I'm Trick Dog Trainer, the co-host of the podcast This Animal Life, and the author two books, the memoir, For the Love of a Dog, (Harmony Books), and the novel, Body Sharers (Rutgers University Press). Body Sharers placed among the finalists for the PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for Best First Novel. Recent honors include finalist for the 2017 Frank McCourt Memoir Prize, winner of the 2016 Briar Cliff Review Nonfiction Award, winner of the 2013 Florida Review Editor’s Award, and a Best American Essays 2015 Notable Essay. I teach creative writing and dog training in Tampa Bay.
As you may have noticed, a tsunami of existential dread is sweeping creative writers and writing professors. The basic chorus of post-apocalyptic dread goes something like this: However, happily, the 2010 poet […]
I’ve had some Halloween wins in my time. The aces were always group costumes, especially my gang of friends who went together to Halloween swing dance parties. One year we were The […]
The news can be addictive. You know why? Because it’s all bad. Bad news is seductive. You like it—even if it makes you miserable. Despite cellphones, space travel, and Axe deodorant spray, […]
Does staying informed tune you into the zeitgeist or plummet you into paralysis? Are you able to stop the 24-hour news monster from gobbling up all your writing time? Do you secretly fear that if you unplug, your art […]
One of coolest things I ever did was design a Nature Writing Class for Eckerd College. We held class outdoors in nature preserves all over the county. My aim was to help […]
Is Your Writer Self Lonely, Frustrated, and Overwhelmed? Does it feel as if the demands of daily life keep pulling you away from your writing? You have to be a perfect parent, […]
Back in 2013 when it first came out, I went with my husband Alby and our friends Jeff, Rose, and Ron to see Twenty Feet from Stardom at Tampa Theatre. Two things […]
Not too long ago, I began writing a psychological mystery about an internet-famous dog trainer who does public performances (think Super Collies). Then, at a mystery writers’ conference, an editor begged me […]
Have you made a New Year’s Resolution to be more creative? Are you at a bit of a loss on how to make it happen? Have you already broken your promise to […]
Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, the bestselling author of Mini Horses, Mighty Hope and cofounder of Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses, recently sat down with me for a special episode of the This Animal Life […]
The Gloria Sirens 