Melisa L. Wells: Ink Slinger Extraordinare

My sister Melisa L. Wells is now a published author! She poured her heart and soul into "Remembering Ruby: For Families Living Beyond the Loss of a Pet" and I DEMAND ENCOURAGE you to buy the book! You can either click on the amazon direct purchase link in the right column of my blog, or you can hop over to her blog and buy it there.

I'm so proud of her for continuing to set goals for herself toward reaching each of her dreams. She has always knocked over any obstacles unfortunate enough to be in her way, almost always with a sunshine-y smile on her face. I should know since when we were kids I was the obstacle getting knocked over! Bah-dum-bump!

She asked me to design the cover and inside layout of the book, and it was a truly priceless experience to work on a project like this special book together. She pretty much gave me free reign and that right there? That is the perfect client. You hear that, clients of mine? Take some notes from my sister, otherwise I'll send her to your offices and have her knock you over. You'll know it's her because the last thing you'll see is her sunshine-y smile:


Me, with the totally obtrusive inflatable arm floaties, and my sister with the sleek inflatable swan. Totally sums up our personalities. Bull in a china shop (me) and graceful ballerina-type (her). Here we are in the late 70's at our local country club. By "local" I mean our backyard, and by "country club" I mean a craptastic kiddie pool. Was that pool even deep enough to warrant my wearing floaties? Good times.


If she asked me to do another book with her tomorrow, I would. That's saying a lot after what we went through the past 10 months to get this one out into the world, which you can read ALL about on her blog. While you're there, buy the book!


We were put through the ringer to see this book go from my design files on my computer to the actual printed book, but as evidenced by this childhood photo of us, even in stormy weather we stand strong together under our umbrellas. Ellas. Ellas. Eh. Eh. Eh.


Here is the announcement my sister sent out to family and friends:

During the difficult time after our beagle Bijoux died in April 2003, I was unable to find a book on pet loss that our family could share. That summer, I wrote a book on the subject–geared towards families with young children–after it occurred to me that writing our story would be therapeutic while also helping other families going through the same thing.

I have been waiting to make this big announcement for a long time: as of last week, my book "Remembering Ruby: For Families Living Beyond the Loss of a Pet" was officially published!

The story, told from my son's point of view, is accompanied by black and white photographs. Because losing a pet is often the first time that children have to cope with death, I thought it important to include suggestions on helping children grieve in their own way, which you’ll find at the back of the book in the "Guide for Parents” section.

My sister Julie spent countless hours designing the interior of the book (and working other photo magic, like editing millions of dust particles out of some of my scanned photos) and she is also responsible for the absolutely stunning cover.

Speaking with many people about the process of publishing my book during the past year has reinforced my belief that “Remembering Ruby” fills a void in an often overlooked subject matter, and I hope that our family's story can help comfort other families that are dealing with the sadness of losing a pet.

Here’s your call to action: The book is now available online at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Every good review will help promote “Remembering Ruby”, so if you buy the book, you can help me by writing an online review (of any length) on the “Remembering Ruby” page on either bookseller’s website. I am going to need a lot of word-of-mouth promotion for this. If you would be so kind, please pass this information on to as many people as you feel comfortable. I appreciate your help in spreading the word!

By the way, I have also been writing a blog about this journey, and Julie just gave the site an extreme makeover! According to my publisher, purchasing from and reviewing on amazon.com will boost the book's sales rating, and so Julie has installed a direct purchase link from my website. Click here to get to my blog: Remembering Ruby

I also want to thank everyone who has given me support and encouragement along the way; this is truly a dream realized and I couldn't be happier about how the book has turned out. I am very excited to share it with you and the rest of the world.

What are you still here for? Get over to her blog, already!