Books. So many warm thoughts are evoked when I think of that word. It is exciting to plan your date with the book you want to read and then take the time to sit in a quiet place and shut out the world you are living in to enter another world you choose to go.
I can't remember a time when I didn't
like to read or to write. I also used my reading as a guide to the
style I would like to engage when writing. I wrote short stories and
secretly hoped that someday I would really get serious about writing.
When my daughter turned 16, she went on
a trip for fourteen days and left me with her new puppy, a miniature
Dachshund. This little guy named Louis Vuitton was one intelligent
dog. I made notes of his escapades and took pictures during this two
week stay.
How Louis Vuitton entertained us for the evening
One evening my husband and I were in
the living room and heard an awful commotion upstairs in my
daughter's bedroom. Then the clunk-clunking of something being
dragged down the stairs. Here was this little six-month-old pup bringing his carrier (Louis Vuitton carrier, of course) down the
stairs. When he got to the living room, he proceeded to run back up
and one by one brought the necessary items for his trip to find his
mom. He brought his dish, ball, leash, blanket, teddy and sweater.
We sat in awe and watched this unfold and were thoroughly
entertained. When he completed his packing, he jumped inside and
with great difficulty began to pull the zipper closed. That was one
of the most enjoyable evenings we ever spent.
Louie liked to answer the telephone and
was contracted by Fido because as soon as the phone would ring, he
would run to it, knock it off the hook and bark into the receiver.
He was never taught any tricks – he had plenty of them up his own
sleeve. Of course, when Fido was there, he froze and that was the
end of that.
That Christmas, I published “Louis
Vuitton's Personal Journal of his Vacation with Grandma.” When my
daughter read it, she laughed and cried and said it was the best
present ever.
I finally wrote my story to shut her up!
The following year she began a
campaign of encouraging me to write my memoir. No matter what excuse
I gave her, she kept hounding me until I promised her I would. Thus
began my therapeutic journey to places I never wanted to revisit.
She kept insisting that the traumatic life I lived would be an
encouragement to so many people who felt hopeless and she would not
allow me to stop writing. She kept reminding me that there were many
people who needed to know that if this woman made it, there was hope
for them as well. Finally, just to shut her up, I completed it and
launched my memoir a few months ago.
One of my favorite authors is Harlen
Coben and I patterned my story after his style of writing with
mystery and humor.
I am so thankful to my little girl for
pushing, encouraging, challenging and sometimes shoving me into my
office to put pen to paper and complete what I had started. I also
thank Louie who really got me started on this journey.
No comments :
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.