It's been a month of madness on the home front, between juggling day jobs and night jobs and writing jobs and teaching jobs... So many jobs, so little time. But I'm pleased to announce that as of last night, I finished the last of the editing for our Youthlinks issue of Downeast Dog News, which will come out at the beginning of December. Over the course of the eight weeks that I was working with them, the Youthlinks crew and I managed to get to Portland for a pit bull awareness seminar, Augusta for a stellar interview with Maine's Animal Welfare Program director Norma Worley, Rockland and Camden for visits to the local animal shelter, and we had an in-house session with DDN publisher Wendi Smith, designer Noreen Mullaney, and ad rep Pat Demos. My hot shot reporters Terri and Kyla did a great interview with their favorite teacher, Mr. Palmer, and his hearing dog Tango.
Caleb sat still long enough to come up with some excellent questions for our interview with Norma Worley and got some fabulous shots of the animals we visited at the shelter. Terri blew me away with her focus and dedication throughout the entire program, and I was particularly impressed with her when we checked out Pit Bull 101. These guys are not the smiling, picture-perfect faces you see on billboards, they're not class valedictorians and they won't be winning athletic scholarships anywhere... Terri told me at one point that when she graduates high school, she will be the first in her family to do so. Mikayla ended up moving a week before the program let out, but it was great to watch the bond of friendship that developed between she and Terri over the course of our time together. And while Caleb tried my patience at times, I think that in the end he enjoyed himself, and he was definitely a contributing member of our team on more than one occasion.
Sooo... The Downeast Dog 2.0 pentathlon is done. While there was a ton of work involved and I would do about four hundred and six thousand things differently next time out, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. And now all that's left is to see what the final product looks like, and check in with the students and the stellar Youthlinks staff to get their final thoughts.
In the meantime, it seems the time has come for me to pursue some other interests and writing endeavors for a while. I hope to return to Dogged Writer eventually, with renewed enthusiasm and some exciting projects to announce. Thanks to everyone who has provided such wonderful support of the writing I've done and the places I've gone. I'm sure I will be returning to the dogged side of life before too long!
