An Interview with Eva A. MacDonnell: Author of The Way of the Dog

Eva A. MacDonnell just speaks for Eros, who is the real author.

Eros lives in the Wild of New Hampshire. Well, not exactly! He lives in a very small house with an elderly couple, minding another dog and a cat, while keeping guard on 20 acres of farmland, chasing deer and wild turkeys away daily. In this dog-world, he is the undisputed alpha-dog, literally.

When he is not transcribing his life story to Eva, Eros, now an accomplished philosopher, holds court with squirrels, raccoons, bears,cardinals, and bluebirds, whom come by his house to partake in his wisdom. In between these soliloquies he beats off coyote attacks with one paw and a mighty bark.

Eva does live with Eros, and on a good day she does what he asks.

Tell us about your book.

Born in New Jersey, Eros is a poodle puppy. This highly inquisitive puppy learns how to communicate with his mother and four siblings. Then he starts learning about what is out there. Sometimes reality is small like exploring the box he is born in, and sometimes it is big, like the big outdoors he is eventually thrust into.

Beyond reality in general there is complex matter of learning how to live life, which may be the biggest chore of all. First, Eros learns from his mother, but once outside in the farmyard, there are a lot more animals to learn from, horses, pigs, sheep, even chickens.

This is a story about starting to come of age. He is a baby at the beginning, but Eros is still a pup at the end. He has not even come close to coming of age. In a way, this is a story that realizes that we never come of age, because does that not imply that we have stopped learning? According to Eros, that should never happen; the questions should never stop.

Why did you want to write a book?

Writing is a passion of mine. Before I retired, I was working a 9-5 job, and I realized I just was not happy, and I felt I had something to say. So, I started writing again (I wrote in my youth, but it never went anywhere). When I began writing, a funny thing happened… I felt I had purpose and I was much happier.

When I retired (and this is truly a product of my retirement), I devoted myself to writing full-time, and then Eros came into my life.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

I have written many unreadable books. When I ventured into writing this book, my first readable book, I had absolutely no confidence that anyone would read it. From my perspective, if the book was ever to be published, I believed firmly that I had to do it myself, which I did. In fact, I almost did not send it out for review. I finally went for it, going with Self-publishing Review, expecting to get shot down and humiliated completely.

I was startled to find out that the SPR reviewer loved the book. (Please note that this was a version that was not yet sent to the printer, and had many egregious errors, and the reviewer still loved it.) Getting 5-stars in content and writing blew me away! This gave me the confidence to try other reviewer houses.

Since then I have received two more 5-star reviews (Manhattan Book Review & San Francisco Book Review) and a “Starred” awarded to books of excellent merit by the Hollywood Book Review. This all tracks back to that first review by SPR! Thank you, Self-Publishing Review!

As a writer, what is your schedule? How do you get the job done?

Since I retired, I still get up at the same time (4:15am) Monday thru Friday as my old work schedule and try to be as productive as I can be up to 12 (noon). After noon, I consider anything I write suspect and will require intense review and, if necessary, revision. The focus for me is to maintain a regular schedule.

When younger, I thought I had to wait until I was inspired and filled with emotion, and while waiting for this overrated expectation of “inspiration” I wasted many hours when I could have been writing. If you have a story, you should not need to stoke up your emotions. Just write! Even if you think it is awful? Write!

How do you deal with writer’s block?

I try to write more than one book at a time. If I get writer’s block in one book, I feel the “block” is telling me I need to sleep and think about it. I don’t panic but then move onto a different project, where I find in most cases the writer’s block is not present. The key is DO NOT PANIC… If you panic the block can set in and be more difficult to deal with.

Tell us about the genre you wrote in, and why you chose to write this sort of book.

This book evolved out of mixing thoughts of no dog in particular, although Eros, the metaphysical dog, does bear a striking resemblance to my own dog, and remembrances of Animal Farm. I find it ironical that Animal Farm is considered a children’s book, even though it is a grim, pessimistic story, as it focused on satirizing communism. In contrast, I decided writing a book for adults to satirize metaphysics (something I am studying in another life), and voila, I came up with The Way of the Dog.

This story is about life and recognizing that there is always a struggle to get to happiness. Eros, the main character, learned from his mother, Skylark: “You cannot be happy if you are not joyful about something. When you find this joy, happiness, grace, and virtue will follow. The way of the dog is to find this joy everyday and to never give up this search.” I feel this is a much better message for the world, children included, than Orwell’s dour cynicism. The world needs more happiness!

Who are your biggest writing inspirations and why?

Eros! This little poodle came into my life and gave me his unconditional love. What more do you need for inspiration than that?
How do your friends and family get involved with your writing? What do they think of your book?

What did you learn on your journey as an author?

My book has surprised me. I do not consider myself very wise (my family considerably less), but as I read the book later I cannot believe some of the things I wrote. Maybe all those years I have endured through life have instilled in me more wisdom than I ever imagined.

Nonetheless, writing The Way of the Dog, I learned more about myself, and from Eros I learned never to stop asking questions.

Who did you write for?

As George Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a satire on communism, he targeted an adult audience, not children, at least in my opinion. So, I wrote The Way of the Dog for adults.

I was floored when my initial SPR review came back and said I was writing for middle grade level! What? I didn’t talk down and restrict myself to two-syllable words, and I covered a couple of topics that push the boundaries, if not creep over a little bit.

In the end, I wrote this book for Eros and me, and everyone else that can hopefully enjoy this book. I decided that I did not want to write for money, but just to have fun! With this intent, I had fun… Whatever the subject, if you do not let loose and just write to have fun, your writing will never go anywhere (even if you are successful).