ANIMALicious Has Made Me Famous (Sorta)

I just noticed I made it into the Veterinary Information Network's ANIMALicious blog on February 19.

My friend, who wrote that entry, asked me why her dog didn't have any injuries after falling nine feet.

I asked my friend Dr. Becky Lundgren of VIN about it via instant message.

Me: Shouldn’t he be dead?
Becky: Only animals with brains tense up for the landing. 
Me: Wouldn’t you think an internal organ would go splat?
Becky: Brainless wonders are often lucky.

I wasn’t getting what I wanted to hear. I was lucky that I work with enough veterinarians that I could keep asking until I was satisfied with an explanation.

I IMed an ER vet, our own Dr. Tony Johnson.
Me: Shouldn’t he be dead?
Tony: Empty skull

 

Notice how veterinarians often use humor to try to alleviate unnecessary worry in their non-veterinarian friends? ROTFL

The Opening Line: First Sentences In Books

The first sentence of a book is important. Catching the reader's eye is vital to making a book sell. Good authors sweat over first sentences.

Mystery Scene magazine has a column called The Hook: Intriguing First Lines. It might be better titled The Hook: Intriguing Beginnings or The Hook: Great Openings, because the column doesn't limit itself to first sentences, but usually to entire paragraphs.

To me, it's harder to create a hook with only one sentence, than it is to use a whole paragraph to set the stage.

Dick Francis was good at the first sentence. Five of my favorites are ...

I was never particularly keen on my job before the day I got shot and nearly lost it, along with my life.
Odd Against

I picked four of them up in White Waltham in the new Cherokee Six 300 that never got a chance to grow old.
Rat Race

Art Mathews shot himself, loudly and messily, in the center of the parade ring at Dunstable races.
Nerve

I looked at my friend and saw a man who had robbed me.
High Stakes

I immensely disliked my father's fifth wife, but not to the point of murder.
Hot Money

 

Mystery readers who haven't delved into his books might want to start out with Odds Against, High Stakes, or To The Hilt. All of the books do have a racing backdrop, but they're about architecture, painting, inventors, private investigators, kidnapping specialists, and more. Every book has a "career" in it. It's not just racing, racing, racing, for those readers who avoid anything that has to do with horse-racing. ;-)

Veterinary Students And High Debt

My February 16th entry discussed the state of veterinary medical education and student debt. I'm pleased to point out that the NYTimes had a great article about this topic on February 23. In addition to the comments section, there have been some letters to the editor.

There are a lot of opinions expressed by my colleagues as to how to "fix" the problems of high student debt and over-population of graduate veterinarians. I don't claim to have any answers. I do, however, want young people to know what they are getting into before they leap into this career.

I enjoyed private practice. I liked working with horses, cats, dogs, cattle, etc. The large animal portion was rough on my body, but I did enjoy the work. It involved both physical and mental labor.

I love my current job. I get to help veterinarians find the information they need to handle their private-practice cases. My fellow employees are veterinarians who are/were in academia, specialty practices, general practices, etc. who also enjoy helping our colleagues. It's a great bunch of people working at VIN.

I love my job. But because of the contact I now have with so many veterinarians, I get to hear from far too many who are facing financial problems because of student debt and/or the current economy. When I graduated, it was unheard of for a veterinarian to lose a practice. That's no longer the case.

If you want to be a veterinarian, plan ahead. Make an informed decision. Check out the I Want To Be A Veterinarian website.