a fur princess turns seven

Sadie turned 7 years old today. And I did something I've never done before...I bought her an orange, frosted birthday treat. Maybe I sang Happy Birthday to her, maybe I didn't. She was delivered her sugary surprise at the dinner table where she's never ever been allowed to sit before. After sniffing her biscuit with a look of longing, I told her to take it, and what did she do? She left it untouched on its plate and looked up at me with her ears turned down. The voice in her head must've been saying, Is this a trick? What's this lady up to? Am I really allowed to eat off the table? I nudged the treat closer to her mouth. She sniffed and looked up again fixing her brown eyes on me. All those doggie training classes where we practiced the leave it! command must've actually paid off. Who knew! Finally, I picked the cookie up and popped it in her mouth. She sat holding it there as in the picture above, not believing her luck. Eventually, I set her down and she ran like hell to her room where she could enjoy her treat in peace. And now, the carpet where said birthday biscuit was devoured, has never been so clean.

Happy Birthday Sadie!!!

poor little reject

Here's a poem I wrote that has yet to find a home in a children's magazine. It's a poor little reject, but I still like it. And until a door opens to let it in, I thought I'd share it here. I hope my little reject makes you think of summer...hint hint.

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT I LOVE?

by Samantha L. Hagar

Stuck between your fingers,

Glued to your feet and toes,

Itching the bend in your arms,

Scratching inside of your ears and nose.

It can be smaller than a crystal,

Or even tinier than the tip of a pen,

And if you mix it together with some water

You can recreate London, England’s Big Ben.

It can be coarse enough to polish wood,

Or as silky soft as Baker’s flour.

It’s found in glass, paint and concrete,

And it’s also used to tick down the hour.

It runs rampant in the Sahara,

Covers dunes in New Mexico,

And comes in many different colors,

Brown, black, pink, or white as winter snow.

I use it to build castles, mermaids and towers,

Or to bury my brother’s legs just within sea’s reach.

I love to jump and splash at the sparkling, foamy edge,

But mostly I love sand, and I find it at the beach.

love of outdoors

This is a picture of Sadie from this past Memorial Day weekend. Sadie's become quite the little hiker logging just under eight miles in two days. Those three inch legs were moving fast causing people to point and laugh. Funny how we openly tease animals but you'd never point and laugh at a person with really short legs. Anyway, this past weekend being outdoors and soaking up the sunshine made me so happy to be back in California - my home state. I'm getting all nostalgic on you, but I never, or rarely I should say, hiked when I lived in NYC and I always felt like something was missing. I'm glad to be closer to nature again, and glad I have a cute lil' puppy to share it with - even if I do have to carry her up the hills.

emotional connection and chapter deux

A writer's job is to make her readers feel the emotions of the people in this photo so that the readers care what happens to them next (picture via Google Images).

Breadth and depth. You hear those two words all of the time in marketing and they make sense in the writing world as well. You can have a story with a whole lot of breadth, a plot that takes its readers around the world, but perhaps your characters within that story don't have a lot of depth. Maybe they seem one-dimensional, they're not fleshed out, their voices are not clear. Maybe your characters experience awe-inspiring adventure, but if your reader never really gets to know them - what makes them laugh or cry - then chances are they won't really care what happens to them - they'll never feel an emotional connection. And that, the emotional connection, is the hardest thing to nail in writing...in my opinion.

It is the emotional connection that I struggle with, and part of that has to do with the need to develop my characters more. My writing buddies, as usual, have helped exponentially with this. I've always had the basic story in my head, I think, but for some reason I wasn't expanding enough on the page. The task is daunting sometimes, and can be emotionally exhausting. Maybe it's like Method acting for performers? When a writer tackles an emotional scene, she goes to that place with her characters. If I cry, I hope I'm making my readers cry, too. If I cringe, I hope they're cringing. And if I'm mean to my protagonist (something that I haven't been too much of in the past but am now) I hope my readers think, "Hey, now this is real life!" Not that my book is all heartbreak, chaos and torture, let's just say the story has its growing pains.

I hope I've uncovered more of the emotions and motivation behind my characters' choices in my story. I want my readers to connect with my protagonist Marie. My goal is to make you want to know her more and to care what happens to her. So give the new and improved chapter two of my middle-grade, sci-fi/fantasy book, Trevelyn's Shimmer, a read. And let me know what you think.

Chapter two - Trevelyn's Shimmer.

sadie, second cutest pet in the east bay

The votes have been cast, the winner announced, and Diablo Magazine's cutest pet of 2011 is....Duke. But, Diablo Magazine's SECOND cutest pet is...Sadie! Whoo-who! Second by a mere whisker! She's still number one in my book, though. Which means that I'm still going to brag about it. Read all about the winners here.

And a BIG THANKS to everyone who voted. Until next year....

xx,

Samantha (owner of the second cutest pet in the East Bay)

and

Sadie a.k.a. Hollywood (second cutest pet in the East Bay)

really, chapter one, again? um, yes

If you aren't sick of hearing me say it, I've revised chapter one again. No, I'm not kidding. But it's not my fault! Writing buddy and I added a second, wonderful writing buddy to our group, and so, when I gave writing buddy 2 (WB2) chapter one, well, she had some very insightful suggestions. And yes, if you can believe it, now chapter one of my middle-grade sci-fi/fantasy book is even better. Yay! So give it a go, read it again and let me know if my writing buddies are paying off.

Trevelyn's Shimmer, Chapter 1

vote for Sadie because she likes treats

(the photo that got her paw in the door)

Something very exciting is in the works...no, not for my writing, but for my dog! Today I learned that Sadie is a finalist in the top 16 of Diablo Magazine's cutest pet contest! My friend Bronwyn took the photo one day when we were goofing around and dressing Sadie in baby socks. We had a laugh at poor Sadie's expense, but she's a good sport...she got treats afterwards too, so don't feel too bad for her. If Sadie wins she'll get an awesome prize at a local dog store and I'll get to brag with more vindication. So please take a second and help us out. Vote for Sadie here. And vote once a day everyday until March 28th.

Sadie says "ruff-roo" and I say thank you!