My New Writing Buddy

One of our pet fish died last week. She was a convict cichlid (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus), named Convict (lame, I know), about 6 years old and smart as any fish could be. She was the Queen of the tank.

My kids were so sad when she died. We buried her under the ginkgo tree in our front yard. I tried to ease the pain by telling them she'll compost away and show up in the ginkgo's new, spring leaves. It helped a little.

Circle of life, dudes.

During our fish-mourning, my hubby bought me a half-moon betta. He looks like a blue peony in fish form. All fins and glamour! We named him Finnegan. Finney for short. Finney has his own crib so he won't attack every other fish in the tank. He's beautiful but not vain. In fact, he loathes my iPhone camera. He swims away whenever he sees it. It took, like, 50 tries to get this portrait.

Finney is my new writing buddy. He gets me through the tough times now.

Me: "I can't figure out how to fix this plot problem!"
Finney:
Me: "I need a writing break. Do you need a break?"
Finney:
Me: "Does my butt look too big? Too small? Misshapen?"
Finney:

As you can see, he's awesome. He a speck of fishy companionship in this lonely writing business.

*RIP, Convict*

How about you? Do you have something (non-food related) that keeps you company when you write?

******

Also, if you have a moment, please stop by Deb Salisbury's blog and Sarah Fine's post to see how she creates her characters! If you missed it, check out Laura's post and mine.