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.