Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Memoirs of a Bad Dog

Saturday I made a trip to my mailbox and was thrilled to find the following item inside:


I first met Curtis Moser at the 2011 LDStorymakers Writing Conference. I was lucky to be assigned to the same Boot Camp group as he was. Right from the bat, I could tell that this guy knew a thing or two about writing. After the first participant read her first chapter for the group, we went around the table and each took a stab at offering some constructive criticism. Each of us offered some rather weak comments, but when we finally got to Curtis he whipped out a page of carefully written notes he had made during the reading. Each of us at that table were blessed with the feedback we received from Mr. Moser.

During that conference, Curtis also won the First Chapter Contest for the General Fiction category. Which, after having read the chapter in Boot Camp the previous day, was really no big surprise. After the conference, Curtis and I exchanged manuscripts and I was able to read the rest of the story.  Memoirs is the tale of Bogart, a Bassett Hound who finds himself in some deep doggy-do when he causes the death of his owner's father. That's right. You heard me. The protagonist in this story is a dog. But Curtis pulls it off beautifully, and after I completed the story I realized the genius of it. By exploring big themes like love, redemption, and morality through the eyes of a dog, Curtis manages to bypass being overly didactic and infuses the story with a healthy dose of humor.

Which brings me back to my mailbox. And, of course, you. Because Curtis has decided to self-publish this wonderful story. And, for a limited time, he is giving away electronic copies of the book. So do yourself a favor and visit his website for more details....


11 comments:

  1. Sounds superb! I'm off to check it out now :)

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  2. Kim, I love imagining you at the conference and the interaction you had with this author. I also kind of like picturing you going to your mailbox and scoring treasure. One of the simple, quiet joys still in the world: excellent, worthwhile snail mail. :)

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    1. Agreed. Sure beats a one-liner on facebook :)

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  3. Kim, you're such a great friend. Thanks for the support and for the nice blog post--I'm indebted.

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    1. Oh, I know you are. I'm already putting together the invoice :)
      You are so talented and I wish you all the best...

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  4. I adore the cover of this book. Also, sounds like Curtis has a lot going for him. Thanks for the link!

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  5. Sounds like a fun and unique story! Love the title. :)

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  6. That sounds like something different for sure. I'll check it out!

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  7. Oh man this is such a cute idea! I'll have to check it out.

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