Sheltie Gazettes: How many times does one button work?
Oct 24, 2025 4:41 pm
Hey — have I told you about the buttons?
I got the dogs some talking buttons last spring. You know...the kind where they push a button, which says a word, and then you can have a conversation with your pet.* At our house, we currently have 6 buttons, and the dogs all look at the correct item when someone pushes the button, but haven't gotten the idea of pushing the buttons themselves, whenever they want, on purpose.
Until now.
It was Malin, of course. And at first, he pushed buttons that made sense in a conversational way. He pushed "cuddle" and then leaned against me for some nice pets. He pushed "water" when it was raining outside. He pushed "play" and then happily tugged on a toy.
Then.... oh, but then....
He decided the "chewy" button was just an open invitation for deliciousness, always. He comes inside, pushes "chewy," eats his chewy, and pushes it again. He convinces the 8-year-old to give him one kind of chewy and the 14-year-old that he needs another. I say "chewy later" and he stares at me for 2.3 seconds and then pushes "chewy" again. I gather the chewies we already have on the floor, which are by definition not the Very Best Chewies In The Entire World, and he acknowledges they exist and then pushes "chewy" again. And again. And again. He knows that he doesn't get the Very Best Chewie every time, but if he pushes it ENOUGH TIMES then sooner or later something amazing will come.
Meanwhile, every time he pushes the button, Inish and Adare come racing to sit at my feet with their tongues hanging out. Who knows whether they haven't figured out how to push the button themselves, or they simply figure that it's adequate to have someone push "chewy" 9,742,812 time per day, and Malin's got that covered.
Doggie slot machine.
By this logic, as an author, I could just give you a button over and over and see if it works eventually.
Has it worked yet? Really? Really? Has it worked?
We is very very very hopeful.
What? That wasn't convincing?
Just in case your human brain is looking for new information, here's what some reviewers have to say about The Boat on the Lake of Regret.
"It kept me smiling, laughing, and I loved every moment of it."
"This is a whimsical fairy tale about young romance, doubt, family struggles, and fighting for the path you choose."
"I loved the inclusion of the fae and their antics. They were a little ridiculous and over the top. There was magic and wonder throughout."
But you don't have to take anyone else's word for it...
Now you can read samples of Hannah's story yourself!
This stand-alone fairy tale just went on a "snippets" blog tour, which meant that each blog posted an excerpt from the book.
There were so many tour hosts (thank you!) that I provided five different excerpts. So if you're not sure if this is the right read for you, you can click on the picture, then scroll down on the post a little, and there are links to all fifteen blogs. Then it's like an Easter egg hunt and you can keep clicking until you find all five excerpts, heehee.
Personally, I think this story is a really nice blend of playful ideas, Irish history, and the character growth and complex relationships that I'm known for. Or, you know, I could just say...
(Malin has actually pushed the "chewy" button twelve times while was writing that paragraph alone, but I'm going to spare you the remaining nine repetitions. He tried "lap" and I invited him up and we had a snuggle.)
Speaking of learning something new...
A friend of mine is launching a "North Pole University" series, with reindeer shifters, swoon-worthy clean romance, and a winter wonderland setting. This whole series is coming out over the next few months, but THIS WEEK she has the free prequel. I know you all like your free samples, so be sure to grab your copy of Oath Keeper!
Want more free samples?
Malin: Yes. Yes. More. Yum. Chewy.
For humans:
Here's some Free Fiction For Every Season, and it has autumn leaves on it, just in case you aren't ready to think about snow yet. There's some Halloween-themed tales, this sweet-looking one set in rural France, two with the word "Hour Glass" in the title (that sounds like it checks some box in a reading challenge somewhere), a Victorian grave-robber, and a Devil of a Christmas.
And here are even more autumn leaves and free sci-fi and fantasy...
I like this picture. Very peaceful. The books, however, look very adventuresome. We've got space adventure, Norse-and-far-east adventure, YA dragon adventure, and Liars-land adventure.
You'll be relieved to hear...
Malin has given up and is taking a nap. He is still next to both my feet and the buttons, should an urgent need for chewies arise.
So I'm going to wrap up this newsletter and get back to writing—I'm in the stage when I'm super excited about seeing this next story come together!
Well.... the nap is over, but Malin had a different idea in mind. I had to pause this paragraph for two "laps" and one "cuddle." I'm not complaining..... but then we did conclude with this conversation:
Malin: Chewy.
Me: Chewy later.
Except we repeated it five times.
Bye until next week, which is Halloween-ish and I promise you a dog in a lobster hat...
Best wishes, happy reading, and be sure to eat something nice,
Christy & the Shelties
P.S. Putting in so many "buy" links is a joke. I just think it's funny that the dogs have buttons and the newsletter has buttons, too.
P.P.S: Also, I appreciate it when anyone does buy my books! You are the best!
P.P.P.S: If you've never seen talking buttons, check out the videos on ElsieWants.... and then for a book to go along side, I love her human's Glamourist Histories series, and her Lady Astronaut books make me so emotional I've got to wait between reading them.
