Of dogs, weeds and blogs

Loveable slobber-face

Dogs are expensive. Food, toys, grooming, boarding and vet visits. Especially vet visits. Like an old lady taking my jalopy to a sketchy mechanic, I’m easily taken advantage of. Scenario: It looked as though our otherwise healthy, 2-year-old, slobber-face Lab lost 15 pounds since his last visit less than a year ago. Sudden weight loss makes pet owners panic. It makes vets panic. Rather than re-weighing or waiting to come back after two weeks of smorgasbord eating, I spent $250 to rule out everything—heartworm, Lyme, parasites. Everything turned out negative; slobber-face was okay—it was just too hot to eat like a Lab. I knew this, I knew he was fine. But there’s always that doubt, my need for absolutely certainty. The weight mistake was theirs, it’s hard to get him to sit still on the vet’s scale. This was an expensive lesson to do 2 things: insist on a do-over and not to rely on panic and worry to determine my actions.

            

Only a few ... now

I planted 45 tomato plants. What am I going to do with 45 tomato plants? I have no idea. I've never had 45 tomato plants. I suspect that many will die. I bought the plants in a sloppy seconds sale and most of them appeared to be on death’s door. (Though the price was right at $0.20 per plant.) And now I’m a slave to weeds! It’s a daily battle. I used to think that a few weeds were okay for a garden. Holding soil in place and providing insects with something other than crops to chew on. But weeds take everything--nutrients, water, sunlight. In writing, I think of weeds as the noxious people in my life. It’s a daily battle to remove the negative and dream crushing comments from my mind. to keep the naysayers from snaking their tendrils into my confidence. I have to tend to my writing daily. I promise you no matter what you plant--poems, short stories, novels--if you let the weeds take over, you’ll have nothing to harvest.

Who's right?

I’ve been reading and writing blogs for a while and the one thing I’ve learned is that for every piece of writing advice you read, there’s another that says the opposite. I’ve read not to make your first book into a series. But look at Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. She signed a 3-book deal before she even wrote book two. I’ve also read not to self-publish because it’s considered low-level literature. But John Grisham and Tom Clancy both started out self-publishing. And I’ve read never to pitch directly to a publishing house. But I’ve done it quite a few times, after the invitation, of course. My advice: go with your gut. Make your own mistakes. You’ll be able to share what worked for you. And maybe someone else can follow in your footsteps.