Inspiration
However, the books all started with a spider named Spidey. I had written this poem:
I woke up the other day
And in my sink a spider lay
My first reaction was dismay
Then decided to let him stay
I was careful not to splash him
And told my brothers not to smash him
For five days he stayed in place
He let me get close and I studied his face
He was skinny and brownish; his legs were quite hairy
In no time at all he wasn't so scary
He had two antennas on top of his head
And big round bug eyes, the color of red
After five days my mom said to me
Maybe he'd like to be outside and free
Now if you've ever tried this, I know you would get,
That it's more fun and easy to keep him in the sink as a pet
But I scooped up his body, the size of one inch
And placed him on a bush, trying hard not to flinch.
He seemed to know I meant him no harm,
He didn't try anything creepy, like crawling up on my arm.
And now I miss him sitting there
When I look at the sink it sure is bare
I hope he is happy with a pretty web now to tend
Hope to see you at Halloween, Spidey my friend.
I read "Spidey" to a friend of mine. Sunny has been a college teacher and has experience with teaching writing groups and editing.
We went to dinner and she asked me if I would consider writing more about Spidey, so we could submit for publication.
I was flattered but thought, no, I didn't see a future in Spidey. But I did have a little dog who meant a whole lot to me. As do all the wonderful pets in my life: past, present and future. But, Metro, well, she was pretty special.
As I drove home from that dinner I thought reluctantly, maybe I could write a little something about Metro.
When I got home I saw a book I had just finished. Rowing the Atlantic by Roz Savage. I had been a huge fan of Roz and religiously followed her podcasts on TWiT.
I was lucky enough to have met her at a book signing in Portland a few days before the dinner with Sunny. I happened to leaf through "Rowing the Atlantic". The inscription she wrote happened to catch my eye. It said "To Susie...Dream Big"
It was like an electric shock went through me. I immediately thought: "I am not going to write "a little something" about Metro, I'm going to write a book about Metro." Then another little shock. "I'm going to write a series of books about Metro!"
I started on a weekend last November at a nearby Starbucks. Just before I started writing, the name came to me for the series Metro: The Little Dog With the Big Heart
Also a snippet of a Wordsworth poem..."we will grieve not, rather find strength..." Well, the poem is really pretty. Here's the whole thing:
Splendor In The Grass
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
William Wordsworth
"What has been must always be"... As I contemplated this (drinking the Cafe Mocha Venti), I started writing. I wrote for six hours straight. I read what I had written. "Oh, this is so juvenile," I thought. Then another little shock. "Juvenile? Duh! isn't that what I want!?
I've been writing about Metro ever since. And now with Metro's wonderful illustrator, Ellen Satra, let's see what happens. Whether it ever comes to something (or nothing) is the big question. But for me this is a true labor of love. I hope to write about my pets for the rest of my life, no question about that!
Roz Savage writing: To Susie...Dream Big
Roz Savage writing: "To Susie Dream Big"