Best-selling and award-winning authors spoke to The New York Times about how canines can spark creativity.
Hi! This is a wonderful article from the New York Times:
The Best Writing Tip? Get a Dog.
Like many writers, Alice Hoffman leads a solitary life. Yet she’s rarely felt lonely. That’s because, throughout her career, she’s almost always had a dog by her side.
“You’re completely alone, but you’re not alone,” she said of writing in the presence of a dog.
The first canine love of her life was Houdini, a German shepherd that inspired several German shepherds in Hoffman’s fiction. Houdini was so poised that he walked off the leash around New York City, including on the bus, in restaurants and at the theater.
“It’s harder to write a dog character than a human character,” Hoffman said. “They’re kind of a mystery.”
When Hoffman was asked to edit “The Best Dog in the World,” a collection of essays from prominent writers about their dogs, she didn’t hesitate. The writers she approached — among them Bonnie Garmus, Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Strout and Emily Henry — were equally eager.
While Hoffman was working on the collection, her beloved dog Shelby, a Polish Lowland sheepdog, died of old age. She joined a grief group, and then, in a rash but predictable move, she got a puppy, a rambunctious Tibetan terrier named Violet.
Unlike her previous dogs, who were deeply loyal and partial to her, Violet loves absolutely everyone. Recently, at the park, she leaped into a stranger’s arms.
“She’s so focused on people, and she’s so full of joy,” Hoffman said.
In this New York Times article, five other authors explain why dogs are a writer’s best friend.