This month I'll share a bit about my little buddy who was 100% the inspiration for Paisley Noon's (of Nokota Voices) faithful, no-nonsense, task master sidekick. Prairie.
If you've ever really loved a dog before, you know how they become a part of your family. Not LIKE a part of your family, but a true, human-in-fur, there-when-you-need-them, knows-you-better-than-you-know-yourself, oh-if-only-they-could-talk PART of your family.
That was what this little border collie mix was to me. In my real world, over 13 years ago, I named her Paisley. The human character of Nokota Voices came second. Though the human character was named after her, I chose to create Paisley Noon's sidekick dog as an embodiment of my real-world dog but gave her a fictitious name - Prairie. Confused? It's okay. Just know, I was surrounded with inspiration.
In truth, this fun little girl had lots of names that defined her character better than anything.
She had names like: Judgie McJudgerson, Girl Scout, Emergency Nurse Paisley, Tattletale, Fun-Wrecker, and Hamburglar (Her grumbly sound effect was uncanny!). Border collies do love to keep everyone and everything safe and in line. And they are quite owly about it if they can't.
We called her Molasses when she would walk through imaginary sludge to the tune of some funeral dirge into the kennel for the work day. There, she would have to co-exist with the other mouth-breathing Neanderthals (a dopey pointer and an oblivious chocolate lab).
But she also went by names like: Pretty Princess, Sweet Face, and Little Buddy. Though she wasn't everyone's cup-o-tea, with that endless border collie energy and too-smart-for-her-own-good attitude, she was perfect to me. We got each other.
Here's to my girl. She will live on in Forever Fields.
And in my heart.
To meet her, so she can become a part of your family,
you can order a copy of Nokota Voices by going to
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Immortalizing a favorite pet in stories is a great way to always have them at hand and in memory.
ReplyDeleteThese little furry characters in our lives are more important than people think. They are part of our family. Mine are cats, and they did inspire characters in my books. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAw, what a great remembrance of Paisley. And I laughed out loud at this: "We called her Molasses when she would walk through imaginary sludge to the tune of some funeral dirge into the kennel for the work day." Great description - I could see it clearly in the playground of my mind :)
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