| Ray St. Louis writer / road dog |
| From the narrative of Gulliver Finn... I thought about the writing I'd been doing in the journal Alice had given me last fall in Texas. I hadn't been doing this writing with any promise of a future payoff. If that happened someday, so be it; but that wasn't what drove my writing now. I was doing it because I enjoyed it. I liked playing with the words, finding interesting and striking ways of putting things. I liked coming up with strong images, finding the perfect metaphor. The periods spent writing were like therapy to me. They helped me feel centered. Writing wasn't a road to some future reward; the writing itself was the reward. Just the name I'd chosen, the Road Dog Diary, said it all. A good road dog could handle the endless hours of driving, actually enjoyed the road. A good road dog couldn't wait to jump in the car or truck or bus when it was time to go. The dog wasn't thinking about the fun it was going to have when it got to whatever the destination was. It wasn't thinking "All right, we're going to Florida. Man, I love Florida. It's warm there, lots of other dogs to play with, plenty of palm trees to piss on and good garbage to rummage through, lot's of cats to chase, I get laid in Florida." Dogs didn't think that way. All the dog thinks is "Oh boy, he's starting the car! I love riding in the car!" I knew now, as I walked through this woods adjacent to the campground at King Richard's Faire near the Illinois/Wisconsin border on this Wednesday afternoon in late July (I never knew what the exact date was anymore - occupational hazard), that I needed to be more like that dog and start enjoying the ride. The Road Dog Diary. |
| Bio (short) - Ray St. Louis is an award-winning writer of "sometimes humorous" social and political commentary whose body of work now includes a novel, The Road Dog Diary. He is also a 30-year veteran of the Renaissance festival circuit. His column, Between the Lines, appears regularly in the High Springs Herald, a North Florida weekly. His festival work includes participation as entertainer, director, and business owner. He lives in Alachua, Florida. |