I Have My Dogs To Thank For My Writing Career

Alert! This is Stephen Avitabile… not Stephen King. So, when I refer to my ‘writing career’ it’s a work in progress. Not a spectacle. But I do feel I am heading in the right direction. Things feel as if they have begun to take off. It’s nothing major, but at the time of writing this, I have had three stories accepted into two publications. In submitting to various other publications and contests I have moved on to second rounds in judging multiple times… so things are moving along.

I love writing short stories. I wish to also publish novels someday. In order to get a publisher for longer works, you usually need to show you’ve had shorter works published. I am beginning to do that. So, my writing career is moving along. And in all honesty, I have my dogs to thank for this. Pepper and Ginger… they have both passed away now… but I think about this often. If it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be exactly where I am right now.

Not probably. Definitely.

I am a firm believer in attempting to live with no regrets. Or realizing if you have regrets… to do your best to not regret them. I feel if any one thing in your life was different… or didn’t happen… you wouldn’t be exactly where you are. Any little thing can change the trajectory and direction of your life. So, I try not to regret anything in life because I feel every single thing has led me to where I am. I could go so far into detail with my thoughts on that, but I won’t. But if you do anything different in your life, you may head a different direction and maybe never end up where you are now.

And that leads me to Pepper and Ginger… the two that I have to thank for my writing career. I have to go back a little ways in order to paint the picture, so stick with me.

On a beautiful April day… the 23rd one… the year 1987… Stephen Avitabile was born, though not with a middle name…

I’m kidding, not that far back.

But ever since I was a kid, I loved to write. I loved it when they gave us writing projects in school. Sometimes they’d just do it to keep us busy and didn’t expect us to turn anything in. I’d finish my project at home anyway. When I was young I remember writing a story about four crime-fighting ninjas (Ninja Turtles rip-off, who was I kidding?) and I still remember to this day, writing a Jurassic Park sequel. Jurassic Park 2 was ready to come out, or had come out, and I decided I wanted to write the next sequel. But I was just a kid. How could I get my sequel to someone in time? They were probably already working on the third one. I’d have to write the whole thing by myself, I might not finish until after they finished and released the fourth… and the fifth… then I’d have to find some big Hollywood guy… who knows how long it would take? To be safe… I wrote Jurassic Park 10. I figured I’d get that done and get it to an exec before they got to 10.

Jurassic Park 2 had 2 T-Rexes. Guess how many Jurassic Park 10 had.

10 is right. (Genius.)

As I grew up I became more and more fascinated with movies. For a while I got really into filming and editing. Bought my own video camera, used to make movies with my friends. Took videography classes in school.

Then, I got into stand-up comedy for a while. I loved performing. This coincided with when I took a stab at acting. I knew I wanted to be involved in movies… TV… I felt like I wanted to be on the screen. I joined an acting and modeling agency in New England. I used to get auditions for roles, never booking anything. I used to book jobs occasionally for modeling, which used to annoy me, because I really wanted to land stuff for acting. I didn’t get why I was booking for modeling and not acting. But, you know, money is money. So, I didn’t turn them down. I dabbled in extra work. That’s right, if you watch “The House Bunny” you can see me in that… also an episode of “Parks and Rec” and… well, I was an extra in “The Surrogates” but I watched that 100 times and couldn’t find myself. Good luck if you try. I’m one of the guys who falls down.

While I was an extra on set of “The House Bunny” I remember another extra giving me a tip… also named Steve. (Interesting. A future me? I keep that one in mind in case in the future I need to go back and give my former self this tip.) He said that a good way to get yourself a role in something is to write a script… a really good script that someone wants to make… but you say you have to play one of the roles in it.

Now, easier said than done, but it makes sense in theory.

So, I started learning how to write screenplays. And I loved it! I rediscovered my love for writing! And since I love movies… and the creation of them from all angles… I really enjoyed writing them, creating a story from scratch.

I was doing this for a while, and as you can guess, it’s tough. It’s so tough to break into. I would enter contests all the time. I wrote movie scripts, TV scripts, skits, you name it. Occasionally, I would move on to a second round for a contest, but that was it. But I kept at it. I knew I loved writing, I knew I loved movies. I really wanted this.

While writing screenplays, and in fact, in the beginning of my new adventure writing screenplays, I moved from New Hampshire to LA. I know, so typical, right?

Of course he moved to LA.

But that’s what you have to do. That’s how it was in my head.

So, plenty of time in LA… I learned more… I met people… it didn’t necessarily amount to anything in terms of furthering my career in screenwriting.

I was still writing often. I got into a relationship. And that came along with two kids (dogs), Pepper and Ginger. Two min pins. Sisters.

Pepper was diabetic. Ginger eventually became diabetic. They required a lot of care, but I loved them. I’d do anything for them. As you can imagine, and as many of you know from experience, pet care is not cheap. As you can imagine, taking care of two pets that were diabetic was also not cheap. Living… nowadays… not cheap. Living in LA… not cheap.

I’m fortunate to have a great job that pays very well. But unfortunately, being fortunate isn’t always enough. I got into a financial situation where my job just wasn’t enough. I realized I was spending more money than I was making… regularly. And this was just on essentials. Rent, food, bills, vet bills, insulin, etc. Clearly not sustainable. So, I had to do something to remedy this situation.

The first thought I had was, I need a second job.

Easier said than done for many reasons. The biggest reason was, Pepper and Ginger required a lot of care. And I wasn’t the only one in the household working. So, there are times someone had to be with the two of them. A lot of times. All the time. Pepper and Ginger were not the type of dogs that could be left alone. I won’t get into all the details, but it was just a no-go. Especially because of health reasons. And there’s only so many options for someone else to watch your dogs.

So, I had to be with them a lot to take care of them. Again, I loved them, so I was happy to be with them. Spending time with them, that was the best. My next thought was, how can I make money during this time? I can’t leave the place much of the week since I am home with them. And really, while I am here with them, much of the time they are low maintenance. Someone has to be with them, just in case. I work my 40 hours a week. How do I find a job that I can do during my time at home? And a job that can be done from home?

I cycled through some options. A lot of researching, Google searching… and I finally landed on freelance work. Freelance writing.

Oh yeah. I love to write. I am… a writer. I can get paid for that.

I eventually found a site. Upwork. I started finding freelance writing jobs. It started slow… but things were eventually moving. I was finding jobs.

The pandemic hit.

Without going into too much explanation, due to the pandemic, finances got even worse. Thankfully, I had gotten a head start with the freelance work. I’d need it more than ever.

I eventually got consistent jobs. Had other jobs that would pop up here and there. I got to a point where I was working my 40 hours a week at my main job, and was working anywhere from 15-20 hours a week for all my freelance jobs, which was usually between 2-4 jobs at a time. I was working 55-60 hours a week, every week, juggling multiple jobs, but it was working.

And that is exactly what I am still doing… as it’s still needed. The pandemic is “over” but not everyone’s life returns to normal. Financial holes that have been dug still need to be climbed out of. It’s a process. It’s a lot of time to commit… even before I get to my writing.

But it was a small blessing for me as well.

Because of the fact that I had to stay home and take care of Pepper and Ginger... and because of the fact that I needed more money... I had boarded the freelance writing train. I was searching for new jobs all the time as jobs would start and stop at varying times.

I wrote for various sites. Wrote for various YouTube channels. Wrote skits. Fixed up peoples’ presentations. Wrote for several different mobile games. Wrote for programs. All of these things gave me new ideas to search when I was searching for work. If I needed a new job I might search for jobs writing for games, writing for YouTube channels, etc.

Eventually, I came across some jobs where people needed short stories written.

Oh yeah. I can do that.

And so I did. A little ghostwriting here and there. Then, that prompted me to start searching for work like that. Searching for short story writing, novel writing, etc.

And… because we all know that our computers and phones are watching us, listening to us, watching what we search… the next important thing happened.

I saw an ad one day for Vocal and various contests they were having. Writing short stories for their site. The first one I saw was a summer contest. To write a short story under 2,000 words, involving a bull.

I was intrigued. I joined. I wrote “The Nourishing Sun” and it was the first short story I had written for myself in a while… and the first time I had written a short story and posted it online.

It was thrilling. I thought, I should keep doing this.

And so I did.

I also kept writing screenplays. But I got this new feeling from writing stories and instantly putting them online for people to read.

It’s called that ‘instant gratification.’

I would write screenplays. I would pour so much into them. I’d be so proud of them. Enter them to contests. Nothing. So, maybe a judge or two would read them. I’d spend the $60 and that probably didn’t include feedback. And that was it.

I still love writing screenplays. But the interesting thing is that with a screenplay, you finish that, but that’s not the end product. The goal is for that to turn into a movie and for people to watch your movie. Obviously, there is A TON that needs to happen in between those two points. And it’s not at all guaranteed. But you aren’t really posting your script for people to read and enjoy, because the end goal is for it to be a movie.

Now, when you write a short story, and you post it on Vocal, or Medium, or wherever… you might have more goals and plans for that story… but it has also reached a sort of finished product and you can say to people, “Hey. I finished a story. Want to read it?” And the goal is for them to read and enjoy that story exactly as it is.

And I truly found that so thrilling and rewarding.

I started shifting more towards writing short stories and less towards screenplays. I still have so many plans for scripts that I’d like to write. But I realized… I don’t always necessarily have this grand plan in mind. I need to write something that becomes a movie. I need to write something that becomes a book.

I want to write stuff and I want to entertain people with it in one way or another. So, whichever way I can do that, I would love to do that.

And that’s what started happening. I started posting stories on Vocal. Later on Medium. I started submitting to publications. I learned more about this whole world… this subset of the writing world I hadn’t yet dipped my toes into. I started coming up with plans, big plans, for longer works, novels. Publications to submit to. So much.

And I am so glad I am doing this now.

Who knows where I would be if I kept writing scripts? Maybe I am better suited for writing prose versus writing screenplays. I don’t know. Maybe if I kept writing scripts, I’d still be spinning my wheels, having trouble getting any of my work to get noticed. But I sort of feel like I am getting noticed a little bit now. Absolutely it’s more notice than I’d ever gotten with any of my scripts. I am published... in two different publications. People are reading my stories.

And I swear it… I owe it all to my dogs… Pepper and Ginger. They’re not with me anymore, but I have them to thank for my writing career. I wouldn’t have ever thought to explore freelance writing if not for them. I wouldn’t have stumbled on writing short stories again. I wouldn’t have had an ad served to me… yes, we all complain about the machines listening to us but it actually served me well… and that ad wouldn’t have brought me somewhere that allowed my current career to take off. Albeit… take off is not a rapid ascension… we’re gradually climbing… the fasten seatbelt sign is still on… we have not reached cruising altitude… you can stop thinking about what drink you will ask the flight attendant for… they ain’t bringing that over yet, dude.

But still.

I’m in the air.

I don’t know where I’ll travel to. Still flying. I miss Pepper and Ginger everyday. But I think of this often… those two… they launched me off on this path. I am eternally thankful and grateful to them for it. Sure, you may think, all they did was hang out around the place, require care, they weren’t actively involved in any of this.

All they did was show me love every day. All they did was be the two best dogs ever.

All they did was make me want to give them everything and do my best to take care of them. And I did that. And what transpired from that… was where I am now. It’s absolutely because of them. So, wherever I go from here, Pepper and Ginger set me off on that path.

So, I thank the two of you always for that. Thank you Pepper and Ginger. All these stories are for you two.