An Extended Vacation

I'm afraid the time has come for Frank and the gang to take an extended vacation. For those of you who've been loyal followers of my photo-comic strip, "The Wildcat's Lair," I'm sorry to pull the plug in this manner, but I suspect you've also sensed things haven't been quite up to my usual "speed" of late.

I'd hoped to delay this until the end of the year, but I've found that simply isn't feasible. As some of you already know, producing this comic strip can take a great deal of my time, and even though I don't really make money off of Frank and his pals, I've been satisfied with the pleasure of producing something I feel has been really funny and has grown into a creative endeavour I can look back on and be very proud.

There are many reasons I can give for why this had to happen now. Two of those reasons tied tightly together: age and ambition. One of my lifelong goals is to become a published writer. I've written several books that I feel have great potential, but I've not invested the time to truly shop them. That's not easily done while working a full-time job (in which I also work a great deal of overtime) and producing this comic strip twice a week. This year, I turned 36-years-old, and while that isn't old by any means, I can feel time starting to work against me instead of for me. I thought taking the comic strip down to one episode a week would help, but I find it steals so much of the energy that had gone into the Lair and that's not a good thing.

I won't say this is a final goodbye. I've always known what I would do for a final episode, and I can't bring myself to do it. The idea of ending this and never coming back hurts too much, more than I ever expected it to. Hopefully, that's not just denial, but a sign I will eventually return to my favorite mischievous cat and all of our crazy friends. I'm sorry I can't give a more definitive idea of when that return might be, but I can tell you that I won't be disappearing entirely from the blogosphere. I will be semi-active on my writer's blog, "The Wildcat's Other Lair." Some of you have even commented over there, and for that, I'm very thankful. I hope Frank and I will get a chance to make all of you laugh again in the future.

Richmond Vice, Episode XLIV

Coming Up on Frank Friday: "Richmond Vice, Episode XLV"

Richmond Vice, Episode XLIII

Coming Up on Frank Friday: "Richmond Vice, Episode XLIV"

Puckhead Palooza, Week Five Update & Major Announcement

Week five of Puckhead Palooza is finished, and Frank's number one ranking iin the Wildcat's Lair's hockey fantasy league didn't survive it. He got shut out by the infamous Ted E. Bear who regained his number one standing in Puckhead Palooza.

I faired better, narrowly defeating my pet dog Page. You can check out the rest of the scores from week five by going to our fantasy league page on ESPN.com. To see who is facing who in week six, just check the match-ups posted on the left column of the Lair, and you can check out the complete and current rankings below.



Okay, now to the major announcement. I'm sorry to say that the days of the Wildcat's Lair having two episodes a week is coming to an end as of this week. I'm afraid the burden of producing them has just become too much. Part of my motivation is to give a little more focus to my fantasy writing. That's getting a lot of extra attention this month as I'm taking part in the infamous NaNoWriMo. That's short for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in just thirty days during the month of November. Last year, I attempted this and failed miserably. In the end, my NaNo effort from last year proved more useful as a source of self-mockery for several episodes during that month and the first episode in December.

If you're curious to track my progress, you can check out my NaNo profile page. My writer's blog, "The Wildcat's Other Lair" will also have some occasional NaNo updates.

An interesting tidbit: to meet the 50,000 word goal, a writer has to produce 1,667 words a day. Going by that, I'm just above par as of day three with 5,079 words (Day Three Par=5,001 words).

I hope you'll all stick around for Frank Fridays. I'll do my best to keep Frank and his friends' adventures alive, and who knows? Mayhap, Wildcat Wednesdays will return sometime in the near future. For now, I will see all of you again on Friday for the next episode.

Time for a Free Calendar is Running Out

Just a quick reminder to all of you that you only have until midnight tonight to enter the contest to win a free Wildcat's Lair 2010 calendar. To find out how you can enter the contest, just check out the original entry with all of the contest rules.

Of course, if you just want to go ahead and buy a copy, then click on the link at the top of the left column of this web page.

Richmond Vice, Episode XLII

*IBDA=International Bureau of Draconic Affairs









Coming Up on Wildcat Wednesday: "Richmond Vice, Episode XLIII"

Richmond Vice, Episode XLI

*See previous episode, "Richmond Vice, Episode XXXVI"



*See previous episode, "Richmond Vice, Episode XXXVIII"







If you didn't catch the joke in this one, then you probably need to read this.

Coming Up on Frank Friday: "Richmond Vice, Episode XLII"

Richmond Vice, Episode XL

Coming Up Tomorrow: "Richmond Vice, Episode XLI"

That's right... tomorrow. You're getting an extra episode this week. I figure that will make up for me being late with today's episode.

BONUS EPISODE: Puckhead Palooza, Episode II

Special thanks to Wikiquote for all the groovy Jack Kerouac quotes.

Puckhead Palooza, Week Four Update

Well, after four weeks of Puckhead Palooza, I've determined I must have been insane to do this. I've dropped to eighth place after facing off against the infamous Ted E. Bear. I narrowly lost to Ted by a score of 5-4-1 (That's five wins for Ted, four wins for me and one tie for both us). My only consolation is that I contributed to Ted losing his first place ranking. That honor now goes to Frank, who enjoyed an easy week against his Uncle Kerouac. Frank shut him out 10-to-nada.

You can go to our Fantasy Hockey League's scoreboard to see how week four turned out.

This week might give Uncle Kerouac his best chance to win a second game. The poor guy only has one win for the entire season thus far. This week, he's facing ninth place Cerberus, who's viewing our tournament from his cell at the animal shelter. I think that makes it kind of tough for him to get onto a computer and adjustment his team. To see who is facing who in week five, just check the match-ups posted on the left column of the Lair, and you can check out the complete rankings below.

One Week Left in Calendar Contest

Just a quick post to remind all of you that you only have one week left to enter the contest to win a free Wildcat's Lair 2010 calendar. To find out how you can enter the contest, just check out the original entry with all of the contest rules.

Of course, if you just want to go ahead and buy a copy, then click on the link at the top of the left column of this web page.

Richmond Vice, Episode XXXIX

Coming Up on Frank Friday: "Richmond Vice, Episode XL"

That's "Episode Forty" for the Roman Numeral-Challenged.