Shiloh Lives On

Comment:

I have a suggestion for you. Since you finished the Shiloh quartet with the finale, A Shiloh Christmas, why don’t you create a new Shiloh quartet? I have a suggestion that may interest you. It’s about this eight-year-old girl named Rexela “Rex” Favale and she meets Shiloh when her dad, Ben, drives her to karate class. Then a 12-year-old dogcatcher named Wound(as in the booboo) captures Shiloh and brings him to the pound. So after she rescues Shiloh, she brings him home and hangs out with him with her seven-year-old identical twin sisters, Hallie and Lola, her parrot, Lucie, and her husky dog, Barbara and Ben. Then at the end, she decides to return Shiloh and instead of Marty coming to the door, it’s Marty’s son, Matthew. Matthew tells Rex she can keep Shiloh. I’ve got some pages you can write down.

Phyllis replied:

Hmmmm.  Since Marty was eleven years old in the first Shiloh book, and Shiloh was about a two-year-old dog, and at the end of your book Marty has a son who is….eleven?  That means Marty would be about thirty-six years old, his son would be eleven, and Shiloh would be….um….a twenty-seven year old dog!   You sound like a person who has a great imagination, and perhaps you would have a lot of fun writing your own Shiloh book for yourself and your friends!  Actually, most writers prefer to think up their own ideas, because we have to feel very close to something to make an idea work.  I’m happy that you like the Shiloh books so much!