Barkley Memories

The bookmark in the photo was crafted by a dear family friend, a robotics engineer who laser etched the last photo I took of Barkley begging for goodies on the weekend before he left us, on the top of an antique piano key (I play).  The ribbon it is stitched on is the color and width of his collar, which now lies in a book on the coffee table where I read before bed each night. I still tear up when I look at it but it reminds me of those friends I met and bonded with through that dog.

The Book of Barkley, on which this dog blog was based, was written in the Spring of 2014 after I lost my beloved black Lab Barkley to a sudden aggressive cancer, followed a couple of weeks later by my only brother, also to sudden, aggressive cancer. When I wrote it, I committed to donating all of its sales to animal rescue, focusing on the smaller groups that don't normally get a lot of funds.

It was a #1 bestseller in several countries, a Kirkus Review featured Indie author in their print magazine, on the cover of Memoirabilia magazine,  and a Silver winner of the Reader's Favorite International Book Award.  Yet I know, as any author does, that after a book's been out several years sales die off. (Insert sound of crickets here)

I checked  Amazon tonight just for grins, after getting a quarterly royalty check that was bigger than expected to find it is still #15 in genre at Amazon, almost four years after publication.

Bless everyone that's shared the word or supported it.  Through TBOB and people finding it through my follow up books, all best sellers as well, I've been able to donate well into the six figures to animal rescue across the US and Canada as well as sponsoring a dog at Search Dog Foundation.

I am indeed blessed and I think Barkley would be proud.