As I have reached the completion stages of my first YA novel, Lately, Queen Mamadou, I started work on a dog memoir. This book was not in my plans and in fact, I was going to rest after completing the YA novel. However, as I heal my grief from adopting a dog out that was a dear friend to me, I also have the motivation to write a dog memoir.
My working title is “Bitch” because this word has the usual interpretation such as what I’m sure family members were muttering underneath their breath when I took the dog’s fate into my hands and found a better home for him. And then there is a new meaning which I describe as beautiful, intelligent, talented, creative, and holistic. Fostering any dog whether that is a family companion or a stray dog in need of a temporary home, involves some spunkiness. People-pleasers should not apply. I have journeyed from a people-pleaser to a spunky b-i-t-c-h. We all need to embrace our inner bitch.
In the meantime, I’m reading other dog memoirs. I read Lauren Fern Watt’s Gizelle’s Bucket List and I started on Kay Pfaltz’s Flashes Song. While I have a different writing style than these two amazing authors, I’m learning about different structures and attributes for a dog memoir. And yes, I read Marley and Me years ago. Didn’t everyone?
I hope I make it through the crazy rough draft writing stage without drenching the world in my tears. I’ve never written a happy memoir. I even placed my memoirs about homelessness on the backburners. I have another memoir slated for me to write in the distant future called Lit Up (From Rock Musician to Spiritual Channel) which chronicles my days as a rock musician in 1980s (1990s) Seattle and my journey into new age spirituality.
But for now, I give my loving respect to Sobaka, a quirky and anxious German shorthair pointer who taught me how to love unconditionally.
BTW, dogs like bitches.
belleauthor (Patricia Herlevi) 