The Pub Discussion Board

I'll be honest that I can't imagine a day without my boys(cats). My boy would follow me anywhere and keep coming and it's great. I hope your cats bring you as much joy as mine.

So....when do you think the reviewers will be done so we all can gorge ourselves on the newest offering?

Theo is my boy, he's an orange tabby that followed me out on my first smoke break when he meet me and has not looked back. This cat would follow me to the gates of hell and that's no joke. Next is Neko and it took 7 years for this cat to truly trust me and now he would follow me as well. I can't imagine a day home without those two. I just wish they would be good truck cats as I am an over the road truck driver and my cat(Theo) sulks when I'm not home at night.

Update for November 11, 2018:

Well, it's over.  Our little Cocoa is at rest now, and Snickel... is not.  I hear he's having a blast in his new home, actually.  Still sad to see him go, but I think it's ultimately better for him this way.

Anyway, I've just posted a new image that shows the commendations that an army soldier can receive.  I figured I'd create this since some, if not all, of them will be referenced in Book 8 at some point or another, and this way you'll know what they look like.

It is my intention to post WAY8-1 either later today, or early tomorrow (2am, 3am, something like that is what I mean by "early".)  I still have to do the final proof on the chapter, and it's nearly 21,000 words, so it will take me a few hours to do.  Just keep your eyes open here.

Eric Storm

Update for November 12, 2018:

The Woodward Academy, Year 7, Chapter 7: December is now public.
The Woodward Academy, Year 8, Chapter 1: June has been posted to PRM.

Chapter 2 is already underway, though events of the last week have hindered progress.  Hopefully, with that behind me, things will pick back up.

Eric Storm

Just curious as it has been just shy of a month. How things are progressing for you and yours.

As long as I get it for a Birthday gift I can wait... But Christmas is always better.

And then there were none...

This afternoon, we took Nimbus to the vet.  She did not come home.  We don't really know what was wrong with her.  Her health had been deteriorating for several months.  She had trouble walking, and lately she had developed some kind of problem with her eyes.  She also had some kind of jerk or twitch that would happen every so often.  The vet felt like it was probably a neurological problem, but its cause remains unknown.  Given that she was already 8 years old, we decided it was time to let her go, rather than to let her deteriorate to the point where she couldn't even take care of her bodily needs anymore.

Nimbus was the last of our ferrets.  We won't be getting any more.  Should you be thinking about getting ferrets, know these two things: 

First, they are a fucking riot.  They are hilarious to watch and interact with.  They are very friendly (usually), and after being taught not to nip (something that doesn't take much), they are safe and easy to handle.

Second, they require a LOT of time and energy.  Even the best-behaved ferrets are not 100% litter-trained.  Accidents can and will happen.  Cleaning the cage should be done daily (it will only take a few minutes, but there's a lot of bending and twisting involved...)  Ferrets need to be out of their cage for hours a day, and they need to be supervised while they're out.  (Either that, or you need to ferret-proof your home.  If you think protecting a child from harm is difficult, you haven't seen anything yet.)

So, would I recommend ferrets?  If you have the energy for them, absolutely.  We are low-energy people, and so they weren't a good match for us, much as we loved them.  I will miss all four of them; they were wonderful to have around.  I will not, however, miss cleaning up after them.

In any case, I will probably be taking a day or two off from writing.  I'm just not really in the mood right now.

Eric Storm

Thank you.  It sucks that she had to go so close to Christmas, but it was for the best.

Eric Storm

So sorry for your losses. I lost my nearly fifteen year old puppy in September and not a day goes by without being flooded by good memories. As the days pass, the old dog disappears and the young, vibrant, playful young friend who was always there for me echoes strongest in my memories. If form holds true, it wil happen for you as well.

Happy new year eric hope all is well

Okay, so, the truth is that the closer we got to today, the less and less chance there was of me doing any writing.  Why?

No, it's not because it happens to be my mother's birthday (may she rest in peace).  It's because this morning was my 341 Meeting of Creditors for the bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy is a federal process, which means that this meeting was held in a federal courthouse.  Thankfully not in front of a judge, but still under oath and recorded, and all that fun stuff.  Even more fun, the meeting was scheduled for 8:30am in Tampa.

Now, I don't live in Tampa, and anyone who knows me knows that I see 8:30am only at gunpoint.  I am a severe night-owl; I'm more likely to see sunrise before going to bed than after waking up.  My sleep schedule for the past several days has been utterly disrupted in order to make sure I could be awake for this damnable meeting.  Worse, Tampa may only be 40 miles from New Port Richey, but in early morning rush hour, it took us nearly two hours to get there.  No, I'm not kidding.  We left here at 6:30, and arrived at the courthouse at 8:10.

For anyone who might be considering bankruptcy, or who is in the midst of one but hasn't had their 341 meeting yet:  If you have a no-asset, simple Chapter 7 bankruptcy, this meeting really is going to be stupidly simple and short.  My meeting lasted all of about three minutes, and no, I'm not exaggerating.  I didn't time it (obviously), but it really was that fast.  Most of the questions asked are of the yes/no variety (unless the trustee finds something in your petition they want to question you about.  There was nothing in my case.)  Five months of near terror-inducing anxiety for a five-minute anti-climactic meeting.  From this point on, it's pretty much just waiting for the process to play out.

In any case, here's hoping that, with this behind me, my muse will come out of the locked, bolted and chained apartment in my mind she's been hiding in, and let me get some work done.  But... not today.  I'm fuckin' tired.

Eric Storm

I'm quite sure that I would have found out long before the day of the hearing.

And as an update:  Today the trustee posted her docket report requesting to be discharged as trustee from the case.  This is the step that says, "Okay, we didn't find anything wrong with your petition, so as long as the creditors don't make a legal objection, your bankruptcy will be discharged in due course."  It is highly unlikely that any creditors will object, so we really are now just waiting for the deadline to run out.

Eric Storm