Moved!

My blog has moved!

Don’t be alarmed, but it also has a new look and a new name, although all of the old posts and comments and links are still there. I will be eternally grateful if you’ll now follow the link below over to my new blog home, and bookmark it!

Drum roll, please:

http://amandapettit.com/

 

Only 44 Days Until Spring

How does one suck seasonal joy out of the bleak end of winter?

The beginning of every season is fun, new, promising. When spring begins, everything turns green, wildflowers bloom again, and the scent of earth makes even the worst gardeners among us want to plant things. But a couple of months later, it’s still colder than you want it to be, school is driving you crazy, and the wind is maddening. The start of summer is full of vacation excitement, poolside dreams, and sleeping in (if you’re home with your kids); by the end of summer, everyone hates the heat and can’t do anything but lay around and complain. Autumn is easier, I think, because it’s such a busy season and transitions quickly into winter – school starts, you pull out sweaters and scarves, then it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year before you know it. And then, February. Sure, Valentimes (as my 4 year old calls it) is coming soon, but let’s be honest here: as a holiday, it’s kind of sparse. There’s chocolate. And cold weather. And doilies. This is always the most depressing time of year for me. School is dragging on, cold weather is dragging on, and I’m wishing for a tropical island cruise. My jeans and sweaters feel more like straitjackets, and then rain adds insult to injury. And when I go to the store, I see swimsuits and sunscreen on display – which makes me think again that it’s too cold, nowhere close to summer, not even really close to spring. Does anyone really like this time of year?

Stop. Look for the positive.

There’s still hot tea. And cozy time in comfortable chairs. There’s lying in bed with a good book. Friends. Chocolate. Homemade bread. Writing. Family.

In 44 more days, spring will be here. Actually, it comes early in Texas. So have another cup of tea, and wait, and remember that in another six months, the idea of hibernating in the house on a cold late winter day will have enormous appeal.

 

Wednesday Writing Lessons: Don’t Want to be Half Baked

As a writer, I don’t want to stop at half baked. I’m certain of my raw writing talent, but it’s very…raw. As in that pink mound of chicken breast thawing in the kitchen sink. And attracting flies. First is the raw. Then the half baked. Eventually, the well done.

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” – Stephen King

Started reading Elizabeth Lyon’s Manuscript Makeover today, and wow! Love it. For those of you who studied creative writing in college and will be thinking yes, yes, I already know that – just bear with me. Eventually I’ll catch up to you, but for now, I’m basking in new knowledge and excited about both making revisions to my current novel and starting off on the right foot (page?) with the next one.

“Fiction writing can be like daydreaming with a keyboard or notepad.” – Elizabeth Lyon

• Be mean. EL says never to write away from a good fight, to put conflict large and small on every page, and not to rescue the characters. I hadn’t realized I was being too soft, but I probably made that mistake. Fortunately, I’m a naturally mean person and I will rub my hands together with evil glee as I insert more conflict into my work.
• “One word doth not a sentence make. Except in creative writing, where anything goes. Anything.” Oh, joy! How many times have I struggled over whether or not to use a sentence fragment? Sometimes they fit so well, but oh, how my English teachers would weep. My own inner conflict on this issue is now resolved. I will use sentence fragments with wild abandon! Often. But not too often. Sometimes. Only when they work.
• Similes and metaphors: what is my problem here? First, I thought I had too many, so I took them out. Now I read that most authors don’t use enough. Perhaps I was using mixed or inappropriate metaphors, or more likely imagery that’s too cliche. I learned that cliche is fine for character dialogue, but not the narration part; in narration it should be original. My next revision will be a search and destroy mission for cliched imagery.
• “Remember the number one rule: All rules can be broken, but only if the result works.” (Elizabeth Lyon) Nice to know.
• Last week I said I was a plot girl and characterization was secondary. Nope. Gotta have both, and both must be well done, although one can outshine the other. Allow me to revise my opinion: I like to start a story with the plot and then create characters that will make it great. Then improve the plot. Then deepen the characters. Then revise sixty-seven times until it’s awesome.

I suppose after many years of honing raw talent, practicing, learning, and succeeding, one could progress from well done to twice baked. Mmmm, potatoes.

 

Harvey’s Happiest Day. And Ray’s!

Yes, I was planning to blog about writing on Tuesdays, but I’m switching it with Wednesdays – so Tuesdays will be personal topics and Wednesday will be writing. Plus, Wednesday Writing Lessons sounds better, right?

My husband Ray has been in need of some moral support at work lately. Being the gracious and generous wife that I always am (read: twice a year), I offered to go to work with him. I could sit at the extra desk and occasionally give him encouragement. (such as: “Why would you walk across campus to talk with that guy? Just get it done in a two minute email and move on!” OR “How many emails in your inbox now? How bout now? Now?”) When not engaged in my version of wifely slave driving, I could be working away at my laptop, blogging, essaying, noveling, and learning. It was a great plan, until I set foot in his office. OH MY. I immediately switched gears and got to work organizing – while trying to understand why there were piles of papers on every surface, including the floor – and consequently, my laptop never emerged from my bag. I was delighted when Ray’s student worker arrived and I put him to work, too. We hung pictures on the wall, dusted, filed, and FILLED the garbage can with the paper of a dozen trees. And yet, we only scratched the surface. The afternoon was spent shopping for paper trays, brochure stands, plastic bins and other handy organizational tools. You may think that Ray was regretting his request that I participate in his own personal Take Your Wife to Work Day, but you are wrong. He loved it. I said I would go back next Tuesday and finish the job, and after that, maybe we can get the other kind of work done, where I nag him about emails and efficiency.

Last night I finished reading Good Dog 101 and made a list of tools and doggy accessories, and we visited the pet store in the course of office supply shopping. Another OH MY. That stuff is costly! I’ve purchased a number of cheap toys for Harvey over the past year, and he has destroyed everything but the toughest Nylabone in less than a day. He is a hard core chewer, and I finally realized that if I wanted his toys to last, I’d have to shell out some money. In addition to pricey chew-proof toys: clicker, bait pouch, little training treats, new collar and leash, very cool poop scooper (long handle so I don’t have to bend down! Oh my gosh, I AM my mother because her back hurts to bend down too. No I’m not, because she never says gosh.), super long lightweight training leash, and other specific toys. The best toy/tool I bought, on the recommendation of the book’s author, is a hard plastic cube with a hole for food. It’s a puzzle, and Harvey has to paw the thing around the room to get a few pieces of kibble to come out. Good Dog 101 taught me that Harvey is a scavenger, and making him work for his supper will help him by providing entertainment and both physical and mental stimulation. He LOVED it! I loved watching him discover how to get the food out and stay focused on the toy for at least an hour. The weirdest toy we bought was a Kong: this hard rubber thing with a hole in the middle for treats; the treat we got is called Stuff’n. Think Easy Cheese for dogs. In peanut butter flavor – another big hit for Harvey. Ray said it would be fun to disguise the Stuff’n as Easy Cheese and put it out with crackers at a party. I said it would be more fun to put real Easy Cheese in a Kong and give it to my brother.

So my writing accomplishments for today only amount to the words in this post, but I made two guys (one slightly more hairy than the other) very, very happy.

 

Book Review: Good Dog 101 by Christine Dahl

Welcome to my first official Book Review Monday! My first idea was to review only fiction, but that just won’t work; I’m sure I won’t complete a new fiction book every week in time for the Monday review, so I’m including nonfiction, and if I don’t have anything to review on a certain Monday, I’ll resort to a Netflix review.

Good Dog 101 by Christine Dahl: I bought this paperback because my husband gave me an ultimatum. It went like this: “If we don’t train that dog, we have no business owning him.” I was up for the challenge and insisted that Ray give me six months. After all, the dog is super smart and eager to learn. How hard can it be, right? I also believe that Harvey (the dog) deserves a chance to become a really great family dog. We rescued him from the shelter just over a year ago; he was an adorable little white puppy with pointy ears who seemed good tempered and friendly.   I imagined him as the ideal family dog, a best friend to Edward (our four year old) and a devoted companion – a dog who would lie contentedly in the corner on his big doggy pillow, and do cool stuff like shake or roll over when we wanted to impress our friends. Harvey quickly succeeded at potty training, and had no trouble learning to sit, lie down, and go to his crate when he was told. We just as quickly learned that he was a PUPPY, a chewer, a barker, a jumper, and a little more rambunctious than we liked. Then he got bigger. And bigger. He destroyed the yard, tracked mud in the house, shed all over the rug, and couldn’t play with Edward because he was too darn big; his version of play was too dangerous for such a little boy. Fortunately, Harvey has calmed down. He is still eager to learn and super smart. He has not developed any real problem (neurotic) dog behaviors yet, and I sense that the time is ripe for some serious training.

My six month window of time to turn Harvey into a model family dog is ticking away. I have no idea how to train a dog, so I did what I always do when I need to learn something: I bought a book.

Good Dog 101 promises the type of training we need: nothing fancy, just basic good dog stuff. The cover says: A humane approach to changing your dog’s behavior; including methods to handle such problems as digging, jumping, peeing, pooping, stealing, chewing, begging, biting, barking, and growling. I think that covers it! I’ve not finished the book, and it isn’t the type of thing I’d read for fun, but I’ve been surprised at how interesting the information is, and how enjoyable to read. Did you know that there are really only two main dog training methods? I had no idea; I assumed there were dozens, or hundreds; they all fit into two basic camps: traditional/military, and positive. I’ve learned about the history of dog training, the current trends, and the author’s well-informed opinion on everything as we go along. I started out as a Cesar Millan fan (of Dog Whisperer fame), but Christine Dahl is most definitely not a proponent of his methods. I was skeptical at first, but her take on Millan and the whole dog pack theory makes a lot of sense. She asks a lot of questions that had not occurred to me before, which led me to believe that Harvey does not actually see himself as belonging to a pack in which he longs to be the alpha male but must be subdued. It’s seriously fascinating.

What is her method, you ask? She draws a few things from the traditional/military camp, such as basic obedience skills (sit, stay, lie down, come, etc.), but there are no physical punishments. There is a lot of clicker training, which is a component of the positive training camp, but she speeds up the result by adding lures (treats) – because most people don’t have the time to wait. I love how she approaches the issues in such a practical way, recognizing that many people “spoil” their dogs and that many people don’t have may hours to devote to training. She says the whole idea of pack theory and reading a dog’s mind (he’s asserting his dominance; he knows he did something wrong; he’s trying to get back at you) is mumbo-jumbo, and her method does not require you to guess what your dog is thinking. It’s about getting him to do a desired behavior, and then rewarding him. Extremely simple, and based on science (much more on that in the book, too). Christine Dahl has a  degree in Biological Science and has been through the SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers.

I am anxious to finish the book and get started, and while I expect good results, I must admit that probably the most promising factor in my dog training is Harvey himself: he has a good attitude, no major problems, loves me and the rest of the family, and is eager to learn and obey. I’ll be sure to post an update once we get going and I can share some results. I suspect I’ll be highly recommending Good Dog 101 to dog owners everywhere.