Mom passed away tonight. Seriously I know I hit the Mom jackpot, and having her into my own 60s was incredible. She was the kindest most uplifting woman. She assured us continuously that we were brilliant and beautiful and was supportive in all ways. I never heard her say a hateful thing in her life. I will miss her all the days of the rest of mine.

Hey folks - just noting that I have changed my board name from my real-world nickname (arr ay kew) to Volans.

That unspecified work-ma I requested 2 weeks ago came through! Thanks, folks!

Okay, here we go...

Today, a year after our failed Kickstarter launch, we are pitching our project in a meeting with the CEO of Marvel and the EVP/Head of Licensing for Disney.

While my team is making the presentation in NYC I'll be sitting here biting my nails and taking care of a feverish Matilda.

This is our second meeting with Marvel, and they are the ones who brought Disney into the meeting so we think we might have better than a coin-flip's chance for a sale here.

This is our last shot. But it's also our best shot, and it would be the biggest score.

The presentation is polished and rehearsed. It's one the hardest things I've ever worked on, but very gratifying too. And this would be a life changer for my family as I have an equity stake.

So friends, Romans, Buffistae...lend me your -ma at 2pm EST/11am PST.

Coming out of lurkerdom for another brief moment to share some news I've been sitting on for a while (and that many of you might already have seen on FB): my novel, BETWEEN HERE AND GONE (which some of you critiqued parts of Way Back When, including Ginger ::sigh::), has been selected as one of Publisher's Weekly's Best Books of 2016. To say I'm over the moon would be putting it mildly.

Actual Proof Here

um, Barb, I clicked on your link and read about your book - congratulations! - but when I clicked on the "buy this book" link for Amazon, it says the page can't be found. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you could get someone to correct it, it would be good.

It's been a long time since I hung out at b.org regularly. There are a lot of folks who probably don't remember me and there are a lot of folks who joined after I went dormant. I dunno what it is but I feel like with how the election is coming out, I need to reach out for community differently. And it would definitely be nice to become active again in a community that's on its own server.

Lots has changed with me. Lots has changed with y'all, I'm sure.

But here I am again, dipping my toe in the waters of Buffistadom. Please be gentle.

As I mentioned awhile back in the updates thread, I'm in the process of a divorce. I've finally been assigned a court date. Next Monday, November 14th, at 11:30 am local time.

Our divorce is via mutual agreement, but I've learned some disturbing truths recently. The fact that we have agreed is inconsequential. If the judge decides the agreement is unfair in some way it can be rejected. And oh my is it unfair. I'm getting nothing except my daughter and a measly 150 euro a month in child support. I caved on every single other topic because all I want is to leave this country with my child. And that's not the only thing the judge could find fault with. Our custody arrangement has my husband getting six weeks visitation each summer and we alternate Christmas and Easter. A logical arrangement when you realize there will be 4000 miles between us. But an unheard of arrangement for Belgium where co-parenting is the norm.

We go to court on the fourteenth, but the judge has one month from then to make a decision. Please spare Luna and I any ~ma you can to help us get out of here. I've been strong for about as long as I can be and if I find out I'm going to be stuck here for an unspecified amount of time (or possibly forever) I don't know how I'll manage. Thank you.

(And oh the irony that I may finally get out of here only to return to a Trump run America. Fate is cruel!)

DC/Baltimore-istas, I'm looking for people who can re-home some well taken care of semi-outdoor ghostcats. Another community lost the cats' owner last night and we're trying to place. Profile addy is good.

ETA - cats have homes. Thank you!]

ETA - there are two more cats that need homes, they are apparently wonderful cats....

Some calming~ma between 10am-1pm mountain would be appreciated. I'm not too worried about the Lasik procedure itself, I'm just anxiety filled from too many things and this needs me to be calm.