Mystery We Write Blog Tour presents Marilyn Meredith

             I'm honored to host Marilyn Meredith, also known as F.M. Meredity,  on the Mystery We Write Blog Tour for this week. Marilyn first interviews her character Detective Mulligan, and then she allows me to throw some questions at him. 

           Come join us as we sit on the patio with tall glasses of iced tea in front of us. Help yourself. The glasses, ice, and pitcher of tea sit on the table by the sliding doors.

          First, let me introduce F. M. Meredith and Detective Doug Milligan of the Rocky Bluff Police Department. Take it away, Merilyn.

F.M. Meredith: What’s going on in your police department these days?

Detective Milligan: As you know, we’re a small department in a beach community located between Ventura and Santa Barbara. We don’t have a lot of major crimes and as yet, haven’t been invaded by gangs. Our biggest case at the moment is a flasher who is accosting women jogging on the beach.

F.M. Meredith: So what’s the plan to catch this pervert?

Detective Milligan: I might as well tell you since our Public Service Officer is going to put a warning out to women to not jog on the beach by themselves and I think that might make our suspect disappear for awhile. The plan is to send our only female officer, Stacey Wilbur, out jogging as a decoy.

F.M. Meredith: You don’t sound too happy about that.

Detective Milligan: No, I’m not. Stacey and are getting married this Saturday and her mind is filled with wedding plans. I don’t think her mind is focused on what she’s supposed to be doing and I’m afraid she’ll get hurt.

F.M. Meredith: Surely she won’t be sent out alone.

Detective Milligan: We have a new hire who comes to us from L.A.P.D. whose going to be her back-up. I’m just not sure about this fellow and how good he’s going to be. One of the other officers has voiced some doubts about this guy. And another problem is the weather. Fog is always an issue on the coast and of course the worst is in the early hours. I’m not sure he’ll even be able to see Stacey while she’s jogging.

F.M Meredith.: That’s definitely a worry. Would you mind telling me a bit about your relationship with Stacey Wilbur and how that came about?

Detective Milligan: In her capacity as an officer, she helped me on several cases. First I was impressed with her intelligence and her ability to notice and figure out clues. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I thought she was pretty cute too. She is a single mom. I asked her out several times and we included her little boy often. It wasn’t long before I loved them both.

F. M. Meredith: Are you looking forward to the wedding?

Detective Milligan: I’m looking forward to having Stacey be my wife, not so sure about all the folderol that Stacey’s planned though she’s assured me it’s going to be a simple wedding.

F.M. Meredith: Where are you two planning to live?

Detective Milligan: I own a small, old Victorian that I fixed up. Lately, I’ve been renting a room to a friend, Officer Gordon Butler. Hopefully, he’ll be all moved out before it’s time for Stacey and her son to move in.

F. M. Meredith: I hope everything goes off as planned. Congratulations.

          And the hostess of this blog had a few more questions for you, too.

Vivian: What do you consider your greatest weakness? Your greatest strength?

Detective Milligan: Wow, that’s a biggie. To be perfectly honest, my greatest weakness may be loving Stacey too much and fearing for her. As for my greatest strength, I’m a good detective. In our department we don’t have a lot of the fancy equipment the big city detectives have at their disposal, so we use a lot of old fashioned policing skills. I’m darn good at figuring out people and know when they’re lying or keeping something back. I’ll dig until I find out what I need to know.

Vivian: Where, in the book, do you face your greatest challenge? How well do you do?

Detective Milligan: My biggest challenge comes on the day of my wedding. I have a difficult time with what happens. You’ll have to read the book to find out what that is.

Vivian:  Makes sense. I'm curious enough now to want to read it. Why should readers like you or dislike you?

Detective Milligan: I sure hope readers like me, I’ve been a major character in almost all of the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series.

Vivian: What do you add to the book?

Detective Milligan: I think I add a lot, after all I’m one of only two detectives in the Rocky Bluff P.D. and I’m Stacey Wilbur’s love interest—that should count for a lot.

   

          Thank you, Detective Milligan. Now let's learn a little more about your author.

          Author Bio: F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, is the author of nearly thirty published novels. Her latest in the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, from Oak Tree Press, is Angel Lost. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Internet chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Angel Lost Blurb:

           As plans for her perfect wedding fill her mind, Officer Stacey Wilbur is sent out to trap a flasher, the new hire realizes Rocky Bluff P.D. is not the answer to his problems, Abel Navarro’s can’t concentrate on the job because of worry about his mother, Officer Gordon Butler has his usual upsets, the sudden appearance of an angel in the window of a furniture store captures everyone’s imagination and causes problems for RBPD, and then the worst possible happens—will Stacey and Doug’s wedding take place?

          Angel Lost is available as a trade paperback from Amazon.com, or if you’d like an autographed copy, order from the author’s website http://fictionforyou.com

 Sharon Ervin hosts me this week of the tour. Please stop by and say hello.

Mystery We Write Blog Tour presents Pat Browning

 

            I’ve had the pleasure of “knowing” my guest for this Mystery We Write Blog Tour stop, Pat Browning, for several years. However, we finally met face to face last month at the OWFI Writing Conference, May 6-7.

            Pat, thanks for the hugs. 

Meet Pat Browning

            She was born and raised in Oklahoma. A longtime resident of California's San Joaquin Valley before moving back to Oklahoma in 2005, Pat’s professional writing credits go back to the 1960s, when she was a stringer for The Fresno Bee while working full time in a Hanford law office.

            She is a veteran traveler. Her globetrotting in the 1970s led her into the travel business, first as a travel agent, then as a correspondent for TravelAge West, a trade journal published in San Francisco. In the 1990s, she signed on fulltime as a newspaper reporter and columnist, first at The Selma Enterprise and then at The Hanford Sentinel.

            Her first mystery, FULL CIRCLE, was  revised and reissued as ABSINTHE OF MALICE by Krill Press in 2008. An extensive excerpt can be read at Google Books: http://tinyurl.com/23pojdm.

Basic information:

ABSINTHE OF MALICE, Krill Press 2008

ISBN-10: 0982144318, ISBN-13: 978-982144312

Logline: It’s just another Labor Day weekend in a small California town until discovery of a skeleton in a cotton field leads to murder—and romance.

Vivian: Authors are often asked when they started writing or what triggered their interest in writing. I like to know that, also, but I would especially like to know what keeps you writing.

Pat: I’ve been writing something ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I dashed off one-page haunted house stories and passed them around my fifth grade classroom (self-publishing in its basic form). When I was 12 I sent a short-short story to the Kansas City Star. It was some nonsense about fairies in a hollow tree and the Star sent me fifty cents. I was mortified when I saw the thing in print.

            My first real published work was non-fiction—articles and columns I wrote while working for small newspapers in California. Readers really responded to columns I wrote about my family and my life growing up in Oklahoma. I still write about such things, mostly in my blogs. I keep writing to remember—who I am, where I’ve been, what I’ve done.

Vivian: What is your most recent book, and what inspired you to write it?

Pat: You force me to reveal the true depth of my shallowness. I’ve written the sum total of one novel and I honestly don’t remember why. I do remember when. I was taking a cigarette break at work when thoughts of writing a murder mystery drifted by. I began haunting the library and bookstore, bringing home mysteries by the armload.

            The only author’s name I knew was Mary Higgins Clark, so I paged through other books for a quick take on dialogue, setting, etc. and picked books that looked interesting. In the first batch were THE BOOKMAN’S WAKE by John Dunning, LYING IN WAIT by J.A. Jance and THE DANDELION MURDERS by Rebecca Rothenberg. They are still favorites. Rothenberg’s book is extra special because the setting was a few miles from where I lived for so many years.

            About the same time, I got a computer, discovered the Internet and surfed into Walter Sorrells’s Website, The Mystery Zone. A link led to Al Alexander’s Crime Scene page. Al seemed discouraged and about ready to fold his tent but had a couple of books in soft cover left to sell. I bought HOW TO CRAFT MURDER MYSTERY & SUSPENSE NOVELS THAT SELL and his novel THE LAST BLUE KISS. Al gave me some good advice, and said that I picked a good time to jump in because the market was open for female protagonists and female writers. So I was off to a flying start.

            It's just as well that I didn't know how long, crooked and uphill the road to a finished novel would be. I thought writing was writing. Ha! Double Ha! It was, and still is, a learning experience, but that's what life is about. I'm glad I took it on.

            The problem was that I was going at it backwards, piling up pages of characters in search of a plot. It took me several years to get that first mystery in shape. It has been published twice, once as FULL CIRCLE in 2001, and again as ABSINTHE OF MALICE in 2008. So far, that’s my only book. I’m working hard to finish the second one.

Vivian: How did you manage to come up with the idea for your novel?

Pat: It was just there. I didn’t realize it at the time but that novel is a fictional version of my life and times, the places I worked, the people I knew. The newsroom is an almost identical recreation of a newsroom where I worked. I made up the characters but they are probably composites of people I have known. I made up the history of the town where the story is set, but there’s a ring of truth even there.

Vivian: What are your writing achievements and goals?

Pat: My goal? To write the Great American Novel. My achievements? Feedback from readers. Awards are nothing. Readers matter. I loved the comment from a reader that she burned the peas while trying to finish the last chapter of my book. But the strangest experience involved my research and a longtime friend.

            I gave one of my characters a hereditary blood disease called porphyria. It popped up one day when I was researching liquor, and it fit, so I used it. After my friend read the book, she wrote me a note saying that her father died of porphyria in 1950.

            She said that her father's death was helped along by local doctors who couldn't diagnose him. By the time a hospital lab in San Francisco identified his porphyria, it was too late to do him any good. Even so, the local doctors told the family very little about the disease. When she read my book, my friend was aghast and agog.

            I met her for coffee, and gave her my research file to read. A month later we met again for coffee, and she showed me a card she carried in her wallet. Dated 1960, it said that her blood tested positive for porphyria "cyclical, acute and familial," and that she should avoid "barbitals and sulphonals."

            She had been showing that card to doctors for years and none of them paid much attention. None of them ever told her to avoid alcohol. She always wondered, she said, why drinking made her sick. Her late husband called alcohol's effects her "crazies."

            It shook us both to think that my stumbling across porphyria during research brought this real mystery in her own life "full circle." Of course, I don't believe in accidents, and her comment was, "God works in mysterious ways!" She photocopied my printouts and sent them to her two daughters, suggesting that they and their children be tested for porphyria.

            I have lived a long time on the satisfaction that gave me.

Vivian: Do you have a particular writing process or technique that you use; if so, what?

Pat: I'm an obsessive note-jotter. I have notebooks and pens in every room in the house. However, I don't sit down and write pages or chapters every day or every week. I plan to start doing that—next week. Seriously.

            I am not disciplined. When not writing starts to drive me crazy, I shove everything else aside and start writing. I don’t recommend this so-called technique. It takes me too long to write a book, and I’m so easily distracted. Oh, look – my Oriental lilies are about to bloom!

Vivian: Would you please give a brief excerpt from your book and/or a review about it?

Pat: Here’s a recent review by J.M. Orenduff who writes the brilliant “Pot Thief” mysteries. He posted it to Amazon.com.

             “There is a very simple explanation of why ABSINTHE OF MALICE is on so many ‘top lists’ on Amazon. It's a great Book. Penny Mackenzie is a believable multi-dimensional character capable of a range of emotions. She is funny with a down home outlook on life, but she can also be reflective, angry, indignant.

            “And when she and a co-worker find some bones in a field outside of town, Penny shows another side of her personality - persistence. Not only is the knee bone connected to the thigh bone as the old song says; it is also connected to almost everyone in town in one way or another. Pearl California may be a small town, but it has big secrets dating all the way back to its founding, and the author brings them out in a way that keeps you guessing but never confused. Then she wraps everything up in a most satisfying conclusion.

            “In some ways, ABSINTHE OF MALICE is a cozy, a crime in a cute setting solved by a reluctant civilian facing a number of personal challenges—back living with her mother, an old flame showing up, etc. But while the book is a quick and fun read, it is also a serious piece of work, exploring moral issues with great sensitivity and insight. ABSINTHE OF MALICE is a great title. The book is even better.”

              Special note: The second book in the series, METAPHOR FOR MURDER, is a work in progress. ABSINTHE takes place on a Labor Day weekend. METAPHOR picks up the story the week before Christmas. Logline: Small town reporter Penny Mackenzie tracks an offbeat Christmas story and finds herself in the middle of a murder and the mysterious desecration of an old Chinese cemetery.

            Vivian, thanks for letting me ramble on. It’s a pleasure to be your guest blogger today.

            You are most welcome, Pat. I enjoyed the visit. Now, where and how to find more about Pat: her web site under construction; her page at Author's Den; and her blog Morning's at Noon.

Vivian Zabel  

Carol Shenold will be hosting me this week.  

Mystery We Write Blog Tour presents Beth Anderson

 

          Beth Anderson is my second Mystery We Write Blog Tour guest. She, as a noted Chicago area crime writer, has authored several books.

          I'm delighted to have interviewed her.

Vivian: Tell us something about your educational background that has made you a better, or more caring, writer.

Beth: I graduated Cum Laude from Benedictine Business Management College. I had to do a lot of writing for the business courses I took, and the grammar had to be perfect. Initially I had to be very caring with my writing because I wanted straight A’s just for my own satisfaction. After that, I found it impossible to do less than my very best with my novels because I want it known that my name is on that book and I care very much about how the book reads. I want all my readers to finish any of my books knowing they’ve just read a great book. Think about it. You might make money, you might not. Personal ego is good up to a point but is probably the most unimportant thing.

            Your readers are everything.  Without them, you’re just a lone voice in a very large world full of voices. It’s in your best interest to care about everything that goes into your book, including the best formatting and the very best editing you can get for it.

Vivian: What keeps you writing?

Beth: Well, it’s sure not the money, is it? I think what has kept me writing, except for a couple of times when I had to cope with some overwhelming personal problems and could not write anything, is that I just want to give my readers the feeling, when they’re done with the book, that this is a book that deserves a great review, and I hope they will review it.  Some do, some don’t, but I always try my best to give them an exciting, fun read.

Vivian: True, we don’t keep writing for the money, rather we don’t quit because of the lack of money. Nope, that’s certainly not the answer.

            What is your most recent book, and what inspired you to write it?

Beth: My most recent book is Raven Talks Back, due out in May 2011 at Amazon and B&N. I think the town of Valdez, Alaska, where the book is mainly set, was my original inspiration, because to me it’s a very beautiful, haunting place, especially in the early morning fog.

Vivian: I believe I shared with you that I’m going to Alaska in September 2012 as a speaker for the Alaska Writers Conference. I can hardly wait.

            How did you manage to come up with the idea for your novel?

Beth: The ending came to me in a dream one night years ago. I knew someday I’d put it into a book because it was so vivid and frightening and I had no idea why I’d dreamed it, other than it belonged in a story that would come to that point.  That scene is almost at the end, where Raven suddenly knows for sure who it is that she’s been seeing in the visions she first started having when the first murder occurred.

Vivian: Are you a member of a writing group? If so, how do any writing groups benefit you and your writing?

Beth: I have a crit group of four excellent authors.  My criteria when I started it was that anyone who wanted to join had to have done the work to get through an entire book on their own no matter what shape it was in, because we could always whip it into shape, but the desire and determination to have written an entire book is something you can’t give to anyone.  I also wanted to keep it very small so we’d have enough time at our meetings to really do some heavy duty critiquing when we had to. And we’ve had to, plenty of times.

Some who wanted in the group were very put out by that criteria, but we’ve stuck to it and now three of us are multi-published and the fourth member most certainly will be.

Vivian: What advice would you have for a new author?

Beth: Make. Sure. Your. Grammar. Is. Top. Notch.  If it’s your first book, forget your ego and have it looked at by someone who knows what they’re doing, because first-timers seldom really know what they’re doing, and their competition is every other author in the world who DOES know what they’re doing.

Vivian: Would you please give a brief excerpt from your book?

Beth: How about my bio and my Raven Talks Back book blurb?

            Beth Anderson is a multi-published, award winning author in several genres including romance and mainstream crime fiction. A full time author, she lives in a Chicago, Illinois suburb. She has appeared on Chicago's WGN Morning Show, The ABC Evening News, as well as numerous other radio and cable television shows. She has guest lectured at Purdue University and many libraries and writers' conferences. She loves music, particularly jazz. Her website and blog are at http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com .

            Coming: May 2011 from Krill Publishing: Raven Talks Back, book #1 in the Raven Morressey series.

            Raven Morressey is living the good life. Nice home, husband, three healthy children, and it's finally summertime, when life is again lovely in Valdez, Alaska. All this explodes one morning when builders, digging up her back yard, uncover a recently murdered headless, handless female body covered with scarification—hundreds of colored designs cut into the skin to resemble tattoos. As if this isn’t enough, where the corpse’s head should have been is a large rock with a face painted on that resembles an Alaska Native mask.

            Raven's eight year old son, Timmy, is the first one to see the body and is suddenly unable to walk or respond in any way. On that same day, Raven hears the voice of her long dead Athabascan father coming from Timmy, who is unaware of the ancient hunting chants he sings in his sleep and the words he suddenly speaks in Raven’s native tongue—a language he does not know.

            Jack O’Banion, Valdez’s Chief of Police for the past few years, faced with his first murder case in Valdez, begins his official investigation. Everywhere he goes he finds nothing but deception. The town seems to have closed into itself and nobody will tell him anything that might help him solve this case. Then one murder quickly morphs into two, then three, and the Alaska State Troopers are hot on his back to find the killer now.

            Between Raven’s voices and the visions she develops, and Jack, whose career as well as his contented life in Valdez are on the line, they both feel they have to find the killer and restore some sanity to the town—not to mention their own lives, which are quickly unraveling out of control.

            To find Raven Talks Back go to Barnes& Noble Nook  and Amazon. The ISBN for her eBook is 978-09821443-9-8.

            Thank you, Beth. I hope more people discover your books.

Vivian Zabel 

Regan Taylor hosts me this week.

Next week Pat Browning will be my guest.

All other blogs participating in the Mystery We Write Blog Tour:

 Jean Henry Mead's blog   

 Jennifer DiCamillo's blog   

 Regan Taylor's blog 

 Marilyn Meredith's blog  

 Carol Shenold's blog  

 Anne K. Albert's blog  

 Beth Anderson's blog  

 Pat Browning's blog  

 Sharon Ervin's blog     

 Jackie King's blog  

 Mary Martinez' blog   

 Marja McGraw's blog 

Final stop on virtual tour for Stolen - Margaret Fieland

Today is the final day of the Stolen virtual tour. Our final host is  Margaret (Peggy) Fieland. Please, everyone go by Peggy's blog and leave a comment.


December 15, I'll post the Stolen ARC winners, so watch for the list. Your name may be here.

The 10% discount offered by 4RV Publishing will continue until Christmas, but allow time for shipping if ordering for Christmas.

Thank you, all, for following the tour and leaving comments along the way. You have made the event fun and interesting.

Day 8 - Stolen tour - Dianne Sagan

Today we visit with Dianne Sagan for Day 8 on the virtual tour for Stolen. I hope everyone will visit and maybe leave a comment.

Tomorrow will Day 9, and we'll be on Debra Eckerling's blog, and then Friday will be the last stop.

Remember, if anyone purchases a copy of the novel on 4RV Publishing, a 10% discount will be deducted at checkout. In fact all 4RV books are on sale. This sale only lasts until Christmas, but at least 10 - 14 days may be needed to receive a shipment.

Note: Dianne's post is now up. Hope everyone visits.

Day 7 - Stolen Tour - J.R. Turner

We're over half way through the Stolen virtual tour, and today J.R. Turner hosts us. Please welcome Jenny to the tour by stopping by, visiting, and maybe leaving a comment.

Tomorrow's host will be my friend Dianne Sagan.

Will you let me know if you are enjoying the blog book tour, please?

Remember from now until Christmas, Stolen can be ordered from 4RV Publishing for a 10% discount at checkout, in fact all the 4RV books can be. Great Christmas presents for people of all ages.

Day 6 - Stolen - Karen Coiffi-Ventrice

Please visit Karen Coiffi-Ventrice for day 6 of the Stolen virtual tour.

To date, the posts have been interesting and fun, as have the comments left by visitors.

The tour stop December 7 will be with author JR Turner.

Hope everyone joins the fun. Remember right now you can order a copy of Stolen from 4RV Publishing and receive a 10% discount at checkout.

Day 5 - Stolen tour - Caroline Clemmons

Today, the virtual tour for Stolen will stop at Caroline Clemmon's blog, "A Writer's Life." I hope people will visit. Remember you could win a signed ARC of Stolen, and you could help a blog host win one.

Tomorrow December 6, the tour will visit Karen Coiffi-Ventrice at "Karen Cioffi - Writing for Children and More."

The tour has been fun, and I've met some new people and visited with some friends. I'd like to meet and visit with more.

Day 4 - Stolen tour - Holly Jahangiri & Nita Beshear

Today we can visit two blogs on the Stolen virtual book tour: Holly Jahangiri and Nita Beshear. One asked questions that made me dig deep into myself, and the other quilted an attractive post.

The first three days were plagued with difficulties: post wouldn't post; comments wouldn't appear for a while; and finally no one could post a comment because the webmaster wouldn't allow any comments unless they were approved by the webmaster. Ish. But the hosts did a good job of preparing for the tour stop, and I appreciate their work. Technology, though, isn't always as dependable as the three human hosts were.

Tomorrow the tour continues with  Caroline Clemmons.


Please stop by some of the blog posts. One contest is for the hosts -- the one with the most visitors who leave comments wins an autographed ARC of Stolen.

The book is available through the 4RV Publishing Book Store, with a 10% discount at checkout until Christmas. It will be found through bookstores, Amazon, and B&N online soon.

Golden Moments Senior Pet Blog Tour with Amy Shojai

Amy Shojai, CABC is a certified animal behavior consultant and author of 23 pet care books. She's a spokesperson to the pet products industry, a columnist at About.com and CatChow.com, and appears as an expert on Animal Planet's CATS 101 and DOGS 101, and is the host of Pet Peeves radio show on PetLifeRadio.com.

I'm personally interested in her Your Aging Cat since my Funny Face is growing older. He's already 14 nearly 15, rather elderly for a cat. The advice in the book is helpful and enlightening. Funny Face shows needs and tell-tale changes in most areas, except he doesn't match his owner: He hasn't gained weight with age like I have. He still has his slim, trim physic of younger years.

Amy has insight in both books that most readers would find delightful and eye-opening. I highly recommend owners of cats and dogs, whether their pets are senior citizens yet or not. The facts of life are they will age, and owners can use the knowledge before needed.

Now from the books written by Amy Shojai:

Excerpted from

COMPLETE CARE for YOUR AGING CAT and

COMPLETE CARE for YOUR AGING DOG

Enrich the Environment

             

Cats and dogs older than seven often have the constitution and attitude of much younger animals. Your pet doesn’t know she should feel or act any differently the day she turns seven. Expect the best of her, give her the best help possible, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t enjoy a rewarding and vital life well into her golden years.

           

Health maintenance is paramount for seniors, and mirrors that of youngsters. The help you give her includes good nutrition, exercise, grooming, environmental accommodations, and mental stimulation.

Exercise

           

Twenty minutes of aerobic exercise twice a day helps keep cats and dogs of all ages physically fit, mentally alert—and out of trouble. A tired pet is a well-behaved pet! But most old cats and dogs tend to slow down and may have stiff or painful joints that make them reluctant to move their furry tails. It takes more effort to get her moving at all, let alone to generate the same activity level as when she was a youngster.

Simple movement gives her a much needed healthy edge, though. Muscles that aren’t used atrophy. Muscle mass is the buffer a cat needs to maintain health and recover from injury or disease, and so muscle loss can have risky consequences.

As for the joints, they help feed themselves by spreading nutrients with the pumping action of their movement. A reduction in movement allows the joints to get rusty, become less efficient, and can speed the progression of arthritis. Painful arthritis, in turn, makes the cat and dog reluctant to move—and reduced exercise can lead to gaining weight. In a vicious cycle, obesity puts more strain on the already painful joints, and also predisposes her to diabetes mellitus.

As she ages, your cat may not be physically capable of maintaining the same level of exercise she enjoyed as a youthful athlete. Painful joints aren’t helped by the concussive action of leaps and jumps after flying feather toys or Frisbees, so you may need to carefully control her exercise.

Rather than a race across the linoleum, entice your cat to follow you around the house or up and down stairs by dragging a feather lure. Cats are masters of the stretch and bend, and naturally practice feline yoga. Try hiding toys or treats in places she’ll have to expend energy to reach—on the top of a step stool, for example, or behind a sofa cushion. If she’s trained to walk on a halter and leash, tempt her with a garden stroll to hunt for crickets or butterflies. Find games your cat already enjoys, such as chasing the sheets as you make the bed, and make them part of a daily aerobic workout. The best idea is to maintain a level of aerobic exercise your cat enjoys, so you don’t have to fight her every step of the way.

Rather than a jog on hard surfaces, take your aging dog for a controlled walk on the leash around the block, or up the hill. Use food or toy rewards to tempt her interest. Terriers especially enjoy games that involve chasing, and a favorite stuffed animal dragged along the grass in the back yard may spark interest—some of the same “cat tips” work for terriers and small canines. For small dogs, walking once or twice around the family room or up and down the stairs may be more than adequate. Many dogs love going for a ride, so use this reward as a bribe to entice her to walk down the driveway to reach the car.

Dogs obsessed with toys such as the Frisbee or tennis ball often are fetching fools, and easy to entice into exercise. They don’t always know when to quit, though, and can easily hurt themselves if they overdo. Instead of tossing the toy high in the air, keep the Frisbee or ball low to the ground. That gives them the thrill of the chase, and fun of the game without prompting dangerous leaps that could hurt them. Make sure she has adequate time to catch her breath between mad dashes. Smaller dogs may relish a game of fetch inside the house, with a soft-sided toy.
Swimming is an ideal low-impact aerobic exercise for many dogs that enjoy the water, says Susan G. Wynn, DVM, an acupuncturist and holistic veterinarian. “But when they’re 14 years old isn’t the time to teach them to swim,” she cautions. Retriever breeds such as Labradors are natural water athletes who enjoy fetching toys from the pool, paddling in shallow water alongside the beach. Small dogs such as miniature Dachshunds may benefit from regular swimming in the bathtub. Cats rarely want to indulge in water sports, though.

Establish a daily routine for your cat and dog—ten to twenty minutes every morning and evening is a good target, and is much better than one long marathon session on weekends. Don’t wait for her to ask you. At the scheduled time, take the leash to her, wake her from a nap if necessary, and get her up and moving. Cats are champion sleepers and won’t need an excuse to steal an extra forty winks. With regular exercise, your aging cat and dog will feel better, act younger, and remain healthier for much longer. When you can do it together, it also enhances the bond you share.

Complete Care for Your Aging Cat, a CWA Special Award Winner, as well as Complete Care for Your Aging Dog  a DWAA Maxwell Award Winner, have both been updated and revise. The Kindle Editions include “hot links” to the experts cited in the book, and the paperback of “Aging Cat” updated second edition is also is available. Amy Shojai, CABC is the award-winning author of 23 dog and cat care and behavior books, and can be reached at her website http://www.shojai.com

The thing is, I believe I'd be in better shape if I followed her advice and adapted it for an aging person.


Thank you, Amy, for sharing your knowledge with us today.

Please visit the next stop on Amy's virtual tour: http://www.pet-health-care-gazette.com/

Shari Lyle-Soffe to feature Prairie Dog Cowboy

On her blog next week, Shari Lyle-Soffe will feature children's books which can be used in schools. On February 11, Shari will host Prairie Dog Cowboy, my historical fiction for young teens.

I'm working on a study guide to go with Prairie Dog. Not only does the book deal with frontier life in No Man's Land, before and after it became the Oklahoma Panhandle, but it examines how a boy overcomes obstacles to become a young man. The academic areas covered in the book not only include history but also the importance of education, the need of family, and a bit of geography.

The book contains some pen and ink illustrations by Jordan M. Vinyard. One thing I discovered while teaching is reluctant readers are "turned off" by page after page of nothing but words. A few illustrations helps break up the frightening array of words.

Shari's blog post will unofficially start the virtual tour for Prairie Dog Cowboy, which officially begins February 15 and ends the 22nd. The book, published by 4RV Publishing, will visit 15 blogs during that time.

Please visit Shari Lyle-Soffe "Out of My Mind" About Books for Children on February 11 for her post about Prairie Dog Cowboy, then again February 12 for Shari's visit with Elysabeth Eldering and her book State of Wilderness.


.

A tour for the Junior Geography Detective Squad

Coming to a state near you, the Junior Geography Detective Squad series (published by 4RV Publishing). Each stop will have a drawing for a map puzzle. Each person who leaves a comment is eligible.

The JGDS is traveling around the states to promote State of Wilderness and State of Quarries (hopefully with a release date in January). Follow us and see where the adventure takes you next.


SATURDAY, JANUARY 17
Book Roast blog

MONDAY, JANUARY 19 - Visiting Montana on Martin Luther King, Jr's Day
Rena's multiply site and
Rena's blog - a cross posting but where comments will be collected for the drawing.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20 - Visiting New York
Donna McDine

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21 - Visiting New York and South Carolina
Katie Hines

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22 - Visiting Texas
Holly Jahangiri (Holly will also put up a challenge for commenters to leave an interesting, fun, or wacky fact about the state in which they live)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 23 - Up to Washington state
Susan Marlow

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 - and down into Utah
John Hughes

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 - Wrapping it up in South Carolina and Tennessee
Elysabeth Eldering and Aidana WillowRaven


.