You know our pets join us during our journey through life. Their time with us is shorter, so we have the opportunity to enjoy meeting many of them. For them, we are their whole lives. For us, they are a brief companion who teach us so many things, not least of which is how to let go… and welcome something new in.

My first pet was a a Netherland dwarf bunny. Her name was Georgina (for those who might try to use this information to hack me: I never use my pets names in passwords. Foiled you!), and she was absolutely adorable. I bought the best crate so she wouldn’t have her feet on wire all the time and could still poop to her hearts content. At the time, we lived in Meyerland and had a home with a beautiful atrium that was fully enclosed. We would let her loose in there to run and enjoy. Sometimes we would watch her pirouette.

I dated a guy who loved tarantulas. Though I was scared of the creatures at first, I primed myself to like them, visualizing myself holding one in my hand. Eventually, he gave me one as a pet: Twinkle. She was a gorgeous Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula. Beautiful and peaceful, she would live in her terrarium and wait for food to rain down from heaven. When I misted the space to keep up the humidity, she glittered like a rose-colored diamond. Tarantulas can live up to 30 or so years in captivity, and she was with me a long time — way longer than the guy who gave her to me.

Eventually, I got a dog. I always wanted a dog, but my mom was scared of them so we were not allowed to have them growing up. Arwen Undomniel was my first dog. I found her at the SPCA cowering in a small kennel. When I took her into the get to know you room, she moved quickly to a corner and shook there, head hanging low. She wouldn’t play or sniff me or anything. I took my ‘shy’ girl home and with lots of love she became the most audacious and independent little dog ever. She was a German Shepherd/Labrador Mix. Her ears eventually went pointy from her puppy ears. She and her littermate, Ella, were my brother and I’s babies.

Later, I got my now, ex, husband Grace. She was a pure-bred German Shepherd and absolutely gorgeous. A bit of a dumb blonde, Grace often got scared of her own shadow, but she was a sweet girl. Some time towards the end of my marriage, we adopted Merlin, a Great Dane/Lab/Bloodhound/Possibly other mix boy. He has been a fun dog to have because of his sweet personality and energy.

When I lost Arwen, we met Arya. She’s my Husky. And boy is she everything that breed pretends to be. Hair all over my house, vocal talking back, but super loyal and sweet. Beautiful with her big blue eyes, she is the newest delight that life has brought to me. 

Though I have lost many of these beautiful beings, I have learned much from them and they have filled my life with joy. Some people lose a pet and never get a second. I can’t be okay with that. I miss each and everyone of them and each and everyone is irreplaceable. But I also know that we all must die, and letting go while being open to new things is a huge part of the grieving process. Loss is grief. But a new adventure awaits, with new furry friends.

Thanks for reading about my pets. Share with me your pets on my author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fernbradyauthor/?ref=pages_you_manage

Road Outside of My Own Head

My mom likes to say that I was literally born anxious. The nurses said I was the only newborn they’d met who already had separation anxiety, and they had to keep me with my mother at night because I was disturbing the other babies.

At the ripe old age of six, I had to be homeschooled because my anxiety was so severe (and was rapidly morphing into Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

At age SIX.

(I struggled with severe anxiety and OCD from a young age.)

Over the next several years, with the help of my wonderful parents and an incredible therapist, I reached a point where I was confident enough to return to normal school in fourth grade, but I still didn’t know how to be me. I was still painfully awkward and socially anxious.

I was still lost inside of my own head.

Then, two years later, I was cast in a school play.

Technically, I was an understudy, but I took it as seriously as if I was the star of the show.

I still don’t know what made me go for it, maybe because I knew my mom used to do theatre and I’ve always wanted to be more like her. But I put myself out there, and unknowingly set myself on the path that would shape the rest of my life thus far.

(The script from 1984, the first show I was cast in.)

Because one day before the show opened, someone dropped out, and at eleven years old, I got my first little big break. The next twenty-four hours were a whirl of costuming and memorizing lines and blocking and fight choreography and feeling like an impressive and valued part of something for maybe the first time in my young life.

And the next evening, as all four-foot-eleven of me walked onstage in front of an audience for the first time, full of sweat and adrenaline, I finally felt it.

Even though I was pretending to be someone else, I was finally myself.

For the first time in my eleven years, I wasn’t Anxiety. I wasn’t OCD. I wasn’t Awkwardness and Shyness and Silence.

I was just me.

And I was powerful.

I’ve returned to this moment a lot in the years since. I’m an adult now (supposedly) and in the time it took for thatto happen, I’ve felt both more powerful and powerless than I could have imagined in that moment. I’ve been broken down and I’ve picked myself back up, because that’s what life is.

But if there’s one thing I’ve been able to count on no matter what, it’s been theatre. Whether I’m physically standing on a stage or sitting in a room full of the friends I’ve met while doing what I love, I know exactly where to look when I feel like I’ve lost myself.

I step foot inside a rehearsal room, or I get a hug from one of my actor friends, and just like that day eleven years ago, I feel it again.

I am found.

I am myself.

Rachel Connelly is a freelance developmental editor, born and raised in Houston. For as long as she can remember, writing and reading and storytelling have been her passions. As an editor, it brings her so much joy to help others bring life to the stories inside their heads. Outside of work, Rachel is a local community theatre actress, avid painter and crocheter, and mom to four ridiculous cats.

I have lived in Houston since I was a junior in high school. Yet, I have never attended the rodeo. My family was never into that kind of entertainment, and none of us had much interest, or even mild curiosity, about what it all entailed. Each year, I gave a nod to the fact that it existed by dressing in a western wear outfit to go to school with my students.

This year, however, I had someone invite me to visit the rodeo twice. Wow! What a show! I had no idea it was such a huge and truly fun event. The first visit we did, I got to see the piglet races. OMG, they are too adorable for words. The little pink guys go into the racing gate boxes and come out running. Occasionally, one seems to forget they’re supposed to be racing and just meanders about. The names they give the piggies are super cute. This year there was a Britney Spareribs; a Kim Kardashiham; and, of course, Kevin Bacon.

Speaking of pigs, I got to watch the hog competition. I was astounded at the complexity of factors these judges take into account for determining which hog places first, second, third, etc. There’s how they stand, and how they walk, and their width when you look upon them from above, and just soooo many other pieces. Honestly, they all look the same to me.

The second visit, I got to see the sheep herding competition. Three sheep are released into the arena and a sheep dog works with his/her handler to herd them through an obstacle course and into a pen. The handler uses a whistle to issue commands to the dog. Some dogs keep all three sheep in a nice tight group and move them along swimmingly. Other dogs have to go after one or another sheep that strays away. Occasionally, the sheep will turn and stare down the dog. I am not clear on whether dogs lose points when these things happen, or if there’s room in the judging to account for the difficult sheep situation. Is it a sheep issue or a dog issue? Hmm.….

The rodeo also includes a carnival. There are several Ferris wheels, and other rides, scattered about the carnival area. Now, I’m not a fan of roller coasters or dealing with heights. I was happy when we chose to ride the merry-go-round cause that’s not overly crazy. The first time, I did go on one of the Ferris wheels and my companion chose to rock the basket a bit. I was already a petrified from being up so high, but I managed to maintain my composure. The second time, he cajoled me onto the Tilt-a-Wheel. It wasn’t so bad, though more oof an adrenaline rush than what I need in my life. What turned out funny was that he ended up being the one that got sick.

And that was just the livestock and carnival portion of the event. The rodeo itself is amazing. There’s the calf roping, the buck horse riding, the barrel racing, the cattle wrestling, and it all culminates with the bull riding. Why anyone wants to ride an angry bull is a mystery to me, but…

There’s events for the little ones, where five and six year olds are bundled up and put on the back of sheep. Then they ride the sheep, holding on as long as possible. It’s adorable.

Now that I have discovered the awesomeness of the rodeo, I think I will definitely need to go again next year. There were so many events we didn’t get to as the whole thing takes three full weeks.

Leave us a comment on your favorite part of the rodeo.

As I’ve been looking at the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I realized that this year I’ve taken a very important proactive step. Inklings Publishing has hired a publicist to work with our authors. Mickey Mikkelson, of Creative Edge Publicity, will be working on retainer to help each of our authors increase their visibility.

Looking at these opportunities has also made me realize the importance of developing a cohesive brand for each author. As more people get to know them through these publicity events, they each need a strong online presence that will hold the interest of those that look them up. Hence, the time has come to develop training modules.

All companies conduct in-house training for their people as well as encourage them to engage in continuing education. Up to now, Inklings has done very little training in-house. We have encouraged our authors to increase their knowledge and create strong networking connections by attending various literary conferences. We’ve also worked to place our authors on panels at these to help cement their expertise in the industry.

Now, however, we will begin to put together modules of training for our authors. Creating an online platform and strong cohesive brand as an author takes time and skill. Hence we will be working to train our authors on a variety of areas that are needed to create their cohesive brand and establish a strong online presence.

Deciding on a look for their individual author personas, one which perhaps coordinates well with their book covers, and which speaks to the genre they write is step one. All of that begins in the construction of an author website. As you can see, my author website and my cover art all work together to present the potential reader and fan with the feel of a science fiction/fantasy novel. Here’s a picture of my book cover. You can look at my website at www.fernbrady.com.

For some authors, creating this look can be hard because they may not yet have a first book to use as a basis for the color palette or design work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t launch a website early to capture connections. The key to a brand new author is to create a look based on the genre of the works you want to write. Before I had a first book out, I created an author logo. The color palette of my first website came from this logo — white and purple. These colors remain integral to my brand, especially purple which is the color I dye my hair as part of my author persona.

There are key pieces to creating a strong website, and it is critical to integrate capturing visitors’s emails into a newsletter. Once you have these, a major part of maintaining engagement is keeping the connection open with these newsletters. What kind of things go into a newsletter? Author newsletters can contain excerpts of work in progress with an option for readers to opine on what they felt it lacked or what their favorite part was. They can also contain short stories that are unavailable any where else as a thank you to fans, or artwork that connects to your novels and the genre you write, among other things.

While we are doing these training for our authors, Inklings Publishing will be working with Abundantly Social to create these modules and to deliver the learning program through the Monday night authors training program “Through the Eyes of Authors.” If you are interested in getting into these training pieces, contact Aimee Ravichandran at  to be added to the mailing list so you can know when the trainings will be given and how to register. One of the things that matters the most to me is to offer all the help I can to not just my own authors in-house, but to all authors in our writing community.

I’ll share more on other modules we will be giving next time, but for now hope your author/life journey is full of happiness and success.