Dogs in Stories, More Yoga, and The Egg Timer

Okay, so there are actually a frikkin ton of books with dogs in them. But not Dylan Thomas' autobiography, Life of a Dog, which I haven't started reading yet. But I've been told by a reliable source there isn't a dog in the whole shebang.

I read Mikhail Bukalov's "Heart of a Dog", and found it totally inspiring. It's a fantastic satire and really helped me with my own work. But other things sort of propelled me forward.

1) I went to a group where I spent three minutes talking about what my flaws are. I'm fragmented. I mean I write in fragments. A woman in the group who is a journalist said journalists write the middle of the story before they write the beginning or the end. This made me feel a little better but still...lazy. Yep, that's me.

2) The egg timer. Which I bought for someone else but used last night. I only got 330 words out in 30 minutes. But I used it for 20 minutes this morning and wrote 1,330, not including the 330 words from last night. I wrote from the beginning. Fantastic.

3) I am a creature of routine when I need to get something done. So I've decided I will structure my writing. Let's see if I stick to it.

I plan to get up at 8 am Monday - Friday, write until 9h30, then get ready for yoga. Yoga means I'm not free again until 13h00, so after a quick lunch (I am trying to get healthy for my heart), I'll write in my blog about complete crap.

Like for instance, I watched Harold and Maude again the other night. It has always been one of my favorite movies. Maude is such a kick. A real character. You wish you had a grandmother like her, and her antics on film feel like stories you tell because you knew her personally or knew of her.

I've always considered one of my greatest assets as a writer that I'm observant. I notice everything. I listen to six conversations at once at a party. I know when a couple at a cafe are fighting and why. I notice faces and the color of someone's scarf. Details are important to making characters jump off the page and into the reader's heart.

I'm also a very visual writer. I give my characters and my settings a real visual aspect. I want you to know what their faces look like in various states, what they're wearing, what the tree behind them looks like. Paint a picture with words.

And, I'm a poet at heart. Maybe I don't write sonnets anymore, but I love poetic devices and use them in prose. My writing has emotion to it. I feel and dream along with the characters I've created.

So back to this whole having started from the beginning. My pup is coming to life and she's fantastic and she's got a fantastic little story going on and I'm awfully excited.

Btw, I did create a kick ass playlist on Deezer which sure helps a lot.