On Persistence
Readers often ask if I have a pet, so I thought I'd introduce the newest addition to my family...Poppy. She's wearing her festive paper crown from the holidays, just in case you are wondering!
Poppy came from an animal shelter in Scotland. She is seven years old, and she has been through a lot. Her original owner died, and she had a very difficult time bouncing back from that big loss. When we rescued her a year ago, right before the holidays, she was a mess.
Back then, we didn't know anything about caring for a sad and sickly little dog because my husband Mike and I had never owned a dog before. And she didn't know how to love a different owner because she'd never had one before.
All of us had a LOT to learn.
Poppy peed on our carpets, barked at our friends, barfed on our beds, refused to walk on a lead, and shivered like a terrified leaf even when it wasn't cold. After several weeks, we were at our wit's end. We wanted to give up.
But if there is one thing I have learned about myself as an author -- it is that I am ridiculously stubborn and persistent. I refuse to give up on a book, even when everything seems to be going wrong, and the task ahead seems impossible. I will spend hours trying to find the right sentence or the right scene. I will do as many as a dozen rewrites. One novel, Jump into the Sky, took me four years to finish.
If I could write books through tough times (pandemics, illness, grief...) and not give up, I could find a way to reach this crazy, sad, frustrating little dog.
I would not quit...even if it took four years. That's what I told myself.
And slowly, the persistence began to pay off. Little by little, Poppy became less shy and shivery. She began to trust us. We were able to take her on car rides and walks, and she joined us on a few weekend trips.
Just as book characters reveal themselves, little by little, we discovered new things about Poppy the more time we spent with her. I found out that she loves busy city walks and hopping up apartment steps and playing hide-and-seek with slippers. And just like my book characters -- she sometimes does something that surprises me (like patiently wearing an orange crown for a silly photo.)
So that's Poppy's story! We've just finished our first year together, and we're working on the next chapters.
