Oceanic Birthday

So, my girlfriend just had her birthday this last week, and I was scrambling in my head about a story to write her since last October. We had this really interesting talk and she mentioned something to me that stuck in my head and I thought, that would be a great idea for my next story. Time went by, and I allowed my thoughts to percolate with this idea and soon it began taking a world of it's own. Even though I wasn't writing or knowing what to write, I was thinking of the world and characters and plot to come. I wanted it the main character to be a young sea turtle, as it's a theme in my girlfriends life and I thought it would represent her well. Though, I have to admit, in the beginning the turtle was going to be a boy. But I realized two things. First, I've never really wrote a story before with a girl intended as my main character, and second, if it's going to represent her, than why was I going to masculinize it? I knew that this character was going on a journey and along the way would meet all these different characters. And than that was it. I stopped there. Weeks and months went by, and I wasn't getting anywhere else. Yes, once in a while I was researching character sketches and thinking about the scenery and all. But nothing more. Than 3 weeks back I realized that I needed to get to work, since her birthday was coming up soon... And once I got started, I kept the ball rolling... every now and then I had to do some research for the story to learn more about the ocean, different terrains, and sea life.
Of course, not all the characters are exact to science... but they work for the story... And I had a lot of fun with it. So, for now, my next post.. you'll be able to read most of it. Please feel free to comment or suggest. Thank you!