I Was A Teenage Grave Robber

Right now I'm reading three different books. I love to read and have a huge library that gets made fun of quite often.

"What do you need all those books for?"

"Did you read all of those books?"

"Those books take up a lot of room."

I always just shrug and mumble some explanation about how I really enjoy reading. Anyway, I keep a lot of my books because I like to go back and re-read some of them.

One book that I am re-reading right now is "Memoir Of The Craft" by Stephen King. I am not a big Stephen King fan. This is the only book by him that I have in my library. You wouldn't think that a book by him would be laugh out loud funny but that is exactly what this book is.

As I sat down for a few minutes yesterday to read I busted out laughing more than once, and this is not a fictional book. It's part autobiography, part instruction manual for writers.

One of the first stories that he wrote was, "I Was A Teenage Grave Robber." Would you expect anything else from Stephen King?

I try to hone my skills as a writer because I like to take a different approach when I am writing about dog training. You see, my book "The Amazing Dog Training Man" is a story about a guy that learned how to train his dog.

I tried to weave a story in with the lessons. Listen, I am no Steven King, I am not a Mario Puzo, Larry McMurty, James Clavell or even Jackie Collins.

But, I did attempt to write a book about dog training that was not boring or run of the mill like so many dog training books that are out there.

Stephen King said that one of his happiest days was when he wrote a story and gave it to his Mom. He added that the look on her face was one of his best memories.

Young Stevie King started sending his stories in to fantasy and sci-fi magazines before his was a teenager. He received rejection after rejection until he was sixteen years old. He nailed all of them to his wall and the amount of rejections became so big that he had to take the nail out and use a spike.

When he was sixteen, one editor didn't accept his story but did write some encouraging words. As he states in his book "Those four sentences, scribbled by a fountain pen that left big ragged blotches in it's wake, brightened the winter of his sixteenth year."

I know how he feels. Just yesterday I received an email that made my winter and decided to share it with you. Here it is:

"I love the book and am finding it hard to put it down and stop reading, a couple of people approached me today about the book I was reading and I've referred them to your site so with a bit of luck there will be a few more orders for you and more importantly a few more happier dogs and owners."

Thanks again
Yours faithfully
Tommy McGuinness

Tommy wrote the best 16 words any writer can ever hear: "I love the book and am finding it hard to put it down and stop reading."

Thanks Tommy. You brightened the winter of 2008.

All the best,

Eric