Our Christmas tree has been frantically shedding needles since we brought it into the house two weeks ago. Supposedly it was freshly cut in Vermont, but I guess we forgot to ask that all important question: what year? Of course, it doesn't help that our dog, Daisy Mei, has decided she much prefers pine-flavored water. Well, if it's a bit dry around the tree, at least the weather outside's been delightful. It feels more like Easter than almost the new year. Lots of long walks. Lots of movies. "Something's Gotta Give" is hilarious -- if you haven't seen it -- go!

If you're going to the Bay Colony Dog Show at Bayside Expo in Boston on Sunday, I hope you'll stop by and say hi to me. I'll be doing a signing for Borders at 11. Maybe my last dog event ever-- sigh. I wonder what kind of shows I'll get to do for a mother/daughter comedy?

Over the weekend, I received six emails through this site from writers asking for advice, and one from someone who wanted to know if I have sisters named Mary and Susie. Okay, I'll answer the easy one first. Yes, Mary and Susie are my sisters. And so are Cathy and Trish. And on the brother side, let's not overlook Dan, Jim and Kevin.

Moving on, what struck me in the other six emails was that the writers wanted to talk about getting published, but only one had actually finished her manuscript yet. I think it's really important to stay focused on the writing until you have. It's so easy to start daydreaming about agents and editors and bestsellers lists and movie options -- and never finish anything. So my best advice is to just keep writing until you have a manuscript, then take it to a writing group or a workshop, maybe at an extension school or an adult ed program (fabulous writers teach at these places) and keep working on it until it's as good as it can possibly be. In the meantime, start reading everything you can find about writing and the literary world. Annie Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD. Stephen King's ON WRITING. Carolyn See's MAKING A LITERARY LIFE: ADVICE FOR WRITERS AND OTHER DREAMERS. Then start searching for novels that somehow feel connected to your own, and look in the acknowledgments to find the agent and editor, and start putting together a list. A book called WRITERS' MARKET is a great resource at this point, and can guide you through the process of query letters and submissions. It's a whole new world and it's important to take the time to learn the rules and then follow them.

I've been invited to be a judge for the Thurber Prize for American Humor!!! Thurber House is a non-profit literary center in Columbus, Ohio and the former home of American humorist, author, and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber. Thurber House presented its first Thurber Prize in 1996 as a biennial award to recognize the art of humor writing. Past winners include David Sedaris, the staff of The Onion, and Ian Frazier.

The Thurber Prize for the most outstanding book of humor writing published in the United States will now be given annually. For 2004 award only, to make up for the interruption, books published between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003 will be eligible.

Entries for the Thurber Prize must be submitted directly to Thurber House, along with an application form for each title, by April 1, 2004. A local steering committee will review the submissions and send them to a national panel of judges: Andy Borowitz, Claire Cook, and Andrew Hudgins. Borowitz is the author of two humor books, including his most recent, Who Moved My Soap? The CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison. His humor appears in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and at Borowitzreport.com. Claire Cook is the author of two hilarious novels, including the bestselling Must Love Dogs. Her third novel, Multiple Choice, will be published by Viking in July 2004.(!!!!!) Andrew Hudgins is the author of six books of poetry, including the National Book Award finalist The Never-Ending and Saints and Strangers, which was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize.

The UPS truck pulled into my driveway twice yesterday. First to arrive, my new set of revisions -- AARRGGHH!!! Actually, they're fairly minor but it never feels that way. Ever. And then, as soon as the new draft is finished, I always think, Well, that wasn't so hard. So, I'm about to go into hiding agin -- no more blogging until I finish. No more anything until I finish. Sigh.

The other UPS delivery was such a great surprise. A huge box of treats from the wonderful folks at Annie's. And a beautiful note saying how they "laughed themselves silly" over MUST LOVE DOGS, and asking if they could put the recipe for Sarah's Winey Macaroni & Cheese up on their website. Isn't that the coolest thing -- this is the first time I've felt famous -- my kids grew up on Annie's pasta, and now they know who I am! They've read my novel! They liked my novel! They want my character's recipe! And let's not overlook the fact that suddenly I had something to serve for dinner last night. Definitely try Annie's Gemelli Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Sauce -- delicious! Tonight's menu will include, and quite possibly consist only of, Annie's Mild Mexican Shells & Cheddar. Hmm . . . I think I'll go count the boxes they sent and see if there are enough to get us through the whole draft. I suppose then I'll have to thank them in the acknowledgments of the new novel. I wonder if a novelist has ever thanked a pasta company in her acknowledgments.

Full Hunter moon tonight, but I'm too tired to go out and howl. Met lots of great booksellers at GLBA in Dearborn, Michigan last weekend, and then went right to a literary brunch at UMass, Dartmouth. Carolyn Parkhurst (The Dogs of Babel) was the other author, so I guess it was a dog-themed literary brunch. She had a very cool egg press with her that turns hard-boiled eggs into square hard-boiled eggs, just like the one in her novel. The perfect thing to demonstrate that often asked question -- "Where do you get your ideas?" You look around your house, your life. You eavesdrop in restaurants. I'm the person at the restaurant who's listening to everything you're saying at your table. And I guess you go to yard sales and find things like square egg presses. It's all material.

Spent yesterday kayaking in perfect fall weather on the Charles River, then my husband and I shamelessly eavesdropped on our son and his friends in the car on the way home. Why is it that they think you can't hear them in the back seat? Shouldn't they be smarter than that? Then a good chunk of today went to catching up on email. Heard from a warm and friendly author I met at SEBA, Michael Morris. He's on book tour for his second novel, SLOW WAY HOME, which I just finished reading and loved. michaelmorrisbooks.com

Jekyll Island, Georgia was so beautiful! I walked the beach both mornings and watched the sun rise. Then headed over to the trade show to meet all those fabulous Southern booksellers and authors. Lots of laughs and some really wonderful invitations for my next book tour. Then home for an online chat at The Boston Globe's website, Boston.com, since DOGS is their September book club pick -- yippee! Also an interview with the New Bedford Standard Times for the UMass Dartmouth Literary brunch I'll be doing on October 5.

I just found out I'm doing an online chat on September 23 at noon at Boston.com, the Boston Globe's website. Boston.com and grub street have just started partnering and MUST LOVE DOGS is their first joint book club pick. Anyway, I hope you'll come chat with me! Go to http://www.boston.com/ae/books/grub_street/ for more information.

CLAIRE: So many people wait for the perfect setting, the perfect mood, the muse to arrive. I don't know about everybody else's lives, but in mine those things only happen about once a year! I wrote my first novel, READY TO FALL, in my minivan outside my daughter's swim practice at five in morning. It was during a time in my life when I was teaching at one school and consulting for two others. I was exhausted, the timing was horrible, the setting was impossible, but I just had to do it anyway. I think you have to reach that point in your life -- when writing is simply your priority. Then you have to get really disciplined. When I'm working on a novel, I write two pages a day, seven days a week, come hell or high water, whether I feel like it or not. That's the difference between me and other writers who can't quite get that novel finished. To borrow from Nike, I JUST DO IT!

CLAIRE: It's certainly a personal preference, but I feel strongly that the best novels leave you wanting more. The characters become so real to you that you feel as if they'll wake up on the day after the book ends, and get out of bed and just go on with their lives. The novel is simply a slice of their lives. Lives are messy, and rarely have everything tied up neatly.

As for a sequel, I find it very flattering that so many readers have asked about one, but right now I feel that it's important to my growth as a writer to try to do it again -- with another set of fun, quirky characters. Maybe I'll revisit the Hurlihy family a couple of books down the road though.

novel excerpt) for the Fall fiction supplement of Northeast Magazine, the Sunday supplement of the Hartford Courant. I'm co-editing the issue, which will focus on New England writers, with a fellow-writer, Rand Richards Cooper. Circulation for Northeast Magazine is 300,000; the deadline is Sept 14th, but earlier submissions will probably have a better chance; the word limit is anything up to 4.500 words, although shorter stories probably have a better chance and short-shorts are okay too (although they pay less.) New England subject matter is a plus but not required. The pay is $250 for shorter stories and $500 for full-length, and the issue will appear in mid-October. Submissions may be sent to my email address via attachment, or by sending snail mail to the address above. I hope you'll take this opportunity to submit to this issue highlighting the best writers working in New England today.

Claire Cook, whose novel Must Love Dogs (Onyx Books) is a top ten pick on the Summer Paperback Book Sense 76, recently wrote to express her appreciation for independent booksellers' support of her work and to acknowledge the power of the Book Sense 76 lists.

Okay, I'm back. At least a blog is better than a web cam in the bedroom. Or worse, the kitchen. So. I seem to have missed an entire summer. The good news is that I finished a set of revisions on the new novel, which I'm pretty sure has a title everyone likes, a title which I'll share as soon as it's official. The bad news is that I think the weeds in my garden might be terminal.

While I was hiding out for most of the summer trying to finish my revisions, my husband picked up the slack by grocery shopping and doing the driving for our son. I did venture out to the library once to pick up about 32 self-help books I'd reserved. Not for me, of course, but for the heroine of my novel.

The town I live in has a grapevine that just won't quit, so I should have known enough to reserve these books under a pseudonym. But, alas, I finally emerged from my summer of hiding to go to the post office the other day, and the first person I ran into said,

Welcome to my blog, which is short for web log, kind of an online journal. I'm told I should name my blog, but it's been enough of a challenge to come up with names for my books and my kids, so I think it will remain just a generic blog. I've been encouraged to start a blog by those far hipper than myself for quite some time, but I've resisted since it seems like it might be just one more thing to procrastinate over. And what about the pressure to make it a brilliant blog? Already, I'm so over blogging.