Writing

I think my dog Billie is watching Brokeback Mountain. No joke. She lies in bed all day and I - like an idiot -- keep the TV on for her. I guess I left it on HBO or one of the movie channels, so she’s lying there watching it. I really do wonder how much they comprehend sometimes. She seems interested.

She’s having a better time than I am, that’s for sure. Everywhere I look there is nothing but snow and I am quite tired of it. Somebody should make it go away. The only other place for me to look is my computer screen where I’m supposed to be writing something halfway interesting and work-related. That’s not happening yet.

Working at home is great. I have TVs, I have the dogs, I have all the coffee I can drink, I can putter around, I can read e-mail. I love it. I guess I could do some of those things in an office environment but I would feel guilty about it. This way I can do whatever I want. I don’t feel guilty at all. And, I get a lot more work done. I can write 20 pages a day if I have to here at home. I could never do that much writing in an office. People are far more distracting to me than TVs and dogs.

I have a great story I’m working on right now. I have all the research and interviews done. But I’m in a time bind at the moment. I have a doctor’s appointment in a couple of hours so I don’t really want to get launched into writing the story right now knowing that I’ll have to stop. I prefer long, unfettered chunks of time so I can write without stopping. I can write in stop-and-start units but I don’t enjoy it.

I love writing and it really doesn’t matter much what it’s about. I’ve worked in communications for a big insurance company. I’ve worked as a freelancer and written about local history, theatre, festivals and events, music -- you name it. Now I write mostly about dogs, genetics and dog legislation. It doesn’t matter. I love writing. Whatever it is I’m writing about I can usually focus on it and forget everything else. It’s such a wonderful feeling.

Being a writer is really all I’ve ever wanted to be. Okay, I wanted to be a jockey for a while but I quickly became too tall for that career. But I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I can remember. Even before I was old enough to go to school I stole a diary from my dad’s gift shop because I loved the empty pages and I wanted to be able to write in something. I’m not even sure I could write at that time, or do more than scrawl my name. There was just always something deeply satisfying about forming words, putting pen to paper, and now seeing words appear on the computer screen. I love it.