by Amelia Grey, guest blogger

I am going to go out on a limb here and expose the real Amelia Grey.  I am not a dog person.  Don't get me wrong, I think dogs are cute, but I didn't grow up with a pet in the house so I've just never learned much about dogs or cats.  If I ever get a dog, I think I would like a Toy Poodle or a Yorkshire Terrier.  I mean dogs just don't come any cuter.

You are probably wondering where I'm going with this....I do have a point.  Although I know it is not wise to write about things of which I have no experience, I needed a dog in my current book A Duke to Die For.

The sweet, little dog, Tulip was only going to be in one chapter so I thought, hey, I can do this so I wrote her in.  It wasn't that hard to do, or so I thought. Luckily, I had an author friend who has a dog, read that chapter for me just to make sure I had the little doggie doing all the right things.

Well, when she got through marking it up with her red pen, I was flabbergasted at how much I didn't know about dogs!  Her comment to me was, "Tulip might as well be a stuffed toy dog sitting in Henrietta's lap." She kindly reminded me that dogs sniff, shed, drool, scratch, and bark.  They like to be rubbed and petted and talked to, and well, I could go on, but I think you get the idea.  The worst thing I did was call Tulip a she sometimes and a he at other times!  I know, I know, that's terrible.  I couldn't believe I had messed up so badly on one little dog.  I found out it's harder for me to write one chapter with a dog in it than a whole book with the hero and heroine.

I've heard it over and over again in writing workshops through the years, "write what you know".  After that experience, I'm taking that advice to heart.  Needless to say, I think it will be a long time before I put another dog in a story. Who's your favorite pet companion-real or in literature?

Amelia Grey is giving away a copy of A Duke to Die For to one lucky reader. Open to US and Canada readers only. Enter by leaving Amelia a question or answering hers about pets. Winner will be announced April 15th, 2009.

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