February Diary | Friday, 15th

Life with the new pup is crazy fun.  Dobermans are extremely intelligent and eager to please, but their  curiosity about everything makes them easily distracted, too. It can be hard to get her attention in our busy household. However, we have already taught her to sit and stay, and she knows her name: "Edna" (which is the name of the heroine in the story I am writing!).

Elvis is a tremendous help. He plays with her all day and is quick to correct her if she does something naughty. He has already taught her to go to the door when she needs to "go"--and we haven't even had her a week.

The snow is melting and there have been a string of sunny days since the big blizzard. The past two days when I have gone outside with the dogs I have heard birds singing. Two days ago I heard a male cardinal calling. I remember seeing robins in my yard at this time last year. I am looking for them, although it is still quite early for their return.

I have been looking through Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's full of wisdom and common sense principles that everyone intuitively knows, but few people heed. I came across a passage that struck me as the secret to what makes a good writer (which has nothing to do with mechanics or mastery of craft):

Alfred Adler, the famous Viennese psychologist, wrote a book entitled What Life Should Mean to You. In that book he says: "It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others.  It is from among such individuals that human failures spring."

You may read scores of erudite tomes on psychology without coming across a statement more significant for you and for me.

I once took a course in short story writing at New York University, and during that course the editor of a leading magazine talked to our class. He said that he could pick up any one of the dozens of stories that drifted across his desk every day and after reading a few paragraphs he could feel whether or not the author liked people.  "If the author doesn't like people," he said, "people won't like his or her stories."

This hard-boiled editor stopped twice in the course of his talk on fiction writing and apologized for preaching a sermon. "I am telling you," he said, "the same things your preacher would tell you, but remember, you have to be interested in people if you want to be a successful writer of stories." (p. 83)

I think this may explain why some books are well-loved even though the critics complain that they are poorly written (Harry Potter comes to mind). Stephen King describes writing as an act of telepathy between author and reader, and I think he's right on. In order for a story to work, an author must establish a personal connection with the reader. He must, as Dale Carnegie said, "Arouse in the other person an eager want."

I am without a car these days. It is really hard being stuck at home, but my neighborhood is full of interesting people, trees, and animals (and currently about two feet of snow). Plus I have a houseful of humor and kindness, books and yarn, paper and pencils. I have everything I need right here.  :  )