Stultus: Blog

My cable modem finally burned out (it was 10+ years old) so I had it take it into the local Xfinity shop to get it replaced. They (six of them) stared at it with wonder and disbelief, having never seen that model ever before. So, they give me the wrong type of cable modem and I get back home... and of course it won't work.

4+ hours on the phone with Xfinity support (guys in India) ensues and accomplishes nothing. So I take new cable modem back to store and they replace it with a different model (the correct one). Still doesn't work.

2+ more hours on the phone with support... accomplishes nothing. Get an appointment for a service call technician to come and fix problem. Tech comes... and says 'I've seen this problem once before, five + years ago..." it's a billing problem and not a hardware issue. He leaves... no internet still.

Off back to Xfinity store, and 'Yes' it is a billing issue! I was (10+ years ago) originally an Earthlink customer, which was then bought and is now part of Comcast/Xfinity... but the billing is technically different. So I had to change my internet service plan - and then the new modem would work! So 5+ days without internet!

Next to last chapter of 'I'm going to make it" is posted. Chapter 12 will be the last one. Maybe done for this weekend, but I'm a week behind on everything I needed to do last week.

Fleet Girl bombed horribly. It was just a silly idea that was in my head that I thought deserved a little attention. I may write a chapter 3 for it anyway, since that's the part of the story that I actually most wanted to tell :/

Chapter Two of Fleet Girl had a bunch of typos... fixed now, not that anyone cares

More of the on-going, but now almost completed "I'm Going to Make It all the Way" has been posted. The next chapter is 99% ready to go too, and will probably be posted on Wednesday. Not too much left to go, until 'DONE'.

A new story, "Fleet Girl" is up. Chapter Two for it will be posted tomorrow, 99% sure. It was an idea that forced it's way into my head over the weekend and I wrote it all out in two sittings. This was a story concept that lends itself far too easily to satire... and this time I tried to play it seriously. I could have gone crazy with this and used the Humor code, but I resisted.

I'll be marking the story as "done' after Chapter Two, but I have thoughts of doing another few chapters sometime later on - if there is an interest. I'd even be open to the idea of opening Fleet Girls as an Universe that other authors could contribute stories to. We'll see.

Next up, is the next (overdue) chapter to "Baleful Sky". Yes, kind readers... "Dragons of the Night" is getting an update soon also!

I've build a Patreon page... but it's still 99% empty. I need to load up some drafts and other content for it soonish.

But with some errors, for my first posting. It's a mess atm but Laz should be fixing it in a few minutes.

Chapter 9 -and- Chapter 10 are also both 'done' and at least one of them will get posted this weekend. Chapter 11 might be the last one until 'Done'. Going to try and finish the draft of it this weekend also.

In a tale so unbelievable that it wouldn't even make a believable Stultus story, I've somehow managed to regain access to my Author's Blog & Wiki on Google! I literally had been unable to login (as the owner) to make edits for over FOUR YEARS! It used to be an independent Blogging web host, but when Google took it over about five years ago they started require a lot account management changes (like mergers with my regular 'RL' Google account) that weren't do-able... and then suddenly it wouldn't ever let me login again!

WHY it's working now... I have no clue. I was using their old Classic Site format, which is now moot and obsolete - and with no muss or fuss it let me run the update to their 'new' site format, which admittedly looks better. I could also rename the site URL to what I'd always wanted in the first place /stultus (the original site had errored out on my first 10+ names I'd picked - that's now fixed. Yea!

NEW (improved?) Stultus Author's Blog & Story Wiki: https://sites.google.com/view/stultus

Please let me know if it's working for external viewers, so I can slowly start updating it again.

Asked a while back if there was interest in my creating a Patreon page for advance reading of stories, voting for your preference for new stories or chapters, and just general support. Most (3/4ths) said yes. I also must have had over 50 individual emails over the last year or so 'suggesting' that I set one up. Well, I've started the process. Not ready for primetime yet, but I 'plan' to have it functional before New Years.

Others have also suggested Laz's side-project Bookapy. Maybe... it would make sense.

The next chapter of Baleful Sky is ready to send out for editing. IF I can finish Chapter 10 of When the Hunter, I'd like to post it Christmas Eve. If I miss that deadline, Baleful instead will get posted next week sometime.

The next 'When the Hunter' chapter has been finished and uploaded to SOL! Working on three other things atm, but probably nothing else posted up this week. Holidays are usually dead around here for readers.

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Several small bits of updated minutia.

The next Chapter of 'I'm Going to Make It..." is written and just needs a final lookover. I'll try to do it this evening, but it might not get posted until next Saturday or Sunday, or maybe just wait until after New Years to post, so that some other 'Incomplete' project can be updated next.

In a wonder stroke of luck, I found a completed draft for the next pending chapter of "Under a Baleful Sky'. I knew I'd written it, once, but thought I'd lost this draft over a year ago in a copy/pasta error that overwrote this. Well, it's unlost again now. Needs a final proofing, so maybe post it right after Christmas or soon in January?

Oddly, I thought I had 3-4 pages of my Christmas serial "When the Hunter' done but lost as well, but I found an older draft that had at least the first page of this saved, so I now knew exactly what I was thinking and starting to write. Much more cheerful then about this, I sat down last night to proof this lone page and then wrote the next four pages of this draft as well. I can finish this, I think in one or two more sittings - so there is good chance I'll make the Christmas deadline for this.

No such luck with the next 'Dragons' chapter. Nothing found on any of my backup archives except a blank chapter heading. Same with 'Across the River'... nothing but a blank page, so this will take longer to be updated. I do have my outline for these later chapters, but thinking about a slight tweak. I won't even look at this again until January, sometime.

Since I haven't been a regular at SOL for awhile, with my other RL issues, I noted that my SOL blog has been severely truncated to just the last two years of posts being available now. This lost my 'author's notes' on nearly all of my prior stories. To make up for this, I noted that there is an easier way now for authors to comment on questions, etc posted at the end of each story. So, I've gone one by one and checked 95% of my posted stories and included a very short historical background or a few final thoughts for each tale. Not nearly as comprehensive as the lost blog entries, but enough. Enough to encourage maybe more of your own comments, as well.

Haven't looked at my new major project this week. I've been a good boy and concentrated solely on 'Incomplete' flagged stories.

My original off-site Author's Blog is still DOA. Google took over control of that site and I've been utterly unable to login to it for about two years now. Someday I'll rebuild it...

Looked also at my Pending and Story Ideas folders. 179 items in Pending and 270 items more in Ideas. Lord help me!