Welcome to Mercy Me: Reflections on Love and Life
Welcome to my newsletter which will provide updates on my forthcoming book, Dog Love Stories—The Canines Who Changed Me, out on March 18th, 2025.
I’m mainly using older email lists and want to be as respectful of your inbox as possible. If you don’t wish to receive news and updates on my new book, please unsubscribe. You can do this by following the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. If you know others who might be interested, please forward and share.
My publisher She Writes Press, a woman-run company with a strong vision, was recipient of the 2019 Independent Publisher of the Year. They were also one of two top hybrid publishers recently selected to be under Simon & Schuster’s marketing and distribution. You can find my books, Being Mean and Dog Love Stories, on Simon & Schuster’s website.
On the subject of dogs, is there anyone in your life who doesn’t have a dog, want a dog, or is at least close to someone who has a dog? In many wonderful ways, our world has gone to the dogs! I’m convinced we are better creatures for having one another in our lives — humans and dogs alike. This much I do know: my dogs have made my life better. Even now, I doubt I would even be coping if my dog Mercy were not comforting me on this baffling and overwhelming journey through grief and life after the recent death of my husband.
About the Book
Dog Love Stories—The Canines Who Changed Me is the story of ten loves of my life: my dogs. I begin as a child of ten, with my first dog Dabb, and end with my dog Mercy, who is still with me. This book was a labor of love and grief, and an exploration of the ways learning from and loving my dogs has made me a better person.
What motivated me to write Dog Love Stories? During COVID my husband Bill and I started meeting friends at our mountain acreage in Blanca, CO, where we could be outdoors and sit safely six feet apart. (Remember that?)
We had buried one of our dogs, Gavroche Napoléan, in a comfortable spot there in the shade of a beautiful old piñon. It was the best place to sit. The trouble was, it was tricky to navigate Gavroche’s gravestone and the rocks we had piled on top of it as a coyote deterrent.
We started talking about moving Gav, and that led to talking about a dog cemetery, and that eventually led to writing a book about all my beloved dogs. I didn’t have the remains of my previous seven dogs there at Graceland (what we call our sacred acres), but I was envisioning a headstone for each of them and simply moving Gav’s headstone and not his remains. The picture of this in my head was so compelling that my imagination took off running: Create a small fenced in graveyard like those that hold some of my ancestors in the Marysville cemetery in North Texas! I told Bill about the idea, and he was onboard.
As I began to gather stones to use as markers, I remembered each dog, how he or she came into my life, died, and all the stories in between. “All my dog love stories,” I commented to Bill one evening as we sat looking out over the valley. We recounted memories of this motley group of canines, laughing and crying through our stories. “If I’m a better human for having had these dogs, then perhaps my experiences can help someone else be a better dog companion. I’m going to write a book!” I declared. And Dog Love Stories was born.
"Each of the dogs in the author's life brought wisdom and companionship and taught a different lesson. Written with the affection of the true dog lover, Dog Love Stories is a moving and insightful read." Dr. Melinda McCall, author of Driving Home Naked: And Other Misadventures of a Country Veterinarian
Creating the Cover and Title
Writing a book can be difficult, but the most frustrating parts come once the book is getting ready for publication. Things like negotiating with your publisher on the cover art and title.
The cover originated with a nineties photo of me in a bathing suit on the beach with my Lab, Pookie. The cover artist put some clothes on me (thank goodness)—initially some tight pants and city shoes unlike what I’d ever wear— without a hat and with brown hair, although I’m fully gray. She added Dancer in my lap and Mercy at my feet from other photos she saw. I protested the clothing choice, so she adjusted some of the clothing, changed my hair color, and added a fedora-like hat, despite the fact that I wear western hats. Didn’t matter, the cover was finalized. I did get to change a word in the title: Dog Love Stories—The Canines That Changed Me to Dog Love Stories—The Canines Who Changed Me. I made it a point in the book to use the relative pronoun “who” instead of “that,” since for me my dogs are creatures with names who I consider part of my family. Using “that” makes them seem like objects, and it didn’t sit right with me.
Release date: Tuesday, March 18th, 2025
My home bookstore, the Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative in Alamosa, CO, is hosting my release party on Friday, March 21st at 6pm. We’ll have a reading, Q&A, and signing. But right now you can preorder a copy for yourself or a friend. Preorders are very important for authors, so doing so would mean a lot to me. You can preorder the book from Narrow Gauge Book Cooperative or from any of the sites listed on Simon & Schuster. If you preorder a book then attend one of my events, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a copy of my book to gift someone else. (The audio book will not be available for preorder.)
I’m currently scheduling readings for 2025 in CO, TX, NM, and CA at bookstores, homes, and book clubs, plus on Zoom (dates TBA). If you have suggestions for locations such as bookstores or libraries in your area, or if you are open to hosting a home reading, Zoom, or know someone who might be, please let me hear from you. It will help give this book legs if I can connect with as many places and people as possible. I’d also welcome suggestions for interviews on radio stations, podcasts, etc. (a press release is available upon request).
I hope you’ll follow this book’s journey and stay tuned in for December’s newsletter. You can also find me on Facebook at Patricia Eagle Writes and Instagram at @patricia.e.eagle Life is full of surprises, and so many are challenging to navigate. Perhaps stories about loving dogs can give our journeys a lift.