The Seduction of a Series

Back in the spring when many of us were in full quarantine, there was chatter in various periodicals and on social media about reading: whether people can focus on a book or not; if they are reading, how much; have their reading tastes changed; what are they looking for at the moment. The Washington Post even tried to help you identify what type of quarantine reader you might be.

Pre-pandemic--last Thanksgiving in fact--I started N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy and finished it this past February. It's been a long time since I finished a series. And it felt great. There's a sense of comfort when starting a new book in a world and with a set of characters you already know. 

Previously, I've read Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy, The Hunger Games, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and the Dead is Better series (thanks for the rec, Nicki!). But that's been over the past 15 some odd years. That's it. Thinking back, my childhood was stuffed with the ubiquitous kids' series. In my case, there were the series for horse-crazy girls like the Thoroughbred series, The Saddle Club series, and the Animal Inn series. But as I reminisce, I realize I never finished any of these series. They were more like those TV show syndicates: you pick up the same ones from the library but you never reach the end.

Now I find myself thirsting for comfort and escape and lookee here, SFF to the rescue (as usual, right?). I purchased V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series after drooling over it at my local indie book shop Curious Iguana for the past few years and now that Brent Weeks has finished the fifth and final installment of his Lightbringer series, yep, that's on the list this year, too. In prep for the movie release this fall, it's time to re-read Dune and, what the hell, dive into the rest of that series too. Oh, and the Hitchhikers' Guide series. And I picked up the first three installments of Game of Thrones from a local little free library last winter so . . .

Whew, that's a lot of series. Quite a shift from my "normal" reading but as it feels like lately with everything else, what's normal? I demand escape and comfort. And I'm finding it (as usual, right?) in books. Are there any other series out there I'm missing? What are you reading lately?

Hello Again

Oh dear readers. What to say? What not to say? Even without the current world events, it's been eleven months since my last post. I've lost my posting ways. If I didn't have anything of import to say ten months ago, surely I don't have anything now. And yet. And yet we move forward.

So much on social media and numerous publications has examined, explained, bemoaned, sympathized, and excused the current state of cloudy thoughts and lack of creative ambition. I've read some of it. And it sort of helps until it gets to a point where it doesn't. I don't have anything new or unique to add to this new canon of pandemic paralysis. So I won't.

Instead, what to say? What not to say?

Found a beautiful morel a few weekends ago in the woods. Magic!

Here's something: I have been journaling more frequently than before. As in almost every day. It will usually take me six months or more to fill an average size journal and the one I'm currently working on, started in mid February, will be finished before May is over. What's in it? Mostly navel gazing and the self-pity spiral that ends with the gnashing of teeth and catatonic stares at the wall but also some note taking of current events. For posterity. A "Quarantine Diary" if you will. The New York Times even exalted the virtues of keeping a Corona Virus diary. Mine started in March, dutifully reporting the total number of Maryland cases each day. Lately, though, I've stopped doing that. Seems futile. Depressing.

Instead, as I flip through the pages over the last two months, I see lots of quotes. Quotes from newspaper and magazine articles about other's takes on the situation, those who are much better at words than I. Books recommended. Architecture to admire. Instructions on how to draw an illustrated map.

Well, it's no illustrated map, but how about some radishes? Eh?

Writer Arundhati Roy in particular has some excellent observations on this pandemic and--hey, silver lining here--I'm now a huge fan.

[PANK] literary magazine posted a good article April 30 on "Discovering the Available Means: On Reading and Writing in Quarantine" by Nancy Reddy. So, there's also that.

In summary, I'm floating in a haze. Perhaps posting is a small act of "hey, I did something." Or perhaps, more likely, it's more navel gazing. But it also gives me an excuse to show pictures of my two new cats, Mars and Jupiter:

Mars (left) and Jupiter, the new tenants.

One final thought. One quote I spied recently said this:

"Now is the time to grab at every loose idea."

It's copied purple and huge in my journal. And I think about it a lot. Almost a mantra. Because why shouldn't we? Especially now?! Let's go grab at those ideas. We've got nothing to lose.

Big Projects and Baby Steps

This past winter and early spring have been filled with a slow and (mostly) steady chipping away at big projects. As a planning sort of person, I love to sink my teeth into a long-term project, breaking it into smaller goals, checking boxes (oh, my love of to-do lists is fathomless), and measuring progress. But there's also that middle-of-the-project malaise when you're knee deep in something but on a day-to-day scale, feel like you're just treading water. Those days can be rough; they drain creative energy and make me crabby. However, when a major milestone has been met or -- gasp -- the entire damn thing is complete, I refuse to dampen the swell of unbridled joy that accompanies finishing something.

One major project that has recently checked the FINISHED box is something that sprouted in my mind about a year ago and I'd like to share it with you today. It starts with some exposition, so bear with me.

I have a friend I met freshman year of college. She was my biology lab partner (we sign letters "Bio 4eva") and we quickly found shared interests in jokes, Margaret Atwood, space exploration, physiology, and microscopes. Even after going our separate ways and over the years, finding ourselves on different coasts, we keep in touch. When she announced she was pregnant with her first child last spring, I knew something epic was required.

So I wrote her newborn daughter a book. A science book. Teaching the ABCs, to be exact.

Fair warning: I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. But, by that same argument, I can pretend to be and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way. This turned out really to be half gift and half challenge to myself: can you, Anna, think of, then actually finish, this thing you dreamed up?

This children's book takes the reader through the alphabet in sing-song rhyming fashion, matching each letter with a scientific term, accompanied by hand-drawn watercolor illustrations.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed sitting down on rainy, blustery autumn Saturdays last fall with Crayola watercolors in front of me, re-learning wet-on-wet technique and practicing some very sketchy calligraphy with some pens I bought at Barnes&Noble.

Perhaps as a self-fulfilling prophecy, the part that took the longest was the part I dreaded most: figuring out how the hell to get these images (done on watercolor paper) into book format. Some high resolution scans and a large amount of internet searching later, I found UBuildABook. This company was exactly what I needed in terms of easy formatting and high-quality printing. My intention was never to have this be a "book" book - no ISBN number, not looking to sell online (my only hope is the amateur-ness of the entire production is viewed as "charming" -- I'll even take the slightly more patronizing "endearing"). This was intended as a single issue dedication to someone I hope will grow to love reading and science as much as her mother (and her mother's friend) does.

Just last week, the finished project (referred to as The Super Secret Project and Sorry This is Taking So Long in letters, given that the child this is in celebration for was born in November) finally made it into the hands of the intended and I received a few texts confirming what I expected: a thank you and the knowledge that the mother was going to get more enjoyment out of it for a while before her daughter learns her ABCs. But, you're never too young to start enjoying books. And I think the glossy print pages are probably drool-proof. So I wish you many adventures in both reading and science, little one. The world is your Crassostrea gigas (oyster).

Until next time, happy reading, happy writing, happy vetting.

Gone Fishin'--an update

Ah, summertime. This is adventure season, folks. Hiking, biking, explicitly NOT running (way too hot for that foolishness right now), roller skating, swimming, grilling, traveling, lightning bugging (I just made that up but it involves sitting on the porch at dusk drinking sangria and enjoying the company of lightning bugs), and reading.

Anna in cat form in summer mode.

And very little writing.

Get in, losers. Road trip.

Catch me in February, all sunshine-deprived and wrapped in blankets in a ball on the couch and you've got your writing weather. Not now. Now is the time for celebrating sunshine.

Hell yeah, summertime!!!

You may deduce this is as the reason why VetWrite slows down come May, into June, and now with this you're-not-fooling-anyone-Anna update in July. You're right. You're so smart.

This is so you.

So here's the deal. I have two fantastic interviews with authors coming up for posting this fall. Keep your beautiful eyeballs peeled for September. Until then, get outside, go kayaking, bird watching, wash your dog. Wait, that's my to-do list. OK. You get the point. I'll catch you when school is back in session.

If you're really jonesing for some reading material, I'm pleased to say that I've had a few fiction pieces published recently (when it rains it pours, but mostly a drought). Scoot on over to my "Fiction" page for the deets. But I'm way more interested in what you are reading and what you are writing. Dish, please, in the comments section.

So, until September, happy reading, happy writing, happy vetting, my friends and dear readers.

Editing the Journal of Tomorrow

This month I have a unique interview lined up for you all. A few weeks ago I was able to connect with Dr. Marian C. Horzinek, editor-in-chief of Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow, an online, refereed journal that provides reviews and opinion papers (in contrast to experimental data) on the most current research in biological sciences. The journal's noble mission statement captures very well its intent and scope: "Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow is an electronic current awareness journal that aims to encourage and support the worldwide veterinary research community; it also wishes to give the community a sense of identity and appreciation of quality." Perusing the site, you will quickly find yourself immersed in a spectrum of topics as diverse as animal night vision to the genetics of autoimmune disease to a bit of paleontology. And that's just from the past few weeks. Check back again and you'll find updated information, links, and editorials, illustrating just how deep the well is in biological research. How fun to be the editor-in-chief, right? Let's see what Marian has to say about it.

Rewind to 2001. Marian was spending the last decade of his professional career in research administration, founding the Utrecht Graduate School of Animal Health and the Institute of Veterinary Research in the Netherlands. "I had interviewed many of the approximately 80 PhD students and found them focused on their research topic without looking left or right," Marian says. "My students knew everything about every amino acid in every glycoprotein of a corona virus, but nothing about a disease caused by it."

So he started to think.

"A web-based biomedical journal with a current awareness perspective seemed the right thing to do," he says. With moral and financial support from the Dean of the Veterinary Faculty at Utretch along with assistance from a professional web design office, Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow (also known by its web handle VetScite) was born.

At the start, the publication electronically published four issues a year and since 2002, Marian says, this has been continuous with biomedical news updates appearing at twice weekly intervals. The staff for this publication is small but mighty. Dr. Anjop Venker-van Haagen is the editor who works on the majority of the publication with current part-time help from a vet student. Marian notes there are no external funds. "We have never considered sponsoring," he says. "Because of the independence issue, there are always strings attached." The staff also has a cartoonist, Miroslav Pavlicek, whose drawings on the site are crafted from stories the site features and offer a visual component that is creatively exceptional.

"My favorite part of the job is to look at the material Anjop collects, to tweak some details, to suggest topics and discard others and to communicate with the authors, contributors, and students," Marian says. "Several have been or have become personal friends. Anjop is one of them." Anjop herself is a leading expert in ear, nose, and throat diseases of companion animals and author of the textbook on such conditions: Ear, Nose, Throat and Tracheobronchial Diseases in Dogs and Cats.

Perhaps it's important to take a minute to explain the unique niche that Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow fills. "The content of VetScite is not primarily laid out for the veterinarian practitioner," Marian explains. "Neither is VetScite a journal for publishing primary scientific work. This journal intends to fill another niche: it is aimed at the graduate student, the PhD supervisor, the postdoctoral fellow, and academic teacher, the veterinary scholar, the science journalist, the government researcher, the scientist." VetScite instead addresses the forward-looking academic teaching and pathophysiology/animal well-being/veterinary public health research scene, says Marian.

Given this broad brush (and to me, intimidating) approach, just how, then, do Marian and Anjop select content? Interestingly, Marian says he and Anjop look for what they think is funny. "We publish what may lead to new avenues of research, what is novel in the true sense of the word, what raises expectations," Marian says. "After all, the journal is about tomorrow."

"The journal is about tomorrow."

This blog has featured a few cartoonists in the past so it should be no surprise that I was taken by the cartoons published on VetScite, by the above-mentioned Dr. Miroslav Pavlicek. I had to find out more about the man behind these drawings and asked Marian to elaborate. "Miroslav is my cartoonist and a successful companion animal practitioner in a vet hospital in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic," says Marian. "This is a rare combination and you can tell from his drawings that he knows the scene well. He has illustrated a number of books, advertising material for a vaccine company, and reliably provides new drawings for VetScite about once a month."

Cartoon appearing in VetScite, by Miroslav Pavlicek

You may notice that the cartoons on VetScite aren't there for the laughs, per say. Instead, they provide comment on a current article referenced on the site. "As most persons with a sense of humor, he is not funny, but rather considerate and thoughtful," Marian says of Miroslav. "His way of lateral thinking finds humorous aspects in any scientific discovery, which he portrays in his characteristic style."

Cartoon appearing in VetScite, by Miroslav Pavlicek

Moving forward, Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow continues to utilize multimedia technology and explore new and exciting topics as they relate to OneHealth. (The OneHealth concept is a large focus of Marian's work.) Since he and his staff are looking at the very edge of new biomedical research, I asked Marian about trend spotting. "Quite generally, any new technique or method that enters the biomedical scene initiates a trend," he says. "Cancer and immunology, ageing and neurology, genomics and behavior have been our focus, among others." Visit the tags in the News articles on the site to get the latest and greatest. To stay in-the-know, subscribe to their newsletter.

Until next month, dear readers!

Know Your Noir

When I think of noir fiction, my imagination turns black and white, with smokey overtones, cigarettes, booze, and of course murder mixing in a bowl of dry wit.

But that's being stereotypical.

I actually didn't know I was a noir fan until I flipped through the book Film Noir: 100 All-Time Favorites and gasped: Heat, Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight... these were noir? My favorite movies? Granted, these are film and not books, but there's so much more to noir than just a cigarette and angst-y detective work. This is more than the Guy Noir skits of Prairie Home Companion. Noir, as author and veterinarian T.D. Hart says is, really, life.

T.D. Hart, a pen name for Dr. Jennifer (Mathews) Adolph, now writes noir fiction after selling her equine veterinary practice. On her website, Jennifer lays it out: "Noir characters fuck up, then fix it. Life goes wrong, then works out. And oh man, do they ever carry baggage...And yet... Noir protagonists survive, then win. Despite the deep, crawling ugliness of the crime, they find humor and beauty and honor in their fellows. Like sailors who survive a crippling hurricane, they know they will face other storms. And they damned sure enjoy the sunshine."

Let's meet Jennifer in a bit greater detail. She seems interesting.

"I was the kid with her nose in a book," Jennifer says. "A hopeless geek who loved horses more than breathing. As a young adult I turned that passion into a profession, working on breeding farms in Norman, OK." During this time, Jennifer worked with some of the elite Thoroughbred mares in the country. A veterinarian she knew encouraged Jennifer to return to college and apply to vet school. "You are better than you think," he told her.

Jennifer took the sage advice and graduated from Oklahoma State's vet school in 1997. "I started my equine ambulatory practice in Tulsa and worked for thirteen years as a solo practitioner," she says. "Along the way I got married, had three children, and built a haul-in facility for the business."

Busy bee. Enter, stage left: WRITING.

"The creative bug hit around 2008," Jennifer says. "Oddly it started with guitar lessons. Within months, I was writing--almost as though a dam had broken and my creative waters were again flowing. And things have never been the same."

During this period of creative re-discovery, Jennifer was still practicing veterinary medicine. Here, then, came the struggle we've explored before on this blog: how to balance practice with creative expression?

"I LOVED being an equine veterinarian," Jennifer stresses. "My clients and patients felt like family to me and I loved being able to ride in and save the day. But I didn't love not knowing whether I'd get to finish my dinner, take a quiet bath, or watch a movie with my family without being called out on an emergency."

A simple case of burnout, Jennifer diagnoses. We know the feeling, right? Empathy abounds. "In the end, I found myself having to work and getting to write, which seemed backward," she says.

So backward, in fact, that Jennifer decided to sell her practice. "Selling my practice is the scariest thing I've ever done... and also the thing I'm most proud of," she says. "I miss my clients and the sense of accomplishment at the end of a long, physically challenging day. I miss the foals and the high-fives at getting mares pregnant, the sense of wonder at transforming a gaping wound into a row of neat sutures. I miss being the hero." Realistically, Jennifer says she also, at the moment, misses the paycheck. But, the writing life is full of new, different rewards. "I get up every morning knowing I get to create a story out of thin air," she says. "And that's the most exciting, most fulfilling job I've ever had."

"I get up every morning knowing I get to create a story out of thin air."

Now a full-time writer, Jennifer hones her noir craft in a recently converted garden shed. She is polishing the final draft of her debut novel about a San Diego homicide detective who investigates the death of a rock star, discovering he had secrets worth killing for. Her character-driven stories capture deeply flawed protagonists. "The inspiration for my debut was seeing the furor over Michael Jackson's death and wondering how it would be to investigate the suicide of a star and discover he was quite different from his public persona," Jennifer says.

Early success has helped Jennifer's travels down the lonely road of writerdom. "My first [writing] award was the CNW/FFWA award for Best Novel Chapter and when I logged on and saw my name at the top, I screamed so loud my family thought I was being butchered!" she says. "Since then I've won the OWFI best mainstream novel and best mystery category and been a finalist in the Colorado Gold."

However, the reality of the tortoise-paced publishing world has taught Jennifer some lessons in patience and revision. "When my current manuscript won some contests back in 2012, I was sure I'd made it," she says. "Three years and umpteen revisions later, I've come to see the journey as a long, beautiful marathon through gorgeous scenery. If I'm tired, I rest. If I want to stop writing and go for a trail run, I do. Then I come back and finish my work. Honoring my craft as worthwhile work keeps me focused."

Jennifer thinks of her daily writing as exercise. "I've learned that writing is a muscle," she says. "Use the muscle, it gets stronger. Too much rest and it atrophies. So I write every day. I need time and quiet to really hear my characters. For the last several years I've escaped for intensive writing retreats. When I'm drafting, I shoot for 1,200 words a day. When I'm editing, I go as fast and far as I can."

"Honing my craft as worthwhile work keeps me focused."

Jennifer says over the years she's learned to relax into her writing and trust the creative process. She has an agent and a hopeful publication date for her debut novel in 2017. I'll certainly be watching for it.

"Writers are a welcoming bunch," Jennifer concludes. I concur and include myself in that group of open arms. *FREE HUGS FOR WRITERS!* "We're all learning and we're always willing to help other writers. The generosity is amazing. For me, it was a fantastic choice."



PS: 
Recent update from Jennifer... As she continues to build her writing platform, she is now offering developmental editing to help new and aspiring writers get their manuscripts in shape for publication. If in need/interested in this service, please contact Jennifer via email at: jenniferadolph@ymailDOTcom. 

 

A collection of kindred spirits: The Society for Veterinary Medicine and Literature

It's funny, isn't it, when something you didn't even know you were looking for suddenly pops up out of nowhere? That's what happened recently when I discovered The Society for Veterinary Medicine and Literature. What? I thought. You mean to tell me there's a group of vets out there who wants to talk about vet med as it's found in literature??? I assure you, it's true--the DVM book lover's Shangri-La. I spoke to one of the two founders of the group, Dr. Elizabeth Stone, to find out more.

The concept of the Society started in 2001 when Elizabeth and her co-founder, poet Hilde Weisert, put together an elective course for students at NC State University's College of Veterinary Medicine covering vet med and literature. After Elizabeth became Dean at Ontario Veterinary College, she brought the elective with her. "When I had the classes both at NC State and Ontario, the students who would sign up, for many of them, it was like an oasis," she says. "It's like they'd just been all science to get into vet school and once they get in, of course, it's all still science. It's like they have it hidden away in a drawer that they like these other things and they found some other people in the college who were interested in reading. It gives legitimacy to their interest. It's not serious science stuff for once."

After accumulating extensive positive feedback from students who had taken the course, Elizabeth and Hilde went on to organize the first ever international Veterinary Medicine and Literature Symposium in 2010 at the Ontario Veterinary College and in 2012, as editors, published their first collection of short stories and poems sharing the theme of animals and vet med, titled Animal Companions, Animal Doctors, Animal People.

Just two years later, Elizabeth collaborated with fellow veterinary professor Cate Dewey to edit another collection of vet med stories, this time featuring zoonotic diseases and titled Sick! Curious Tales of Pests and Parasites We Share with Animals.

Overall, the Society, "promotes the reading and discussion of literary works to explore important issues in veterinary medicine--and for the intrinsic pleasure and value of reading and discussing good literature, a way of renewing one's joy in being a veterinarian and a human being." Although the past few years have been relatively quiescent for the society, Elizabeth and Hilde plan on ramping things up again.

"We've cycled in and out depending on where we are in our lives," says Elizabeth. "But we really do believe in it. We need more than just Hilde and me working on it. It needs to be a true discussion, bringing in different points of view."

To this end, currently the Society meets virtually in an almost monthly fashion to discuss future plans for the group as well as what folks are reading and the relevance to vet med. Membership is free and if you're interested, contact information is available here.

Elizabeth's background in research is evident in one of her goals for the Society, which is to attempt to inventory what's available in terms of written work produced by veterinarians. "Blogs, Twitter accounts, what books are out there by and about other veterinarians, just so people know what's available," she says. "And having links to those things so people can get to them."

Analyzing what literature has to say about veterinarians can also play a vital role in a concept that is currently being discussed and emphasized in North American veterinary schools: diversity. "One of the things that has been impressed upon me while we work with students is that there is a way for people to learn about other societies and that is reading about them. I think using readings from different people's perspectives is another way to teach diversity," she says.

What about those who--gasp--just don't like to read? "There are some people that, because of their backgrounds--maybe in high school they had to dissect a poem--they really really don't like literature," Elizabeth says. "I don't think we're going to change their minds. But those people who are sitting on the fence or do really like it, I think there's a lot there we can work with."

When talking about literature in vet med, the subject of narrative medicine tends to come up. Far better known in human medicine but perhaps still not considered mainstream, narrative medicine is the medical approach that recognizes the importance of the patient's narrative to the clinical perspective. This encompasses listening to the patient's background story and therefore appreciating where the patient is coming from. Sound compassionate? That's the point. And I think to a great extent, veterinarians use this method as well (e.g. our patients can't talk to us so we get the story from the owner), but perhaps we just don't have a formal label for it. Narrative medicine also includes reading and writing on the physician's side, as means to foster creativity and self-reflection. Starting in 2009, Columbia University is now offering a master's program in narrative medicine. Additionally, there is actually a literary journal published called Intima that is specifically a journal for narrative medicine. What a wonderful creative tool for physicians!

**SOMEONE PLEASE START ONE FOR VET MED!!!**

Naturally, a conversation with Elizabeth eventually turns to the market for books about vet med or works that feature veterinarians. Given her background of scrounging for vet med-related pieces for her elective courses and for the Society, she has interesting insight into what's out there. "A lot of the work that is written by veterinarians is humorous, the 'guess what I have in the refrigerator' kind of thing. That may only go so far," she says. "Also a lot of it is making fun of clients which of course is the favorite pastime of veterinarians [it's true, sorry] but people who are clients don't necessarily want to read about that [also true]."

Somewhat ironically, although we work with animals and practically live for animals, what people seem to want to read about are humans, no matter the context. Elizabeth points to the king of vet med in literature, James Herriot, as an example of this. "What he's really writing about is the people," she says. "The descriptions of him finishing vet school and going into practice for the first time--we've used those chapters before in our classes and I think they really speak to people."

However, there is something about those darned saccharine sweet doggie tales that keep popping up on best-seller lists. "There do seem to be books about dogs that are best sellers," Elizabeth agrees. "What is it about that, from the veterinary side of it?"

I suppose if put head to head with a James Patterson thriller, I'd pick the sugary dog tale, too. On mere principle, of course.

Refreshed, renewed, ready for action

Dearest readers,

I apologize. I have done one of the things I abhor in a blog. I have abandoned you. For the past six  months, this blog has been a wasteland. Maybe you were wondering if I was mad at you, or was being held for ransom somewhere, or even dead. Nope. Just being lazy. Lacking motivation. Entering that self-indulgent naval gazing that makes one ask banal questions like: what's the point?

But. I'm getting my shit together. I feel renewed.

The thing that has helped the most to get me motivated and back here typing like a mad woman (and finding loosely relevant yet fun images and/or links to accompany the madness) is alcohol.

No, I'm kidding. That was crass. I apologize again.

Seriously, the thing that really has helped get me out of a creative slump is answering the question: what do I want this blog to be? I mean, let's be honest. So far, it's been random. Like, all over the place, narcissistic ramblings with barely a shred of continuity. In other words, the ugliest patchwork quilt you've ever seen. I needed a subject and not just "Anna's favorite thoughts." Let's try to be a little more meaningful than that, shall we?

One of my favorite blogs is Maria Popova's Brain Pickings. This is a beautiful, inspiring, good-for-your-creative-soul blog that combines the wisdom of authors and artists of the past with the ingenuity and mindfulness of new writers and artists. She puts out a weekly newsletter every Sunday, which makes for some great Sunday morning reading and ruminating, if you're interested.

Me, totally ruminating on a Sunday morning.

Maria had a link last summer to a website with a blog called "4 Questions Everyone Should Themselves." The list was as follows (via Lindsey Saletta):

1. How much of your day do you spend consuming what other people have created? How often do you create?
2. How can you build a platform this year for you to stand on next year?
3. What are you doing that actually matters?
4. How can you inject more awe and wonder into your life?

I don't know about you, but this got me thinking some really heavy stuff. I thought these questions were so powerful, so soul-searching, that I wrote them down and now they live on a sticky note that sits in front of my face at my desk. I see it right now. There you are, deep sticky note. Hi.

In relation to this blog, the first question resonated. I needed to create more. But, in relation to the third question, its content should probably matter. Or at least I should try to make it matter.

So.

Here's the deal. The new, bright and shiny VetWrite blog is open for business. And here are the details:

There will be blogs, as best as I can muster, every first and third Monday of the month. Set your calendars, clear any appointments. Wear clean underwear. Pack your overnight kit. Be generally ready for anything.

My focus will be on veterinarians (practicing, not practicing, old, new, ugly, fat, freakishly thin, tattooed, boring, wearing glasses, smelling like lavender, pimply, oval-faced, etc.) breaking into the creative world, meaning as a writer, blogger, artist, speaker, entertainer, etc. As an industry, us veterinarians are so damn scientific. And I LOVE that. But, we have a creative side, too. And, as a profession, it's important to explore and celebrate that. So, put your party hats on cuz we're gonna celebrate.

I'd like to emulate in my own way how Maria writes her blogs; taking bits and pieces of creators and putting them in her blog in bite-sized pieces for the rest of us to chew. Over the next few months, I hope you'll join me as I talk to veterinary cartoonists, authors, bloggers, and entertainers. Doesn't this sound like fun?

Come on, let's set sail.

Holes in Our Art

We can't know everything. Everyone knows that. Even within our own profession and niche of expertise, there are crevices overlooked, notes unread, and signs missed.

For the most part, ignorance is bliss. We are perfectly capable of going about our day to day jobs in a competent manner. Every once in a while, we trip in a hole in our knowledge. Sometimes it's just a mis-step, other times it's a sprained ankle.

Of course, as we begin our careers, there are many holes and they are filled in gradually. When I first started practicing veterinary medicine, I didn't know how to surgically repair umbilical hernias. I encountered them occasionally in a show goat kid or foal. I was never taught this surgical method--not sure why--and it was a hole I had to fill.

Moving to writing, it's been said many times that the best way to learn to write is to read. Read anything, read everything. Of course, try to fit in some of the greats: Hemingway, Dickens, Chekhov, Shakespeare, Faulkner, etc. etc. Many of us receive doses of these greats in high school or college. Many more of us take them on independently as adults.

I often come along reading lists (100 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE, 13 GREAT BOOKS OF 2013, TOP 25 SCI-FI BOOKS EVER WRITTEN). These serve as a wake up call: I have literary holes big enough to drive a truck through.

These literary holes are more embarrassing than my ineptitude at surgically correcting an umbilical hernia. Can you believe I've never read anything by James Joyce? Virginia Woolf? Anton Chekhov? Jack Kerouac? That's just the tip of the iceberg. I didn't even know who Susan Sontag was until a few months ago. I mean, really? Pathetic.

Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed at this ineptitude and dismay that the thought that there's no way I'll ever get caught up in this reading. But I have to keep one thing in mind: we shouldn't read as though we're just checking items off a list. We should read to learn and to enjoy and it shouldn't become a burden, something we have to slog through.

I am also reminded of one of my favorite adages: how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So, in between my devouring of current popular fiction, magazines, candy wrappers, Sunday newspapers (mostly the comics section), and other miscellany that makes it into my grubby hands, I'll be more conscientious about picking up a "great" once in a while. Because, as a writer, I have a lot to learn.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a copy of The Grapes of Wrath waiting for me. 

Book Club Update

Hi folks! If you're in the northern hemisphere like me, I hope you are enjoying the lovely spring weather we've been having lately (better late than never, right?). All the farm critters are busy being born into this world this time of year and things are busy, so let's all take a moment to admire this cria, which is the term for a baby llama or alpaca:

In my professional veterinary opinion, I think they look like Muppets. Cute Muppets for sure, but Muppets nonetheless.

Some of you faithful readers may remember that I started a book club at work a little less than a year ago. I'd like to take a moment and give you an update.

The book club update is: ARG! My subversive means of controlling the reading material is not going well. In fact, I'm falling out of control at a very fast rate. My reading minions are not attune to my literary whims. This is not good.

The past two meetings have only been me with one other person (a different person each time). The first time this happened, I blamed the weather, since the meeting was during one of those late winter snows. The most recent meeting, however, had no such excuse. Hmrph.

OK, so dismal attendance is a problem. This might be due to the "new" having worn off and people's incompatible schedules. But it might also be due to my book choices.

Some of the books we've read over the past few months have been animal-related books. We've recently read Temple Grandin's Animals Make Us Human (which I enjoyed) and Ted Kerasote's Merle's Door (which I did not enjoy).

Turns out, I do not particularly like most animal books. I've posted before about how I'm probably the only animal lover on the planet who doesn't like James Herriot books and I loathed Marley and Me. I suspect this book club is being pulled toward animal books because our jobs are veterinary-related and I'm trying to resist forcing this club into that button hole. But am I losing members because of this? What's more important: having members and reading crap (OK, a little harsh, but stay with me here) or losing members and reading good books?

Ah, but wait. I'm falling into a trap that I suspect many book clubs fall into: who gets to decide what a "good book" is?

I've had a member request not once, but twice for the club to read Dewey the Library Cat. No. No. No. I refuse. Don't make me shut this thing down.

I really need to read this

And so here we are. At the last meeting, we read (we being two of us) The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman. Then I sent out an email asking folks for recommendations on future books. I received a small, odd assortment of suggestions that didn't make choosing any easier. Suggestions ranged from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman to, you guessed it, Dewey.

For next month I settled on The Goldfinch, the recent Pulitzer prize winner. Someone actually did suggest this one, it wasn't just me wielding my iron book club fist. We'll see how many people show up. In the mean time I think I need to re-think my book club strategy and maybe scout other blogs to see if anyone's complaining about a certain book club leader who is totally against Dewey that Damn Library Cat.

Whispers from the Past or Goodies in Used Books

I just found out the other day that I get to attend the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas in February! Having survived this whole polar vortex thing, a few days in the sun with palm trees and desert all around me just sounds too good to be true. Ahem. Pardon my bragging, but this actually does segue into my topic today.

I have been obsessed with Las Vegas since my first visit (which was also at a WVC conference) back in 2010. I'm not much of a drinker, not much of a gambler, and am ambivalent toward strippers and prostitutes, so, you may wonder, why does this boring individual love Vegas? The history, baby. (And the people-watching, too, naturally.)

Today's post is really just an excuse to post awesome retro Vegas pics

I love learning about the old casinos, love looking at retro photographs of 1950s and 60s Vegas, love that style. This is why, when I was visiting my favorite used book shop, The Book Barn, when I was in Connecticut over the holidays, I grabbed a copy of the book: Las Vegas Then and Now, by Su Kim Chung.

As I was flipping through this book the other day, I came upon a bookmark that was stuck between the pages. It was an ad for a store called The Reading Room in Mandalay Place, which I knew was the mall area that connects the Luxor with Mandalay Bay, two giant casino-resorts on the south end of the Vegas strip. In my various trips to Vegas, I do not ever recall seeing a bookshop. Anywhere. So, as one does when one seeks information, I turned to Google. 

As it turns out, sadly, The Reading Room no longer exists, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in February 2008. Still, it was fun to read about and even more fun to hypothesize why such a bookmark ended up in a book that I bought in Connecticut. Possibly the original owner bought it in Vegas, at The Reading Room? Or did the individual happen to have the bookmark from a previous trip and placed it in a book on Vegas because they are creepily organized?

Sorry, last one.

For many of you, I'm sure this hypothesizing is boring. And yes, my leads stopped with the 2008 news article. But this brings me to a larger topic of that neat thrill you get when you pick up a used book and discover a name, a bookmark, or notes in the margins from a previous owner. I delight in such findings. For me, this makes the book come more alive. I'm no longer someone in a vacuum reading a book. I'm someone who's reading a book someone else touched, read, and maybe even enjoyed. It makes the book, the book in the physical sense I mean, not the story inside, come alive.

THEY ARE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

I grew up reading used books, so I've noticed many that at the least have names written in the front cover. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll get a date with the name, and occasionally, I've found a telephone number, or city and state. I can also recall coming across a few shopping lists stuck haphazardly between pages. These are like little special gems to me, indicating these books have been read at least once before. It makes me feel the book as had a rich life. Is this weird? Maybe you shouldn't answer that - it does border on anthropomorphizing. At least I don't name my books like I do my houseplants (Archie the avocado tree, I'm looking at you.....)

Stormy Weather Makes Me Read Poe or How Weather Affects What We Read

I am very aware that the seasons dictate what I read. Just as a cup of hot soup is desireable on a blustery, gray November, I find that heavier, meatier books are on my palate in late fall and through the winter.

Not exactly what I meant when I said "meaty book"

I can't be the only one who has different tastes in books as dictated by the seasonal tilt of the earth. My prime example to back this up is the vernal appearance of "summer reads" in the bookstores when May rolls around.  And don't these summer reads usually fall toward the lighter end of the literary spectrum, perhaps some not even falling in the "lit" category at all?

Although October here has been unseasonable warm as of late, the abundance of pumpkins, squash, and mums in the stores and on lawns is starting to put me in the autumn mindset and when the crisp fall weather eventually does hit, I'll be turning my sights on the ever-reliable Edgar Allan Poe. I also have the book The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, given to me a few years ago by my mom, the eternal sucker for ghost stories set in Great Britain. It's never seemed like the right time to read the book until now, so as of today, it's in my stack of to-reads on my nightstand (a towering, sometimes precarious stack, I assure you. It may crush me in my sleep one night.)

Mark my words - this is the cause of my death

As winter comes around, I'll be turning my eyes on a few books I have about JFK. There's just something morally wrong to me about reading the weighty tome The Day JFK Was Shot on a sunny June afternoon. No, the likes of that will wait until January or February.

My beloved adventure books, in contrast, are all set for summer reading. This includes some of Jon Krauker's books (with the exception of Into Thin Air), Bill Bryson, and my new infatuation of reading about Carter's discovery of King Tut's tomb (I have my eye on the 2012 book on this).

And then that brings me back to fall. Of course, I don't want to mislead you into thinking I have all my books planned for the next year. There are certainly hordes of books ideal for reading any time of year. Margaret Atwood falls in this category. Of course. Many other works of fiction fit 'round the calendar as well. Except Salman Rushdie. No, he's a winter read for me for sure.

They are reading Salman Rushie, I'm sure of it.

What about you? Anyone else have seasonal tastes that influence their reading repertoire?