iceangelmkx's Bonanza Fanfics

Life got crazy… and I’ve had the worst writer’s block since July, though I am slowly breaking out of it.   One bad thing, however, is that my laptop had died suddenly.  Because of this, many months worth of writing material, including some unfinished Bonanza fics, are now lost.  I do have a new laptop now, so I can resume with catching up soon enough.  Hopefully, some of the upcoming Bonanza Brand fic excercises will help me out… plus, I need to write Mrs. Jenkins’ speech for the upcoming Beauty Pagent at Ben’s Boardroom.   We’ll see how that goes.

That’s all there is to say for the moment.

I’m not usually someone who shares too much detail about my personal life over the internet.  Maybe that’s because I don’t have much of a life to begin with.

However, not even an hour ago did I talk to my Mom.  When she said, ‘I have some bad news,’ I thought someone had lost their job.  Instead, she informs me that her brother, my Uncle Ronnie, has passed away this afternoon.  It happened peacefully while he was taking a nap, most likely a heart attack.  If anyone was going to overshadow Michael Jackson’s death in my eyes, sadly this was it.  And ironically, I had just finished making plans with a friend who wanted to visit Marilyn Monroe’s grave tomorrow.

I have more aunts and uncles than I can count… okay, not really, but my dad grew up in a big family.  Out of all of them, Uncle Ronnie stood out because he was the one I saw more often as a kid since he and my Aunt Janet lived closer to us (they divorced a couple of years ago).  I always enjoyed seeing him whenever we all came together at my grandparents’ house.  I still remember his big curly hair (he even had an attempted afro in the 70’s) and big mustache and he was almost always smiling.  And when he did come over, he always brought over Toby, his little beagle who was such a sweetheart.  He also loved birds and will usually have one or two at a time.  I believe we still have a picture of him asleep with one of the birds sitting on top of his head lost in that crazy hair.

From what I can tell, he seemed easygoing and like the simple things in life.  He also always had a story to tell and was the best at keeping up a conversation without any awkward silences in between.  The last time I talked to him over the phone, we talked about his travels to California, Arizona, and Nevada and he even mentioned about watching Greyhound races during that time.

My mom mentioned that what happened him should tell us to go on a diet.  For me, I don’t think that should be the way to go.   Although I do need to go on a diet, I don’t think my Uncle’s death should be the ‘inspiration.’  I want to lose weight for other reasons.

Sadly, a prediction of mine did come true… that my grandma would outlive him.  I spoke to her too and she seems to be handling it pretty okay, maybe even better than when my grandpa died.  I’m happy to know that she has her friends, neighbors, and my mom to help her with this.

I’m not sure how to end this entry but…

RIP Uncle Ronnie… and as Bob Hope says, “Thanks for the memories.”

UPDATE: “My Sweet Stranger” is now linked and available to read!  Remember, though, you must be 18 years or older to read!

Well, before I begin, I decided against the fic thing for the Shindig mainly due to lack of time this week.  However, I still would like to use the idea I have in mind at another time.

However, I have completed the other two challenge stories for the month!  The R-Rated one for the Chaps and Spurs Challenge, titled ‘My Sweet Stranger,’ will be link from here soon.  Meanwhile, if you have access to BonanzaBrand’s R forum, give it a read!

Meanwhile, while you’re here, here’s the fic from the Sakes Alive Challenge.  Enjoy!

—

The Burma Rarity: The Thoughts of The Chief

Most days standing here tend to be quite boring. You wait everyday from sun up to sun down, hoping those on the passing stages actually buy your goods, or what I like to call, ‘heap cheap.’ A man has to learn a living some way.

However, today was, well, one of the most interesting days since I started my business. It all began when a buckboard with two men came rolling by. Then later, these two young men, one small and one large, came up to me to try to sell a green piece of glass that looked like a gem. They only assumed that I didn’t speak English and tried any way they could to make me understand. I already knew from the beginning that they wanted to trade in the piece for grub. I amused myself by letting them continued to assume this, especially when the big one attempted sign language.

“Am I to understand that you wish to dispose of this in exchange for food?” I nearly smiled at their reaction. I allowed them to eat of course and I placed the ‘gem’ amongst the others.

Later, close to the middle of the day, an older man came on his horse. He asked me about two men on the buckboard along with two other young men… one small and one large. I had seen the buckboard earlier and both that and the two young men who traded the gem had headed north towards Reno.

Immediately after, the first stage of the day came. There were few, but one particularly caught my attention… a pretty young blonde girl in a red dress. She began looking at my merchandise and that’s when I decided to try to sell the items in my ‘heap cheap’ basket. Perhaps she will like the green glass I received today. Normally I sell for ten, but for her… I’ll sell for five.

Then she offered to gamble for it. I love to gamble. Course then, she wanted to play a new game I never played before. ‘The Shell Game,’ she called it, where she placed a tiny pea in one of three walnut shells. She quickly moved them around and I had to guess where the pea was.

Let’s just say I’ll never play that game again! I played it twice and not only lost the gem, but she also took my war bonnet! Now I had to find a way to earn back the money I lost.

Later, the two men on the buckboard came by. They asked me about the green gem, but I had told them I already sold it to the girl. Then they asked me where she went.

That’s when I realized how I can earn my money back…

“In times of stress such as this, my memory sometimes fails me.” I brush my hand in the palm of the other, hinting what I need.

The two men gave me ten dollars. I smile. “It all comes back to me now. She was on the stage coach bound for Virginia City.”

They thank me and leave. I stare at the money for another moment before placing it in my pocket. A man has to learn a living some way.

About one hour later, the two young men, one small and one large, arrived again along with the older man I saw earlier. Must’ve been their father. Just like with the other two men, they ask about the gem. I describe the girl they were looking for.

“But in times of stress such as this, my memory sometimes fails me.”

“Would a ten dollar help relieve the stress,” the older man said as the money was passed over to me. The smile I had earlier came back. “To Virginia City.” I pointed. And they headed that way.

The sun had not set yet, but that was the end of that interesting day. I made quite a profit from the money I lost, plus the people I’ve seen today entertained me quite well.

However, there is one thing I wonder… what was the interest in this green gem they had? I guess that is something I’ll never know.

The End

Well, for the last two weeks I ended up with a bad case of writer’s block… plus it didn’t help that the screen of my computer cracked…  The good news is that I can still use the laptop since I can connect my old desktop screen to this.  However, when the convention hits, I won’t be writing full on details of my trip until after I get back (I’ll be keeping a journal with me so that I don’t forget the details).  Between the laptop thing and my work life, I was kind of feeling down for a little while, which most likely contributed to my writer’s block.

The good news is that my spirits have been pretty much lifted today.  Maybe because I had the day off today and didn’t have to hear a screaming kid or a rude customer telling me to get on a register when I haven’t even clocked in to work yet.   Just over the weekend, I found a cart outside with a dirty diaper and used wipes.  I mean, jeez, are we that ‘on-the-go’ these days that we don’t bother to pick up after ourselves and not be considerate for the health of other people?  Luckily, my boss said just to pull it to the back and the janitor would take care of it in the morning, but still, I think I was washing my hands every minute for the rest of the night just from touching the cart.  Yeah, I should be grateful to still have a job, but some times I wonder if it’s worth the insanity.

Anywho, I’m very close to completing my next Chaps and Spurs Literary Challenge for this month.  It’s an R-Rated one this month titled, ‘My Sweet Stranger.’  It’s mostly description with pratically no dialogue, but it gets the point across.   For this month’s Sakes Alive Challenge, it’s for the episode, ‘The Burma Rarity.’  I have an idea of what I want to do, but I’ve yet to have the chance to watch the episode this month.  I’m hoping to do so within the next few days (most likely before next Saturday since I’ll be going to Hollywood with a friend that day).

Another coming up fic involves ‘Ponderosa Matador,’ for the new upcoming BonanzaBrand feature, VC Shindig.  The Shindig involves our contribution to celebrate an aspect of Bonanza for the last whole week of the month.  We are allowed to celebrate with anything… puzzles, stories, etc.  Already, a plot bunny hopped my way… a sure sign that my writer’s block is broken through.

I’m hoping that once the month is over, I can continue with my other regular stories… especially The Matchmaker!  Okay here’s the deal… and I’m sticking to it even if it kills me!  I’m going to finish that fic before the convention!  I’ve been working on this story for 7 months and I know there are a few people who are anticipating the story since I shared the idea.  So basically, I have 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days left for the convention-eh-to finish the story.  That should be plenty of time until then.  Besides, it’s a good way to kill summertime in order for September to finally come.

Now to go to bed because I have work in the morning… yay… hope they remembered to give me June 27 off… at least I get paid tomorrow… more money to save for the convention!  Yay!

So what is Akismet?  Well, let’s just say… TAKE THAT YOU FILTHY SPAMMERS!!  MUAHAHA!!  (Thank you Patina for helping my finally defeat the spammers ).

And I’m currently typing this blog on my brand new laptop.  I’m still getting used to Vista and I may upgrade it to Windows 7 when it comes out at the end of the year, but we’ll see what happens.

Now for fanfic stuff…

I jinxed myself from a previous entry (the one concerning The Matchmaker)… I have writer’s block again.   Between extended work hours and my boyfriend’s new obsession with Rock Band 2 (it’s a game where you can actually sing along or play an instrument to old and new rock music) and him always wanting me to play, I haven’t had too much motivation as of lately.

However, there is good news… after the weekend comes June.  That means new challenges from BonanzaBrand’s Chaps and Spurs Literacy Challenge (R-Rated too!) and the Sakes Alive Switch.  I’m really really hoping that these challenges will help me get motivated again like they have since we started on them.  I really do need it right now.  Another good news is that I do have off from work Monday and Tuesday.  Although I plan to watch a never-seen-before movie on Monday night, the rest of the time will be spent getting my groove back… and watching more Bonanza of course.

That’s all for now.

For the last couple of days, my email was flooded with oh-so-wonderful spam.  For some very strange reason, the spammers seem very attracted to my ‘My Ideas #10′ post… probably because I used the word h e c k in the title.

So to eliminate the problem, I was forced to delete the post.  I would change the title name, but I don’t know how much better that would do.  *sigh* Oh well.

The post originally did have the latest updates on my future stories.  Once I get the chance, I’ll make a new list.

—

September 9 is getting closer and closer, and I’m getting more and more excited about the Bonanza Convention!  This weekend, it was announced that those of us going will have the chance to tour the ranch house in incline village.  I had planned to take a little trip just to get a teeny tiny peak through the fence… but this is SO much better!

I’ve already planned out my road trip for on the way there and I plan to rent a car from Enterprise since they have the best deal (and actually lets us kiddies under 25 rent, thought there is a fee involved).  Which reminds me, I should see about AAA incase I break down.

I’m also making one out-of-the-way stop to Cholame, CA to see the James Dean memorial (it’s also the site where the crash that took his life happened).  It’ll also be my only stop for a meal (breakfast in this case) since I plan to take a cooler for me and pack a lunch and some snacks.  I would have loved to have stopped to see San Francisco, but there won’t be any time for that.  Oh well, I’ll make a personal trip there one of these days.  At least I’ll get to see Sacramento on the way up.

The way it’s planned for now, I should arrive the evening of Sept. 9 and leave the morning of Sept. 16.  Then, for three days, I’ll be playing hostess to two other Bonanza fans, Pat and Lynne.   Which reminds me, I can’t wait to meet everyone who will be there!

I also intend to post about my experience at the convention right here on the blog.  As of today, it’s very possible that I will have a laptop.  Then that, way I can update ASAP rather than wait until after it was all over (though I originally plan to take my journal with me in order to write everything down while it is still fresh in my memory).  I also plan to take pictures, though I’m very sure I won’t be posting them until after.  I don’t own a digital camera and will be buying a bunch of throwaways and have the pictures be converted into a CD… well, at least that’ll be good business for the one-hour photo studios.

That’s all for now… no new news on my fics at the moment.

I’m here to make a little report on my fic, ‘The Matchmaker,’ which I have been working on since November.  The way it’s looking now, I’d say that the story is pretty much more than halfway done.  I FINALLY finished Adam’s night out and pretty much have Joe and Ben’s nights all figured out.  Still working on Hoss’ night, but I have a few ideas.  I also got started on the aftermath scenes.

If all goes well (and I don’t get hit with writer’s block), ‘The Matchmaker’ should finally be published by the end of May or some time in June.  I will also be hiring a couple of beta-readers for this one since it’s my first Bonanza comedy (not counting ‘The Calf’ since that was from a fic challenge).

In other news, I did write a short story for the R-Rated Sakes Alive Switch Challenge.  However, I’m not sure if I will post a link since it was a very easy and quick project.  But, when the challenge was presented, I came up with two ideas.  The unused one would’ve ended up being more than 1,000 words, so I held it off for now and will hopefully work on it in the near future.

Here’s the new story mentioned in my previous post.  I couldn’t think of a good title, so I settled with the one mentioned here.

—

“The Calf”

Adam Cartwright let out an exasperated sigh as he tightened his grip around the lasso that was in his hands. “Let’s try this… one more time,” he muttered under his breath.

The young calf in front of him stared up at him as though it was challenging him. The day had gone fine up until now. Sixteen year old Adam spent most of the afternoon branding calves with the two cowpokes that were with him. The morning had been spent gathering up the calves who have not received the Ponderosa brand yet.

That alone was hard enough. A couple of calves attempted to wander away from the small herd. With only three of them working including Adam trying to round up over a dozen calves, it almost seemed impossible.

However, Adam was not going to let any mistakes happen, that he would make sure of. This was only the second time that he was doing this work without his father by his side, and he wanted to be able to prove to him that he would get the job done without any more guidance.

One of the cowpokes, Tom, looked over at Adam. “Ya gonna go for it anytime now?” he called out.

Adam spoke without turning away from the calf. “I’m just waiting for the right moment.”

Soon, the young man felt reach and he began spinning the lasso above his head. He took a couple of slow steps forward, still keeping his eyes on the calf. “Come on now… stay where you are this time…”

After a couple of more spins, Adam quickly threw the rope forward. Almost immediately, the little calf let out a ‘moo’ before backing away. The rope ends up missing him just by a few inches.

Adam gritted his teeth in frustration, doing all he can to not yell out. It was the fifth time that the animal managed to dodge away from the rope. All the other ones only took one or two tries without too much of a fuss, but this one… it was different.

Ira, the second cowpoke, cocked his head while chewing a piece of hay in between his teeth. “You sure you don’t need any help, Adam?” he asked.

Adam took a deep breath before turning to Ira. “No, I don’t need help.” He tried to sound calm, but it obviously didn’t work out as it came out more like he was annoyed.

“Kind of looks like ya do,” Tom replied as he rolled the handle of the branding iron in between his hands. “That’s the fifth time ya missed. I don’t mind ya takin’ forever, but-”

“You want to leave before the sun sets,” Adam finished with more frustration in his voice. “That’s what you said the fourth time I missed.”

Deciding to ignore the two then, Adam readjusted the lasso before taking a few steps towards the calf who was now eating some of the grass on the ground. Good, that should keep him distracted.

Without any more hesitation, Adam began to swing the rope again. However, the whistling noise it produced caught the calf’s attention and Adam cursed at himself again. Hopefully, he wouldn’t miss for the sixth time.

Adam soon threw the rope. This time, he aimed it a little farther than he intended, hoping that the calf would fall for it.

Instead, the calf stepped sideways as though it knew where the rope was heading, and it once again landed on the ground.

Now much more frustrated than ever, Adam grabbed his gray Stetson from his head and threw it down in the grass. “That’s it!” he called out before stomping over to the calf.

Tom and Ira watched with curiosity, knowing that Adam was going to try to get the cow by hand this time. Both of them wondered if they should go and help the young lad, but they had the feeling that he was just going to end up pushing them away.

“Get over here you stubborn-” Adam barely said as he reached over for the calf. The animal let out another ‘moo’ as it began to run off from the young man.

“Come back here!” Adam called out as he began to chase the calf around the corral. At one point, the animal attempted to get itself lost within the other herd trying to hide from it’s chaser. The problem was, though, that it was the only one with a white rump.

The already-branded calves ran out of the way as Adam run through the small crowd, keeping his eye on the stubborn animal. Then, the calf made a quick turn and he tried to do the same. However, the turn made him suddenly lose his footing. Before he knew it, Adam found himself face first in wet mud left behind by the early morning rain.

Tom and Ira tried to suppress their laughs as much as possible as they walked over to Adam. “Told ya we shoulda helped,” Tom said.

Ignoring him, Adam slowly turned on his back, his eyes closed to protect them from the mud on his face. With his forearm, he wiped the mud away from them.

Adam then felt a hot breath over his forehead. Unsure of where it came from, he opened his eyes, only to be met by a pair of dark brown eyes that belonged to the calf, who let out another low moo.

“You know,” Adam began to say to the calf. “You are going to make a nice, wonderful steak one of these days.”

So finally, after getting himself back up, the young man felt defeated and let the two cowpokes take care of branding the animal.

—

The sun had finished setting by the time Adam rode in. The lanterns were lit within the house and around the porch, so it was easy for the young man to notice his father sitting on the rocking chair with an open book in hand.

Slowly, Adam guided his horse towards one of the hitching posts before dismounting. By then, Ben had noted his son returning and began to walk over to greet him.

What the older man saw surprised him. Never did he expect his adolescent boy to be caked with almost-dry mud. “What happened to you?” he exclaimed.

Adam sighed wearily as he hitched his horse. “You really don’t want to know.”

“Calves gave you a rough time?”

Adam tilted his head thoughtfully. “You could say that.” He then began to walk towards the house, feeling very tired. “Right now, I’m going to go upstairs, wash up, and change into nice, clean clothes.”

“At least take your boots off before you go inside. You know how Marie and Hop Sing feel about that.”

“I know I know,” Adam uttered as he reached the door. Once he did, he quickly kicked his boots off before setting them aside. He would take care of them in the morning, he decided.

“Pa, could you do me a favor?” Adam suddenly asked.

Ben folded his arms a bit, feeling curious. “What is it?”

“The next time you want to send me up to the North pasture for branding… don’t.”

Slightly hearing the irritation in Adam’s voice, Ben decided then that it was best not to ask about it as his oldest son opened the door and walked inside the house.

The End

My latest challenge story for this month’s ‘Chaps and Spurs Literacy Challenge’ is complete!  And once again, it’s another one that got finished in two hours like the one in March (of course, though, this new story is a bit shorter).

For this story, it’s more of a ‘Just For Fun’ type thing.  Nothing too serious that adds to, well, anything.  Just another ‘ordinary’ day on the ranch you can say.

The new story is currenly untitled, but as soon as I think of one (which I’m sure will be by the end of the week), I’ll provide the link.

Also, The Sakes Alive Challenge is up and at it again… this time, an R-Rated version.   The episode of the month is ‘Day of the Dragon,’ which makes me very happy because it’s my 7th favorite episode.  Pretty much right away, two ideas came in my head.  However, I’ve already made my decision on which one to use.  Since this challenge requires a story that’s 1,000 words or less, the one I didn’t choose… I have a feeling it’s going to go beyond 1,000 words.  The chosen story will be posted most likely either tomorrow night, Thursday, or Friday.

Random thought of the day: I wish there was a way for me to hunt down the people controlling the ‘bots’ that are leaving comments in my blog that don’t make sense so that I can smack them upside the head. >:(

Anywho… I kind of realized something.  Technically, I’ve been writing Bonanza fan fiction for a year come next month since that’s when I started ‘Under The Purple Sky’ (which wasn’t completed until later that September).  It’s no surprise that I’ve written six stories by now (I think I had written four or five stories in my first year writing fan fiction in general).  What surprises me, though, is that out of these six stories, four of them are from challenges.

Basically… it’s a darn good thing these challenges exist.  Since my last non-challenge story was released, um, six months ago, there would’ve been a very long wait for my next story.

Speaking of challenges, there should be another one at BonanzaBrand coming up by the end of the week.  I’m anticipating what the five words will be and what I’m going to come up with.

I haven’t written my currently-writing stories in a few days, but with good reasons… business is kind of booming again at my work, and I’ve been working more hours the last two weeks.  Very good for my pocket even after the bills.  I do have the day off today (April 28), so as long as nothing comes up, I’ll be busy typing.