Blueberry, the Agility Queen and a Lesson in Not Counting Obstacles

So Blueberry and I entered an agility competition recently. And before you ask—did we win anything?

Not unless they start handing out ribbons for “Most Goofy Pair on the Course.”

Let’s just say our teamwork is… interpretive. Blueberry’s got the skills, I’ve got the comedic timing. If there were a category for “creative detours,” we’d sweep it every time. She’s the one who could win medals—if it weren’t for me getting in her way, tripping over tunnels, and occasionally mistaking the exit for the entry. (That’s another post entirely.)

But here’s where things got interesting.

At the end of the event, there was a special “weave pole” challenge—48 slalom poles in a row. That’s right.Forty-eight. Even watching it made me tired.

Blueberry?

She looked at that sea of poles, gave a little tail flick, and sailed through like it was nothing. No hesitation. No counting. No mental spreadsheet of “ugh, 47 more to go.” Just—one, two, three… flow.

I stood there in awe, watching my tiny Papillon zigzag through the line like a four-pound ballerina. And that’s when someone next to me said something that made me stop cold:

“Dogs don’t count the obstacles. They just go through them, one at a time.”

Hot dog, I thought. Imagine if we did that.

We humans love to count, don’t we? We count the problems, the deadlines, the errands, the unfinished chapters, the emails, the reasons we can’t possibly get everything done today. We stack them up like a wall of slalom poles and then panic about how high it’s gotten.

Meanwhile, Blueberry’s over there saying, “Relax, human. Just weave. One pole, one step, one cookie at a time.”

What if we didn’t keep mental score of all our obstacles, but just moved through them, one after another, with a wagging tail and a sense of fun?

That’s what Blueberry reminded me of that day—that life (and writing) is a lot like an agility course. You can’t tackle everything at once, and you can’t plan for every turn. You just keep moving, one small leap at a time, trusting your instincts and maybe laughing when things get messy.

So no, we didn’t win a ribbon. But we came home with something better: a four-pound guru who taught me the fine art of not counting my obstacles.

And honestly? That’s worth more than a trophy any day.

Comments

The Absolute Madness of Naming Characters

Let’s talk about one of the most ridiculous struggles of writing a book. No, I’m not talking about the part where you stare at the blinking cursor like it personally insulted your ancestors. I’m talking about naming characters. It should be easy, right? Just slap a name on them and move on? Oh, my sweet summer child. If only. See, naming a character is like naming your kid—except worse, because nobody is going to complain if your kid and their cousin both end up being named Liam. But if your main villain is named Liam and you accidentally give the quirky coffee shop owner in book three the same name? Cue the existential crisis. Let’s walk through the madness. The Overthinking Spiral of Doom You start writing, and there’s that moment: your brand-new character walks onto the page, full of potential. All they need is a name. A simple name. Something strong, something fitting, something— Oh no. Nothing sounds right. This one is too complicated. That one is too simple. ...

DIY Audiobook. A bit of equipment, good advice and lots of patience

I want to create an Audiobook - should I? Ever since the release of book one in the "Cannabis Preacher" series of thrillers, that question has been on my mind. The "Cannabis Preacher" books were quite long. To produce an audiobook from each of the four, including voice actors and audio production with a turn key service, I was looking at around $15,000 per book. Financially, that was a non-starter for me at the time. That amount represented a LOT of books and audiobooks to sell to recover the investment, and I shelved my plan again. With the popularity of the "Magical Papillon" cozy mystery series, I found myself coming back to the growing popularity of audiobooks. I knew that audiobooks could reach a wider audience and catered to busy readers who prefer listening while multitasking. The idea of bringing my characters to life through narration excited me, as it offered a new dimension to my storytelling. The cozy mysteries were only 60-65,000...

The Battle-Scarred ThinkPad and the Mountain of Notebooks: A Love Story

Let’s talk about favorite writing tools. Now, I know some authors might name drop fancy apps, sleek white minimalist keyboards, or those delicate fountain pens with gold nibs that require ceremonial ink rituals … But me? My tools are a little less... romantic. A little more indestructible . And, dare I say, a little more clunky with character . Once upon a time—cue flashback shimmer—I wrote all my stories by hand . Not just a page or two, either. I mean boxes and boxes of handwritten notebooks , full of scribbles, side notes, doodles in the margins, entire character backstories I forgot existed until ten years later. My early stories were a workout for my wrist. I had pens running dry faster than a coffee pot in a newsroom. It was chaotic. It was glorious. Typing those books up? A mission. A translation project. A cryptic decoding effort worthy of Indiana Jones. There were arrows. Stars. Entire paragraphs stuffed sideways in the margins like they were trying to escape the story. So...

Thinkingdog Publishing

Search This Blog