Being Happy as a Writer

I’m happy with my writing life. I’m not a widely read writer, or a rich one, or a writer who is speaking to hundreds of people about my books or writing. But I am a happy person, a happy writer, who has written about many things in my life, and things I’ve ‘made up’.

Life is what I write about, life in its many forms, from sad to happy and many things in between. I (obviously) would love to sell more copies of my books. I would love to talk about my books, and about the things I know about and am interested in, a lot more.

But this year, I have begun thinking about what the Stoic life is like, and it is helping me to think about what I really want in life, and what I have. And further to that, I’ve been thinking about bad things that could have happened to me, but didn’t, and that kind of consideration makes me grateful for all I have. I have a great life.

Sure, others have big publishers wanting to publish their books, and have thousands of fans, who write them fan mail. They have thousands of dollars in royalties, and get constant requests for interviews. I don’t have any of that. I am a self-published poet, editor of a community newsletter, writer of a self-published series of humour books.

Oh, and blogger, of course. I am a blogger with fewer followers than I’d like, but there are at least some people following my various blogs, including this one.

But I’m particularly enjoying my most recent blog, one about Stoicism, where I explore various aspects of life, my life in particular, from the point of view of a Stoic. This is my most recent post from that Blog – if you’d like a simple look at what being a Stoic might entail, take a look at how I’m doing it!

And just a couple of minutes ago, in the previous paragraph, I wrote something that got my brain ticking over, with a brand new idea for another new book, and isn’t that a great thing? I certainly think it is, always! The possible new book would be another book in the Buster the Dog Series.

I am definitely going to do another book, the fourth one, for this ‘Buster the Dog’ series, and it is planned to be launched about this time next year. That one will possibly be called “Dog Says, Cat Says”. But the book I had the idea for as I was writing this blog post, was to look at Stoicism as a dog might see it … I’ll have to consult with Buster the Dog, on that one. He’s the dog who lives in my head and who I wrote the books with, in the photo above.

He’s not a terribly stoic dog, I don’t think. He’s more of a bark first, contemplate results after kind of creature … As I said, I’ll have to consult with Buster the Dog.  (He’s not a real dog in my head, he’s a figment of my imagination. I know that. I’m not sure if Buster knows it though.) Imagination is such a wonderful thing to have!

The dog in the first photo, right up the top of this, that’s Missy and she is a real dog. She lives in my house and in my yard, and is a lovely dog. Some of what Buster the Dog does in his books comes in part from things his ‘father’ used to do. Buster is based on a schnauzer and a pharaoh hound, which were the two breeds of dog we had when I, well, Buster the Dog and I, wrote our first book, the one about gardening.

The fourth book is going to be something new for me, I’m going to write it with a friend, and she will be doing the cat part, bringing in McTavish the Cat. Having friends who also write, that’s an important thing to, to be with people who are also interested in something that interests you.

Living with Missy also helps make my writers life a happy one – a dog will always remind you about the important things in life. Eat, go outside, enjoy yourself! If you have a dog that reminds you about these things, and other, leave a comment, I’d love to read it!