Q:Natalia, an essay you wrote about your 2008 NaNoWriMo experience was just published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from the Dog. What is a story about NaNoWriMo doing in a book about dogs? Did the dog try to write a novel, too?
A: I could not have done one (NaNoWriMo) without the other (the dog, Peanut, featured in my short story). Last November, I happened to be unemployed – such is life when you freelance in TV – so I decided it would be the perfect time to do NaNoWriMo. I decided to do it via UCLA (Ian Wilson hosts an excellent weekly class which helps keep you motivated to not only start–but finish–NaNoWriMo). November also happened to be a time when I was dog-sitting for a month. I’d have all day to write and walk the dog…right?
Wrong.
Peanut had arthritis, so one walk around the block would average one to two hours. Three times a day. So I was doing a lot of walking, but not writing. At first. But the more time I spent walking Peanut every day, the more it disciplined me to work on my NaNoWriMo book at night. Or every few nights, as the case may be.
But just as Peanut walked, step by step, so, too, did I write, word by word. And at the end of my dog-sitting month, I thanked Peanut for having helped give me the discipline to finish my NaNoWriMo book (which I am currently rewriting!).
Natalia Lusinski created her first newspaper, Nat’s Neat News Notes, at age ten. Since then, she has written a lot, and not just newspapers named after herself. She has penned many short stories and film and TV scripts, has worked as a writers’ assistant on several TV shows, recently associate produced a documentary for The History Channel, and has dog-sat many a dog. Natalia first did NaNaWriMo last November, and on her own twice since then. She plans to do it again this winter. She also suggests that everyone get a dog (the slower walking, the better) to help discipline them.
