One of the challenges in writing this novel was getting into the mind of a thirteen-year-old girl. I wasn’t able to do that when I was thirteen years old myself, and I sure wasn’t able to do it when I had a thirteen-year-old daughter. For help, I turned to the daughter of one of my best friends. David Leinberger let me chat with his daughter Lauren. Thank you, Lauren, for teaching me the vocabulary of middle school so that I didn’t have to go back to learn it myself. I like to think of myself as being able to face life’s challenges but I’m not doing eighth grade again.
Because I have been typing stories since I was in elementary school, my finger muscles and joints and ligaments are all sort of giving up on me. They wake me up at night to complain about how much they hurt and to warn darkly of Alien Hand Syndrome. So the very first draft of this novel was written via dictation, using an Apogee Electronics microphone with magic elves in it. Thank you everyone at Apogee, especially Marlene Passaro, for the donation of this amazing device, which turns my smartphone into a recording studio. Each chapter, when finished, was sent off electronically to Rev.com. Their work, translating my halting mispronunciations into intelligible text, was key to allowing me to get my work done without sobbing.
Okay, I cried a few times but that was emotional and not based on arthritis.
A couple of drafts into every manuscript I hand it to my wife and business partner, Cathryn Michon, who does a deep dive into the prose to hunt out problems. Who would think that a wife would be good at finding flaws in anything a husband does? Thank you, Cathryn, for your patient and extremely helpful notes. You are instrumental and very attractive.
At some point, an author decides it’s time to ship the manuscript off to an editor—usually long after the deadline has passed.
This was the first novel wherein my editor was Ed Stackler, who did an absolutely fantastic job helping improve the work I had done. In his words, he “liked this novel more than he thought he would.” That is high praise coming from an editor. Usually it’s much more common to get something like, “Why do you still believe you are a writer?”
After Ed’s work the novel was ready to show other people. More than any other person, Gavin Polone, producer of all of the movies that have been made from my books, has had a tremendous and positive impact on my career. I always send him my manuscripts with the warning that “you probably won’t like this one.” When he responded, “I adore this book,” I felt like I had really accomplished something. Thank you, Gavin, for your support, friendship, and wisdom.
Another early reader was my manager, Sheri Kelton. Sheri has made it her mission in life to see that every single book, short story, and grocery list that I have ever written gets made into filmed entertainment. We are all hoping that A Dog’s Perfect Christmas will be in theaters one day. If it is, it will be because of people like Sheri. Thank you, Sheri, for always being in my corner.
So far in these acknowledgments I’ve been doing a pretty good job of tracking this novel from inception to where we are currently, but now things are going to get a little fuzzier and less chronological.
Unfortunately, my mother passed away in November 2019. She never had an opportunity to read this book, but I know she would have absolutely loved it. She had some health problems toward the end, and had trouble, after a stroke, reading books, though novels were her passion for as long as I have known her. I showed her how an ebook could enlarge the type font so that she would have no trouble seeing the letters, and she had been reading A Dog’s Promise when she suddenly and painlessly passed away. She was my biggest fan and would have received an early reader copy of A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, so I suppose I am still tracking the chronology. Mom, you have no idea how much I miss you.
My attorney, Steve Younger, together with the aforementioned boxing manager, Sheri, will help shepherd this novel through the legal and dealmaking process of being adapted for the screen. If it sounds difficult it probably is, but yet it is a highly critical function, and so thank you, Steve, for going to law school so I didn’t have to. While you were there, you might have run into Hayes Michel my criminal attorney who has thus far managed to fight off extradition. Thank you, Hayes.
Thank you, Olivia Pratt, for swimming toward this sinking ship and taking the helm. The crack team at A Dog’s Purpose sends out bookmarks, bookplates, free gifts, and we donate a lot of my books to dog charities. None of that would be possible without Olivia, who operates the “back end” of the office and also takes care of important stuff like making sure I don’t forget to get my hair cut and that I take my medication and that I get enough martial arts training to ward off any attacks from third-grade spelling bee losers.
Thank you, Diane Driscoll, for finding Olivia for us.
Jill Enders has kept me social for many years. She helps assist the Secret Group on Facebook in loving their dogs and dog books. She answers questions from readers, such as “When will Bruce get a haircut?” (Answer: ask Olivia.)
And what about that Secret Group? They have done a lot of good work over the years, helping us adopt not shop, save them all, and offering counsel to those of us who have lost our furry friends. They are wonderful people and I owe them a debt of my gratitude.
One of the reasons why I was able to write a book instead of spending all of my time taking care of my mother in her last year of life is because she had such a wonderful support team. Too many people to list here, but thank you to Bob Moran, Rocky Dolan, Mary Ellen Furseth, Tom and Diane Runstrom, Jody and Andy Sherwood, Tim Whims, Patrick Faust, Jerry Sulak, John and Patti Masson, and everyone else who kept her safe those last months.
I often tell elementary school children that I have two evil sisters, and it always gets a laugh. But my sisters aren’t evil, they are just crazy. Amy and Julie Cameron have supported my work for a long, long time. Amy writes the CORE compliant study guides for my grown-up books. Julie is a physician who makes sure that her patients all read my novels as part of their treatment. Your support means the world to me.
I also have offspring and grand-offspring who cheer for me. Two out of three of my children carry a gun in their line of work, but the third one is who you should watch for. Thank you to Georgia, Chelsea, Chase, Gage, Eloise, Garrett, Ewan, Gordon, Sadie, Alyssa, and James.
Obviously, Eloise, Ewan, and Garrett in this novel were not given those names by sheer chance.
Families continue to grow, like, say, my waistline. Thanks to my strategic marriage, I now have Evie Michon, Ted Michon, Maria Hjelm, and Jacob, Maya, and Ethan Michon as treasured members in my family. (If you have read ADP, you might recognize a few names here.)
I also have two goddaughters. I would appreciate it, Carolina and Annie, if you would stop growing older. I find it disquieting.
I mentioned the study guides earlier. For my young-reader novels, Judy Robbens writes the study guides. You can find all of them, free for download, at adogspurpose.com.
Special shout-out (I’m literally shouting) to Samantha Dunn, an astoundingly talented writer who has encouraged and helped me the whole way.
Sometimes you have friends who support you and though they have no direct impact on your career, they nonetheless are part of what makes it all work. So thanks to Aaron Mendelsohn, Gary Goldstein, Ken Pisani, Mike Conley, Susan Walter, Margaret Howell, Felicia Meyer, and Mike Walker for supporting me as the worst secretary of any organization in history.
Thank you, Dennis Quaid, for standing up for the movie A Dog’s Purpose when it was under terrorist attack. You are a true mensch, a real Dennissance Man.
I started to name my most treasured friends, and the list started to feel like when during the Academy Awards the person keeps talking even when the music gets loud and two tough women come out to beat him up for winning the spelling bee. I deleted the list maybe thirty people into it. To quote Sharon Solfest in the movie Cook Off!, “You know who you are!”
Over the years I have worked with and donated to more than three hundred animal rescue charities, but
I want to specifically call out Best Friends and Life is Better Rescue for their tireless work saving animals who need extra human help.
Naming just two animal rescue organizations when there are so many doing such good work feels like I am running a real risk. So many of them do excellent work. So probably this is a good place to stop.
I’ve just sent the final copy edit of A Dog’s Perfect Christmas to my publisher. I loved working on this book, but I loathed doing these acknowledgments because I am absolutely sure I have snubbed somebody or something really important. I humbly apologize for having a brain that can’t find my cell phone or my coffee cup most mornings, just like the character of Hunter. If you read through it this far and you don’t understand why I didn’t mention you, it is because I’m an idiot. Please forgive me.
Thank you and I look forward to remembering you in my next acknowledgments, which will be for a book I am cleverly calling The Untitled Sequel to A Dog’s Way Home.
W. Bruce Cameron
Los Angeles, CA
By W. Bruce Cameron
A Dog’s Purpose
A Dog’s Journey
A Dog’s Promise
Emory’s Gift
The Dogs of Christmas
The Dog Master
A Dog’s Way Home
THE RUDDY MCCANN SERIES
The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man
Repo Madness
HUMOR
A Dad’s Purpose
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter
How to Remodel a Man
8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter
FOR YOUNGER READERS
Bailey’s Story
Bella’s Story
Ellie’s Story
Lily’s Story
Max’s Story
Molly’s Story
Shelby’s Story
Toby’s Story
Lily to the Rescue
Lily to the Rescue: Two Little Piggies
Lily to the Rescue: The Not-So-Stinky Skunk
Lily to the Rescue: Dog Dog Goose
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W. Bruce Cameron is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, A Dog’s Way Home (all now major motion pictures), A Dog’s Promise, The Dog Master, Ellie’s Story, Bailey’s Story, Lily’s Story, The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man, and others. He lives in California. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Acknowledgments
By W. Bruce Cameron
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A DOG’S PERFECT CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2020 by W. Bruce Cameron
All rights reserved.
Cover images by Shutterstock.com
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-16358-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-16357-8 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250163578
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First Edition: 2020