{"id":1624,"date":"2021-11-26T06:47:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T14:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=1624"},"modified":"2021-11-25T21:56:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T05:56:35","slug":"outside-of-a-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2021\/11\/26\/outside-of-a-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Outside of a Book…."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOutside of a dog, a book is a man\u2019s best friend.\u00a0 <\/span>Inside of a dog, it\u2019s too dark to read.\u201d – Groucho Marx<\/p>\n

Wiseassery aside, it\u2019s long been accepted that a dog is indeed humanity\u2019s best friend.\u00a0 <\/span>The reasons for that are many and symbiotic.\u00a0 <\/span>However, after many months of serious study on the question, I will posit to you that a dog is not the WRITER\u2019S best friend.<\/p>\n

Look, I love my dog.\u00a0 <\/span>You all know I love my dog.\u00a0 <\/span>But she does not understand that she is not the center of my world ALL the time, the way I am (mostly) hers.\u00a0 <\/span>She especially does not understand the appeal of the small box on my desk (or lap) that neither sounds nor smells particularly interesting.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, she will sprawl at my feet and sigh soulfully, or wag her tail piteously, or – if neither of those attempts work – will bring me a toy (repeatedly) and drop it on my feet.\u00a0 <\/span>And if none of that works, she will reach up and – gently – take my wrist in her mouth, as though to say, \u201cmother, please stop typing and PLAY with me, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rinse and repeat, repeatedly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not her fault.\u00a0 <\/span>She can\u2019t read, after all.\u00a0 <\/span>She has no idea what I\u2019m doing, or that it\u2019s being done to continue to afford her (obscenely expensive) food and dental treats and vet visits, etc etc.\u00a0 <\/span>She doesn\u2019t understand that when I\u2019m snarling at the page, or swearing at the balky plot, I\u2019m…well, mostly having a good time.\u00a0 <\/span>Or maybe she does understand, and is offended she\u2019s not included.<\/p>\n

I should get up and play with her.\u00a0 <\/span>Or take her for a walk.\u00a0 <\/span>Or rub her belly.<\/p>\n

And all those things are good things, and remind me to take a break and stretch.\u00a0 <\/span>But only occasionally<\/i>, dog.\u00a0 <\/span>Momma\u2019s got a deadline to hit.\u00a0 Curl up where it’s warm and take a nap, please. Convince me to stay put, as though my moving from this seat would be Worst Thing Ever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026 so yeah, when inside of a book, a writer\u2019s best friend is a CAT.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Hope all USAians reading this had a lovely Thanksgiving!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOutside of a dog, a book is a man\u2019s best friend.\u00a0 Inside of a dog, it\u2019s too dark to read.\u201d – Groucho Marx Wiseassery aside, it\u2019s long been accepted that a dog is indeed humanity\u2019s best friend.\u00a0 The reasons for that are many and symbiotic.\u00a0 However, after many months of serious study on the question, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,18],"tags":[161,160,57],"class_list":["post-1624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animals-pets","category-writing","tag-cats","tag-dogs","tag-laura-anne-gilman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1628,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624\/revisions\/1628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}