Teresa Discovers the Dog Whisperer

We do a lot of talking about Alpha vs. Beta males in the romance world. But how was I to know that the ultimate Alpha male was a short, mild-mannered, soft-spoken Mexican man named Cesar Milan?

I'd seen his dog-training book, CESAR'S WAY, on the bestseller lists but I truly got hooked on Cesar less than two weeks ago when I started TIVO'ing the show THE DOG WHISPERER on the National Geographic Channel. Little did I know that THE DOG WHISPERER came on like 75 times a day so before I knew it I had a healthy backlog of episodes and had seen Cesar cure nearly every dog lover's nightmare from fear biting to separation anxiety to a bulldog with an uncontrollable passion for the garden hose.

His philosophy is simple. To learn how to train a dog, you have to learn how to think like a dog and behave like a dog. There is virtually no canine problem that can't be solved with a "calm assertive" attitude. The minute he enters a room, he becomes the "pack leader" and there's something oddly attractive about that, even in a short, mild-mannered, soft-spoken man. If you add his Beta love of dogs, you have a real hero in the making!

It also occurred to me that many of his lessons can be applied to life:

1) If you walk with your head up and your shoulders back, people will believe you're a powerful woman
2) You can't help someone by feeling sorry for them
3) What's in the past doesn't matter because it's not what's happening now
4) You have to stop agressive behavior at a lower level before it gets into the "Red Zone"
5) You can accomplish almost anything with calm assertive energy
6) Leadership has to come before love, but yet is also a form of love
7) The only way to be truly fulfilled is to know your natural order in life
8) Every home needs an Alpha dog, preferably a human

Teresa's Top 20 WRITE RIGHT Tips Just For You

Dear Friends,

I've been sharing some of my favorite writing tips over on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/teresamedeiros) for months now and thought I'd finally gather them all together in one place. Happy writing!

1) Don't give characters unpronounceable names. Unless you're German, umlauts are not your friend.

2) Almost any sentence except "I am born" can be improved with revision.

3) Don't fear adverbs but actions verbs are always better. Not "He walked slowly" but "He trudged..."

4) It's the 1st sentence of your book that sells that book to the editor or reader. It's the last sentence of your book that sells the next book.

5) A creative silence may be your subconscious saying, "Hush, child. I'm working on a better plan."

6) Characters don't have to be perfect from the first page. Character growth is the hallmark of good fiction.

7) Writing is part talent and part craft. The craft part can be improved with practice.

8) You don't learn how to play the piano by reading books about playing the piano. You learn by practicing.

9) If you can stop writing, you probably should.

10) If you're stuck, go for a walk. Moving forward moves the brain forward. (Thanks to the Dog Whisperer for this tip :)).

11) If you're stuck, go back and do a read-thru from Chapter 1 to pick up the thread of the story.

12) The key to a truly successful romance novel is foreplay--not just physical but emotional.

13) There will come a time in every book when you will hate the story, hate the characters, wish they were dead, wish you were dead...just keep writing and you'll love them and yourself again.

14) Expect some resistance when finishing a book. Your subconscious knows it's the end of a great love affair.

15) Don't foreshadow your characters' every action by revealing their every thought through introspection.

16) If you're stuck for a phrase or word, insert [TK] or something else easily searchable and move on. Return later to fill in.

17) To preserve the sanctity of your imaginary world, consider writing on a computer completely cut off from the internet.

18) Dialogue is the hardest thing to write but the easiest thing to fix.

19) Protect your creativity as if it's a small defenseless child entrusted to your care.

20) When the story is over, shut up and write THE END.

I'd love to know your own favorite writing tip! Head on over to http://www.facebook.com/teresamedeirosfanpage to share!