The Discipline of Writing

I’m in the early stages of writing a novel and I’m surprised at how hard it is! I am learning exactly what is meant by “it takes a lot of discipline to write.” It’s not easy to sit down and write, much less get in the “zone” when I do.

I had a couple of extra hours today – hours that I could have used to make real progress on my book. Instead I watched mindless celebrity gossip shows on E!. When I finally fired up the laptop to write, I found I wasn’t focused and I was yearning to play mindless computer games. I get so frustrated! It’s as if I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to writing.

There are so many distractions; it is easy to go a few days without writing anything. Some of those distractions are my own doing and not necessarily negative. I think it’s important to get wired into the world of writing, so I joined Twitter (I’m still figuring out how it works) and I started this blog. I’m hoping that by having alternative writing venues (that are much shorter than a novel!) I’ll still sit down each day and write something.

Discipline is a precious commodity when you are a writer. With a little persistence, I hope to shore up my reserves.

Puppy Love

Three months ago, my family adopted a puppy from the local Humane Society. At the time, she was nine weeks old. I had been keeping an eye on the Humane Society's website in hopes of finding the ideal "lap" dog. One day I saw a couple of chocolate lab mix puppies had arrived (I knew at that point that I wouldn't be getting a lap dog). I called my husband, who just happened to have that day off from work, and told him to hurry over to the Humane Society before they close. I gave him the name of the pup and a general description.

My husband called me about 20 minutes later to tell me he'd seen the dog. Unfortunately, he liked the sister of the dog I had told him about. Over the years, my husband has been wonderful about letting me pick our pets, so this time I let him choose. Our pup has a pretty chocolate color and also has the distinctive eyes of a Weimaraner. We named her Sadie.

Sadie isn't our first dog, in fact she's number four for us. Our older dog, Max, is a nine year old Golden Retriever. His disposition is so mellow and laid back and he was incredibly easy to train. I had forgotten the amount of work it takes to train a new puppy.

It didn't take long for Sadie to become comfortable in her new home. She has tendencies of dominance and our Golden lets her get away with it most of the time. Early on she started trying to assert her will on the household.

Watching her antics over the past few months has made me realize just how much of a toddler a puppy really is. If she sees something she wants, she goes and takes it -- even if it's in the mouth of our Golden Retriever! When she wants to play, she wants to play and if you don't that's too bad because she'll carry on until you are playing (voluntarily or involuntarily) with her. She loves to entice us into chasing her around the backyard; of course, we think we're just getting her to come back into the house.

Sadie is curious. There are a lot of things she wants to see that are higher than her reach. She has been known to jump up on a step stool and stand on her hind legs to peek onto the counter. When she hears a new sound, she gets a wide-eyed look on her face and listens intently while tilting her head from one side to the other. Like a toddler, she learns by putting everything in her mouth.

I'm a mother and I've had puppies before, but none have struck me as adoringly toddler-ish as our Sadie. We have found puppy love with our Sadie!