WHAT DOGS AND THE WRITER’S LIFE HAVE IN COMMON

I wasn’t a dog lover until recently. I grew up with dogs but never felt that close to any of the family furballs. My dad was always the master and his beloved Dusty, followed by Peaches and then Harry, were all his children. They cuddled with and bowed down to him.

My two young boys begged for a puppy a few years ago and my husband and I eventually relented, knowing they were finally old enough to help take care of a dog. No sooner did Sky enter our lives than I realized how much having a dog relates with the writer’s life.

Dogs love routine. So does the writing process—you must make a habit of taking to the page routinely and rigorously.

Dogs need “sniffari” walks in nature, something I learned while working on The Forever Dog. So does a writer to give the mind a breath of fresh air and invite new thoughts and ideas. New research shows we can in fact inhale good airborne nutrients and microbes—“aeronutrients” and “aeromicrobes” respectively—that are beneficial to health. Anything positive for health is positive for writing.

Dogs demand attention, play, and proper care and feeding. So does the writing endeavor for so many reasons. The task requires a consistent effort, regular breaks, and certain inputs that support the process.

When they’re not active, dogs love to lounge around and take naps—they make great companions to a writer sitting at a desk working.

Dogs can be high-maintenance, eccentric, and mercurial. But so can writers.

And we love them all anyway.