Showing posts with label Dad In Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dad In Training. Show all posts

Friday, November 20, 2009

All Good Gifts


As we approach Thanksgiving, I can't help by reflect on the multitude of blessings the Lord has given to me and my family. We have good health, our home, love, a great church family with lots of outreach to the community and world, wonderful music activities which our family loves, and we have God's gift of love and Salvation. Thanksgiving is a good time to reflect on the blessings in our lives even though we sometimes face difficulties and disappointments. But in between the bads and the goods, we can find some wonderful gifts that deserve remembering.





One of my blessings the the Steeple Hill Love Inspired editors who continue to contract my novels. This past year I've enjoyed writing the Man's Best Friend Series, and I'm grateful that my editors loved the series as well. The first book, DAD IN TRAINING, was released in September (actually hit the stores in mid-August. The series imcludes three novels about three woman who are involved with a dog shelter. The first book is Molly's story as she reaches her dream of owning a dog shelter and running her Teacher's Pet program. This program is a real middle-school program in Waterford Michigan, and Molly is a fictionalized version of a young woman named Amy Johnson. I've enjoyed the reader mail and emails telling me how much they enjoyed the first book. Each book is complete but the characters reappear in the other novels so readers can follow what's happening in their lives.






The second book in the series, GROOM IN TRAINING relesed in February 2010 but available in stores in mid-January, is Steph and her dog Fred's stories. Steph is Molly's best friend and runs a doggie day care in Molly's building that houses the shelter - Time for Paws.

I completed book three, BRIDE IN TRAINING, and it will be released in July, 2010, available in mid-June. This story is Emily's, a part-time employee at Time for Paws, and the hero will be a surprise for those who are reading the series.


I hope you enjoy this series, dedicated to our daughter who died three years ago from ovarian cancer. She taught obedience training and fostered dogs, as well as owning two border collies who were involved with agility and flyball. Brenda loved animals and I wanted to honor her with these books.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

DAD IN TRAINING AND HOW IT CAME TO BE.

September. Where did it come from? I'm still looking for summer and it's nearly autumn. Greetings from Gail Gaymer Martin, an LI author since 1999 when I sold my first novel, UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR. Whew! That was exciting.

But then every book is exciting. DAD IN TRAINING is a special book to me, and I loved writing it. I grew up with dogs and cats in my life and, until a few years ago, rotated my pets between two dogs and a cat to two cats and a dog, then one dog and one cat, then one cat. My pets tend to live into their 20s so they become family to me, and the heartbreak of losing them is difficult. But my animals have left me with wonderful true stories that I've been able to weave into the Man's Best Friend series. In fact the second book, GROOM IN TRAINING, acknowledges my dog Jinx whose true story plays out in that book.


The idea to write a series about dogs began after the death of our daughter, Brenda, three years ago. We suffered the horrendous emotion of losing a tremdnousl daughter to ovarian cancer, but from her death, we learned so many wonderful things about her we might have never known. Learning them, we could grasp those things and hang on, and we know that she's out of the world of suffering and I think she's in heaven taking care of dogs that need obedience training. (Chuckling here).


Brenda loved animals, first fostering dogs and training them to be adoptable, and later owning two border collies of her own. They participated in agility and flyball, and she delighted in her pets. A series on traiing and adopting dogs seemed so appropriate to write in memory of Brenda.
This photo was taken during her chemo treatments, hugging her two border collies--Nike and Miranda--and wearing a sweatshirt with Miranda look-alike image.



Check out this eharlequin link to read the full Story Behind the Story DAD IN TRAINING


In February 2010, you can enjoy Steph's story in GROOM IN TRAINING and in July, BRIDE IN TRAINING will finish the Man's Best Friend Series. If you're an animal lover or not, I hope you enjoy these three novels from Steeple Hill Love Inspired