Posing for a Cover

Our old dog, Homer, is spending time this winter hanging out in the house with us. He seems to think this is a pretty good deal. In fact, now he's starting to pose - and you can almost hear his internal dialogue:

"Hey, why wasn't I chosen for the cover of Walking the Dog?"

What do you all think?

Does Homer have cover potential?

In Honor of the New Year

Let's have a little contest, shall we?

With a chance to Win Any of my Five Books.

Your choice!

First off, I want to also share two ongoing contests on the Goodreads site.

One is for a print copy of The Girl Who Remembered Horses:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Girl Who Remembered Horses

by Linda Benson

Giveaway ends February 07, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

The second is for a print copy of Walking the Dog:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Walking the Dog

by Linda Benson

Giveaway ends February 07, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Now - for the Contest on this blog, in Celebration of the New Year 2013, which I hope will be a Great Year for Everyone!

I'll be giving away to one of my readers - one copy of your choice of one of my five books, listed on the sidebar on the right.

If you live in the US, you can pick your choice of any of the five books: The Girl Who Remembered Horses, Walking the Dog, and Six Degrees of Lost can be print or e-copy. Or choose The Horse Jar (even the Spanish edition) or Finding Chance, as print copies.

International entrants can win an e-copy of either The Girl Who Remembered Horses, Walking the Dog, or Six Degrees of Lost.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below, telling me which book you would like to win. Leave me an email address if you want, so I can notify you.

I'll announce the winner here when the contest is over, and you'll have 3 days to check in to receive your prize. Okay?

Open from now until January 21, 2013, 12 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Easy Peasy!

Ready, Set, Go!!

Good luck everyone!

Writing as Therapy

A young dog that I loved very much was killed in the road out front, shortly before Christmas. I assume she was hit by a car, because I found her in the ditch. I've been having a really difficult time dealing with this event. I sobbed my eyes out, we buried her, and the next day was the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Now there is something that is REALLY sad. And indeed, it truly was.

And soon it was Christmas, with company coming and presents to wrap. Not to mention we are in the middle of a possible sale of our house, and buying another. All of this wrapped into a big package called Busy, Busy, Busy and no time to grieve poor Jessie.

So I find myself in a new year, 2013, swiping tears from my eyes at odd moments, and sobbing my eyes out in the dark of night. And I realized I need to write about this dog, who gave me so much joy and pleasure, and whom I loved deeply and fully.

So I've been writing. Trying to document every moment that I lived with this goofy, fun-loving, affectionate dog. Will I publish it? Will it become part of another novel someday? Who knows?

But at this point, writing is helping me find my way through my grief over the loss of my Jessie. Do we have another dog? You betcha. We have a ten-year-old lab mix, who is the Best Dog in the World. We are bringing him in the house and treating him like gold now, because he is.

But writing about Jessie is helping me not only deal with my sadness over her loss, but I feel like it's honoring her memory.

Have any of you found that writing is a way to deal with pain or grief? Let me know.

Oh, and Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to big changes in 2013, and wishing the best for everyone.

Hug your dog for me. And your kids.