Know Jack #496 Writing with Lloyd

Within our own circles, writers like to talk about their writing habits. Some like a quiet room; others like to play music. Some demand solitude, and still others can write anywhere. I tend to write like I live, flying by the seat of my pants. So, for me, the writing process can vary day by day according to the work in progress or the mood of the day.

I’m a music-playing kind of writer. What music is playing usually depends on what, or rather, who I am writing for. Ed Landry likes Zydeco playing in the background. Jazz likes…well…jazz. Kit Mann goes big for Native flute and drums. I don’t play 60s rock. I get carried back in time, and nothing gets written. What’s playing now? Blog music, Ella Fitzgerald and Big Band Radio.

On very rare occasions, I write in a coffee shop or at the American Legion Post where I’m a member. I can’t write while on the road. Home is my favorite place to write. Home has the closest thing to a constant in my writing process—Lloyd.

Lloyd is a ninety-plus pound Labrador/Husky/Great Pyrenees mix. I think Lloyd might be a writer. He constantly needs to be stroked and reassured that he is a good boy. His previous owners named him for a movie character who wasn’t very smart. Lloyd is dumb. He’s willful. Just because he knows how to follow commands doesn’t mean he will.

I like the name, but I think he is more suited to the role of Jack Torrance’s favorite bartender. He’s always around, has to know everything that’s going on around the house, has his own agenda, and shows up in front of me when I get comfortable.

He’s a pain in the butt sometimes, wanting to go in and out every few minutes. That helps set the mood when I have a villain who needs to be a thorn in the hero’s flesh. He loves my wife. He tolerates me. That attitude keeps me trying to write something he might be proud of and keeps me grounded in reality.