If you buy Barb Taub’s books, you’ll help homeless pets

/ December 14, 2014
(From barbtaub.com)

(From barbtaub.com)

Barb Taub used to write a column over here in the United States.

Now she lives on the other side of the big pond, where she’s a novelist, and a blogger on WordPress.

Her words are eye-catching to me. On Dec. 4, she wrote a piece titled “Tap-Dancing on a Wire,” with the sub-head “If I Blog It, the Readers Will Come?” Well, I didn’t picture that she had any trouble attracting viewer clicks. But alas, she, too, wonders who and where from and why and what for and how many. She asked for opinions.

So I responded, as is my wont:

I read your blog because you write about interesting things, Barb. Your old newspaper columns are grabbers because I’m an old former newspaper writer. Your stories about your trips back to the States I always find precious and entertaining.

I write and place my own pictures on my blog to keep the ideas flowing, to share about life, to connect with people who may be of like mind, curiosity and interests. I try to keep it that simple, really.

Thanks for today’s little forum.

Barb wrote back:

“You nailed it! … That’s what I was trying to say, and you said it so beautifully. (Damn you.)”

OK, that left me feeling pretty damn good for the rest of the day. Week. This year.

So when Barb posted this week that her publisher had decided to do something special around the holidays and use her propensity for animal characters as the impetus for donations to pet-oriented charities and asked for some bloggy-world help in spreading the word, I agreed.

In Barb’s words:

In honor of this holiday season, my publisher, Hartwood Publishing, is offering a special gift package of my urban fantasy Null City stories. Not only are they releasing the two newest stories as a $0.99 set called Tales From Null City, but my holiday-themed Don’t Touch will also be available at the sale price of $0.99. (£0.72 in UK)

In most of my stories, an animal companion plays a prominent role — from George, the grumpy cat in Don’t Touch, to Bygul, the bitchy feline goddess of Payback is a Witch. My own life has been immeasurably enriched by my dog Peri who came from a shelter in eastern Washington State, and by the friends (feline, canine, and the occasional rodent) who have joined our family over the years after being rescued by the dedicated members of many shelters.

In thanks, therefore, I will donate all royalties from sales between now and January 1, 2015 to the following wonderful organizations:

• USA: No Kill Advocacy Center. Headed up by Nathan Winograd, the No Kill Advocacy Center movement is revolutionizing shelters across America.

• United Kingdom: DogsTrust. Active since 1891, this no-kill shelter rehomed almost 15,000 dogs last year.

Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle says: I'm nice and warm now, please help those not as fortunate.

Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle says: I’m nice and warm now, please help those not as fortunate.

With the frequency I write about and post pictures of our beloved rescue mutt Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle right here, this was a no-brainer for me.

Here’s the link to Barb’s post “Tap Dancing on a Wire,” which caught me eye because it addressed the reasons why people blog.

Here’s the link for Barb Taub’s post about her novels from which sales will benefit charities that help homeless pets.

Here’s the link to purchase “Tales from Null City.”

Here’s the link to purchase “Don’t Touch.”

Why do you blog? Have you used a pet in your writing, and why? What are your favorite pet charities, and why?

Related posts

24 thoughts on “If you buy Barb Taub’s books, you’ll help homeless pets”

  1. Aww, what a sweet lady! And what an awesome photo of Ellie B! And how sweet of you for sharing! My favorite pet charity is my local SPCA. I donate a lot of photography to them not only sometimes photographing pets up for adoption, but also photographing their events for pet awareness and volunteer appreciation. I LOVE their medical clinic far more than any regular veterinary office I’ve ever used. And because I do a lot of “behind the scenes” stuff for them, I see firsthand how much they really do love the animals there. Excellent post, my friend! 😀

    Like

    Reply

  2. our cat was my first pet–got her a few years ago from Humane Society. Have come to love her much. Your friend is very talented 🙂 And Ellie B is gorgeous! You may have written about her before, but what is her story? How long have you had her? Our cat was left with a few others when a home was foreclosed on a few years ago. The realtor brought them in. Don’t get how someone could just leave a pet behind. 😦

    Like

    Reply

    • We adopted Ellie B after we saw her paraded around as a pup wearing an orange Adopt Me vest at a Paws for a Cause event here. We found out that her story was somebody left her on the front step of a local Humane Society to be found when the workers arrived in the morning. At least the folks who couldn’t keep her had it in their hearts to take that step. Her name was already Ellie. We added the B aka Dogamous Pyle part. She’s now 4 years old. She’s our second beloved rescue mutt. Karen had Lissa, whom I adopted upon our relationship. Lissa, a shepherd mix but smaller than Ellie B, lived a robust 15 years before she passed, 2 years before we adopted Ellie B.

      Like

      Reply

  3. I blog to write, create, share. I just love all that goes in to the physical act and mental act of writing. And I don’t have pets, or write about pets. I feel it wouldn’t be fair to have a pet at this time in my life (fair to the pet I mean).

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.