The Dog That Bites

My wife and I consider ourselves true animal lovers. We have five dogs, three of whom we generally share a bed with every night. A good example of our love for our dogs is when I spend an evening in the office writing and then I decide to go to bed and there’s not any room for me to lay down.

I have to wake the wife up and tell her to take her glasses off, turn over, move over or turn around straight on the bed, tell one of the little dogs to move over, get the big dog to the foot instead of the middle of the bed. Then and only then I can lay down and fight for cover until I’m asleep.

It’s not that way every night but every once in a while. You know what it’s like to try to get an eighty pound dog to move over much less to get cover out from under her when she’s asleep?

Then there’s our other dogs, those two that stay outside. When it’s real hot outside my wife may let them come into the mudroom and lay down for the afternoon to cool off. When its real cold outside in the wintertime and the temperature gets at freezing or below we’ll let them in for the night. They are good dogs, they love to play and they have a lot of energy to burn.

One of them loves to, what we call “roughhouse”, while the other one likes to play fetch. I can throw a ball in the yard and one will go and fetch it while the other tries to keep him from getting to it. Even though their character and their looks are as different as night and day, they stay close by each other. But because of their character they have gotten mad at each other and I’ve had more than my fair share of breaking up fights between them. I’ll keep them separated to give them time to cool off and then by nightfall they’re both whining wanting the other and all is good. People are shocked when we tell them they are brothers born on the same day and came from the same litter. Since they have been together since birth my wife and I both think it would be hard on either of them if we had to separate them permanently.

One cold winter day I got up early to let them out. One of them usually scratches on the door when he’s ready to go out and the other just waits until we open it before he runs out. Well on this particular day neither one of them wanted to go out and I didn’t want them to stay in. I played with them and petted them.  I opened the door to let them out and they both sat down. The sun was shining bright it was warming up and even though the night had gotten below freezing, the day was looking beautiful. When neither of them made a move for the door I would try my best to coerce them out, they still didn’t move. I grabbed one by the collar and he pulled against me. I nudged him out and by the time I was going for the other he was coming back in. I grabbed the other hoping one or the other would take the initiative and the other would follow, but nothing from either one.

It was when I began to be a little more forceful to get them out was when one of them growled at me showing me his teeth. When he done that the other followed suit and did the same thing. Naturally, I didn’t want to get bit by either one of them, or both and I could have gotten real mean and ugly toward them but I didn’t. I sat down on the step and gently called them both over to me. I petted them, played with them a few minutes and left them alone in the mudroom and a couple of hours later I checked on them again to which they both wanted to go outside by then.

Every day I come in from work my dogs are there and are happy to see me, and I am happy to see them. They are a great stress reliever after a hard, aggravating day. They certainly help to take my mind off anything that may have been bothering me.

I often think about that day my dogs almost turned on me. I thought about all those animals that are living in abusive homes or in abusive situations. A dog’s character is a lot like that of humans. They/We can only take so much before they/we turn. Some may leave, some may stay and fight. Either way it’s never good. In the end someone will wound up getting hurt. And that’s the last thing I would want to do is to hurt something that brings me so much joy each and every day or for them to hurt me for that matter.

If we feel that way toward animals how come we can’t feel that way toward others? People always say that so-and-so hurt my feelings so I’m not going to have anything else to do with them. Maybe they were having a bad day. Maybe you were having a bad day. Maybe something was said out of context without any intentions of hurting anyone. Dogs don’t have to stop and think because they can’t talk, but we do. We should guard our conversation. The bible tell us to let our ‘Yes’ be yes and our ‘No’s’ be no. (Matthew 5:37)

Sometime people are pushed too far, too much. I have seen it way too many times in life and I’m sure you have too of where someone had gotten fed up with someone else’s antics. You can look it up everyday on Youtube or see it on Facebook or some other media outlet of where someone was pushed just a little too far. You hear it on the news. I have seen way too many good, hardworking, honest people leave a company simply because their buttons were pushed one too many times.

You and I both have seen it where a spouse was pushed too much and then they push back or up and leave and then the one who started it plays the victim. That seems the norm for society today.

The bible told us this day was coming. 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!' (Isaiah 5:20, 21 KJV)

Word Count, Pages or Chapters?

A writing group I'm associated with had put forth a challenge to us.  They wanted to see how many of us could write a thousand words a day for the month of July.  

I've never been too fond of setting a goal on a number of words to write in a single day.  I've always been afraid that if I concentrated on a number of words to write then I would lose my focus on the story I am writing.  

The goal I've always set for myself was to write a chapter.  It didn't matter if the chapter is three pages or ten pages I've always felt better to write and finish a chapter in a day.  There are a lot of days that I don't quiet make it and I have to put it off until the next day but most of the time when I start writing into a chapter I like to try and finish it.  

To Each His Own. 

As I've studied and researched writing styles, word count and anything from how many pages a chapter should have to how many pages should a good novel have, I also studied how other writers set themselves on a pace to write their books.  

I've learned each one has their own style of writing and very few of them do what we call a "word count".  

I once heard that Stephen King likes to write about ten pages a day, which is about 2,000 words, give or take.

Anne Rice likes to write episodes or an average of about 3,000. 

Jack London was said to write anywhere from 1,000-2,000 words a day. 

Mark Twain once said he averaged about 1,800 words a day.  

I've heard of writers putting an alarm clock in front of them and write until the alarm goes off. 

I've also heard of writers who are like me, they will write a chapter before they quit for the day or evening.  

That's well known writers.  What about those of us that has to juggle a full time job with a home life?  It's hard to think about writing a thousand words a day or more, especially when you've had a tiring or aggravating day and all you want to do is to kick back, relax and read a book or see what's on TV.  

I like the advice that John Grisham gives to inspiring writers, write a page a day.  But he also said to us future best-selling authors, don't make an excuse for not writing at least one page a day.  

I don't concern myself with word count or pages.  To me I like to focus on the plot, the twist, the story in general.  I know where I'm going with it and I know how it ends.  What's inspiring to me is finding all those twist and turn fillers between beginning and end.  

I got to thinking about the challenge with our writers group and I began to study on exactly how many words do I write in a day or week as I've never really kept up with it.  When I do sit down to write I try to write one whole chapter before I quit.  This week I was able to write three chapters.   My chapters are usually between five and seven pages.  Every once in awhile it may be four pages but most of the time it averages about five pages.  I write single space instead of double-space and at an average of about 300-500 words per page that puts me writing anywhere between 1,500-2,500  words a night, when I do write.  Which is a surprise even to me as I've never really given it much thought. 

Since I've had so much going on in my personal life this year I've had to put off a lot of my writing to focus on other issues.  Now that I'm back on track I can put a little more attention to finishing at least one novel this year when I had a goal of three.  

The biggest problem I have is that it's hard to focus on writing just one novel.  I like to tell people that my ADD kicks in and today I may write on this novel and tomorrow I'm writing on that one.  I know all the characters that are going to be in the book, I know the plot, the plan, the layout, so for me it's hard to stay focused on just one book. 

Anybody have any suggestions on that problem? 

So this week and the weeks to come I want to focus all my time and energy to getting one novel finished this year.  

For those of you that haven't started yet or is thinking of getting started writing a book or novel, find your niche and start writing.  But whatever you do, WRITE! 

Love you all and have a Blessed day! 

A New Method To Reading

Recently I came across a new method to reading books and I decided to give it a try. I have always had a hard time reading books. I would get sleepy, tired, bored (especially if the book is boring).  When I was in high school our English/Literature teacher always had a book for us to read. To say the least that is one thing that I always failed at when it came to taking test. Why? First of all I didn't like reading to begin with. Then we had to read these boring classics like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Dracula and the likes.

As I got older I got into reading more. When I came to the realization that there was absolutely nothing worth watching on television I took up reading. Plus, reading stimulates the brain, or so I've heard. I've always read the bible and I still do.

I remember when I told my wife that I wanted to read more and the first classic book I read when I started was Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. I have since read those books that I was supposed to read in school, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Dracula. And even as an adult I still had a hard time getting through every one of them. I saw my former English teacher in the grocery store one day and I proudly told her that I had finally finished reading that book she wanted us to read thirty years ago. Then I told her it was still boring but I read it.

One thing I can say about the books I write. First of all, I ain't no professional. Never claimed to be. But I do have a story to tell, quite a few to be exact. I only wished I had picked up writing books in my teens and twenty's instead of my forty's and fifty's. I wish I knew some of the secrets to writing that I know now. When I read a book I will read it all the way through. Very few books I will put down and not finish reading. One thing if I am going to give a book an honest review then it's only fair to read it all the way through.

With my own writing that's also the one thing I ask of people about my books. Read it all the way through then give me constructive criticism. I've had people tell me they didn't like my book and wouldn't finish reading it for one reason or another. To me that's like water off a duck's back. Their opinion and criticism don't mean a hill of beans to me. I could care less what their opinion is if they didn't finish reading my book. And I'm very verbal concerning their opinion. I tell them to finish reading the book then tell me what they thought of it. A good writer will welcome what others think of their work. In reality it helps to make one a better writer.

One secret I have I would like to share with you and that's the secret to reading a book. At least it's my secret. My problem has always been that once I start reading a few pages in I would get tired or sleepy. Some nights I would have to push myself to read ten pages. Twenty if I'm not so tired. I have ebooks, like the ones I write and publish, but I also have a lot of paperback and hardback books. One night I decided I was going to set myself on a goal. I decided that I was going to read one hundred pages in a book. If a novel had four hundred or so pages then I could read a book in four days. That would have been a far stretch for me but I was determined to do it.

Next question I had was; how was I going to do it? I decided the best way to do it and to reach my goal was to place my book marker one hundred pages in or to the nearest chapter of a hundred pages. So that's what I did. Low and behold once I set my goal I was determined to reach my goal. Aren't we all determined to reach our goal? People set a goal on losing weight all the time. Actually I was quiet surprised how quickly I did read the one hundred pages. Some nights I set my goal at fifty pages and again I was surprised how quick I got to my goal.

I haven't read two books in one week since I read a series of books by Doctor Seuss when I was little. I was doing good at times past to read one book in a month. Now I'm reading two books in a week. Or at least I done it for one week. I plan to continue to use my plan of placing my book marker ahead of where I want to read to, setting my reading goal. I will continue to do what I've always done when I started reading though. I would read a classic, then a modern day novel, maybe then a western (did I mention that I've got a lot of westerns?) and of course a book in the bible. I've quit counting how many times I've read the bible through but that's another goal I've had and I've done several times over.

So grab a book at a yard sale, flea market or thrift store. It doesn't matter what writer. Just grab one of a writer you've never heard of and read that book. Set yourself on a goal. Use a Post-It note as a book marker that way it'll stick to the page you're reading to and it won't fall out.

Get a book, set a goal and have a very Blessed day.