Meet Beni

Okay, so there are a lot more productive things I could be doing right now (like writing, working on the craft I was doing for Zach's birthday or Christmas present, or -- you know -- sleeping), but I really wanted to take a second to introduce you to Beni.

This is Beni.  His name is short for Benedict; Zach decided we'll call him Big Ben when he gets older and, well, bigger.  He's a German Shepherd Puppy that's 6 weeks old on Wednesday.  He was born on Halloween.

One day, Zach came home telling about one of his students had German Shepherd (which I will henceforth refer to as GS because I am lazy and always misspell "shepherd") puppies and asked if he wanted one.  Cue adorable man squee.  Of course he did, what kind of a question was that?!

The problem?  Zach is the oldest of four children with a total of six people in the household.  Wyatt, his younger brother, has an old-as-dirt Siamese cat named Sarah.  Katie, his younger sister, has a slightly-younger-than-old-as-dirt-cat-Sarah-but-no-spring-chicken Peekapoo named Mardi (he was born on Mardi Gras, hence the spelling).  Stephen, his youngest brother, has a still-in-his-puppy-phase Sheller Hound named Ford.  His parents had 12 chickens they kept in the yard, but there is only one left right now due to stray dogs killing them for seemingly no reason.  The argument:  There is no room in the house for another dog.

Well, I shouldn't say that was the entire basis of the argument.  Points were also raised about how no one takes Ford on walks, the children have to be reminded to feed and water the pets, and the fact that Zach basically has two jobs right now (internship and waiting tables) and wouldn't have time for a needy little puppy.  I see the validity in all of these arguments, don't get me wrong.  Zach's main argument was that everyone else in the house had a pet.  Now, there was a point where Zach had adopted a husky dog.  She was amazing and I miss her. Wynn died mysteriously one morning without any warning.  That was about a year or two ago.  Ford was, in a way, supposed to be her replacement.  (We all know it, though no one officially said it.)

His mom joked saying that I should be the one to adopt him since he's at my house all the time.  Well, I have an explanation for that.  1.)  There was a time where I was upset with his parents; it was something healed by time, reflection, and the girl moving to a completely different state.  But, this is neither here nor there.  Initially, that was the reason behind hanging out at my house... I just didn't want to be around his ex girlfriend.  Plain and simple.  2.)  There was a period of time where I had very intense headaches almost daily.  You can imagine the noise level in a household of 6 where the children's ages range from 7 to 22.  If you can imagine that, you can understand and empathize with me not wanting to poke my already throbbing brain with a sledge hammer.  3.)  Depression, man.  Occasionally, I sink into a depression.  It's no big deal and I probably should be taking my medication for it.  Luckily, it passes on its own within a week or two.  If you have ever experienced depression, odds are that you know what I'm talking about.  (Exercise attire, despite not exercising...or just, no "real clothes" in general.)  4.)  I'm lazy.

Unfortunately, these don't get explained often.  I mean, why would I bring up past tensions that happened a year or two ago to explain my absence?  My headaches have gotten a lot better; it's rare that I have one for more than one day in a row.  (Though there hasn't been much change on the noise level, due to Stephen now associating his yelling voice with his normal voice level.)  His mom is a nurse, so she would possibly worry and/or try to get me to take medication -- or even worse...talk about my feelings.  Not to mention the fact that I've been hospitalized for overdosing and it's falsely believed by some to have been a suicide attempt.  I don't want her to worry.  And no one likes to admit they are too lazy for real clothes, makeup, and doing their hair.

I've been making a conscious effort to go over to his house more.  I especially have since they think I'm mad at them and/or don't like them.  It also helped me realize my absence more when we went to take pictures and Wyatt's girlfriend was there, despite Wyatt being at a track meet.  I felt a little like a crapbag at that point... I realized that, in my selfish laziness, I had missed out on a year or two of their lives.  It's not like I was never around or anything, but it was a lot of bonding experiences.  I promised Zach that I would definitely come over more to help raise the puppy.

Anyway, back to the main story!  Zach came home asking if he could get the puppy on Friday.  The girl needed to know a definite answer by Sunday at lunch, and it would be preferable if he could pick him up then.  We visited the puppy Friday and held him.  Zach took a picture and sent it to his family.  Wyatt, Katie, and Stephen immediately fell in love with this lovable tramp.  We speculate that his mother did, too.  (She wanted to keep two of Wynn's puppies, but their dad decided they all needed to go.)  There was about 3 hours of pleading/negotiating on Friday before Zach and I had to go to dinner at my grandparents'.  God only knows how much pleading went on after that and on Saturday.  Katie, Stephen, and I even watched a marathon of "Too Cute" on Animal Planet -- I think it was a subtle tactic of Katie's.

Saturday night at nearly 10, Zach excitedly showed me the text message he sent the girl asking when he could pick the pup up.  We had a mini-celebration.  I mean, we had already seen, held, and fallen in love with this little guy.  It was only a mini-celebration because we're adults and feel like we shouldn't be this ecstatic about a puppy...I guess.  But who doesn't love puppies?  He was going to leave right after church to pick him up.

        

  

Beni spent the seven minute car ride in my lap.  Half of that time was spent asleep.  When we got to his house, we took him to the back yard to potty and explore.  I got worried because he seemed sad and/or scared.  He hadn't wagged his tail a single time yet.  I get it, though.  It's a new place and he's confused.  I think the excitement came when Ford entered the equation.  Ford's a big puppy; he's maybe two years old.  He's a very excitable dog and loves to play and act silly.  Because he is so big, we were worried that his playing might hurt Beni or that Beni would be scared just because of how big and rowdy Ford was.  Thankfully, neither of these were the case.  Ford has already taken on the role of big brother and Beni has happily let him.

   

His parents are trying to hide their approval of him, which they do well.  Wyatt has already tried to steal him from Zach, but Zach is bound and determined that this will not be the case.  Zach's planning on moving out soon (once he gets a steady, real job) and young GS recognize one alpha male and one alpha male only until they are older.  Katie and Stephen adore him, but then again, he's a baby animal and young kids generally do.  I think Katie is taking advantage of Stephen not being able to tell time very well.  She'll say that it's their turn to swap holding the sleeping puppy "in about half an hour" and then say a time that is different than the anticipated time.  Stephen is determined that he's going to carry the puppy everywhere.  I swear, my first hour or two there, my most common saying was "Stephen, put him down. He has to walk and get exercise" or "Don't carry him, he has to learn to do it on his own."  Is learned helplessness a thing for dogs?

Because he's Zach's dog, as soon as we got there, I backed off.  He needed to bond with Zach more than anyone if he's the dog's master.  I watched.  I played with him when they were playing, but I tried not to take the situation over.  It was different when it was just me and the kids; I wanted to help instill in him that they were near the bottom of the hierarchy.  I know, it sounds bad...  What I mean is, they are the youngest two people and he needed to see someone older taking the spot of the temporary leader of the pack while the alpha male was missing.  I don't know if I'm over thinking it, though.  Probably.  Out of all the willing arms, Zach was sadly the one to hold him the least.  It made me feel bad because I had complained, quietly, and to him only that we were the ones that didn't get to hold him.  He let me hold him until it was time to put him to bed.  I didn't realize it until later, but it made me feel selfish.  Thankfully, Beni and Zach did get to bond.

So, why am I so excited other than the fact that there's a cute new puppy that I get to play with?  I realized, before Zach pointed it out to me, that Beni wasn't just going to be his... He was going to be ours.  The plan was that he was going to secure a real job and graduate college before proposing.  He's applied for a teaching job already.  He graduates on Saturday.  Brace yourselves...adulthood is coming.  I mean, I don't expect an immediate proposal or anything (trust me, we've been dating for six and a half years), but knowing that the time frame is actually nearing kind of makes me nervous.  It's nothing about him that makes me nervous, but the idea of being an adult.  The idea of being a wife... The idea of starting a family... Not a "family" where there is a married couple and a zoo of animals, a real family...with human birth.  I don't know... It weirds me out a little and gives me butterflies in my stomach.

Because he'll be hopefully moving out soon, Beni will really be ours and not just his.  Not to mention when we get married.  I think that's part of the reason why I don't mind stepping up and helping raise this little guy; Zach and I really are his pet parents.

Okay, one last little thing, then I'm going to finally go to bed.  Since I posted so much about Beni, I feel bad not mentioning anything about my cat, so here we go!

I couldn't resist a cute picture of a sleepy kitten curled up by the Christmas tree!  At least he wasn't under it this time, knocking the ornaments around.  A few got broken last year -- probably because we have glass ornaments.  He also likes to sit on the presents, but that's understandable with the history of cats and boxes.  Not to mention how warm it is under those lights.

Yes, this is my bathroom sink.  Yes, he's looking at me upside down.  Yes, that is normal for him.  Sometimes, he's just too lazy to turn his head, so he just looks up, which makes him end up looking at you upside down.  He's weird, I don't know.  But he did this and I got so excited.  I've wanted him to curl up in the sink since I've had him, but he never would.  I walked into the bathroom the other day and BAM!  There he sat.  I tried to take a better picture of him, but he decided that I was weird for taking his picture, so he went and laid in the floor like a normal cat.

He hasn't met Beni... I don't know how he'll react to him.  He gets along great with my dog, but every time my dog gets a hair cut, Booger (my cat's unofficial name) freaks out and thinks he's a completely different dog.  He'll have nothing to do with Prelude for at least a day.  I don't know what this means for Beni, but I'm sure once they live together, they'll be great friends.

I promised that was going to be all.  I'm sorry that this post was so long...  I realized I needed background information for a few things and I ended up rambling.  Regardless, enjoy the pet pictures.  There are probably many, many more to come.       

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What a Novel Idea!

From Barns and Noble. If you're interested, check it out here.

Zach and I went to Barns and Noble for my birthday so that he could pick up my present:  my own copy of Dragonlance Legends.  He said they did have an annotated edition that was what he was looking for, but it was out of stock.  He gave me the choice between Dragonlance Chronicles or Dragonlance Legends.  That was tough... Chronicles was what got me into the whole series, but Legends focused on my favorite character, Raistlin, and effected me so deeply.  Seriously.  My mom called me as I reached the last few chapters of the book and I reluctantly answered the phone.  After I spoke, she was in a panic because I was crying so much.  I explained, no nothing was wrong, but I was finishing my book.  (I knew not to delve into detail with her because she has no interest whatsoever in fantasy genres of anything.)  I finally decided that, since Zach had a collective copy of Chronicles encompassing all three of the books, that I would get Legends, another collective copy encompassing three books happening after Chronicles.  I didn't see the point in having two copies of Chronicles; I justified it as "Well, when we get married, we're going to merge our libraries into one."  Dragonlance is a great series and you should read it if fantasy is your cup of tea.  I would suggest beginning with Chronicles; then you can go and read the beginning and ending of your favorite characters' stories.

I said all of that to say this:  Every time that I go into a book store, I always find myself thinking "I could do that."  Looking at some of the lackluster books that you can find on the shelves, I know that I could...and it would be better than some!  Sure, I've started a lot of stories, but rarely have I ever finished them.  I always find myself writing aimlessly -- no direction, no solid plot...  Not to mention that about halfway through writing it, I would notice that I had stolen so much from other movies or books that I loved.  (In 6th grade, I wrote pretty much my own version of Harry Potter, using my friends as the main characters.)

This time, I decided to take a more structured approach.  I know that it is going to be truly difficult for me to map out every aspect of the story before beginning.  Still, I know that it is necessary for me to actually find a way to finish a story.  My downfall is plot.  Sure, I create an overarching plot line, but how do the characters get into the main conflict of the story?  Why should they care?  They're going on this epic adventure, but it seems that I never divert from the overarching plot. 

For example, a story I was working on in junior high school consisted of two main characters who somehow befriended a dragon (I'm fuzzy on the details).  He informed the two that there was an evil dragon that was searching for and item known as the Dragon Orb and was going to destroy it once it was found.  I don't remember exactly what it did or anything, but that was the main plot.  So, they set out on an adventure to find this evil dragon and rescue the Dragon Orb.  (Later, when I was reading Dragonlance, they used dragon orbs, too.  I was so excited because I remembered using that in my story ages before I had even heard of Dragonlance.)

That was all there was to the story....Ronin and Tera looking for the Dragon Orb.  How did I expect to make them find it?  One day, they just trip over this piece of glass, unearth it, and oh hey, look.  The Dragon Orb.  I realized even then that my plots were really thin and that my characters had no idea what they were doing.  That's all well and good so long as I know what they were doing, why, and how it would effect the story as a whole, but I didn't.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I just had this idea one day and wanted to expound upon it.  I can see the value in that, but I never went back to attach it to anything.

This time, I wanted it to be different.  I wanted something that I could look back on in a few years and be proud of, even if I found flaws in it later.  Something that I wouldn't be somewhat embarrassed of like I am with "The Fate of All Dragons" (original title, huh?).

I did some cheesy Googling ("how to write a novel") and found some pretty useful links, actually.  One was particularly useful:  "How to Plan out a Novel" on WikiHow.  Honestly, I didn't see that coming.  I followed the steps to creating my folders on my computer.  I started with characters, since they are what I am most familiar with.  I found a -- no joke -- 18 page character description and profile template on DeviantART which I am modifying to fit my uses.  I thought it was great because it makes me think more in-depth on my characters.  I can tell they're becoming more realistic as I fill it out.

My story is a steampunk fantasy adventure based (loosely) on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that Zach and I ran.  We spent a great deal of time developing the world, races, etc. because there was no real set of steampunk D&D rules that we could find.  I am more than familiar with my character as I played her, but I don't know if Zach would want me dictating how his character would think, feel, and act.  I thought about changing the name so that I could do so. 

I don't know how well collaborative writing would go in cases such as this.  I feel like it would be like reading the Inheritance Series (Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, and Inheritance).  I loved the books, I mean, who couldn't?  It's medieval Star Wars.  (Slight spoiler alert?  This is Luke. He's a farmboy.  This is Eragon.  He's a farmboy.  He lives with his uncle.  He lives with his uncle.  His father is the bad guy.  His father is the bad guy. Seriosuly, replace the word "sword" with "lightsaber", the word "magic" with "the Force", and the word "dragon" with "X-Wing" and it's the same thing.)  After Eragon and Roran got separated, the chapters would switch focus.  One or two chapters would focus on Eragon and his adventures, then the next one or two would focus on Roran and his adventures.  I don't know about you guys, but I tried to be done with the chapters on Roran as quickly as possible.  I feel like that's how our writing would be.  And it would make me feel bad.  I'm not saying that my chapters would be preferred over his, but the thought of people reacting to a set of chapters in the same way that I reacted to the chapters on Roran makes me sad.  (Another quick little rant on the Inheritance series that is somewhat unrelated:  It was supposed to be a trilogy.  You don't publish in your first book "Part one of the Inheritance trilogy" if you are not 100% sure that your series is going to be a trilogy.  It said the word "trilogy" in the first two books.  I noticed the change in Brisinger and it drove me a little nuts.  End rant.)

I'm utilizing the research folder a lot more than I thought I would, too.  I feel that it adds a sense of credibility and realism to the story.  I realize the use of aether crystals and airships is a bit unrealistic in itself (lest you're talking about blimps), but considering my story is based around the period of time where aether is discovered, I thought it would be a good idea to do a little light research on the types of ships from around the 19th century...especially the required crew size.  I also thought it useful to look up crew hierarchies and implement those.

The only thing I'm stuck on is the plot right now.  I have two main, overarching quests right now:  I have my main character's personal quest, and I also have a common goal for the entirety of the main characters.  As of right now, I only have one side quest.  I feel like there needs to be more...  Right now, I feel like my plot line is too thin...  I always get stuck on the plot!

Maybe starting to develop the main antagonists would help me in my development of the plot... What are his/her motives?

Sigh.  I've logged a good few hours on planning already and still there is so much to be done before I can even begin writing...  Hopefully this has helped my writer's block some.

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