I couldn’t resist.

This is Seriously, the dog we’re co-parenting with another family. She’s part Doberman, part Labrador, totally high-energy and a complete love bomb. A few days ago she rolled in stinky dead stuff. Yesterday she slobbered all over me as we rode in the car.

Did I mention that we love her terribly?

It’s funny how animals come into your life. I never thought I’d be able to love another dog after The Beebs (who died of old age last January). Then one day I went running with a friend who had her neighbor’s dog with her, and just like that I fell in love all over again. It’s almost as if Seriously were waiting to meet me, waiting to fill the empty holes in my life.

A few nights ago my partner and I took her for a walk on the Coastal Trail, the moon so full and fat that we could see our shadows across the snow. The inlet was colored in purple haze, large icebergs floating against the shore, moving so slightly if felt as if time were barely passing. We walked and walked, the dog running beside us, and on the way back we passed a moose off to the side of the trail. It felt magical, all of us together in that big and silent night, with that big and silent moon.

If you’re a writer who wants to view the Alaska moon for yourself, listen up. Applications for the first Storyknife Writers Retreat open on April 15 .

The residency, for women only (sorry, guys), is located on a “fully-equipped cabin” ten acres outside of Homer, Alaska with, according to the Website, “a stunning view overlooking Cook Inlet, Mount Iliamma, Mount Douglas, and Mount Augustine.”

The lucky resident has the option of a two-four week stay and will also receive a $250 weekly stipend during her stay.

Applications accepted April 15-May 15.

Storyknife Writers Retreat is the vision of award-winning Alaska novelist Dana Stabenow.

Wanna submit?

I’ve decided to share some of the submission calls I dig up during my never-ending quest for publication-in-small-literary-magazines-that-almost-no-one-reads-except-other-people-wanting-to-publish-in- small-literary-magazines-that-almost-no-one-reads.

Good luck!

Del Sol Press seeks full-length manuscripts for its 2016 First Novel Competition. The competition is open to literary and upmarket, mainstream and general fiction, mystery/thriller and speculative fiction with a literary edge, serious women’s fiction and experimental work. First place receives publication; finalists receive publication consideration. Deadline is April 15.

GARO, the new online journal of the Rocky Mountain Land Library, seeks fiction, poetry, art, nonfiction, and interviews submission. The magazine publishes work that offers unexpected takes on the natural world.

Hope everyone had a happy Easter, to those who observed the holiday. And to everyone else: Eat a discounted chocolate bunny (or two!) just for the joy of it, okay?