I Think. Therefore, I Am.

Actually, my existence is pretty questionable. My head's still fuzzy from the flu, but I'm eating a normally diet again. That's a step in the right direction.

However, I'm a little jealous of the friends who were able to attend last night's showing of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. More because they were physically able to attend the screenings, than wishing I could go to. However. everyone so far has said the ending was awesomely satisfying. So maybe JJ Abrams finally learned how to write an ending after all.

Yes, folks, the ending of a story is just as important as the beginning. If you haven't learned how to craft an ending, for the love of Cthulu, practice.

This is not a hate on JJ. I think the guy can come up with brilliant ideas. It's the follow-thru where he falters.

Alias. Revolution. Lost. All great high-concept ideas. But he kind of proves the adage that ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the actual story that keeps people involved. Also, the writer can't break the rules of their universe willy-nilly. Not without pissing off their fans.

Look what happened with the final season of Game of Thrones. The writers and showrunners had GRRM's notes, but they didn't have his passion for the characters. All the previous seasons, we knew who did what and why. And it's not the fact that Bran ended up with the Iron Throne, it's that the writers didn't care enough to sell that version to the audience.

Sticking with our world logic and developing an ending is something we writers need to do on a consistent basis. When I was writing Hero De Facto, I feared the May-December romance between Rey and Aisha would be the biggest sticking point with the audience. So far, there's been nary a word, which means I did my job as an artist.

So where is all this rambling going? To three craft points writers need to keep in mind:

1) Ideas are cheap and easy. Storytelling is hard. Work on your storytelling.

2) Endings are as important as beginnings.

3) Don't break the rules of your universe without a damn good reason that makes sense to the audience.

Now, I have to put together my shopping list. Genius Kid was Cincinnati chili with his football on Sunday.

Buddy the Elf Dog Is Home!

On the evening of December 13th, GK went out to bring in the trash cans and found a full-bred Yorkie sitting in our driveway. We nicknamed him Buddy the Elf Dog. We contacted our neighborhood's pet hotline, posted pictures, and drove around our subdivision, hoping to find his owner.

We had a major debate about what to do. We couldn't take him to a shelter. We knew how crowded they became this time of year with unwanted "Christmas presents." And Buddy was so sweet and good-natured we feared what might happen if he managed to get adopted.

We know all-to-well that some people think dogs are things to be kicked around, not living beings. Our last two dogs were rescue dogs that had been horribly abused. It had taken a lot of patience and a lot of love for them to trust humans again.

Tuesday morning, January 1st, DH and I planned one more round of posting pictures of Buddy this week. We decided if that didn't work, we would keep him. He'd already claimed me as his human. Sleeping with me. Snuggling on my legs while I wrote.

Then, amazingly, we got a call from Christie, the Lost Pet coordinator, on Tuesday afternoon. Did we still have the Yorkie? She feared we had found another home for Buddy or had taken him to one of the local shelters.

Nope, he was still here. A few minutes later, DH spoke with the owner who was on the verge of crying over the phone.

Turns out Buddy's name is Toby. He's the companion of an older, disabled gentlemen named Enrique who feared he'd never see his beloved dog again. Unfortunately, Enrique and his wife were out of town for the holidays when they got the call from Christie. Within a couple of hours though, Mrs. Enrique was at our door, and Buddy/Toby's excitement at seeing her confirmed we had the right people.

All's well that ends well, right? Except I missed the little ball fluff who curled up and slept next to my chest for the last three weeks.