With National Dog Biscuit Day on February 23, I'm thrilled to welcome you to a guest post by Darlene Dziomba, author of the Lily Dreyfus Series cozy mysteries. Darlene's light-hearted mysteries are warm, filled with plot twists, and reflect her deep love of animals. That's why, when she read the holiday cookie recipes, she wanted to feature a recipe for homemade dog biscuits.
Besides the recipe, you'll also learn how Darlene made the most of her writing peers to improve her writing and advance her career. After reading Darlene's post, you'll want to connect with other writers, too. Enjoy!
My life has gone to the dogs. Some people might despair after making that comment, but for me, it is just one sign of my new career.
As a lifelong reader, I started to attend Bouchercon as a means of discovering new authors. At my very first Bouchercon in Washington DC in 2001, I discovered two writers who became my must-read authors. Michael Connelly’s A Darkness More Than Night was in my bag. And I heard Ian Rankin speak on a panel.
Fast forward sixteen years to Bouchercon Toronto. I am listening to a panel of authors whose protagonists all work in dog-related activities, and I think to myself, I’ve never read a book where the protagonist works in an animal shelter. At the time, I had been volunteering at an animal shelter and had come to know a lot about the behind the kennels operations.
In a moment of utter craziness, I told myself that I should write that series.
I have had a lifelong love of animals. But I am an analytical person who worked in finance. I didn’t know anything about writing a book, let alone a series of books.
What did I know? There was an organization called Sisters in Crime that offered resources for new writers. I had one of the quirkiest dogs ever and had met a breadth of interesting, sometimes personality-challenged people. I could use those experiences to build fictional characters.
I started typing.
As luck would have it, the independent bookstore in my town was hosting a Writer’s Workshop. I submitted the first pages of an incredibly rough draft and was chosen to participate. And quickly learned after having other writers review my work that I needed to rethink the entire draft.
In my gross naivete, I had tried to write a book with a first-person POV.
Back to chapter one I went and rewrote the entire thing in third person.
While doing the rewriting and my full-time job, I took many courses offered through Sisters in Crime and the fabulous Guppies. It took years, but eventually, there was a complete book, a draft of a sequel, and ideas for third and fourth books. I was ready to query agents.
After a wealth of ghosting and rejections, I decided to self-publish Clues From The Canines. My most important goal was to have my parents hold a book in their hands with my name on the cover. They are as ecstatic as I am to be holding a fourth book.
In 2023 I decided to attend the conference Killer Nashville. This was a fortuitous choice. I made a lot of connections with other writers, most importantly CB Wilson. Cheryl writes the Barkview Mystery series and was looking to form a collaborative group of writers who all wrote pet-themed mysteries.
Unfortunately, only Cheryl and I were committed to a collaboration, but we’ve stuck with each other. We’ve talked about ways to help each other raise our sales, provided feedback on drafts, given each other moral support, and I’ve convinced Cheryl to partner with me to do Speed Dating at Left Coast Crime
I have retired from my finance career, but I still have a boss. My dog Billie lets me know when it is time to stop typing and take her for a walk. Or time to stop typing and open the back door for her to lay in the sun in the yard.
I also have plenty of time to bake Billie homemade cookies. There are several recipes I use, but I’d like to share Billie’s favorite.
Billie’s Favorite Biscuits
Ingredients
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 large ripe banana
1 tablespoon of baking powder
¾ cup of milk
2 ½ cups of whole wheat flour
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 20 to 30 seconds to soften it.
Mash the banana into the peanut butter
Mix in the baking powder
Mix in the milk
Add flour in half-cup increments. If you are hand mixing, after the first cup of flour is blended you should use a manual pastry blender to incorporate the rest of the flour. The dough becomes sticky.
Lightly flour a flat surface and roll the dough to ¼ inch thick. I use a third of the dough at a time.
Cut cookies with a cookie cutter and place on a non-stick cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes on one side. Flip the cookies over and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes.
Store in an air-tight container.
I freeze most of the cookies, removing a dozen or so at a time. They defrost quickly and since these have no preservatives in them, they can get moldy. Your pup will be incredibly disappointed if you have to throw out their homemade biscuits.
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Check out Darlene's books on Amazon. Follow Darlene on Facebook, Instagram and BlueSky. And if you try out the dog biscuit recipe, let us know how it goes in the comments!
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