Erin Lark Maples's Blog, page 2

Sunday Prompt

Daily writing promptWhat animals make the best/worst pets?View all responses

What animals make the best/worst pets?

This one is tough. What do you qualify as best and worst? How does a lover of essentially all things animal even begin to pick? I guess I’d have to think in terms of effort, expense, and convenience.

Best: I think it’s pretty tough to beat a golden retriever.

Worst: Snakes. I love them (I truly do!) but they get out all the time and this would stress me out. I also don’t like feeding them, even though I know how the whole circle of life thing works.

Ooof. Of course now my cat is glaring at me for my “Best” answer. Cats don’t need to be walked and can be left in the house by themselves for the weekend. They are sweet and soft and lovely. Shucks.

And my fish, he’s pretty great, too.

This one is hard.

To all the very good dogs

Last month I shared that our family had to say goodbye to our beloved Lily (above left). We’ve been so touched to receive all of your emails, posts, and messages of care as we continue to snuggle her sister Daisy (above right) close and work through the heartache of losing a member of our family.

Your words became the inspiration for the dedication to The Sled Dog as so many of us have experienced the wonderful gift of pets. The Sled Dog is dedicated to all of our dogs, of whose companionship, dedication, and love we can only ever hope to be worthy.

To all the very good dogs,

Lily & Daisy most of all.

Meet the Chinook Dog

When doing my research for The Sled Dog, I stumbled over a unique American dog breed, the Chinook, which became my inspiration for my four-legged character.

Out of the Alaskan Gold Rush, their history is quite the “tail” of breeding a dog for speed, power, stamina, and temperament. I was lucky enough to learn more about the breed directly from Patti Richards, President of the Chinook Club of America. She shared this great picture of Qannik, a wonderful pup who posed with her moose toy for the holidays.

If you are also a dog-lover and into history, I encourage you to read up on their adventure-filled history and become the newest fan of this wonderful breed. 

So why the pen name?

It all comes down to my day job.

People who know me and the series I’m releasing this fall are asking why I’m not publishing as Erin Lark. Here’s the skinny, in order of importance:

I’m an educator in public schools. A decade-ish ago, someone out of Pennsylvania published some books under the name of Erin Lark. Adult books. This last year, my own child searched for me and found these books among the results. Not good. No shame to the other author, but I work with kids and cannot risk confusion.Maples is my spouse’s last name. As I did not change my name when we married, this is a way to appreciate his support of my side career. Fun fact: he’s also supplying the intro/outro guitar work for my audiobooks!Erin Lark Maples sounds like a mystery writer. She just does.

It’s out—and free!

The prequel to my upcoming series is out for free via BookFunnel. Grab a copy here and thank you for being a part of my launch!

Privacy Policy Update

This is a test blog post, but I really did update my privacy policy.

Blogs from Yesteryear

I am honored to have be a Program Mentor and Content Creator for CORElaborate.

For six years I participated in the CORElaborate initiative, becoming a Program Mentor for the many cohorts of Teacher Leaders we hosted. I loved being a part of an organization that sought to amplify teacher voices and support students across our state and beyond through giving teachers a platform to share their stories.

You can find my old blogs here.

Welcome to my site!

This is my author page where I will share a little of my journey to publishing.

Hello World! This is the soft launch of my new website as I navigate through what it takes to put my writing on a bookshelf near you.

Thank you for joining me and please continue to check in!