Of Migraines and Pets

 

I just spent the last three days with a massive migraine, so this is the first time I’ve been on my computer in a few days. Maybe I should have written my post last week while I was working on my inventory of my Barbies and my books.

I finished the inventory of my Barbies, but not my books. That list isn’t complete yet. I also plan to do an inventory of my Nativities and other knickknacks, which will probably have to be done with pictures since there is such a large variety of them. Then again, I have a whole slew of pictures of my Barbies as well. I just haven’t put them in my inventory. Maybe I should.

Anyway, I am not working on all cylinders this morning thanks to being so out of it the last few days. And I should have spent some time writing or editing this last week, but I haven’t done that either.

Don’t ask me how Konnie is doing, about all know is Jerry got a new dog this last week. That isn’t big news considering how many animals Konnie and her family lost this past year. The number of animals in their house right now is less than in the past. I am just going to stick with Patches. I can’t afford to take care of more than just him. Pets can be expensive.

Though I admit to having fun putting pets in my stories. I have one scene where the hero’s dogs keep him from entering the room occupied by who he thought was a male, but he’d just learned was a female. Fun scene.

I do have dogs in another story but the only scene I have with them is the lead female discovering her stepchildren are afraid of dogs, something their father had never considered.

Animals can add a fun element to a story. I just wonder why I keep using dogs when I’m a cat person. I really should have a character with a cat or two, or more. I like the stories I’ve read with cats in them, I’ve just read more with dogs.

There are other pets a character could have too.

I have one where the hero’s family has a whole menagerie, but no cats. A dog, a parrot, a couple of parakeets, a couple of pygmy goats, and three Giant Welsh rabbits.

Well, they do have neighbors with a large variety of animals including cats, dogs, goats, and chickens, which does play into the story because they all have to evacuate because of a wildfire. And even still most of the animals I have in that story are dogs.

The lead female has a dog, and her best friend's brother has a dog. The hero's aunts and grandparents all have at least one dog each, and the family friends have a dog. That’s quite a few dogs and only a couple of cats.

I do have another story where the hero has a dog and during the story, they rescue a kitten from a storm drain. The lead female wants to keep the cat, which causes quite a scene because of his dog.

Those are the only two pets in that story, but I have a few nice scenes with them.

I have no idea why I have so few cats in my stories. I just use dogs more often. I know the first story I had any pets in, and I had it be dogs because they were guard dogs for the hero’s business. Cats wouldn’t have worked for that; I just don’t know why I haven’t had pets in other stories. Well, I do know for one of my stories. I didn’t give the title character a pet because she was too busy and had too much on her plate as it was.

Sometimes not having pets in the story is a good thing, other times they add an element of fun to the story. Though in the one with the wildfire, the pets haven’t added much of an element of fun so far, just mayhem.

Do you have pets? If so what kind? And do you put pets in your stories? Why or why not?

Anyway, happy writing everyone!