Writing Lessons from My Dogs: Being Open to Surprises

I wasn’t planning on getting a puppy. Sure, I had been snooping on various dog rescue sites, but I knew I was just looking. Similarly, I had pulled up the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America’s Facebook page and website, along with their rescue section. I have always had a soft spot for English Cockers, and still miss my Hoover and Dashiell in a huge way. But I was just window shopping.

So when my friend Leah mentioned that her boss was fostering six Australian Shepherd-mix rescue puppies, I thought I was pretty safe.

Wrong!

I should have known, since I already have two Aussie-mix dogs. Plus, it’s pretty hard to resist a seven-week-old pup who snuggles into your neck or your lap and promptly falls asleep.

Here’s the rub. There’s no way of knowing the breed of the dog who fathered this puppy. In fact, from the looks of it, several males jumped in on the action, resulting in a whopping 11 tiny furballs who don’t exactly all look alike. Who knew that a single litter could have multiple sires?

Of course, that means that even after a visit to my fabulous vet, I have no idea what I’m getting into with the little pup who has just joined the family. That’s not the easiest thing for me.

I’m the kind of person who likes to plan. Sure there’s plenty of room for spontaneity, but a solid plan gives me the illusion of control.

That probably explains my passion for developmental editing. Finding order in a random assortment of ideas and creating a piece of writing that flows is just about as satisfying as it gets on the editing front. I like outlines for the same reason. By taking an argument or a story line from beginning to end in a cohesive way, you enhance the piece’s effectiveness and therefore its power.

Manuscripts, however, can sometimes have minds of their own.

You’ve planned for the main character in your novel to move in a certain way, but suddenly that no longer seems right. Those characters, who have taken on lives of their own, are suddenly talking back.

Nonfiction packs plenty of surprises as well. The pages mount up as you pound away at your keyboard, but suddenly the organization that seemed perfectly logical when you started out falls flat.

Oops! Time to regroup in either case, because most of the time being open to creative surprises leads to a more vibrant, exciting and relevant book.

Let’s hope it leads to the world’s best dog as well. Stay tuned!