SAM - AN AUTHOR!

Now that I see myself as an author, Mum and I felt a more formal portrait was called for! Those are her words, not mine. We've reached Chapter 12 of SAM'S STORY, you see, and she says I need to start seeing myself as more important than before.

I think she's joking, though. Mum does that sometimes - jokes with me. But she wasn't joking when she asked me whether I'd really seen her friend Barbara's dead husband in Chapter 10. The thing is, I saw him and he wasn't dead. He was sitting in his favorite chair by the fireplace, same as always.

So why couldn't Mum or Barbara see him, like I did?

Mum thinks that it's because I'm a dog and dogs have a special instinct. She might be right. I look special in my picture, don't I?

SAM'S STORY - MORE PROGRESS!

Can you see the castle in the distance? That's Pennard Castle - or what's left of it. Mum sometimes says she'll buy up the ruin and put a roof on it. But I think she's joking. Better to live in our cosy home than in a draughty old castle!

She's still writing our adventures down and says she's starting on Chapter 9 now. I don't know what a chapter is, but Mum tells me it's progress with SAM'S STORY. She's wondering whether to get it illustrated. Will that mean me having to pose for pictures?

I won't mind if it means that. I'm used to posing, if that's what I do whenever she gets her camera out. Mum says I'm photogenic so I suppose I am. She also says I'm handsome. What do you make of that?

By the way, she's especially happy today because her other 4 books have gone on to Smashwords as well as on to Goodreads!