Fiction Scribe

I am so delighted to be guest-blogging for Fiction Scribe. I love reading about the experiences and strategies of other writers– I think we really help give each other momentum.

As for me, when it comes to writing, I can honestly say that I learned from the best. It was a conspiracy of mentors who rallied one winter and made it their mission to help me over the greatest hurdle a writer faces. Those mentors were: a beagle, a black cat, and a Jack Russell Terrier.

It was the winter I decided I really, really wanted to get serious about writing, and I was working on a computer in a drafty old attic. My beagle Max, sweet soul that he is, curled up at my feet and kept my toes warm. So whenever I was struck by the urge to get up from the desk and wander off to fix a cup of tea (or do some filing or rearrange my shoes or check my teeth to see if there was any spinach stuck between those two in front that always get me in trouble, or do anything else that pretended to be important but really was just an excuse to get away from the writing desk), the beagle warming my toes was so cozy that I stayed at my desk an extra twenty minutes or so each day.

Sometime after that Christmas, my black cat Festus took to curling up in my lap. Tell you what: when the attic is cold but the toes and the lap are deliciously warm, the writer writes longer. In this case, while Max’s toe-warming had added twenty minutes, the Max-plus-Festus combination resulted in an even greater writing impact. I invested another hour every day.

Then the temperature dropped even further, and I witnessed something that can only be described as a silken, glimmering miracle: The Pie, my Jack Russell Terrier, joined the conspiracy. And if you’ve ever met a Jack Russell Terrier, you know they operate only in terms of Excited, Nutso, and Tongue-Wagging Lunacy.

To observe a Jack Russell Terrier sitting still for very long is itself a miracle. But she did this. She not only sat still, she did it every blessed day for the rest of the winter. She would march up to the attic, hop up on the desk, and literally drape herself across both my forearms—planting my hands firmly upon the keyboard!—and she would not budge for hours on end. Neither would I.

So I can honestly say that my pets helped launch my writing career. By the time I started writing American Quest, I was actually able to function without having to be pinioned to my desk under piles of epic coziness (though I highly recommend it.) I still drew from the influences around me, not so much for aid in persistence and momentum, but for inspiration.

Writing fantasy is particularly exciting because you can take personalities, combine them, and turn them into strange and exciting creatures. American Quest was a pure delight for that reason, and I wrote it faster than I’d written anything in my life. It just flowed. A magical setting can add such richness to the mood of a story, be it a sense of wonder, or unthinkable danger, or a bird’s eye view of human destiny. I absolutely loved it.

I’m curious, because I know there are a lot of writers who frequent this blog, as to whether you had any similar experiences—something that felt like a turning point in your writing journey. Or if any of you have pets who insinuate themselves into your writing (or reading, for that matter) routine. I’ll be checking the comments. Thanks for having me!

–Sienna Skyy