My editors: Jen Smith and Hannah Elnan, Random House. Don’t be taken in by the smiles. They are hard as bricks.

It’s strange going to New York City these days. I spent so much time there in my life, I have to get my head focused differently. The pace and energy are so different than the farm. I enjoy my editors very much, even though they work over my prose pretty thoroughly. I need it. We had a lot to talk about today. “The Story of Rose,” my first e-book. We did photo and video selection and I wrote captions for the more than 100 photographs. I got a neat midtown lunch – crab and avacado salad, Scottish salmon. Great stuff.

And some marketing discussions of what my editors call my Trifecta Fall – “The Story Of Rose,” “Dancing Dogs,” my short story collection, and the new paperback (and updated version of the paperback of “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die.” There is also my next kid’s book, “Lenore Finds A Friend.” Plus we expect to be moving to the New Bedlam Farm. Need to figure out how to ties all of these together.

More and more, I think my writing is about exploring animals and the ways in which they make people feel good and nourish our emotional lives. That’s my focus. I’m going to start a Facebook Page where people can post photos of the puppies they love, and we will select one and offer a reward in October when “Dancing Dogs” comes out. That ought to be a lot of fun, for me and for you.

I’m going on a national book tour in September and October – San Francisco, Chicago, New England and the Northeast – and we are still talking about how to promote “The Story Of Rose.” I saw a mock-up on a computer at Random House, and it is gorgeous – photos, slideshows, videos for the enhanced (Apple) Edition, and somewhat simpler versions for Amazon, Barnes&Noble (Kindle and Nook) and Google Reader. It’s an exciting thing to see. The book will be available for pre-ordering in a week or so.

The trip was long – got up early, Maria drove me to the train and picked me up and we had a lot to do. It was great, though, I love feeling connected to my editors and publisher and getting a chance to talk to them face to face. And they love to hear about the Bedlam Farm animals. A sweet and meaningful day. Productive too.