Julia Benally's Blog, page 7

Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish everybody reading this a very Merry Christmas!

I am grateful for the birth of my Savior, for this beautiful Christmas season, and all the beautiful things that have happened this year despite the pandemic. I lost my aunt a few months ago to the virus. It was unexpected and weird and very depressing. When she finally went, I knew she was all right and she wasn't suffering anymore. People I know are in the ICU and people are suffering financially. My tribe is currently on lockdown until after Christmas. Now it seems my uncle has the virus.

Despite all this, good things have happened to me. For one thing, my book got a lovely makeover. It was exciting running around in empty stores trying to grab food before other people did. Some can howl about it, but I decided to enjoy it. I discovered I could sew a little bit when I made my own mask. I learned how to eat with chopsticks. I got better at shooting a bow and arrow. We got a new washer and dryer and didn't have to go to the laundromat anymore. I quit that stupid Twitter. Imagine still being attached to it when everyone was at their lowest and spouting political nonsense? The place was already getting on my nerves. I wrote out book 3 in the Monster and Demons series. Somewhere in November, my book ranking for Nri Kryne jumped in the right direction by 6 million. "Keepress" finally got published, and I got to see the Christmas Star. It hasn't been out since the 1600s. These are all the adventures I shall tell my children and grandchildren.

These things are just a few of the good things that happened to me, and I know it's because of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I couldn't have endured without Him. I can't survive without Him. He helps me to write. He helps me to be happy. He helps me in all good things I want to do. When the night is very dark, He makes all the beautiful stars come out. All you have to do is look up.

Merry Christmas!

A brainstorm to take me down the rabbit hole

I suppose if I'm to pull off this idea, I need to convey the shock and surprise that I felt when the idea first came to me.

I know they say I need to kill off characters, but I really don't feel like it, as I've already lost favorite characters in real life. I don't need to relive that bull crap. Besides, kill a character and you kill a whole future book.

I'm stuck on this part, so I shall ask the main character what she wants. Oh, is that what you want? I kind of wanted that, too, but I wasn't so sure. All right. Have it your way.

Kill your darlings means to get rid of overly flowery and poetic sentences that mean nothing to anybody but you.

What am I supposed to do here? I've been stuck on this for weeks. You dodo, you know what that means. It means just chop it out and go somewhere else.

What's wrong with this scene? Oh, the character's reaction is wrong and out of character.

I'm stuck on how to do this romantic part because I'm not good at it. Well, I'll look up some seriously bad romance books, and make a list of what NOT to do. And then I will read some classic romances and make an in depth list of what to do.

This part is really fast paced and jumbled. I need to sit back, close my eyes, and watch it like a movie in slow motion in my head. Rewind sometimes. Ah, so that's what's happening.

Let's get into the head of this character, and after I make several paragraphs of what's going on, I will remove those paragraphs and show what's going on in the character's head with a shorter and more succinct explanation.

I need to watch more Forensic Files.

I'm making a side villain who is different from all the other side villains. I need to put as much effort into this one as I do the main villain, and who knows, this one might become the main villain if he's good enough. I think he's hoping for this chance because the main villain is kind losing speed and for some reason, this one is gaining speed. Now THAT is shocking.

I plotted this all out and this new villain is rising like crazy, so now what? This guy is gumming up the works. I could slap him.

Must set story aside, pick up the notebook, and start digging my brain meats for an answer.

Buy the epic fantasy adventure for young adults "Nri Kryne," available on Amazon world wide.

https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

Scammers calling on the wrong day, a charging puppy, a deer found the true meaning of BOOYAH, a found footage expedition, and old co-workers

The day was pretty normal. Our tribe is on lockdown until after Christmas, but we do get "essential run" days, and then we have to be back home by a certain time.

That morning, we took off to Walmart. We were going to make a bunch of other stops, too.

My brother got a call from UPS (the little weirdo on the other end claimed) and he told my brother he had a special package they were going to drop off to him at 2 PM. Does he know what the package is? My question: why does UPS know what it is? Did they open it? So the little scammer said my brother had won 925,000 bucks and a GMC in the color of his choice. Do you think they have a GMC in the color of burnt pumpkin?

My brother said this was weird because the scammers usually call on Wednesdays and not Tuesdays. I guess they were trying to switch it up.

We had to go to my aunt's house to drop mail into her mailbox. She just got a new mailbox, but her mail is still going to the post office. We had no idea she had a new puppy until it came out. It was small, black, and fluffy. My mom was putting the mail into the box, but since her arms are short, she got out of the car to do it.

That's when the puppy came. My mom's allergic to animals, so she was trying to get the mail into the box and get back into the car before the puppy reached her. It was coming faster and faster, its little tail wagging. Dogs just love my mom. She barely escaped the charging puppy.

After that, we got into town. The traffic wasn't extremely heavy, but there were enough cars to run over a pedestrian who didn't want to use a traffic light. All of a sudden, this buck sped out of the meadow and into the road like every wolf on the planet was after it. I know deer can't exactly judge, but this deer could clearly see the road was full, and it didn't care.

It nearly got clipped by the truck in front of us, escaped the third lane, and slammed into a big car like it meant to ram it. The buck flew straight up into the air in a cloud of its own fur and pieces of the car. It did a somersault and landed on the road still alive.

It tried to get up, but its back legs were shattered. Its eyes were wide and terrified. It was one of the ugliest things to see. I'm a hunter and I've killed animals, and I've seen them killed. But I just burst into tears. Being smacked like that and still being alive was like watching torture.

The people on the road stopped and surrounded the deer while the person who smashed into it pulled off to the side of the road. The police were going to have to put the deer down. The person in the car was probably having a freak out.

We ended up reaching Walmart and feeling kind of wretched, especially my mom. The shopping trip was all right, but then we had to make our next stop. I decided to stay in the car for this one, since there wasn't much to pick up at this next stop. My brother stayed with me and put on "The Legend of Sasquatch." It's a bull crap documentary based on the Roger Patterson film, which is of course debunked. He played it on his phone, because you can watch the whole thing for free on YouTube! Yay!

I looked across the parking lot and there were these, I guess they were teens, or some seriously weird adults in their early twenties. They stood around two cars, talking. They looked like a "found footage" about to happen. One guy looked funky all in black. He was smaller than the girls, but he was trying to be sexy. One of the girls had some seriously fake red hair with heavy bangs. Then there was the "responsible" looking driver.

As soon as the two parties got into their cars, they drove through the Safeway parking lot, looking around very slowly. And that's when the Sasquatch documentary started. "Here in these mountains there are strange things..."

We will never see those people again. We'll find their camera six months from now.

The last stop was to a store I used to work at. I almost got kidnapped over there and I was sexually harassed. Even when I complained about the harassments, the managers didn't think it was so bad because wouldn't you know, they were all sleeping together. One of the guys harassing me actually went to a rubber room for several weeks and had threatened to throw hot oil on me when I screamed at him to leave me alone and sprayed him with a hose. It's no wonder I don't like going in there.

Everyone who's worked there had gone away as far as I knew, so sometimes I go in the store. It's actually nice if you're a customer. I had worked as a meat clerk, and so when I go in, I avoid that section like the plague. But we had to make a stop there.

One of the meat clerks, without a mask, was getting our order. I was like, "This punk looks familiar." I glanced at his name tag. Yup, it was one of the wretches who'd been bothering me. He'd ended up in the police beat with drugs and the managers only laughed about it. He was still working there and looking as no good as ever.

I was so glad he couldn't recognize me since I was wearing my mask and my hair was much different. Back then, I flattened my hair all the time and wore different glasses.

After this, I was struck with the greatest idea for a plot twist in book 3 of the Monsters and Demons series! It's deliciously gruesome.

Don't forget to pick up your copy of Nri Kryne!

https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

I made my own hair gel!

One fine morning at approximately 2AM, I was watching a video on YouTube. The woman said she had found a hair care routine from the Edwardian era, or age of the Gibson Girls. The solution was pretty easy to make. Mix one egg with salt water and drip some essential oil into it.

The solution itself had more measurements and the essential oil was a modern substitute for something the YouTuber didn't have, which meant I definitely didn't have it. So I figured I'd just use the salt water and the egg.

I didn't use proper measurements, either. I think I was supposed to use a pint of salt water, instead I just used a regular cup full.

The YouTuber implied the wash was used for actual shampoo, and it was done once a month. So I substituted the wash for shampoo, too. My hair loves to get greasy on the top of my head and around my temples and forehead. I was a nice grease bomb when I tried this.

I washed my hair in the guck and rubbed it into my scalp and then rinsed it out.

The only two instructions this smart cookie followed was to rinse my hair with cold water and let it air dry. With regular shampoo, my hair air dries at the speed of light. When I used this formula, it took all night to dry. I  had to wait until daylight to see the results.

First off, my hair felt like it had been doused with the hose outside. Each curl was well defined, but left a film on my hands. Instead of black, my hair actually looked brown. My hair wasn't ultra shiny, but it still had a gloss to it. I could shape my hair any which way I wanted and literally not a single strand was out of place, just like in the old pictures. Also, the grease on my head was gone, and yet all my hair was greasy without that gross look to it.

So there you have it, I made my own hair gel, the one you wash out after use and it keeps on working until you take Herbal Essence to it in a fit.

Don't forget to pick up this exciting piece of Native American fantasy, available on Amazon world wide!

https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

The Last of the Mohicans, the last of that seriously beautiful man

One afternoon, when I was, oh, about seven or eight, I walked in on a seriously depressing movie called "The Last of the Mohicans." But on the screen was the most beautiful Native American man I had ever seen, or will ever see. It was Uncas, played by Eric Schweig.

I floated in front of the TV as if in a trance and stared at him. My enjoyment was cut short when that hideous Hawkeye kept butting in on the screen. Who wanted to see him? He was gross. He was not sexy. He wasn't even a real Native. Uncas was where it was at. He was the beautiful one.

I made up my baby mind on the spot. I was going to marry Uncas one day. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! The movie itself was fit to make a girl slice her wrists because it was so depressing, but I would watch the movie just to see Uncas.

I never forgave Magua for killing him. Did he have to kill the gorgeous one? When Wes Studi played Geronimo, he deserved to lose at the end, because he killed my man.

Nevertheless, my marriage date was set. As soon as I was old enough, I would marry Uncas. It didn't matter that he was so much older than me. A man like that couldn't possibly age. He'd wait to age until I was all grown up.

And then "Tom and Huck" came out. Injun Joe appeared on the scene like some greasy creature who woke up at the camp. My dad said, "That's Uncas."

My dreams were dashed into a million pieces and I quickly went into denial. That thing on the screen couldn't be him. That couldn't be Uncas! Everybody cries about water rights, lands taken away, heroes turned into war prisoners and sent away to die in lands far from home--but what about me?! My Uncas had gone ugly!

My wedding plans were cancelled and my dreams were dashed into oblivion. I was left to wonder why most men looked more like Injun Joe and not like Uncas.

"The Last of the Mohicans" marked the end of beauty, not the Mohicans. They're alive and well. You can visit their tribal web page right here: https://www.mohican.com/

Who knows, maybe there's an Uncas hiding among them.

Don't forget to pick up your copy of "Nri Kryne," available on Amazon world wide.

Click here to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

The whole tire fell off!

We once owned a nasty gold-colored van with headlights so dim people thought the brights were the normal lights. I leaned out the window with a regular flashlight to shine it on the road and it was brighter than the headlights. On top of that, an idiot smashed into the right headlight when it was snowing. Of course it was a punk driving one of those fancy status trucks. Those kind of guys can't drive and they definitely can't park.

This van couldn't go up hills, it could hardly speed up, the breaks were screeching, the clock broke, it smelled, and broke down every month or so. How could it possibly be worse?

One morning, I was driving my parents to the store and the van was weaving like the wind was raging. I was so confused. I was also feeling kind of bleah and the speed demons on the road would just have to find a way to pass me. They could crash for all I cared. I was driving at exactly 35 mph through town. The lawbreakers with high blood pressure were at 50. As a result, the ugly gold van was driving along all alone.

Right before the intersection, the whole van went nuts and wove all over the place. There was this hideous grinding noise. Somehow I pulled over onto the sidewalk. Everybody jumped out of the van and we found out the whole tire had snapped off. The rubber part hadn't blown out. I mean, the whole tire fell off. It had snapped at the part where the steering wheel turns the tire.

The cops and everybody who showed up concluded that had we been going any faster, we would have flipped.

Now I knew I had been an inch from death or mutilation. I went home, sat on the couch, and just watched Batman for the rest of the day.

It was about that time this punk showed up to see what he could do with the dead van. He asked me if I was the writer everyone was talking about. Talking about indeed. At the time I had like seven publications and things were in a sadder state of affairs than now. I said I was a writer.

The punk got all happy and then he said, "You should get published!"

"I'm already published. I've published short stories. Would you like to read some of them?"

"Oh, I only read good things."

You know, you don't go insulting someone without proof, and you definitely don't do it after they've almost died. The punk didn't read anything, he said I should publish a book and tell everyone he gave me the idea, and then he didn't even fix the stupid van.

We ended up with this blue monstrosity that refused to drive forward, left a film on your clothes, and the ceiling was falling apart. As for the punk, I can only think, "There's that creature," when I see him.

Oh yeah, please come read, download, or buy the book the creature probably thinks he inspired. It's available worldwide.

https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

The birth of a creepy monster

I came to a spot in book 3 from the Monsters and Demons series. There is supposed to be a monster in this one arc which will last a few chapters, but compared to a different arc happening at the same time, the monster was lackluster. This was bad, because the lackluster monster was terrorizing the main character.

I put the whole book on hold for a couple of weeks while I racked my brain for something suitable. At first I didn't even know the monster was the problem. I thought I'd hit a wall in the story and I wasn't sure how to proceed. I cut the scene where I wasn't sure what to do, but when that happened, the arc became disjointed.

One night, while I was staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep, this ugly face appeared in my head. It wasn't just an ugly face, but it had a body and certain kind of clothes. It even had a hat. It was grinning at me from some place. I was so creeped out, I shoved it out of my head and forced myself to go to sleep.
When I was in a brainstorming session, struggling to rip a good scene from my sleepy brain, I realized the monster was the problem. Then I remembered the face. And then I realized, "That's my monster!"

It's a different sort of monster from all the others in the story. It's reasons for being are very different from all of them. It has a fairly simple motivation, but a gruesome one nonetheless. What's most important is that my heart started beating again with the joys of creativity, because it had felt quite dead and none of the ideas I'd come up with could bring it back to life.
While I wrote this, I realized where the creature had been standing in the image in my head: The setting where the arc is taking place. Now I'm plotting out that arc. It's freakishly fun.
Now remember, Monsters and Demons: Nri Kryne is available for pickup over at Amazon world wide.
Buy it today: https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

Cool! Floor Jansen turned a whining teen into an actual snow queen!

Floor Jansen is the amazing singer from the Finnish metal band Nightwish, which is one of my favorite bands. Nightwish doesn't do a lot of the shrieking and growling I detest so much. Floor can sing anything, including the freakishly high notes in The Phantom of the Opera. She eats notes like that for breakfast.

Floor recently did a cover for Frozen's "Let It Go." With her powerful voice, Elsa suddenly became a stronger character. If Floor was the snow queen, she wouldn't have slipped on her own ice and knocked herself silly. She would have turned around and showed everyone she was the boss.

Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" feels like a whining teen in comparison to Floor's, who really does sound like a queen.

On top of it, YouTuber paashaas2013 took Floor's version and synced it with the castle building scene. It's pretty fantastic and you have got to see and listen to it.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXGmir8JYTU

Here's her Phantom of the Opera she sings with Henk Poort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plCScjvDOJM

And here is her Ghost Love Score she sings with Nightwish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V_eoR6r1Tw

This one here is one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPonioDYnoY

Listen and enjoy!

New short story is now live!

Hello, everyone!

At long last, "Keepress" is live over at the Scarlet Leaf Review. It's been a really long time in the making. I wrote this story years and years ago. In fact, it was so long ago I forgot why I even wrote it.

It was rejected over and over and over again until I thought I'd go crazy. When it was finally accepted, publication was delayed for months.

"Keepress" has had a really hard journey, so please come on over and read it. It would be very happy if you do. I'd be overjoyed if you did.

https://www.scarletleafreview.com/short-stories35/category/julia-benally

Childhood Witchcraft

I literally lived on the wrong side of the tracks in the Mexican barrio. The school was filled with Mexican children, a handful of white kids, and one me.

There was a girl in my second grade class who was kind of like the ring leader. She must have flunked several grades, because she already had to wear a bra. The rest of us seven-year-old moppets just thought she was cool.

One day, she said to a small group of us, IN THE CLASSROOM, that she could make us so heavy we couldn't move. I said she was a liar. She said she could do it. She said her older sister did it to her all the time. So she turned to me and said, "Do you want to try it, Julia?"

"No! I have to walk home after school."

"I'll take the sand out of your bones so you can walk."

"No! You're not doing that to me!"

For me, it wasn't a question of whether it was real or not. I took it in stride, even though I had called her a liar. It was probably a doubt of her abilities.

Since I wouldn't do it, the girl went around the circle of victims and all of them said no. Finally the white girl said she would do it. I still remember her name. She said we were all silly and it was harmless. The girl with the boobs had the white girl lay flat on the floor and then directed the rest of us morons to kneel around her in a circle. All we needed were some black cloaks and burning crosses.

Where was the teacher? I don't know. Rethinking her life in the teacher's lounge?

The boob girl started running her fingers down the white girl's arms and legs, saying she was opening her up. Then she pretended to put sand into the wounds. Then she closed up the wounds.

"Now try to get up," she said.

And you know, the white girl couldn't do it. She struggled and struggled. She lifted her leg about an inch before falling back down. To make sure she wasn't lying, we tickled her. She just laid there and screamed. Well, now we knew boob girl had put the whammy on her.

You know me, smart girl, was thinking while I was kneeling in the ritual circle, "See? You're dumb."

The boob girl said, "You see, it's real." She then reversed her movements and took the sand out of the white girl, who sat up and said it was real. She said it was the weirdest thing she'd ever experienced. I often wonder about that girl. Is she still alive? She was always volunteering for whacked situations.

Now that we had all seen it happen, boob girl asked again if we would like to try. Heck no!

Stupid kids all over the school were attempting this, but they just didn't have the right witch blood like boob girl did, and they certainly didn't have a circle of morons kneeling around another moron.

While this was going on, the kids were into Bloody Mary. They said you had to call the creature's real name in order for it to appear. After what boob girl did, it was probably true. They all knew the name. I guess boob girl looked into her coven book for it.

The school was crawling with great big bullies, and some short evil ones. This particular one surrounded me and a bunch of other innocents with her fifteen cronies and marched us into the bathroom.

Back before the elementary schools started tearing off their bathroom doors and brightening up the bathrooms, my elementary school bathroom looked like the one out of the video game "Nun Massacre." It had high ceilings, brown walls, gross tile, and stainless steel slabs for mirrors, which were bolted into the cement wall above the yellowish sinks. There was a single yellow light coming from the ceiling. The ceiling itself was covered in paper wads.

The monster girl left about six of her cronies outside the door to hold it closed. The rest came into the bathroom with us. They lined us up in front of the mirror and made us all turn our backs to them. I was about to cry, but I couldn't leave. I was surrounded by devils in girl clothing.

The monster girl started chanting for Bloody Mary. At the last moment, she screamed its name and shut off the lights. All the cronies started screaming. Not me. I didn't even turn around. I made a b-line for the door. The other innocents ran for the door, too. They were closer to the door than I was, so they got there faster.

They tried to push it open, but the cronies on the other side held it shut. Finally I got there. My adrenalin rush was going. I started pushing open the door. The monster girl grabbed me and dragged me back, but I was in terror. I threw that girl into the trashcan, shoved the door open by myself, and we all escaped.

Monster girl shouted for her cronies to catch us, but they'd all fallen on the ground in a dog pile. I didn't stop running until I was safe back on the playground. After that, I kept a sharp eye out for that monster girl lest she sneak up on me again. I stayed close to the teachers and didn't go anywhere by myself. What were kidnappers compared to the devils of the abyss?

Other schools cut off their doors because of fighting, bullies, and people getting beaten up. Our doors were torn off because of witchcraft.

Don't forget to grab your copy of Monsters and Demons: Nri Kryne!

Click on the link: https://www.amazon.com/Nri-Kryne-Monsters-Demons-Book-ebook/dp/B08GZR31B9

Meet Vijeren, a typical 12-year-old boy...with fangs! And did I mention he lives in the shadow of a powerful demon? When a frightening fire burns down his home, Vijeren is free!

But now he's on the run in a world of blood-suckers and brain-eaters. And hot on his heels is the demon who craves his soul. If Vijeren can't find a way to defeat the demon, the monster will melt the flesh from his bones.