User:Paula Shene

I have survived three strokes and two bouts of breast cancer. I am currently physically disabled with Lymph edema.

My husband was recently diagnosed with Lewys Dementia - a relative of Alheizmers.

For years my husband has urged me to write books because my passion for reading was almost as great as my passion for him. I told him I did not want to turn my love into a chore.

My background has been eclectic - from stocking books in a local book shop to pushing laundry carts, being an administrative assistant to directing two departments in a college setting, owning a daycare and tutoring business to owning an office services business, working as a clerk in libraries and a library system to owning an on-line retail bookshop with additional merchandise.

Back in the '90 I had attempted to join a woman's newsletter staff at a local church we had been attending in the Northwest but was never able to coordinate meeting times with my schedule. The Pastor's wife called me and said there is only one opening left, no one wants to do it, we offer it to you but think and pray on it before giving me an answer - the job - interviewing one woman each month and spotlighting her life in a meaningful way.

I interviewed, prayed, culled, and produced almost three years of columns until my relocation to the Northeast. From the first column until the last, each month as my husband 'proof read' and told me my grammar needed fixing - "you can't start a sentence with an And!" - were snatched up and avidly read by all, not just the women, to my surprise and delight. My love for writing was born.

In 2005, a revisit by breast cancer caused retirement from my position as Library Circulation Desk at the county library system and my Sunday afternoon position as Library Circulation Clerk at the local library. I had developed lymph edema and could no longer haul books, preparing to send them all over the world or receive them back into our system. I could not sit at a computer for hours producing the paperwork needed for these same books.

I could not do housework! There are blessings everywhere! Thankfully, my husband picked up the slack and I again fought back into a lifestyle that would need to be accepted - somewhat limited, but not out of the game,

Each day progress was made as I was able to return to the computer for short periods to open my on-line store. A project without end, each day still adding new used books to the inventory and spotlighting some of these books on e bay.

Our youngest son in 2008, faced an end to his marriage. His daughter developed many fears from this upheaval and from this trauma, Mandy The Alpha Dog was born. My son used his cartoon drawings to add to the humor of the story which actually covers quite serious topics - fears, mistreatment, overeating, obesity, biting, forgiveness, and becoming a winner. This book initially was written to help a little girl overcome her fears, but, as friends and relatives read the story and the cartoons, we were urged to take our love of rescuing animals to the public and a publisher was sought.

Mandy The Alpha Dog, the first installment in The Chronicles of the K-9 Boys and Girls on Locus Street was published and released on June 20, 2009. 10% of our proceeds are to go to animal rescue leagues.

Mandy The Alpha Dog is loosely based on the life of our pack leader, Mandy - a feisty little beagle who bosses Snooper [aka Snoopy] the male beagle, and Shadow, the Dalmatian [her comic sidekick in this tale], and Sophitia, the fierce looking Husky/German Shepard but laid back pussycat.

Their next tale is called The Midnight Caper.