Dogs Are Speaking Volumes!

Dogs are speaking volumes, and what they're saying is doggone fascinating!

My passion for pets is reflected in my writing. As a child, I loved to read, and ultimately knew that I wanted to be an author. But as a newspaper reporter and editor and then as a writer in the Office of Media Relations at the University of South Carolina, I was always writing someone else's story.

The years went by, but my desire to write books never waned, even if I didn't know what I would write.

It took a dog, a divorce and a detective to help me find the stories that I was meant to pen -- or these days, type into a computer.

After a bitter divorce in 2002, I knew that I wanted to live the next part of my life differently from the first. I was alone, my mother was sick with an illness that would prove fatal, and I was working two jobs. The thought of what I would write was not a priority.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I adopted a dog named Ivy from friends who were moving. A detective, who helped me through the harassment and stalking that I experienced with my ex-husband, suggested that I write a "story" about my dog solving a mystery. The "story" became Book 1 in the "Shandon's Ivy League" Mystery Series. As I wrote, I would look at Ivy lying on the floor beside me and wonder how she and her pet friends would solve the mysteries and crimes in her neighborhood and the places that they visited -- and then how they would alert the zany people that they lived with to what was really going on.

One book became two, then two and more. I found the stories that I was meant to write -- children's fiction! My books would star pets!

After Ivy's death, I adopted Louise, a Standard Poodle, from a rescue shelter, and she became the inspiration for my "Lady Louise" book series. While Ivy and her friends focused on mayhem, Lady Louise is imparting manners and kindness to children and adults in her travels beyond the Land of PoodleLoo where she lives with Beloved Queen and her mother, the Loveliest Lady Cecile.

Writing each of the books in these series has been been filled with twists and turns because my "muse" often sends me in directions that I didn't expect to take. The result always is a joyous ride of words, characters, plots and adventure.

But my newest book, "Together in Heaven," came about from the tragic and unexpected death of my sister Kathy in 2013. This book, released in February 2020, has been a challenge, but it is important. The book explains death to children through the experiences of Dixie, a Bichon-Poodle mix who came to live with me when Kathy died. It is an adaptation of my family's story, and I hope that it will provide comfort to children who have experienced the loss of a person or a pet whom they love.

Next up is "Loving Louise," a book for adults, about the lessons this amazing rescue dog taught me and how she changed my life. We traveled thousands of miles and met thousands of children and adults, and I now have friends around the world because of my poodle associations. What a legacy she left me! Watch for "Loving Louise" in October 2020.

Today, I am "Mom" to Lady, the ambassador for the "Lady Louise" Book Series, and Louie, a rambunctious Bichon Frise, whose goal in life is yet to be determined. Louie may have a role in an adult murder mystery series that I have begun. Perhaps Louie can be more calm in a work of fiction. Lady and I certainly hope so.

What better writing inspiration could I have than these amazing dogs whose love and companionship have propelled the overactive imagination of my childhood into "mature adult" overdrive!

Though Karen Petit Books, dogs are speaking volumes!

I hope that you will join me in our adventures.