A HANDSOME ROGUE LIVES IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD

His name is Rocky.

He has intelligent brown eyes and a luxurious, silky moustache.

Rocky’s profile is superb. He knows it and shows it off quite regularly.

This giant schnauzer is a brawny boy. Every one of his 130 pounds looks quite impressive.

My Airedale terrier, Scarlett, thinks he’s a hunk! They have a great time together.

The two dogs have known each other since they were pups. Here they are the day they first met.  Even then, Scarlett stared at him adoringly.

Alas, Rocky isn’t monogamous. He has quite a few ladies on the side. Fortunately, Scarlett doesn’t know that last year, when her love was boarded at a "doggie hotel," he cunningly unlatched the cages of two of them.  Rogue Rocky and his liberated “girlfriends” were discovered frolicking on the dog run!

He’s also opened our back door several times and made a mad dash through our house to see Scarlett. 

Rocky likes me.  I'll be slaving away at my computer in my downstairs office and be startled to see him gazing lovingly at me
through the window.

 

Although he can look intimidating, Rocky is a cream puff with people he knows, other dogs and . . . yes, rabbits. Here he is with Ms. Hopper, yet another woman. But he lives with this one.  She's kind of like . . . kind of like his sister.

Should Ms. Hopper be nervous around this big guy? Nah, this rogue really likes women.  Hmmm . . . 

JACQUELINE JULES REVEALS WHAT'S ON HER FRIDGE!

Today marks the debut of an exciting new feature on my blog.  Once a month I'll ask someone from the world of publishing the burning question, "WHAT'S ON YOUR FRIDGE?"

This month, my friend, and fellow writing critique group member, the multitalented Jacqueline Jules reveals WHAT'S ON HER FRIDGE!  

Jacqueline makes her home in Northern Virginia.  She writes picture books, early chapter books, and middle grade novels.  On March 1st, her 21st and 22nd book will be released:  Picnic at Camp Shalom (Kar-Ben Publishing) and Zapato Power #3:  Freddie Ramos Zooms to the Rescue (Albert Whitman).  Jacqueline is also a poet whose work has appeared in over seventy publications and is the recipient of the 2007 Moving Words Award and the 2009 SCBWI Magazine Merit Poetry Award.  Her books have been  named on state and summer reading lists.  Jacqueline's chapter book Zapato Power: Freddy Ramos Takes Off just won the  Cybils Literary Award for short fiction. Jacqueline got a B.A. in Writing in college, but she  dreamed of becoming an author in elementary school.

Jacqueline tells us what she enjoys most about writing:
"I love re-writing and playing with words.  Writing for me is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.  I turn the words around and around until they fit into the image I want to create.  Every word in a poem or a story counts, just like in a jigsaw puzzle.  Some people like to play games.  I like to play with words."
 
Drum roll!  Are you ready?

Here is what's on Jacqueline's 2006 GE French-door model fridge.

We go one step further!  Here's what Jacqueline likes most on her fridge and why.

"My favorite thing on my fridge is my collection of magnets.  In the last few years, I have picked up magnets on trips and favorite outings around D.C.  For instance, I have a magnet of Tai Shan from the National Zoo and a magnet commemorating the 2007 National Cherry Blossom Festival.  I also have a magnet from Seattle's world famous Pike Place Market.  All three of these colorful magnets remind me of a wonderful, day, savoring the pleasures of life.  And that thought brings me to a square black magnet with an anonymous quote I picked up in a small shop with a friend on a rainy day.  In white italicized letters it says, 'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.'  I tend to be a workaholic and I need to be reminded that life is about more than accomplishing things, it's about experiencing things."


Lovely, Jacqueline!  Please share with us your philosophy of life as demonstrated by WHAT'S ON YOUR FRIDGE—


"My collection of magnets also includes a quote by Henri Matisse, picked up at the National Gallery of Art:  'Creativity takes courage.'  This thought inspires me when I become discouraged.  Most people who know me might sum up my personality in one word:  persistent.  Writing is not easy.  Every time I begin a new project or a revision, I am afraid.  But after a deep breath, I summon my courage and put my fingers on the keyboard.  You can't win the lottery, if you don't buy a ticket."

Many thanks to you and your refrigerator, Jacqueline Jules!