National Read a Book Day: From Reader to Writer—and Back Again

Before I ever became a published author, I was a reader.

Some of my favorite childhood summer memories involve being outside playing, but they also involve books. I remember going to the local library and participating in the summer reading program. I wanted to fill that page with stars for the books I had read.

There was something satisfying about adding another star and knowing I had finished another book.

I loved Dr. Seuss when I was younger. I loved Judy Blume as I got older. I even remember going to places like the dentist’s office and looking for Highlights magazine. If I couldn’t find something interesting to read, sitting there waiting seemed a whole lot harder!

But somewhere along the way, I didn’t just want to read what other people created.

I wanted to create, too.

From Reader to Writer

I loved writing as a child. I even put together my own little newspaper. Someone who worked with my mom—a highly educated nurse—once referred to me as “the author.”

I also loved photography, people got used to seeing me with a camera in my hands- I became a PRO at it that in the military an officer said she never saw me move so fast into action as the day she first saw me take my camera out and start covering an event.

I wanted to read the words, write the words, look at the photographs and eventually make the photographs myself.

Maybe that is why certain books have stayed with me for so many years.

One is Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida. Interestingly enough, I first became curious about the book after hearing it mentioned in the movie The Truth About Cats & Dogs. I eventually got a copy while I was living in Germany in a tiny book shop just outside the church, I spent a lot of time in the back store.

One idea from the book has remained with me all these years: Barthes’ reflection on his mother lending herself to the camera.

That connected with me because my mother did the same thing for me.

When I needed someone to photograph and nobody else wanted to be my subject, Mom was there. She lent herself to my camera while I learned, experimented and grew as a photographer.

Sometimes you don’t need to remember every word of a book for that book to stay with you.

Sometimes one idea is enough.

The Photographer Who Made Me Want to Do More

Another book that has stayed close to me is Margaret Bourke-White’s autobiography.

It wasn’t only her photography that fascinated me. It was the way she lived.

She was a photojournalist. She went places. She documented history. She worked in circumstances in which women weren’t always welcomed or treated as equals. There was something about her determination and the way she approached photojournalism that connected with me. To be honest she was a MAIN reason for me enlisting in the ARMY- I wanted to experience being a war time photographer. Alas my experiences didn’t even come close.

Perhaps that’s one reason her book is still sitting at the back of my bed, waiting for me to pick it up and read it again.

I eventually became a photojournalist myself.

Maybe the books we read don’t simply entertain us.

Sometimes they quietly show us possibilities.

When a Dog Changes the Story

Then there’s Eric O’Grey’s Walking with Peety.

If there were ever a book that fit into the philosophy behind Doggone Healthy Choices, this would certainly be one of them.

Eric and Peety’s story connected with me because I’ve believed for years in something very similar: we can become healthier alongside our dogs.

It doesn’t always have to begin with some enormous fitness goal.

Put on your shoes.

Get your dog’s leash.

Walk out the door.

One walk can become another. Walking can become running. Movement can become a habit. Your dog gets healthier. You get healthier. And somewhere along the way, you’re helping each other.

That’s a powerful partnership.

Making People Want to Listen

Then there’s Marie Forleo’s Make Every Man Want You.

Yes, the title gets your attention!

But what I take from it today goes well beyond making some man want you.

For me, there’s something bigger in the idea: How do we communicate in a way that makes people want to pay attention?

As somebody building a business and a community, that’s important.

How do I put myself out there?

How do I communicate what I believe?

How do I make somebody stop scrolling long enough to read what I’ve written, watch one of my videos, try a workout with their dog or decide they want to become part of this community?

That’s a different kind of “want.”

It’s connection.

And Yes—I Am a Summer Hater

Then there’s my friend Lindsay Smith, the Food Mood Girl, and The Summer Haters Club.

First of all, I love the title.

Second of all, thank goodness I’m apparently not the only person who isn’t completely in love with summer!

The calendar may insist that summer isn’t quite finished yet, but I’m already looking toward fall

Lindsay also has a special place in my own story as an author. She taught the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s Launch Your Dream Book course that I took when I wrote my first book.

And that brings me to a very different book on my National Read a Book Day list.

My own.

Get Your Leash On!

In 2014, I published Get Your Leash On!

I was proud the first time I held that book in my hands and saw my name on it.

The book was selected among the top 13 books from a class of hundreds, and I had the opportunity to be part of an event at Whole Foods in Columbus Circle in New York City.

People would see the book and realize it was about dogs and working out together.

“Wow!”

That was exactly what I wanted.

And there was a reason I called it Get Your Leash On!

Everyone seemed to want to unleash something.

Unleash your potential. Unleash your power. Unleash this. Unleash that.

I decided to rebel a little.

Forget unleashing.

Get your leash on.

For one thing, leashes help keep our dogs safe. An unleashed dog can run away, encounter another dog or end up in a dangerous situation.

But the leash also became symbolic for me.

We’re connected.

We’re doing this together.

Get Your Leash On! was never supposed to be the last book I wrote. It was a starting point.

There’s nutrition. There are recipes. There’s Doga. There’s running with your dog. There’s basic training. There are different ways of becoming active and healthier together.

I wanted those ideas to grow into more.

And now, twelve years later, I’m writing again.

Somehow, I Found 96 Hours in a 24-Hour Day

The idea for my second book came to me while I was driving.

I started thinking about everything I was doing.

People say looking for a job can be a full-time job. Sometimes it feels like a 24-hour-a-day job.

I’m also building a business. There’s another 24-hour-a-day job.

Then there’s taking care of a home, family, dogs and all the responsibilities that come with everyday life. Ask anyone who spends their days caring for a household and other people whether that’s work.

There’s another 24.

And then there’s the work involved in taking care of ourselves.

Wait a minute.

24 + 24 + 24 + 24.

Where did I suddenly get a 96-hour day?

Of course, nobody actually has 96 hours in a day.

That’s the point.

There is an enormous amount of work being done every day that nobody gets paid to do.

And I’m certainly not the only person doing it.

There are caregivers. Parents. Veterans transitioning into civilian life. People searching for employment. People starting businesses. People maintaining homes. People caring for animals. People trying to take care of themselves while taking care of everybody else.

That work counts.

You don’t necessarily need a paycheck to develop experience, responsibility, resilience or skills.

Sometimes we need to toot our own horns.

And sometimes we need to toot somebody else’s.

That’s part of the book I’m writing now.

And Of Course, There Are Dogs

I keep coming back to dogs because I believe they can be incredible partners in our lives.

Think about a veteran beginning the next chapter after military service.

For some veterans with disabilities, a properly trained service dog can perform specific tasks—retrieving a dropped object, for example, or performing trained actions related to certain psychiatric disabilities.

But even beyond trained service work, dogs can bring routine, movement, companionship and another living being into our everyday lives.

The human gives the dog purpose.

The dog can give the human companionship and assistance.

And they move forward together.

That’s another story I want to keep exploring.

The Books I Haven’t Written Yet

There’s another book that has been waiting in my head for years.

It’s one my dad wanted us to create together.

He loved airplanes, and he wanted us to produce a book about planes produced and made here on Long Island and elsewhere along the East Coast. We talked about traveling together. I could photograph the aircraft. We could research them and tell their stories.

We never got to make that book together.

But I still want to make it.

Maybe someday I will.

There are more books I want to write about working out with our dogs, too.

There are stories about doga, walking, running, health, training and the incredible things that can happen when humans and dogs start doing things together.

Apparently that little girl filling her summer reading page with stars still has quite a few pages she wants to fill.

Only now, some of them are blank.

And I’m the one who gets to write on them.

What Will You Read Today?

That’s what I’m thinking about this National Read a Book Day.

Books can entertain us.

They can teach us.

They can introduce us to people we’ll never meet.

They can make us laugh.

They can make us think.

They can inspire a career.

They can remind us of our parents.

They can inspire us to get healthier.

They can help us communicate.

They can even inspire us to write books of our own.

So today, pick up a book.

Read ten pages. Read one chapter. Sit outside. Curl up on the couch. Go to the library. Read with your child.

Or sit down with your dog beside you and read for a while.

And if there’s a book you’ve been thinking about writing yourself?

Maybe National Read a Book Day is a good day to write the first page.

Get your book on.

And, of course…

Get Your Leash On!

The Greatest Book Ever Written

As some people call it.....yes the Greatest Book ever written! The Bible- my favorite story and probably one of the most known stories as an animal lover you probably guessed it....Noah's Ark!

Until Tomorrow have a happy and healthy tail wagging day,

Read a book with your dog on this Sunday,

Pamela and Freedom