Ode to Star

My husband and I lost our beautiful dog Star one month ago. Star was an 11-year-old Norwegian Elkhound. If any of you have read my bio on my website, you will have been introduced to Star because she wrote it for me. Losing her was very sudden; one day she was fine and happy, the next day she started to wobble when she walked. I took her to the vet for diagnostics the following morning, and two days later, the neurologist we took her to diagnosed her with a brain tumor. By that point, Star could no longer walk, she was having trouble even breathing, and the vet did not believe an operation would give her back her quality of life. My husband and I made the decision that we couldn’t put her through that.

I waited a month to write this memorial to Star because I thought I could do it without crying. But I was wrong. Still, I am so grateful that she was a happy, healthy dog every day of her life until those last four days. She did not show any symptoms or seem to feel any pain or discomfort. I am grateful to my sister who helped me find good neurologist, to all the veterinary professionals who helped Star, to all my family and friends who let me talk about it, and to my husband who held my hand and soothed Star as we let her go.

And I am grateful for the 11 wonderful years we had with her. She was a good dog. We have so many great memories that we treasure. She a great guard dog. I didn’t need to hear the doorbell to know the UPS man was bringing me a fun delivery. We had our little rituals, like goodnight pets before we all went to sleep. Yes, Star slept in the middle of the bed! She loved our daily morning walks. It was hard to get her to actually look at the camera when I tried to document, though! We also took her on hikes around the area, the beach, the mountains. Here she is with my husband at Roaring Camp. The steam engines didn’t even bother her. And she loved chasing the ducks.


She always had to lay next to her dad on the couch, her favorite position. And she left her mark, lots of dog hair!







All the books I’ve written for the last ten years, Star was with me out on the deck as I typed on my Alphasmart. And if the weather wasn’t good for writing outside, she laid on the rug next to my office chair. I actually made that rug when I was a teenager. Star took it over as hers.

Star had a lot of well-loved friends she played with. She was great for letting me pile them all on top of her without moving! Hmm, Froggie and Pink Pig look a little worse for wear!

With this photo, I’m sure you can see why we fell instantly in love with Star. She was 11 weeks old. That bone is way too big for her mouth.

Star, we love you. We miss you. You will always hold that special place in our hearts. You were such a good dog.

I thank you for letting me share about Star. Please, tell me about your furry friends. Leave a comment and your contact e-mail address to enter a drawing for a copy of Wild Sweet Love by Beverly Jenkins. Beverly has always been one of my favorite authors. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog, and I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates if you aren’t already a member. And congratulations to Laney. You won my last blog and a copy of Ladies Prefer Rogues, an anthology that includes a story by the wonderful Veronica Wolff. I'll email you for your snailmail

Please stop by The Tote Blog tomorrow, Mar 1, for more pictures and memories of Star. I’m giving away a copy of Somebody’s Lover which featured a Norwegian Elkhound who was very much like my gorgeous girl.

Happy Valentines Week!

Congratulations to my fellow Laced With Desire authors, Jaci Burton, Joey Hill, and Denise Rossetti. We won the CAPA Award for best anthology in 2010 from the Romance Studio! Whoohoo! What a nice Valentines present!

Check out the excerpt for my story, La Petite Mort in Laced With Desire. What’s the name of the company Sophia works for? Leave a comment with the answer the question and your contact e-mail address to enter my drawing for a copy of Ladies Prefer Rogues, an anthology that includes a story by the wonderful Veronica Wolff. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog, and I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates if you aren’t already a member.

Be sure to read all the excerpts!
Jaci Burton’s No Strings Attached
Joey Hill’s Honor Bound
And Denise Rossetti’s Rhio's Dancer

And congratulations to Estella! You are the winner of Evil to the Max, the second book in the Max Starr series by Me! Please email me your snailmail address to skully at skullybuzz dot com. And Power to the Max, Book 4 in the series will be up on Amazon and B&N within the next 24 hours!

Desperate!

One of my 2011 goals is to get the Max Starr series up in print. The first two books, Dead to the Max and Evil to the Max are out there! And this month, Desperate to the Max is available. I’ve reworked the text for some of the technology changes we’ve experienced since I first published the series and put the books out there under my Jasmine Haynes pseudonym. They’re also available in all the e-books formats as well. I absolutely love the new covers my friend Rosemary Gunn made for me. So here’s a little tidbit about Witt’s mom, who you will meet in Desperate to the Max. There are many similarities between Ladybird Long and my own mother. Like how she saves everything, and uses the little cartons meat comes in to package up her tarts for the church bake sale. You just have to love Mom! She’s British and went through rationing during WWII, and you just never stopped saving everything and finding other uses for it! However, she doesn’t save old magazines, just want you to know that! Here’s more on Desperate to the Max.

Thirty-something, down-on-her-luck accountant Max Starr has the unfortunate gift of being psychic, a newly-discovered wrinkle in her already messed-up life. Her husband, Cameron, is dead, killed in a botched 7-11 robbery two years ago. In her grief, Max has cut herself off from friends, moved out of her San Francisco home in favor of a studio apartment, and dumped her flourishing career as a CPA to do temp work.

Now Max has developed an annoying penchant for attracting the spirits of murdered women. Okay, they possess her. And to exorcize them, Max must unmask their killers. But how?! By stepping into the void their deaths created, taking their jobs, befriending the loved ones they left behind. Max goes wherever she has to go and does whatever she has to do.

In Max’s latest adventure, by day, poor pitiful Bethany Spring runs a courier service for housebound people; by night, she becomes the seductive Helen on the other end of the phone line and men will pay anything to talk to her. When Bethany is murdered, the brutal slaying plunges Max into the woman’s kinky after-midnight world. Barely surviving this crash course in Phone Sex 101, Max turns once again to her late husband Cameron and hunky Detective Witt Long to help her crack the case.

Needing Witt for his detecting skills is one thing, but meeting his mother is scarier than facing down a cold-blooded killer. What commitment is the irresistible detective going to extract from her next? Max almost prefers being possessed by a spirit.

Check out the excerpt for Desperate to the Max. What’s the name of the street where Max is waiting for Witt? Leave a comment with the answer the question and your contact e-mail address to enter my drawing for a copy of Evil to the Max, the second book in the Max Starr series. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog, and I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates if you aren’t already a member. And congratulations to Desere! You are the winner of The Night We Kissed by Laurie Brown. Please email me your snailmail address to skully at skullybuzz dot com. (Yes, it’s working again!)