The universe is laughing, but after a difficult week, I finally had my ducks in a row with three drafted posts - one for Patreon, one for Substack, one for Wordpress-backed OnlySky, when... the internet went out.
🙃🦆🦆🦆(🐋!)
So, for a laugh, here's what a family member sent me yesterday, when I sent them a heartfelt message of thankfulness for our being in contact. (Most of my family doesn't talk due to past trauma.)
Life, man.
What a challenge it can be to connect in ways that help us grow.
Ooo, and we are definitely getting more trembles up in here, too. Strange planet.
Hope you're taking good care of yourselves, whatever natural crises you're facing where you are. 🫂
@MLClark It can laugh all it wants it seems, because it hasn't stopped you from being an absolute champion.
Go buddy go!
Right to the heart, that hug of a message went. Thank you. May you always know your own strength too. 🐇🤍
@MLClark You are always welcome my friend.
@MLClark That image is utterly adorable. I love it!
Getting back to nature, @MLClark? 😉
@MLClark family trauma drama is the worst
Agreed. I'm sorry you know it yourself.
I hope you've built safe havens and good resources for yourself outside its reach.
@MLClark thank you! CoSo is one such place for me
You stay safe as well, @MLClark 🤞
@MLClark "Strange planet."
#NASA's Insight has proved that "Marsquakes" are a thing. This is the first proof that quakes happen on other planets.
The Apollo crews placed seismographs on the Moon. "Moonquakes" are typically caused by the gravitational pull of Earth, or a meteor strike.
(I'm in Sheldon Cooper mode today ...)
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-insight-records-monster-quake-on-mars
@MLClark suffering from imposter syndrome due to participating in a big sale and...not selling more than two books. That spurred my blog post today about the similarities between breaking through in writing and succeeding big-time in horse show world. It's much the same dynamic.
IOW, if you don't have a big-name mentor, guide, or group to help you, you're going nowhere. No matter how good you are.
"IOW if you don't have a big-name mentor, guide, or group to help you, you're going nowhere. No matter how good you are."
🫂 This is a lesson I learned years ago, but it's still a hard one to navigate because most everyone *else* considers the field a meritocracy. Surely the good work will out, right? It's hard to feel like one has to justify why all the work isn't "going anywhere".
But so it goes.
We keep showing up.
Maybe one day luck will too.
Congrats on those 2 sales!
Also, you might have seen this before, but it's a good reminder for all our #WritersOfCoSo:
"Writers’ organisations said the results were unsurprising, but still disappointing, and paint 'a picture of a writing profession that is inaccessible and unsustainable for too many'. They have warned the figures could see writing become 'the preserve of the privileged'."
As I try to highlight: Our industries aren't doing well. It's not a "you" problem. 🫂
@MLClark welp, the two sales expanded to ten, and I think I have a handle on what to do/not to do next time.
Heritage was popular; Justine was...not, alas.
I don't think that everyone else *inside* the field considers it to be a meritocracy, at least not after a few years in the trenches. But they're afraid to say too much in dissent with the overall perception of meritocracy because that's what the gatekeepers keep putting out there.
Me? Welp, I'm a loudmouth. Always have been.
@MLClark Being a loudmouth gets me into trouble, always has. On the other hand, shutting up and enduring just makes me angry and frustrated, so...I'm gonna say what I think.
But to you who know me...if I make it big, rest assured that it isn't because I'm sitting down and being quiet.
@MLClark Pretty sure toad venom is available here in remote parts of Florida ... Fun fact, after big storms I'll find small frogs here and there that fell from the sky. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
My family has buckets of trauma too. That's why i've made my own family.
Nothing much new here. Watching #Hurricane #Idalia but so far it's all on the Gulf side.
Poking away at the book. Someone dropped off two boxes today of documents. Yay, I think.
"Someone dropped off two boxes today of documents. Yay, I think."
We always want the work until we've got the work, no? 😅 I love a good research rabbit hole, though, and I suspect that you do, too. Hope you strike gold in them thar mountains of paperwork!
(And I'd only get worried if the book starts to poke back. 😬 If you end up with an Exocomp-style sentient-life situation with your MS, you'll have a doozy of a rights battle on your hands with the publisher!)
@MLClark I ran into an old friend yesterday, a fellow Cape history expert. He was the public affairs officer for many years at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
He asked what I hoped to accomplish with the book. (Get paid ...) I lamented the lack of cooperation by many sources, then said I hope it shows there are "rabbit holes" to be explored by better connected people than I.
Otherwise, I'm okay. I couldn't "brain" effectively for a while - really big trigger hit home this week - but I think I'm past the stress-related freeze now, and ready to start the week on better footing, with new goals and a structure to keep energy high.
🍵 How's everyone else been? What's cooking? Who's on fire? Who still needs to make bail? Did you do or create something that makes you feel all good and fuzzy inside? 👀