Meet Drop-dead-gorgeous Miss Lucy, M. Jean Pike's Black Lab

Say hello to my beautiful brunette guest, Miss Lucy. Miss Lucy shares her countryside home with romance author M. Jean Pike.Visit Jean's website and Blog to learn all about her writing, books and stories.

Miss Lucy's Bio (in her own words):

My name is Lucille and I’m two and a half years old. The best way to describe me is I’m a naughty-but-nice Labrador retriever/English setter mix. I have a beautiful black coat and gray speckled toes. I am drop-dead gorgeous and I think my best feature is my big, brown eyes. When mom rescued me from the animal shelter, they told her I wasn’t anything special. Boy, were they wrong! I’m very loyal, though I’m not very brave. I’m secure enough in my doggihood to admit that I’m afraid of the dark. I live in the country, even have my very own creek in the back yard. So basically I live in doggie heaven!

I'm so glad Jean adopted you, Miss Lucy! I'm a sucker for happy-ending stories like that. Okay, so give us the lowdown. What's it like living with an author?

My mom’s name is M. Jean Pike, but mostly I just think of her as Mommy. She is a very busy lady. She and my boy get in the car early every morning and drive away. My boy goes to school, and Mommy goes to work. When they come back home, Mommy feeds me my lunch, and then we go out and play. Mommy usually throws the Frisbee or a ball and I run after it. She tries to get me to give it back, but I never do! After play time, Mommy works in the kitchen and sometimes she washes the clothes or turns on the vacuum cleaner. After supper, she takes my boy places. I don’t really know where they go, but he is a very busy boy. He plays football, wrestling, and track. So there is always someplace for Mommy to go. Soon my boy will be going in the car all by himself and Mommy says she is not looking forward to it! In the evenings, and almost all day on Sunday, Mommy writes stories. She sits at her computer for hours. Daddy, the boy and I are not allowed to bug her then!

What type of books does your Mommy write?

Mommy writes mostly love stories that she calls romances. Some of them are really spooky stories about ghosts and people traveling to other times. When she finishes writing a new chapter she always reads it out loud. Some of the chapters are so scary I have to go and hide under the bed!

Next time you get scared, give me a call. I'm quite the chivalrous golden and will be glad to offer protection. Remember I also have connections with the CIA. So tell us, has your Mommy immortalize you in any of her books?

Right now Mommy is writing something called a “series.” The first book is called Shadow Lake and was released on April fool’s Day from Black Lyon Publishing and that’s no joke! It’s awesome, and probably one of my favorites of all Mommy’s books. The story is set in a campground in New York State. In one scene there is a black lab playing Frisbee in the lake with his boy. I think that is the best scene in the whole doggone book! (Pssst … the black lab is me!)

Good for you, Miss Lucy! My mom is working on a picture book about me (at gun point). Can't wait for her to finish it. So what do you do for amusement while Jean pounds at the computer all day and ignores you?

Mostly I don’t care if Mom ignores me, as long as I get to be where she is. I like to lie on my rug beside the computer where she can reach over and scratch my ears once in awhile. I like it when Mom reads her work out loud to me and I always wag my tail at the good parts. We have a cat named “Boy” and I’m careful to keep him out of Mom’s office while she is writing. He tries to get in Mom’s lap, and it makes it hard for her to work. Sometimes, when Mom writes for a really, really long time, I get bored and I start to chew on stuff. Mostly the legs of the wicker chair. I don’t mean to be naughty, but sometimes I just can’t stop myself. You have to remember, I’m only two!

What happens when Jean gets a bad review?

Mommy definitely doesn’t like to get bad reviews! Thank heavens it doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, I am careful to listen, wag my tail, and give lots of extra kisses so Mommy knows I think she’s the greatest. Personally, I don’t think they should let crazy people write reviews. I know they are crazy people because when Mommy shows Daddy a bad review, he always puts on his angry voice and says, “What is she… crazy?”

Does Jean like to snack while she writes? Sometimes I have to block the entrance to the kitchen to prevent my author mom from snacking too much—but of course, she refuses to give me treats and believes I’m fat! (oddly, the vet agrees with her). Do you think there’s a connection between writing and obesity?

No, but I definitely think there’s a connection between eating and obesity. My vet told Mommy an evil, evil thing. He told her to be careful about overfeeding me, because black labs don’t know when to stop eating and tend to be obese. So Mom doesn’t allow me to eat people food very often, but she keeps a box of my favorite biscuits in the drawer in her office. She keeps cans of cashews for herself. She probably goes through fifty cans while writing a novel. When I beg for her cashews she always says “No!” But like I said, my best feature is my big, brown eyes, and I have learned how to use them! I just keep staring at Mommy and make my eyes really sad and she caves every time!

I totally understand! I wrote something on the FAT subject the other day. Thank you so much for stopping by this side of the woods, Miss Lucy. It's good for my reputation to be visited by young pretty brunettes such as yourself!