Always committed to a job well done !
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Gray : When I first finished the book , I shopped it around to different people . One of the people I first sent it to was a Hollywood director . I didn ’ t hear back from him at first , so I circled back around and sent it to him again when I had a book deal . He read it and loved it , and he ended up purchasing the movie rights . He ’ s out shopping the film now in Hollywood . It might get made into a film . As far as potential sequels , my publisher recently asked me “ Is this it for Manchester Christmas ? Or is there more to the story ?” I said , “ No , I think there ’ s more . I think there are a couple more books with her , but maybe not set in Vermont . Maybe she goes somewhere else .” He said to me , “ Well , tell me where she ’ d go ?” From that prompt , I ended up doing outlines for the next two novels . I ’ m almost done writing them . I don ’ t have them due to my publisher until next summer , but when I ’ m ready to write a story , I can ’ t just sit with it . I have to start writing it down .
Sherman : Your dogs are a big part of your life . How many dogs do you have ?
Gray : My family and I have five dogs . We ’ ve got two German Shepherds , Sebastian and Winston . One day , I was doing volunteer work at an animal shelter . The day Keller came in , he was a blind and deaf puppy who was abandoned and born with no eyes . I met him by accident when I was there . I was working in the back area . The volunteers typically didn ’ t go where he was kept . I started checking on him over the next few weeks . I kept asking the people who worked at the animal shelter , “ Did you find him a home ?” They told me that they hadn ’ t found a home for him yet . I talked to my wife about Keller , and then I took her to meet him . We both decided to adopt Keller then and there . Keller is a Double Merle Australian Shepherd . Many Double Merles are born blind and deaf . After we adopted Keller , my wife started looking for information on how to raise a blind and deaf dog . While she was doing her internet research , she realized that there were many dogs still out there with special needs . At that point , we adopted a second special-needs dog named Eli , a deaf Australian Shepherd . Then we adopted a third one named Bella , who is also deaf . We now have three dogs that are deaf , one of which is both deaf and blind . They get along so well , and they ’ re a lot of fun !
Sherman : Speaking of Keller , I hear you wrote a children ’ s book called Keller ’ s Heart about him . Have you published any other children ’ s books ?
32 VERMONT MAGAZINE