I loved Yoda in Star Wars when he said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

I always think of this when I’m writing a book. Not for me, but often for my characters. I’ll have where they’re going to try to do something, and then, no, they are doing it. Not trying. Oh, well, sure, sometimes they have to try because the doing might not happen.

But I love the concept.

My dad always said, “You can do whatever you put your mind to do.”

It’s true. We had so many daunting feats to accomplish when I was in training in Army ROTC. Scale walls without a ladder, when I’m just a little over 5’4″ and I’m not sure how tall the walls were, but they were LOTS taller than me. Now, before anyone says, women! We had guys who were just as short as us and we had to do buddy work to ensure everyone made it over. Or cross a water obstacle with only three boards, none of which were long enough to use, without getting wet. If you were the leader for those exercises and you left a man/woman behind just because he or she was too short to make it…or if you didn’t try to use the best resources available on the water obstacle challenge, ie, always ask the engineer student in the group and hope he or she had a clue, you were marked WAY down.

Now, we weren’t training to be elite forces, just in how to be leaders, because many of us were going into support roles, like me as a personnel officer. So no climbing tall walls in my normal line of work.

But if it’s really worth doing, then keep working at it until you get it done. Now sometimes, it’s just really, really not worth the effort. And then? Regroup and do something that is.

Training the puppies in proper behavior is my goal. If I don’t deter Max from eating his stool, he does it!!! I know it’s because the breeder just let all the dogs go out a dog door and he wasn’t ever supervised. So he was hungry, he’s always hungry, and hey, it’s his meal, fully processed. I know, totally gross.

I looked it up, love the Internet, and experts say that puppies will often do this. Tanner doesn’t. But I’ve always had him on a leash, and he does what a dog–in my estimation–should do, he does his little backward kick at the grass to “cover” it up and then he’s off to explore.

The problem with Max is that though I clean up the yard CONSTANTLY, at oh-dark-thirty in the morning and after 7 at night, it’s too dark to see where he’s gone. So in the morning in the dark, I try to take them to spots that they haven’t been the night before, because it’s again dark and I can’t tell what’s where. But I also have to really keep hold of Max’s leash because he’s ready to whip around and get his morning meal if I don’t yank him away from it. ugh.

And then there are the times that I think I’ve cleaned up everything, it’s hard to tell sometimes, and he finds a tasty treat. It doesn’t matter how much I shout at him or try to force him to drop it, it’s gone as quickly as he swallows his food. He’s so cute here. How can he be so gross? He’s a DOG, I remind myself. It’s perfectly normal to him.

*sigh*

I’m sure the collar training, a zap every time he grabs a piece, will deter him. Still waiting on the trainer to call for first training. I try working with him with just verbal good dogs when he comes with me and doesn’t go for the smorgasboard, but that’s so rare, that it’s just not working.

However, I WILL succeed! I have to. I will not try. I will do. Because it’s just too gross not to win in this battle between puppy and the poop.

Have you ever had something you have to do, and you feel you can’t do it? What have you done to keep after it until it’s finally accomplished, and you tell yourself, “See? I knew I could do it!”

Writing a book can be like that too. Daunting.

I have: Chapter One done. Just the Chapter heading.

Word count: 2

Words needed: 79,998

Where do I go from there? But deadline’s looming and I WILL write all the rest of those words before deadline, edit it a million times, turn it in, and start all over again.

Today, I will be at 55,000 on A SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble. I won’t try. I will be there. What a wonderful number that is compared to when I began with the two easiest words. Chapter One. And yet, I still have 25,000 words to go. Oh wow, now that sounds really great. I was thinking it would be more. Yes!!! I can do it! And I’m off to do it!

Have a super wonderful Tuesday. Mine just got even better!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com