I've had my share of big dogs - 90 pound Golden Retrievers, Huge Briards, muscular Corgis, which you might think were small but they're just short. Put proper sized legs on those guys and they'd morph from walking footstools to dogs of some real physical stature.

I've had my share of the little guys as well. My wiener dogs of course, but also a scrappy yellow Pom mix who arrived with the unfortunate name of Rots, and looked a lot like the dog above. The new puppy we got last week is the smallest by far - pretty much a hamster as far as size goes.

But whether my dogs are tipping the scales at near 100 or teeny enough to fit in Paris Hilton's purse, they all have something in common - they're dogs.

I've been thinking a lot about that lately. You see, right now I'm both working on a YA novel and a picture book manuscript. On the surface that can seem like two completely different universes. And if you're only judging these projects by word count, you'd be right.

But you're wrong.
(Is it wrong that I like to say, "You're wrong?")

Just as big dogs need love just like the little dogs, just like the tiny guys need to eat just like the big bruisers, just like you need to pick up the piles of you-know-what after they've done their business, it helps me to treat both my writing projects the same. They're both projects.

Do they have a compelling character? How about a setting? Tension? Dialogue? How about a clear beginning, middle, and end? One of my stories should come out at around 75,000 words. The other one I'd like to keep at about 500 words. And I'm sweating over both of them.

This new little puppy is just as much challenge to train as the big Briard. She's just as lovey and fun too.

So enjoy all your writing projects. I know you've heard differently, but -

size doesn't really matter at all.