Back to it…

My youngest went back to school today…which means it’s time for me to get back into my regular routine. A group of local writers met at the coffee shop this morning to write together…I LOVE when we do this! There were seven of us today.

I finally dug back into my series proposal…when I spoke to the editor about three minor changes to the proposal right before Christmas, I said, “Yeah, sure…no problem.” But when it came time to actually MAKE one of those changes, it didn’t feel so minor anymore. I had both families in the series single parent families and this editor felt one should be a nuclear family. I thought she meant the main character’s family had to be the nuclear family, which when I got in there and started looking at it would’ve really changed the story. But no…she thought the other family could be the nuclear family.

We also talked a little about the ramifications of going from a four book series to a three book series…fortunately, we’re on the same page with all this. So I can move forward again. It shouldn’t take me too long to change the proposal to reflect these changes…

Tonight Mouse and I have training class and then I have yoga after that. Only one more training class left…I’m hopeful that we’ll pass. So then I have to figure out the next step. I’m definitely leaning more toward the therapy dog path than the search and rescue path. I have been ever since a friend pointed out that search and rescue isn’t always about finding a person alive…could I handle it if we found a body? I don’t know… While I’m pretty outdoorsy, I’m not sure I’m really outdoorsy enough for this kind of work. For instance, would I really be up to rappelling down a cliff with my dog? My older son thinks this would be very cool and thinks I should definitely pursue that…but I think the therapy route is probably more my speed.

It looks like there are two main therapy dog programs. One definitely made a much better impression on me than the other. To be fair, it is possible that the person I contacted (via e-mail) from the one program simply doesn’t express herself well in writing. Or maybe she just plain didn’t want to answer my questions. But I came away with the feeling she was in it to make money. I didn’t get my questions answered…she wasn’t willing to put me in touch with anyone locally who does this kind of work…she said I had to take her $120 class (which won’t be available until July) before I could connect with others who are doing this. She did offer to sell me $90 manuals now, though. I found out on my own that the organization she’s with offers a home study course for just $37.50, though. So I told her maybe I’d take that…then I wouldn’t have to wait until July. She said that would be fine, but she wouldn’t do the evaluation for us unless…you guessed it! I take her class!

Then I connected with somebody from the other program…who was MUCH more forthcoming than this first person. And she put me in touch with local people. AND getting certified through this group isn’t even going to cost me half what it would’ve cost through the other program. It pays to shop around!