What’s Dog Got to Do With It?

Being a cat person, it’s ironic for me to use a dog as the symbol of Fear of Writing. Here's Dog, in all his glory, setting a match to his manuscript.

I originally commissioned the dog image as a way to reassure potential readers that this book isn’t scary—it’s about putting the fun back into writing. Six years later, I know that approach has worked. As one reader put it:

Milli's techniques are so friendly and non-frightening. . . . The book is very laid-back, conversational, and downright funny! Even the cover picture of the dog holding a match to his manuscript makes me laugh every time I look at it. The exercises are fantastic—they wind up your imagination and let it go and then wonderful things happen. —Susan Smith, San Antonio, Texas

What I’m coming to realize: Dog has shades of meaning depending on the person.

Yesterday, subscriber Catherine Greti noticed this quote in Vol. 3, Issue 9 of Fear of Writing Gazette:

Your imagination is like a dog kept indoors too long during rainy weather. If you let the dog out, what will it do? Probably roll in the mud, caper, bark for joy, shake its coat out, run fast with a stick in its mouth, and systematically sniff everything in the garden.

Promise to let our your imagination like a dog being let out to play. Promise not to suppress that dog.

—Excerpted from Fear of Writing, page 8, “Fertile Material: Exercises for Writerdom”

Having been highly inspired by this section of the book in the past, Catherine naturally thought the cover image related to “letting the dog out.” But, as she clicked around at my Website after reading the Gazette, she stumbled on The Story Behind the Book Cover:

The arsonist doggy on the cover of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers is the sneaky brainchild of Taos artist, Steve Andrus. I say sneaky because Steve and I agreed that the cover should be unisex, which is why we chose an animal.

Steve, as you can see here, is a dog person. He claimed he was at his most comfortable painting a dog. I'm a cat person myself, but I figured if he didn't like cats he might paint something unflattering—so I gave him the green light on the dog idea. Steve at first wanted to paint a dog blasting a hole in its monitor with a shotgun. But, being a pacifist, I said NO GUNS!

So he toned it down to arson and gave the dog a bow tie. When confronted about the bow tie, Steve admitted proudly: “Yes, this is a male dog.” He believes that men are the underdogs and when he saw the opportunity to avenge his fellow mutt in public, he grabbed it with both paws.

The original image was a watercolor. Book design by the author. See larger cover image (opens in a new window).

Catherine was compelled to write to me and point out how well the cover image fits with “letting the dog out.” I was stunned that I, the author, had never connected the cover with page 8 of the book’s contents. However, that’s the beauty of getting feedback from my readers: they add more depth to my material with their own unique imaginations.

Catherine also had other connections to make regarding letting the dog out.

“Your Fear of Writing dog reminds me of our time in Australia during the ’90’s,” Catherine said. “We love an Aussie band called Gondwanaland. One of the band members, Charlie McMahon, has a hook arm and plays the didj like a dream.”

Editor's note: “didj” is slang for didjeridu, also spelled didgeridoo, an Aboriginal wind instrument fashioned from a hollow branch.

“Gondwanaland has an incredible live album called Let the Dog Out,” Catherine said, “with a get-up-and-dance-your-heart-out song called ‘Danger.’ It goes, ‘Let the dog out . . . get the dog off the back of the truck. . . .’ We couldn't stop dancing for two hours.

“My husband, Ronald, laughs because I have a natural aversion to dogs,” she added, “having been jumped on more than once. When inquisitive dogs approach us they always head straight for me! I guess it’s because I decided to embrace my fear and talk to them in dog language. Just goes to show what can happen when you let the dog out.”

Catherine (pictured) is a collage artist and assists her husband with his jewelry business, Greti Design. She is also a wonderfully astute photographer and her crystal clear images of nature, architecture and collage can be savored at Catherine Greti Images.

When I compose a collage, I may go through agony and be ready to quit when suddenly there’s a breakthrough and it all comes together. At this moment, I know why I love to compose images! —Catherine Greti, from her Website

Editor's Note: This quote from Catherine's Website sounded so much like having fear of writing, I couldn't resist.

Getting back to letting the dog out. Catherine appeared in a 2005 issue of Fear of Writing Gazette in an article called Catherine Greti: A Written Collage (opens in a new window). Here, she shared with my readers the process of moving from her familiar medium of images to an explosion of writing inspiration using the book—and the dog, of course.

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Just for fun: See the Fear of Writing Dog Family made for Milli by FoW regular, Jennifer Turner.