This is Sugar at Take Me Home Pet Rescue in Dallas (I was there last night). Sugar's humans, a DA and his wife, were murdered in their home 6 weeks ago (a revenge killing, apparently). Sugar was in the home when it happened. :( Poor Sugar is very sad and bewildered now and doesn't understand what happened to her humans or why she's alone.

Don't leave, Mommy!

I write from my hotel room in Houston, having spent my first 12 hours--ever--on Texan soil as I get ready for the road-launch of the LOVE SAVES THE DAY National Shelter Tour.  So far I haven't seen much beyond the highway overpass directly outside my hotel room window, but today I'm heading over to Friends For Life, the shelter that tomorrow evening will host the first of five tour stops I'll be making over the next 10 days in Houston, Dallas, and Austin.  (For a complete list of my Texas itinerary, click here). 

Bideawee

7:00pm, Thursday 5/2

410 E. 38th Street, Manhattan

The LOVE SAVES THE DAY National No-Kill Shelter Tour has officially launched! Many thanks to the good people of Bideawee here in New York for giving me such a warm welcome and putting together such a wonderful event—a great event made even better by the presence of Gizmo, the kitty who “owns” Bideawee’s third floor, and who clearly decided that if everybody was looking at the front of the room, that’s where he was going to hang out. (As a side note, Gizmo is one of the absolute sweetest, friendliest cats I’ve ever met in my life—and if you adopt him from Bideawee during the month of May, the adoption fee will be waived! If you’re in New York and looking for a pawsome new furever friend, you can’t do better than Gizmo!)

The LOVE SAVES THE DAY National Shelter Tour officially kicks off on Thursday, May 2nd in New York City.  Keep reading for details--and to find out how to get your complimentary Litter Genie!

We're looking for a few good men and women to help us wrangle all the donations of blankets and toys for the shelters I'll be visiing on my tour this summer.  Do you live in one of the tour cities?  Have a knack for keeping things organized?  If so, you can help!

At long last (drum roll, please...) here it is!  The official list of cities, dates, and shelters and rescue groups for the national tour supporting my new novel, LOVE SAVES THE DAY!  The tour will run all summer--from May through August.  Keep checking back for photos, videos, and more updates.  Hope I get to meet many of you on the road!

The official tour for LOVE SAVES THE DAY will kick off in May, and I'll have a list of tour cities and dates next week (hooray!).  I will, however, be doing one pre-tour bookstore reading in my hometown of Miami in the next few weeks.  Keep reading for more details...

This weekend, my husband celebrated his fiftieth birthday.  I threw him a big surprise party with friends and family traveling in from all over the country.  It was one of those weekends when I was so happily preoccupied catching up with loved ones we hadn't seen, in some cases, in years that I didn't have a chance to do even a general cursory sweep of Homer's Facebook page for three days straight.  And while I was so preoccupied, a tragedy occurred.

Hi, guys!  Sorry it's been so long since I've posted an update on Homer, the book, or anything else.  The flu bug hit us pretty hard in the Cooper-Lerman household.  You know how the story goes: poor Laurence had to spend days taking care of me, and then by the time I finally started feeling better, he came down with the same thing I had.  Happily, we're all feeling much better now.  Even better--Homer is doing GREAT!

Many, many thanks to everyone who purchased a copy of LOVE SAVES THE DAY last week and entered the "Get LOVE SAVES THE DAY Out the Door with a Bang!" contest.  I'm thrilled to be able to announce the following winners:

Hi, guys!  It's been an INSANE roller-coaster of a week here in the Cooper-Lerman household getting my new book, LOVE SAVES THE DAY, launched.  To say I'm tired is an extreme understatement.  ;-)  But now I'm turning my attention to this spring/summer's LOVE SAVES THE DAY tour, and I need your help.

It's hard to believe that it's been three years--almost to the day--since my agent first called me and said, "Random House wants to know if you'd be interested in writing a novel from a cat's point of view."  My first thought was, I have no idea what that novel would be about.  My second thought was, But the cat will have to be based on Scarlett.

My new book comes out next week--so before all the craziness starts, a general update on Homer and his health!

My new book, LOVE SAVES THE DAY, goes on sale January 15th! Buy it as soon as it goes on sale and enter to win an in-person visit from me, a portrait of your cat (or dog, or horse, etc.) by the same artist who painted Homer's portrait, autographed books, and more!

I haven't written in a few days because, honestly, I wouldn't have had anything good to report.  Homer's been on a bit of a hunger strike, and you all know how frightening and sad that can be.  BUT, I am pleased to report that Homer's eating again! Hooray! 

We're now heading into the fifth day since we first learned how ill Homer is.  I'm pleased to report that Homer is very much still alive and kicking, and right this second sitting in front of me and LOUDLY demanding the rest of his breakfast!

I know some of you were hoping that my new book, the novel  LOVE SAVES THE DAY, would be in stores in time for the holidays.  Unfortunately, it won't be published until January 2013.  But now five lucky people will receive a free, early, autographed copy of LOVE SAVES THE DAY by December 22nd!  Want to be one of them?  Keep reading to find out how!

Welcome to the new and improved GwenCooper.com!  I'm still in the process of updating the new site with plenty more photos and videos of all five cats (Scarlett, Vashti, Homer, Clayton, and Fanny!)  to come over the next few weeks.  (Yes!  There will be new videos of Homer and the kittens!)

Those of you who remember my detailed and exhaustive preparations for Irene last year--or who've just come to get a sense of my general personality ;-) --know that when I say I like to prepare for a major storm, what I really mean is I like to over-prepare.  Well, I lived through Andrew back in '92 and September 11th back in 2001, so I've learned to appreciate what the Boy Scouts have been saying all along.