Dear Readers,

Last week Momma and I received the promised judges’ feedback on our Benjamin Franklin award-winning book, Sit Stay Pray.  We had been anxiously awaiting their comments because they “lift the curtain,” so to woof, on what the judges really thought of our effort.

There were three judges — one for design and two for editorial comment.  The design judge gave us a somewhat disappointing overall score of 6.7 out of a possible 10.  Here are a few of his/her comments:

I’d work to make the title bigger as well as the subtitle . . . Font choices for subtitle and author skew the book into self-published area, go with less “character.”  Author name aka is confusing . . . Fewer words in subtitle would help layout . . . Body font choice of a san-serif condensed font makes it harder to read main test.  Blah, blah, blah . . . 

Okay, Momma made me add the blah, blah, blah, but I agree, you’d read enough.  The judge was not really taken with the design work, and in some respects Momma and I agree.  Live and learn as they woof.

On the other paw, the editorial judges gave us fantastic scores.  They really “got” the book and gave us fab reviews.  First, from the one who ranked us number one(!) in the humor category and gave us an almost perfect score:

This title ranks one out of the top ten books reviewed . . . Lina certainly can tell a story . . . The reader does not necessarily need to be a dog lover or even an animal enthusiast to relate, appreciate and learn from Lina’s “tails” . . . Presented in a diary-memoir format, the stories flow nicely and allow comprehension and interest for the intended reader . . . Excellent work, excellent stories, excellent product.  This literary evaluator found Sit Stay Pray an inspired, charming, laugh-out-loud read.  Keep writing!

Does it get any better?  Momma and I are feeling so #validated!

And from the judge who ranked our book number two:

Cleverly written.  Dog’s point of view is genius.  The dog’s interaction with her owner is on-point and amusing.  There are many chuckles in these pages.

Momma and I are both over-the-moon with our editorial reviews.  In fact, they were so good that Momma (now all of a sudden a believer) is convinced we lost the gold because of the Russians.

I also recently received my “Silver Winner” book stickers in the mail.  Here I am in my office — bet you didn’t know I had one! — sporting my appropriately themed star scarf of the day, next to my stickered copy of SSP.

Note that Momma couldn’t resist placing the Ronald Reagan book in the background.

In closing, I want to thank you all again for your loyal readership and hope that, as with the judges, we have given you a chuckle or two or maybe even a belly laugh over the years.  And after those reviews (and the judges order!), who would not continue to write!

Lina, Recognized Author

WOOFDA!