Dog Trivia According to Maddie

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Maddie here.  Carol’s busy so she suggested that I try my hand at dog trivia.  Enjoy.  There's a Pupperoni waiting for me!

1) What breed of dog yodels?

2) Where do dogs sweat from?

3) What dog breed gets its name because they strike out with their front paws when fighting.


4) What is the dog’s name in How The Grinch Stole Christmas?

5) What was the name of Lieutenant Columbo’s Basset Hound?

6) What is the state dog of North Carolina?

7) What dog was originally called the St. John’s Newfoundland?

8) What was the name of Superman’s dog?



Answers:


1) Basenjis; 2) Pads of their paws. They discharge heat by panting; 3) Boxers; 4) Max; 5) ‘Dog’; 6) Plott Hound; 7) the Labrador Retriver; 8) Krypto.

Books Remembered: Helen MacInnes

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

HELEN MACINNES: MASTER OF THE ESPIONAGE AND SUSPENSE NOVELS



Before Robert Ludlum, there was the ‘Queen of International Espionage Fiction’: Helen MacInnes. Yet her first career could have mirrored those of her ordinary heroines caught up in the world’s events: a librarian.

Born on October 7, 1907, in Glasgow, Scotland, Helen graduated from the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 1928 with a degree in French and German. Working as a librarian, she married the classicist Gilbert Highet in 1932. Together as translators they traveled extensively throughout Europe before Gilbert was appointed Professor of Latin and Greek at Columbia University and the couple and their son moved to New York in 1937.

Over the next 45 years she would write twenty-one spy novels. Her books pitted ordinary men and women of decency and fortitude against the faceless agents of totalitarian regimes: the Nazis in the 1940s and then thereafter the Communists and their terrorist compatriots. At the time of her death on September 30, 1985, over 23 million copies of her books had been sold in United States alone.

What I think I appreciated most about Ms. MacInnes’s novels was her emphasis on the ordinary person thrust into intrigue where danger threatens the social fabric against the backdrop of international settings. However, what I thrilled to most was the romantic subplots.

Her book The Salzburg Connection (1969), which concerns an effort by various individuals to retrieve Nazi loot from an Austrian lake, has been nominated by NPR for the 100 Greatest Thrillers Ever. My personal favorite was Decision at Delphi…sigh, all those wonderful Greek archaeological sites.

What was your favorite Helen MacInnes’s book?

Going Paperless with my Research

Sunday, July 11, 2010

At work we've been progressively going paperless.  When an article was passed around on an attorney's journey of going paperless, he mentioned electronic notebooks for trial and in particular the One Notebook. I realized One Notebook was included in programs on my laptop. 

With great trepidation since I am sooo not a techie, I tried it out.  When I packed away my notes and research material on my last proposal, I realized how little physical material I had.  Typically I have several expandos filling a shelf.  Although the research on the latest had taken months and was expansive, it barely made the folder expand.

The reason was the electronic notebook.  I had copied and pasted most of the internet articles and photos into the notebook. 

I still don't understand all the functions, but for my new book the first thing I did was set up the notebook with sections for characters, settings, plot, timeline, etc.  This time around I drew a table for my plotboard and a triangle that I've always used to follow the push-pull dynamics among the principal characters [i.e. if villain does this, how will it impact on the heroine or the romance].  I've also set up a page to keep track on my writing progress.  

I will automatically save the notebook on a thumb drive along with the wip, but to have the notebook at hand on my laptop is amazing.

Best yet, I'm saving trees.  :) Carol

Cleaning and ear rubs

Friday, July 9, 2010

Maddie here. I haven't posted in a while, but watching Carol cleaning and organizing the house wears me out. She talks about being a lean, mean writing machine for her latest deadline so she wants no distractions. She even put my toys into the basket...ha!  When she's not looking, I've been sneaking them out one by one. 

I have to say, she did a good job of getting rid of the clutter and putting together bags of stuff to be donated to charity.   I can actually walk into the closets and check out things of interest.  However, I thought the mopped floors needed a special touch.  I drank water too fast a couple times and spitty uppy.

I did show how much I appreciated her cleaning up after me.  Last night when she tried to go bed early, I nipped and wrestled with her.  Although she told me to settle down and go to sleep, she still rubbed behind my ears until my eyes closed.

Life is good.