I know you all woke up this morning ready to celebrate because. . .

dun dun dun…

it’s Neil Diamond’s birthday!

Neil is a very famous singer/songwriter known for such meaningful lyrics as “and no one heard at all, not even the chair.”

I don’t know about you, but at my house getting the chairs to listen is something I struggle with on a daily basis.  It is uphill work, let me tell you!

Neil was also in The Jazz Singer, a movie that my BFF Caroline and I saw (more than once) in 1980 which is described as “a critical flop”… but somehow we knew every word to every song 🙂  In fact, if pressed, we might still be able to sing a lot of them.  Please don’t tell anyone.

Anyway, feel free to share your favorite Neil song in the comments today 🙂

Today is also my brother-in-law’s birthday – Happy Birthday, Dan!  Luckily he doesn’t seem to have any trouble getting his chairs to pay attention 🙂

Now, because it’s the third week of January and I’m extremely tired of winter already and in these parts it’s going to drag on for months yet, I think we need an extremely cheering Something Chocolate to get us through the day.  How do you feel about French Silk Brownies?  They just sound good, don’t they?

Also they look good!

And I think if we get to work on that recipe, boy will they taste good!

Smooth and creamy and chocolatey and delicious… I feel more fortified to face winter already 🙂

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Kari who is an employee by day, mommy, wife, and storytelling superhero by night. She has a master’s degree in business administration, as there was no degree available for pizza connoisseur. She lives in California with her husband, two tiny humans, and three ridiculous cats.

Visit her at her Blog

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Training Your Human

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)

The Pitch:  Brownie and his human pup Jax are the best of friends, but training is proving to be Ruuuff. Does this dog have what it takes to train his pup, or will his first lesson end in disaster?

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Kari improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)

Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above.  There are openings in March, so you could get your pitch up pretty soon for helpful feedback and a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta!

Kari is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I am looking forward to finding a few minutes to re-watch The Jazz Singer, which I have not seen since I was 15, and which Caroline promises me (based on the fact that she re-watched it recently) is really awful 🙂