I love
dogs. I love holding a puppy and even smelling puppy breath. My writing is like a
puppy. You ask, “What do you mean?” That’s a good question. Here is why I liken
my writing to a puppy.
As
a dog lover it is wonderful to see a puppy grow into a healthy mature adult
dog. It’s fun
to watch puppies gain their confidence in walking and running. They also have
little “accidents” as they are growing up. You may know what I mean.
I’m still
growing as a writer. Like a growing pup I can have a writer’s “accidents.”
These are things like too many “ly” or using “ing” words too often in my
writing.
A
puppy need not be a pure bred for me to love it. The sweetest dog I ever had in
my life was a Border Collie Spaniel cross. She was one of my best friends. She
had the personality of a working dog as well as a companion dog. She would
embrace life with gusto during the day and snuggle on my easy chair with me in
the evening.
I
don’t worry about my writing being a pure bred either. What I mean is, I don’t
class myself as a fiction or non-fiction writer, I just write. I love to write
about real life that may appear dark or somber with a gleam of hope ahead. That
is what my blog Scarred Joy is all about. Scarred joy is like my working dog
writing so to speak.
I
also love to write stories based on real life experiences. Right now I’m working
on a story of a young boy with a rare illness. In addition I have another story
of a boy and his grandfather. It is about their relationship as grandfather
lives in the fog of Alzheimer’s disease. I want to write this story as one
suitable for children. Both these stories may be like a companion dog writing.
It’s
fun to play with a puppy and see her or him run after a ball and catch it. One
of the dogs I loved became skilled at catching Frisbees. As she became older
she had more injuries and we had to stop playing Frisbee. My pup had grown old.
She lived a long life for a dog. I was with her during all the chapters of her
life right to the final sentence.
If
God grants me more years and to experience old age here is what I hope and pray
for. If the day comes I can no longer hold a pen I pray I can look back on words
I have written and know they brought comfort to broken hearts.
I
also pray I will have crossed the paths of other writers and played with them.
In other words, I like to have a writing buddy. I like to know other writers.
My present writing buddy and I have never met in person. We exchange emails and
send each other pieces of our writing to critique. It is a lot of fun. My
writing buddy is precious to me.
When
my days are done I pray my writing will have matured and been noticed by those
who hurt yet see hope ahead. Just like an old faithful dog I pray I will have
made a difference in the lives of people. That’s what a good dog does.
Blog:
scarredjoy.wordpress.com
