Many (most) people who know me understand that I am not a pet person. I have nothing against pets or animals, I am simply not interested in having or dealing with pets. I don’t freak out, I’m not allergic nor am I scared of pets – I just don’t want one. Yes, I know they’re “cute” or whatever word you’d like to put in there. Yes, I understand the bond that can grow between pets and owners. Yes, I know that statistically people with pets live longer. I don’t care. I don’t want one. No, it doesn’t matter how cute they are in your mind. If you’d like to have a pet, good for you. I’m glad you want to have that relationship. I’ll be fine without, thank you very much.
Some consider this a short coming on my part, but most accept it and move on.
I say all that up front because it’s important to understand where the compliment comes from. It wasn’t phrased like a compliment and I suspect it wasn’t really meant to be one – but I’ll take it.
My most recent story came out in a book recently. That book is Dogs of War. The stories in the book are about our animal comrades in arms. I was interested in the opinion of somebody so I brought my copy of the book to her so she could read the story. I’m hoping to encourage purchases by others as well – and this particular person would be helpful in that department I suspect.
She took a few minutes and read the story while I was there. She grinned a couple of parts. She didn’t want to get into something else until she finished reading it. I considered both of those things very good signs. I’m not as confident with my writing as some other folks I know (fragile ego and all that you know). The part I considered a compliment was at the end. She finished the story and said (paraphrasing) “wow, it’s like you really love dogs…”
Most people wouldn’t take that as a compliment, but I write fiction. I like to tell a good story. If you believe it then I have done my job well. The fact that she knows me, knows the fact that I’m not at all interested in animal companions and still thought the story came off like it was written by a true animal lover is all the compliment I needed.
Head on out and grab a copy to see for yourself.