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Well, it's that time again. Time to take a look at the year that was, and the year that might be. First, the year that was:
2016: The website
Last year, the site gained 597 new members. That works out to 1.63 new members every day. Welcome to our humble little corner of the Internet. We also gained six new authors. Please welcome Auguy86, Bistander, Dahkme, DragoTime, FantasyFan, and Sdragon to our ranks.
2016 saw little change in the site itself. Some bugs were fixed, but by and large the site remained unaltered.
2016: My writing
My writing goal for 2016 was 250,000 words. What did I achieve? This makes me angry: 245,292 words! Just 4,708 words shy! And to top it off, I did not finish The Woodward Academy, Year 7, Chapter 1 in time to have it posted on January 1. This is the first time in six years that I've failed to publish on time.
The only work I completed in 2016 was The Woodward Academy, Year 6. I started a couple stories, but have not posted any portion of either of them yet.
2016: My personal life
Ugh. 2016 was the year of health problems for me. I had an ingrown toenail removed in January, got my permanent upper denture in May (or was it June? I forget...), had another ingrown toenail removed in early December, and ended up having gall bladder surgery in mid-December. Needless to say, all of that sucked.
Financially, 2016 was about the same as previous years: lousy. If it weren't for the donations we receive through this site, I dare say we'd be in deep shit. Thank you very much to those of you who have been able to make monetary contributions to my mental health.
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Now then, having seen what 2016 hath wrought, what are we hoping to see in 2017?
2017: The website
I know I have said this... what, half a dozen times already? But this upcoming year, I am going to make a concerted push toward a new version of the website. With the server upgrade performed last year, I have access to a better version of PHP, which will allow me to take advantage of better techniques. The new server also gives a generally better platform, so that hopefully the new site will be faster and more stable than the current version. I am not giving a timetable on completion, because even if I work on it consistently, I have no idea how long it will take me to finish it.
2017: My writing
My goal, as usual, is 250,000 words. I'd like to do at least 5,000 words better than I did last year. My focus, of course, is WAY7 and WAY8. I'd like to build up at least a couple chapters of buffer zone again, so that I don't fail to publish on time again.
I'd also like to get Agent of Change far enough along that I feel safe starting to publish it. That may be a tall order, however, on top of writing almost all of WAY7 and a couple chapters of WAY8.
Beyond that, anything I may write would be accidental (meaning I have no plan to do so.) If I have a really good writing year, as has happened in the past, then I could write plenty of other things, but I'm not planning for it.
2017: My personal life
I see no sign of improvement in the coming year. Hopefully, there won't be any degradation, either. Neither Keeshaba nor I have any looming health issues... but then, I didn't have a looming health issue on December 18th, and on December 19th, I was in the hospital, so who can say? In any case, we don't anticipate anything truly nasty.
At this point, I must make a plea for those who can, to please help support us with donations. Without the assistance of the generous folks on this site, chances are I would be too stressed out to write. So, if you can afford it, please consider sending a little gift our way. To those who have done so in the past, I say thank you. If you can comfortably do it again, please do.
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Well, that's all for this year. Let's see if we can't make some improvements, "mm'kay"?
Eric Storm
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Hope you do better this year health wise. I know what it is like when stuff does not go according to plan. You getting better is more important than publishing a story (says the guy twitching like a meth addict with epilepsy). We will last till it gets here. Surgery and morphine is not conducive to writing anything but Cheech and Chong skits. Hope you hit your goals. Have a great 2017.
Josh and Elizabeth Bond
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*snort* Morphine.
They gave me morphine in the ER. I'm not sure if it's what stopped the pain or not, because it sure didn't do it quickly if it did. My pain did finally go away... like a half hour or so after they gave me the morphine. If it worked at all, it sure wasn't the sudden "ahhhh" moment you see in movies and read about in books. My entire family is very "pain-med resistant"... nothing seems to work well on us. To give you an indication, after my gall bladder surgery, in recovery, they had to give me TWO doses of Dilaudid to reduce the post-surgical pain. (For those unfamiliar, Dilaudid is what they give you when morphine doesn't work.) And while that did seem to reduce the pain, no, those two doses did not knock me on my ass, as everyone said Dilaudid should. I fell asleep only after they got me back up to my room, at least a half-hour later. Granted, I then slept for two or three hours, but hey, I'd just had surgery.
The only pain med I've ever found that works at all for me... and this is crazy... is 600mg ibuprofen. And even that isn't exactly a cure-all. It just knocks some pains back to tolerable levels. So... no risk of me getting addicted to pain meds... but on the other hand, I don't get any relief from the damned pain, either.
Eric Storm
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I know this is continuing an off thread topic but I have found the oxy works pretty well for me and I'm completely resistant to morphine.
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I was given a prescription for oxycodone once, for oral surgery. It didn't do much. Hydrocodone (ie, Vicodin) just makes me over-heated.
Eric Storm
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As an aside, if you're ever going to have oral surgery to have multiple teeth removed, find a sedation dentist. You don't want to be awake for that process. It's not that it hurts, but the sounds and sensations you will experience are not things you want to be awake for.
Eric Storm
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A little late on the posting, but I hope the best of luck for you Eric. Based on my own personal needs, I tend to do my best creative work when I'm burning with inspiration for the relevant content. Write what comes to heart (and makes sense, of course).
Regardless, your writing is excellent and I hope you can find a way to make it a little more beneficial towards your financial survival.
- Kaos
Last edited by KaosKing (2017-01-06 08:01:40)
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I was awake when I had 2 wisdom teeth removed as it cost more than my dental coverage covered. Not fun.
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Wisdom teeth, molars, pre-molars, and incisors... Awake for all of them. Yeah, it sucked. At least my wisdom teeth weren't impacted, so their removal was no more difficult than any other tooth...
Eric Storm
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