malin's thought process goes like this: "She's handing out cookies! It's time to do the good-boy thing! Maybe she wants me to walk here—or here! Maybe I'm supposed to run around everyone three times! Maybe I'm supposed to leap up and grab the cookie out of her hand! Maybe I'm going to jump on my brother, I bet that's what she wants!"
Then we all go down in a heap of fur and leashes, puppy feet sticking out willy-nilly. Someone is barking, and the app says "Don't stop now, you're almost there! Heel to toe!"
Hot but happy walking dogs
So, to be perfectly honest, I'm five days in and have done one and a half of the walks. But I'm sure the only problem is that is too hot for Shelties to go walking for most of the day. That and...
In my writing cave
(Which is not actually a cave, it's the living room sofa. A cave would be significantly cooler, in both meanings of the word.)
I just got The Boat on the Lake of Regret to my editors and ready to arrive for preorders next week. I'll send you a release-day email with more fun tidbits, but I've just got to say...I really like this one. I like the way Hannah and Dylan came out on the page together, and the secondary characters blossomed into something interesting. This fairy tale is more dramatic than some of them (giants! traps! invisible servants!), but when I read through the story, the love and friendships shine true.
So I can't wait for you to read it and tell me what you think! Also, it's listed on Amazon's "hot new releases" in both fairy tales and historical fantasy fiction, so I'm excited about this launch!
Meanwhile, I've also written or edited stories for two different anthologies I'm in. They're both releasing in the fall, and my stories answer questions that readers have asked after reading The White Deer of Kildare.
My final writing project this month has been the companion story to The Squire & His Magical Library, and that is...
The Knight & His Magical Armlet
Readers love a companion story, everyone tells me. It's easy, they say. For instance, write an important event from one novel in the perspective of a different character, and send it to your readers as a bonus.
So I did. The Knight & His Magical Armlet was included for free in The Squire & His Magical Library, retelling his meeting with Maura. I pulled up the relevant scenes in White Deer, pulled out any quotations and actions that would ned to be the same, and...
Well, if this was going to be a short story, it needed a story goal. I actually edit short stories for my day job (if by "job" you mean "it takes a lot of time and no one pays me"), so I am constitutionally incapable of producing a story without a character arc and a story goal. Okay. Easy. I could see that it was the magical armlet, thus the name of the story. It makes it a little longer, to really develop the character, but that's more enjoyable to write and read, right?
But there were some lingering questions from Squire, which Rian wouldn't have been able to answer when he was young but his older self would certainly think about. So I worked those in.
I needed to show his relationship with Maura. That's the whole fun of the story.
And then I thought of a really wonderful plot twist—I do love my plot twists! And it worked back to Nessa, the central character in Squire, because we all love seeing characters come back again. And then I thought of more ways to deepen the arc with Rian's son.
I enjoyed writing it, but I really had to wrap it up. I sent it to my editor. While she was reading it, I got really excited about how this part of the story connects to the next story I have in mind. She had more ideas. She wanted a new opening scene, which would be way more fun than what I have now.
And in conclusion, this story really wants to be a whole, proper, vivid novella. So I'm putting it up for pre-order this week, and I adjusted the numbering so the two Rian stories will go in order.
HOWEVER! Right now, the back of Squire still says that you get the second story included. THAT OFFER STANDS until my formatter and I can get in and change it to be the teaser chapter and preorder link for the new novella. SO.... go ahead and get your copy of Squire this weekend, then sign up for the link at the back, and I'll send you Knight as soon as it's ready.
Speaking of free books....
I have two BookFunnel promotions for you, but some of the ones I've picked out are in both promos, so I'm going to combine the descriptions. Make sure to click on both to see your options!
I read Priye this winter, and it was sweet, light, and I enjoyed the less-common setting.
There are several books by Kate Moseman—I read "Angels in my Teacup" and enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to anther.
Also several novels by Maria Grace. I read this one, and I was intrigued by her weaving historical and fantasy, but I've heard particularly good things about her Jane Austen+Dragons series, so I'll pick that up from this promo.
I have not yet finished Must Love Moss & Moonshine, but it starts nicely—just enough world building to orient the reader without becoming overwhelming.
This promo has a good variety, including historical fantasy, contemporary, and sci-fi:
This one is smaller, but more focused. I want to read all these books!
Don't forget to follow me on Storygraph, BookBub, or Goodreads to see my full reviews. I'd love to see you there! I review romance, historical, and women's fiction, along with fantasy.
Now I had better go take the dogs for a....wait
It's probably too hot to go walking. (Sorry, Mr Naggy App.) Are you managing to get outside this summer? Do you have walking goals, or dogs who beg you to start some? I'd really love to hear...especially if you're not very good at them. (Like me.) Or especially if you are doing great at getting outside, and you can inspire me!
I can't wait to hear what you think of the next stories!
