Val Neil

Autistic author writing about neurodiverse witches and wizards behaving badly. 📖

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

Reminder that I'm over on the other site and I'll probably be spending a bit more time over there.

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

@katabaza I'M WORKING ON IT ALRIGHT
(editing tentatively booked for October) 🤞

[Sheryl @kszimmerer4]

Please send this to your brother.
I'm so very sorry for your horrible loss. I lost my home (along with approx. 3500 other homes) in the September 2020 Almeda Fire and offer this help, and any other help, that I can give.
For those of you who lost your home:
*Get a notebook to start making lists of to dos, phones numbers, policy numbers and other things like this list. Your brain is going lots of directions and it will help you start to get on the right track.
*Call your insurance company immediately to get a claim going. Get them to send you emergency Loss of Use funding to cover you over the next few days. They can usually get an initial amount to you within a day.
*Call your mortgage company to put your payment on hold.
*Get a mailing company mailbox like UPS or FedEx. They went quickly after the fire, but these companies can take all deliveries, not just mail. It’s a horrible feeling to not know where to send the things that will help you put your life back together.
*Allow a friend or family member to put together an Amazon wish list for you to send to people who ask.
*Get a storage unit immediately. These went fast. We lived in seven locations in three weeks. People offered us furniture and other things that we needed once we found a stable place.
*Go with the insurance adjuster to your site and make sure they understand completely what was there. Ours came from out of state, and we didn’t go, so he put rebuilding our house at only $130 a square foot (comically below Rogue Valley averages). Help them understand if you can how much it will cost to rebuild. If they do come in low, get a competing bid and fight them for every penny.
*Your insurance has many “buckets” including personal property, debris removal, landscape, dwelling, other, and so much more. Ask them for a list of all your buckets and coverage amounts. My buckets were loss of use, personal property, landscaping, structure, driveway, debris removal, other structures, and code upgrade. The questions for your insurance company are at the end of this post. You’ll need this as you try to get your coverage amounts paid out. Some insurance companies were better than others for paying out claims easily.
*Reach out to the Red Cross, FEMA, and other agencies that help fire survivors. Helping Hands International sifted my house last and found small treasures that I’ll be forever grateful for. They also grieved with us. When I tried sifting on my own, I cut myself and needed a tetanus shot. There are so many entities willing to help. Don’t hesitate to ask for it.
* Don’t hesitate to ask the companies that you bought things from if they will replace or give you a discount on replacing items. It reminds me of the importance of registering my products. My daughters reached out to several and I was shocked what they sent. One incredible company sent us a whole grill and everything that went with it. Also, stores in the area gave us incredible, sacrificial discounts.
*The decision to buy or rebuild is a hard one. We chose to rebuild after we realized our mortgage didn’t go away after a fire. If you have 12 years left on your house, you still have 12 years and eventually have a new house. If you buy after a wildfire, demand and prices are high (Almeda Fire lost 3500 homes). While building was really hard, we were better off financially. For some people, buying and getting settled quickly is worth the extra cost.
* If you have insurance, go forward with Debris Removal even though FEMA is willing to do it for "free." You have no control what they take or leave behind like your driveway and you sign away your insurance proceeds for debris removal if you use FEMA. If you need to move your driveway, then your insurance proceeds are gone and you still have debris to remove. Lastly, it takes time (up to a year) that you don't have since building costs go up. 🧵 1 of 3

[Simon Cox is on BlueSky @SimonFRCox]

Hey followers - if you haven’t moved to Bluesky yet, I really encourage you to try it. It’s MUCH better than Twitter and so many of the people you follow are already there.

I’m on https://t.co/3ajOXHwWBx

Here’s some tips if you make the move.

Hope to see you there.

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

@AnaDion94 @crosshairlvr In the book series Bones is based on, the author confirmed they created the character based on an autistic colleague.

[Nicole Lee Schroeder, PhD @Nicole_Lee_Sch]

It is a really jarring moment to be a historian. To know what might be coming is alarming. To realize that no one around you sees it or acknowledges it is a weird place to be in. Its like time traveling without time traveling. 1/8

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

People forget how many republicans we have in this state, and that they vote downballot. https://t.co/WoLIxotV53

[Meredith @Mere_Constant]

Thread:

1/ Women in the U.S., I need you to gently set aside your grief for a second and look at me. It's time to operate from a place of planning.

-If you are married and not the breadwinner, depend on your husband for insurance, it's time to start planning.

[🌊 Anna. @aaannaa24]

#USAElection2024

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

@ErinInTheMorn Can’t sleep. Will eat. ❤️

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

Really hard to finish my book that hits on all the rights we didn’t used to have when my country is dead set on taking them away again.

[Kelly @broadwaybabyto]

Gentle reminder that most disabled people can’t leave the US. Countries don’t want to take in disabled, chronically ill & “high cost health users”. There are serious financial barriers to moving - leaving most people behind

Spare a thought for them tonight - people are scared.

[Justin @jdabre11]

Btw, we're going to have a 7-2 SCOTUS for the next 40 years. Any hope of any progress in civil rights or in progressive policy is completely and utterly dead.

[John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz]

Kamala Harris didn't lose, America did.

As a nation, we collectively failed her—and in doing so we failed girls and women, the LGBTQ community, people of color, Muslims, Jewish people, immigrants, the sick, the poor, the elderly, the people of Ukraine, and Gaza, and the planet.

It's unthinkable, that instead of being able to celebrate a beautiful, hopeful new chapter in the story of this nation with a leader who appealed to the best of our natures—we will instead be holding a postmortem for democracy as we enter our 250th year, stewarded by a malevolent sociopath who despises empathy and shuns the law.

I truly thought we were better than this, that our shared humanity would show up. I thought we would reject this hatred and ugliness once and for all.

I hate being wrong about the majority of the people of this nation.

I don't know what's ahead. All I know is that good-hearted human beings are more necessary now than ever.

We did all that we could to avoid this moment, but now that it's here we'll just have to decide who we will be.

There is no way to comprehend or measure how grievous an error this is, but the only thing the decent people of this nation can do is wake up tomorrow and fight like hell for what we still believe is worth the fight, and we will.

I'll be doing that with whoever has the strength to join me.

I'm mourning the country we could have been and the one we apparently are—but I refuse to give up believing that compassion is the right path, that diversity makes us better, and that love is greater than fear.

[SevenLeafClover🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @CloverSevenLeaf]

If Trump installs his regime, here are a few reminders.

If you know anyone trans, you do not.

If you know any immigrants, they've been here their whole lives.

If someone asks you about politics, you do not discuss politics.

Anything and everything that will be used to target

[Heather @heathem1221]

As someone who DOESN'T live in a swing state, I'm gonna say this with my full chest:

I'm tired of 7 fucking states deciding the fate of 50 states.

[Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com on Bsky @ErinInTheMorn]

There's a lot of hopelessness among trans people right now. This election was and is existential for us.

I want to reach out to all the people out there who are struggling tonight and tell my story.

I was 12 when I first realized I was trans. It was 1999 in rural Louisiana...

[Josh RR Jokien @joshcarlosjosh]

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

@ChristaWelin Half of us in America are watching the other half like that

[Val Neil @ValNeilAuthor]

@SandyFrizzle She was also throwing away the stuff left behind by families