Animals have always played an important role in my life. Growing up, I felt as if my pets understood me far better than any people. Animals were my safe harbor in a very turbulent upbringing, and even before I realized I was neurodivergent and what that entailed, my connection with animals help me to unwind and decompress after work and helped me through many periods of burnout.
I am finishing my master’s degree in religious studies, and am currently completing a certified pet grief counseling course. It is through this that I discovered the new field of veterinary chaplaincy, which is a chaplain who helps support the human-animal bond.
A light went on. I understood that was what I was meant to do and how I wanted to focus my non-fiction writing energy. It was, I realized, why I was getting a master’s degree in religious studies.
One question remained. How did my writing fit into this work?
And then it clicked. Since I write stories involving animals, namely the human-animal bond, the fiction writing I do is just as much a part of that veterinary chaplaincy work as the nonfiction work I do. Though my stories aren’t spiritual at all (I do tend to categorize my Heart Compass Stable series as visionary and metaphysical because the main character does animal reiki.), my spiritual beliefs infuse the work. I believe animals are sacred; nature is sacred, and this sense of sacredness, of connection, and of belonging infuses the stories I write.
Certainly I don’t want anyone to think my work is trying to convert them or being preachy. That’s not my goal or intent at all. But I’ve also found that many of the people who connect with my work have the same types of experiences with their animal companions. They find the connection with animals to be special, and so they resonate with that aspect of my work.
I feel in a way that I’ve stumbled into writing my life’s purpose, and that’s something I could never have imagined more than twenty years ago when I started my publishing journey. But it’s where I’m at now, and I think it’s a good place to be.
