What now? I've been busy

What am I up to now? Here are just a few things:

• Editing - I am helping out a fellow Atlassian Author with something he's working on.
• Benny and I made a student/department visitation - he loved it.
• I scored 2, yes TWO, goals in hockey in the same shift. First time I've done that!
• I joined a writing group at work.
• I'm doing the Robert Brewer's April Poem A Day (PAD) Challenge.
• Signed up for Exploring Haiku as Gratefulness Practice - sign up before April 10th.
• Went to my son's music performance where he had an alto saxophone solo - so proud.
• Used my artsy talent to create and cut window decals on my Cricut.
• Successfully completed an accelerated "The Basics of Fluid Development" and "Advanced Fluid Development" course for Oracle PeopleSoft development.

Now, I'm looking to either resurrect a manuscript and make it pretty or write something new like an article. Not sure yet.

(I also need to figure out a new exercise routine now the hockey season is finished but I don't want to write that down in case I don't do it --- oops, looks like I wrote it)

It's Been a While!

It's been a while.

Why?

Well, I took some time off from writing because I was taking courses for my day job. Now that the courses are done, I've spent significant time polishing an old manuscript. A manuscript that almost made it to publication in the past. I am thrilled with the final result!

It's been a while since I submitted a manuscript.

It's polished, printed and in an envelope with a SASE sitting by the front door. I will drop it in the mailbox tomorrow morning when I walk the dog before I go to work.

It's been a while. I'm happy to be back!

(I'm off to work on the next manuscript)

A Love of All Shapes and Sizes

I'm pleased to be a member of the Atlassian Authors group! Yay!

With Valentine's Day in mind, the prompt this month was about the app/add-on/plug-in we love.
Read my article A Love of All Shapes and Sizes - draw.io Diagrams for Confluence .

Let me know what you think.

Picture Book Templates

Some of my best picture book ideas bounce around in my head for days, even weeks. They haunt and taunt me, and do not want to come out. I think they may be stuck in my head because they're incomplete. They are bounceing around so much, there is no space to complete them. It's a real brain battle, or at least that's how it feels.

I need to stop using incomplete ideas as an excuse for not writing my stories and get my thoughts organized. So, today, I am on the hunt for picture book templates so I can put these partial ideas in a place and focus my energy on filling in the blanks.

Here are some of the places I have found picture book dummies and templates.

• Picture Book Dummy, Picture Book Construction: Know Your Layout by author Tara Lazar http://taralazar.com/tag/picture-book-template/
• Inkygirl.com Debbie Ridpath Ohi's 32-page picture book: Rough Thumbnails PDF
  http://inkygirl.com/storage/pdfs/picturebooks/ThumbnailsForSS-v9flat.pdf
  I also recommend you read her related post http://inkygirl.com/inkygirl-main/2012/5/15/writing-illustrating-a-picture-book-for-simon-schuster-books.html

Where have you been?

I wasn't far. I've been learning (and still creating but no time to blog).

For the last year, I have been taking courses, again. This time I have successfully completed the Creative, Critical & Design Thinking certificate program through the McMaster University Continuing Education program.

Now that I have completed it, I want to get back into writing and other arts.

For example, I have a children's book manuscript I am going to revisit, and possibly submit to an agent. Also, here is a watercolour painting I recently finished:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madeline Barr (@madelinetbarr) on Jan 2, 2019 at 2:28pm PST

I will also be spending more time blogging. I'm very excited and look forward to getting back into the groove.

Cats in squares? Really?

Here kitty, kitty!

i.e. vs e.g. - An easy (and fun) way to remember how to use the abbreviations properly.

To help me remember the difference between these abbreviations I started saying, “i” vs “eggs” instead of i.e. vs  e.g. But, before I explain what I  mean, let’s learn the meaning of the real abbreviations.

Abbreviation meanings

Both abbreviations are Latin expressions. The table below displays the abbreviation, the Latin expression, the English translation and how each abbreviation is used.

Abbreviation	Latin expression	English translation	Usage
i.e.	id est	that is	Used to clarify.
e.g.	exempli gratia	for example	Used to list some examples.

Understanding the meaning of the abbreviations does help. Some people suggest substituting English for the abbreviation to check, but I sometimes still find that confusing.

Here is a little, fun trick I use to remember which Latin abbreviation to use, and why I like to say “i” vs “eggs”.

They all have “i” in common.

Use i.e. when you want to say “that is” or “as in” – they all have an “i” in them.

Sample sentence:
He will be here shortly.

How long is shortly? An hour? Two days? Shortly is a relative term.  In this sentence, I want to clarify what I mean by shortly. I don’t want to give examples; I want to specify what I mean.

Here’s how i.e. is used:
He will be here shortly (i.e., two hours).

Give me an egg-sample.

I love eggs, but what I really want to do with the sentence below is to give an example; not really an egg-sample or e.g.-sample. (Did you see what I did there?)

Sample sentence:
He likes field sports.

When I’m giving examples, I use the e.g. abbreviation. The list isn’t the only sports he likes, but some of the sports.

Here’s how e.g. is used:
He likes field sports (e.g., football, soccer and baseball).

So, next time you are trying to figure out which abbreviation to use just remember the “i” or “eggs”  trick and hopefully it will help. Then go eat some eggs.

Who's vs Whose - I've made the mistake.

This week there was a spike in a post I wrote on the POV and Picture Books. I decided to take a look at the post, since it's been five years since I wrote it, to see what was so interesting.

Though the content is good, I cringed. Ahh! A grammatical error.

“Who’s eyes we see the story through.”

Do you see the problem? What am I trying to say here? If we expand the contraction out, does the sentence make sense?

“Who is eyes we see the story through.”

What? No! That's not what I am trying to say.

“Who has eyes we see the story through.” 

I do! I have eyes. 

Well, that makes a little more sense, but it's not a question and that's not what I'm trying to say.

The sentence should read, “Whose eyes we see the story through.” “Whose” meaning belonging to or associated with which person. Yes, that is the correct who's/whose. Though, for me, the sentence still feels awkward.

I hope the increase of views for the blog post was for content and not as an example of the mistake. If it was for this mistake, I guess the number of views will decrease, because it has been changed to a less awkward sentence. :) 

The DNA Results Were Not What I Was Expecting

The results from my dog's DNA test are in!

This photo is a result of a different kind of test Benny took.

To read about the test visit http://madelinebarr.blogspot.ca/2015/08/my-dog-benny-is-getting-his-dna-tested.html

We suspected that he was a Labrador/ Border Collie cross and speculated that he might have some Boxer in him.

To our surprise, he doesn't have any Labrador or Border Collie.

He does have Boxer.

According to http://dnamydog.com/ , Benny is:

• 37-74% Boxer
• 20-36% German Shepherd
• 10-19% Rat Terrier

Boxer (37-74%)

German Shepherd (20-36%)

Rat Terrier (10-19%)

With a little math, we can determine he is actually about 45-70% Boxer.

If he was the minimum percentage of the secondary breeds then he could be up to 70% Boxer
(100% - 20% - 10% = 70%)

If he was the maximum percentage of the secondary breeds then he could only be a low as 45% Boxer. (100% - 36% - 19% = 45%)

The one thing I know for sure is Benny is 100% lovable!
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What do you think?
Do you think it's accurate? What would have been your guess?
Have you ever had a DNA test on your dog? What were the results?
Is there anything else you would like to know? Comment below!

My Dog Benny is Getting his DNA Tested!

This is my dog, Benny. He's a rescue.
If I had to choose one word to describe him, it would be fabulous!
I know that he's loving, smart and generally a good dog.

What I don't about him is his breeds. I've taken a pretty good guess but I wanted to have a better idea. So, I decided to get his DNA tested.

After some research and review, I decided to order a testing kit from DNA My Dog - http://www.dnamydog.ca/

The kit arrived relatively quickly. I ordered it Tuesday night with standard shipping and received it on Thursday. Part of the reason I received it so quickly is because I live an hour away, but it also means the company was able to ship it out Wednesday morning. That's quick service!

In the kit I received:

• A congratulations letter with easy-to-follow instructions.
• A set of two sterile polyester tipped applicators (swabs with long sticks).
• A specimen envelope.
• A prepaid return envelope.
• A card to write down my customer ID number

Of course, I did the test Thursday night so I could mail it out Friday morning.

Before I began, I copied my customer ID number from the form/letter to the card.
The test was much easier to perform than I thought is was going to be. Benny couldn't eat or drink (except water) or be around other dogs or other dog toys for an hour before the test, as it could impact the results. That was easy enough since we didn't have another dog. Then, without me touching the tip, I was to swab the inside of his cheek for 20 seconds! I thought this was going to be a problem but it wasn't too bad. Benny just gave me that what-the-heck-are-you-doing look and pulled back a little. I was able to get the two swabs done without any help.  In the event your dog does destroys the swabs, which I imagine happens quite often, the company will replace them.

The swabs were placed in the open specimen envelope to dry for 25 minutes before sealing it. The specimen envelope and the form/letter were places in the return enveloped, sealed and mailed the next morning. The form/letter had my customer ID, a checklist of things to include and asked me what I thought were Benny's breeds.

I also emailed the company a picture of Benny, as suggested by them, for the certificate.

I'm so anxious for the results I've been checking everyday and sometimes several times a day. If the company is recording how many times I use my ID I'm pretty sure they would think I am crazy.

Results will be available online within two weeks after processing begins. They must have received the samples on Monday because the processing began on Tuesday. So far, a very prompt company. About a week later I will receive a certificate and breed information in the mail.

Now the waiting game.

So what breeds do you think Benny is?