Writer Shaming

The concept of dog shaming, or the act of photographing your dog after she has done something terrible with a sign around her neck explaining what she did, is now the current 15 minutes of fame deal on the Internet.  Not only does this result in hilarious dog photos, but it's also something we can all relate to - if we don't have a dog that's done something similar, chances are we know someone who does. Here are some of my favorite examples:

However, it occurred to me that us writers have some dirty little secrets we ought to fess up to as well.  So, here's to Writer Shaming.  I've started with a few of my own.  Please feel free to submit your public shaming as well :)

Pet Owner's Bingo

Yesterday, I came across this Huffington Post Books blurb about Reading Bingo for 2013.  Originally from Random House Canada, this nifty little Bingo board is a little something different - I've never seen such a thing before.  Here it is, for your printing and Bingo-playing pleasure:

Now, after seeing this, I thought surely us pet owners should join in the fun, too.  So, while sitting in traffic yesterday, I've made you all a lovely Pet Owners Bingo board:

So, have fun, kids! Have a great weekend!

The Yellow Dog Project

A few weeks ago, I visited my parents in Connecticut.  My parents share their home with an 11 year old yellow Lab named Phoenix.  As a Labrador, Phoenix has a heart of gold.  As a geriatric Lab, Phoenix has a plethora of health problems: extensive osteoarthritis, some suspect degenerative neuropathy, lipomas, a locally invasive connective tissue sarcoma, and laryngeal paralysis.  This last issue resulted in a permanent tracheostomy just before Christmas (we lovingly call it her "blow hole"). 

Phoenix before her permanent tracheostomy

Phoenix after

I accompanied Mom to one of Phoenix's re-check appointments during my visit.  While standing in line waiting to pay the bill, an ad on the bulletin board near the checkout desk caught my attention: The Yellow Dog Project. 

Checking out their website when we got home, I came upon a brilliant grassroots movement amongst knowledgeable, compassionate, and proactive dog owners.  This project tackles the challenge of owning a, as the website puts it, "dog who needs some space".  This relatively broad category is somewhat vague for a reason: it encompasses many different types of dog situations and personalities. 

"Dogs who need some space" can include dogs recovering from a medical procedure, handicapped dogs, dogs undergoing rehabilitation or training, and dogs that just, you know, don't really want strangers all up in their business.  Owners of such dogs know exactly what I'm talking about.  My dog Shadow falls into this last category.

My girl Shadow

Shadow, a 10 year old black Lab mix is from a whole different personality universe than Phoenix.  Whereas the Pheener Beaner has a smile to share with the world, Shadow can be fear-aggressive.  When we walk in the woods and her unleashed canine counterparts bound down the trail to greet us, well, Shadow doesn't want to especially say "hi" and join in the fun.  A common conversation that then follows goes something like this:

Other dog owner: "Don't worry, she's friendly!"
Me: "Well, mine's not!"

This usually results in the other dog owner scrambling to gather his/her companion on the leash and out of our way and, I will note, occasionally give us a dirty look.

Enter the Yellow Dog Project.  The idea is simple: if you have a dog like Shadow, or a dog that fits into the broad category of "dog who needs some space", tie a yellow ribbon (NOT around the ol' oak tree) around the dog's leash in plain sight, giving a visual clue to other dog owners that your dog doesn't want to or can't play or otherwise interact with strangers.  Pretty neat, right?

Not quite what I'm talking about here. Unless this tree "needs some space".

The only problem here is this project requires a two-way street.  If I tie a ribbon on Shadow's leash but no one knows what this ribbon means, then it's a pointless exercise.  Hence, today's blog.  I'm here to shout from the rooftops about this awesome idea and strongly encourage everyone to pass it along.  The website has tear sheets to download and print off at your convenience - please do so and hang them up in your vet clinics, at the groomers, at the kennel, at dog shows, at your stable, even on your refrigerator.  I wish they made bumper stickers for this. 

My only question is: if I start also wearing a yellow ribbon myself, will people get the same message?

For the Love of Cat Videos

Just a quick late-week pop in here to share something I encountered in my swim through the internet ether the other day.  Am I the only one in the world who wasn't aware of the first annual Internet Cat Video Film Festival held last August!?

This contest, hosted by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, encouraged people to submit their goofy, funny, zany cat videos for a shot at coveted internet immortality.  The winner was a haut black and white ditty titled, "Henri: Paw de Deux".  Very sophisticated indeed.  I can see how it beat the plethora of videos of kittens riding on top of Roombas.

I'll be sure to mark my calendar for the 2013 deadline.  I have actually directed and produced a little cat video myself a few years back.  This summer, it just may be time to retrieve it from the depths of YouTube home video sludge, dust it off, and bring it out for the world to see.  But perhaps I'll give you guys a sneak preview.

Some background: the star of the video is my cat Scabs.  She's about a million years old with a chronic but maintainable and non-painful skin condition of unknown origin (which is a nice way of saying she's half bald).  One tip: if you abhor the Pussycat Dolls, this may not be the video for you.

Scabs: The Lost Pussycat Doll

2012 in Review - Vets and Writers

Happy 2013!!! I'd like to take a reflective step back today and visit some of the juicy stuff the animal and literary niches showed the world in 2012.

Noteworthy Vet Stuff 2012:

• Summer 2012 Olympics: Every four years the world is exposed to the beauty, athleticism, and partnership of three equestrian sports: jumping, dressage, and three-day eventing.  Germany and Great Britain dominated the majority of the three sports in both individual and team competition. 

• Winner of the 2012 Westminster Dog Show: "Malachy" the Pekingese.

• Uggie, a handsome Jack Russell terrier won multitudes of adoring fans with his performance in the movie "The Artist".

• Tardar Sauce AKA the Grumpy Cat meme becomes an Internet sensation:

• HBO ends the filming of its new series "Luck" after three horses die. 

• A prominent Tennessee Walking Horse trainer was convicted of animal cruelty after video evidence showed various acts of soring and other methods of abuse at his barn, drawing national attention.

• The US's fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) AKA Mad Cow disease found in a cull dairy cow in California.

• FDA issued a draft guidance on the voluntary withdrawal of antibiotics for production purposes in food animals.

• The once-mysterious cause of the lethal white nose syndrome in bats was found to be fungal.

Noteworthy Literary Stuff of 2012:

• The Encyclopedia Britannica goes all-digital and stops printing bound volumes.

• The Pulitzer Prize board decided not to award a prize for fiction.

• A Navy SEAL involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden publishes a personal account.
• J.K. Rowling publishes an adult novel, "The Casual Vacancy".

• Chinese novelist Mo Yan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.
• Hilary Mantel is the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice, with her novel "Bring Up the Bodies".

• Publishing house giants Random House and Penguin merge.

Did I miss anything?  Let me know!

The Best Little Bookshop in New England

Spending time in Connecticut with my family over the holidays reminded me of one of my most favorite places in the world - a used bookstore called The Book Barn in the wonderful little beach town of Niantic, CT.

Discovered by my mom serendipitously a few years ago, I try to visit The Book Barn every time I travel to CT.  It's sort of become "one of the things the family does when Anna comes to visit".  Included also in this list is hiking up Case Mountain near our house, clipping my parents' dog Phoenix's nails, and going to Dunkin Donuts.  I'm sure you can tell we are a fun-loving folk.

Everyone, meet Phoenix.

Excuse me while I get excited about the Book Barn

There are many wonderful things about The Book Barn.  The most noticeable upon first encounter is the sheer size of the store.  In fact, this place has so many books, it's actually divided into three different locations.  The largest location is a huge barn-ish building with so many nooks and crannies filled with used books that they spill outside into more nooks and crannies created by outdoor shelving and various sheds. 

Families can literally lose one another in this place.  Seriously.  The second time I visited, I spent thirty minutes searching for my dad.  He turned up sitting on a couch in the military history section.  I was beginning to think I'd never see him again.

The place is so big and labyrinthian, it requires ample signage.

Another wonderful fact about the Book Barn is it has snacks.  Now, don't be a fool like I was the first few times I came.  It really wasn't until last summer that I truly took advantage of the snackage.  The key is in realizing the food is laid out by the check out counter in the main building.  They usually have water and coffee, but more importantly Cheez-its and doughnut gems, usually of the powdered sugar variety. 

Old-timey book press.

 Yet another reason to visit is they have cats.  And everyone loves a good bookstore cat.

 

Last time I visited, August 2012, I picked up four books:

1. Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness by Donald Barlett and James Steele
2. Yeager by Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos
3. The Mercury 13 by Martha Ackmann
4. This New Ocean by William Burrows

So far I've only read The Mercury 13, a VERY enjoyable account of the 13 American women who trained to be NASA astronauts in the 1960s, but due to politics and sexism did not make it to space.  You know how it is - for every one book you buy, you've got five others at home you have to read first.  But I just can't help myself :) 
 

As a post-script, if you're ever in Niantic, also be sure to visit the nearby park in Waterford: Harkness Memorial State Park.  Ignore the mansion on the property and make for the beach - it's a beauty.  Fun to walk down and if you time the tides right, there will be plenty of tide pools to explore - my personal favorite beach activity. 

Harkness beach at sunset in the summer. 

Mom and Pop's Title Generator

The horror, the horror

I'm visiting my folks up in Connecticut this fine holiday season and the culture shock of going from non-parent society to parent-filled society is noticeable, as always.  Dad is on a health-food kick now that he's retired and rails against high glycemic-index foods and white potatoes and high fructose corn syrup (as we're on the way to Dunkin Donuts, mind you) and Mom marvels at the fact that there are a million different types of coffee makers to choose from at Target, when she really only needs one that, you know, makes coffee (instead of one that also steams milk, makes espresso, does your laundry, and walks your dog).

However grating some of these idiosyncrasies are, they can also be highly entertaining.  One habit my mom and dad have is noting a particularly unique turn of phrase, singling it out, and decreeing: that would make a great title for a short story! Or book chapter! Or novel!  For example, last night we were talking about making Christmas cookies and the phrase was: "the last cookie".  Then Mom exclaimed, "There you go!  There's a short story for you! The Last Cookie!"  And Dad agreed.  This happens at least once during every lengthy conversation at our house, so by now they've probably thought up enough chapter titles to fill about 80 novels and enough short story titles to fill numerous issues of The New Yorker.  Frankly, I should be paying closer attention to these ideas and taking notes.  I have a feeling I've let a few gems slip by as I nod in gentle appreciation for said title and continue sipping my egg nog.  

This has got me thinking about my writing process.  I often am more relaxed and comfortable with a story idea if I've already thought of a working title.  I feel this provides some guidance and structure to what is going to happen.  Without a title, I feel the story has no heart, even from the beginning.  It's hard for me to fall in love totally with an idea if I don't already have a title.  And things really get uncomfortable if I've made it all the way to the end and STILL don't have a title.  This happens often while I'm working on a magazine article.  If I don't think of something catchy right at the start then forget it - the working title is guaranteed to be the lamest thing in the world... and then re-worked by the editor :)

Other Mom and Pop title suggestions include:

• The Spider on the Wall
• Don't Eat my Pork Chop!
• Five Bottles of Madeira
• The Thumb Smasher
• The Dog's Last Walk
• Pumpkin Pie in my Eye

This last title reminds me to mention my family has also been known to create rhyming couplets on the fly.  It's like a regular poetry slam around here sometimes, especially late at night.  It's quite possible to wake up to the sounds of Mom and Pop cracking up downstairs because they can't think of a word that rhymes with "buffalo" or some other random noun.  Sometimes, when everyone's all in a good mood at the same time (a seemingly impossible confluence of events) it's like a writer's workshop in the living room - Mom has her yellow legal notepad out with about five different color pens, furiously jotting down phrases, circling words, and scratching things out.  Occasionally, someone busts out the thesaurus and WATCH OUT!  You guys should all come by sometime - maybe we could workshop someone's short story.  Or at least help you pick out a title.

For those wanting some REAL tips on creating a title (don't worry, my parents' feelings won't be hurt), here's a pretty good blog on the topic: For the Love of Writing