Harness Your Passion 

This Guest Post is by Patricia Cole. Patti was a founder member of Pens Around the World. She left us when she and her husband moved back to England after 15+ years in Greece.

Animals have always played a huge part in my life. Horses, dogs and cats in the main, but with a smattering of smaller creatures like white mice (to the horror of my mother) and hamsters.  

As they evoke strong emotions in me, it is inevitable that they appear in my stories because I can bring them to life with all my senses. As I write I can see them with my inner eye, feel the soft fur of a much-loved cat against my fingers, smell the sweet earthy aroma of the horses, hear the excited bark of my dog as she greets me on my arrival home. Here are a few examples. 

I felt safe in the lane. 

The thick beech hedges that separated the lane from the adjacent fields kept the fog at bay and lulled me into a false sense of security.  A few stray tendrils hovered over the hedges but nothing to worry me. 

I swung the head collar onto my shoulder. As I undid the metal latch it felt cold and wet on my un-gloved hands. I stepped into the meadow and carefully shut the gate behind me. 

Only a few short steps and the fog grabbed the opportunity to move in and wrap its tentacles around me.  

The gloom seemed to thicken. The grey dampness pressed in on me and I lifted my arms in a futile gesture as if to push it away. It was like a living thing, pressing against my back but as soon as I turned around it backed off. I felt its wetness in my nostrils and clinging to my hair. 

Desperately screwing up my eyes, I tried to peer through the colourless blanket but it swirled and thickened as if it were a sentient being. 

Suddenly a dark shape materialised out of the miasma and I let out an involuntary scream as my heart jumped wildly. 

‘Oh, Candy,’ I almost sobbed as I slipped on her head collar and hugged her. My fingers burrowed into the warm softness of her winter coat as I pushed my hands under her course mane, as much for reassurance as for warmth. 

She nuzzled my pockets looking for titbits. The familiar gesture and the warm moist breath smoking out of her soft nostrils calmed me and reassured me that all was not lost. 

I scrambled onto her broad safe back. 

I felt the warmth of her body seep through my jodhpurs as I wrapped my cold shaking legs around her flanks. The movement of her back and the feel of the thick coat comforted me. 

Candy walked forward with purpose and as I had no idea in what direction the gate lay, I sat still. 

I must have covered a fair bit of ground in my wanderings for it seemed we walked a long way. The fog still pressed in on me but it had lost its power to scare now that I had another warm body for comfort. 

The gate loomed into view; my wet fingerprints were still visible where I had grasped it only a short time ago. 

I slipped to the ground and led her through. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. The thick hedges pushed the fog away and I wondered at the power it had to frighten and confuse me. 

I felt safe in the lane. 

I suggest you take your passion and weave it into your stories. Hopefully, your readers will experience the depth of feeling emanating from your written word.