Such a beautiful way to describe falling in love, care of a book (novella, really) that I read today:

"It had been ages since I had last eaten food from a vine, and I had so many questions, concerns. The Driver listened, then she said the best way to prepare kabocha was to cut out the insides and fill it with stars. I blushed and grew old with her, right there in the smoggy sunlight."

May we always know people who give us to imagine whole lifetimes by their side. 💛 #AmReading

(I chuckle when I think of how grumpy Canadians would get if anyone started putting up decorations before Remembrance Day. 😂 And I was a real Grinch myself! Ah, cultural growth...)

😂 This one is for folks who might not have believed me when I said that #Colombia is switching into Christmas mode tomorrow.

This meme was posted early today on a Colombian forum for locals (not tourists), promising that this'll happen after 11:59 tonight.

Translation:

Homer (with the Colombian flag):

"Wake up, you filthy drunk!"

The creepy leprechaun bursting out of a cat carrier (a Colombian radio station icon on its face):

"From September on, it feels like it's coming... Deeecemberrr!"

Every Saturday, there's a column on traditional Colombian cuisine that I love love love. This week? The article summarizes all the essential ingredients of Antioqueño cuisine. Amusingly, though, the writer and editor never seem to check the brand name of a popular broth cube, so...

Apparently I am a very Antioqueño flavour. 😅 (Pues, ¡obvio!) #Colombia

Baby, wake up, new religion just dropped. 😂

#InArthropodWeTrust

And now home to record.

Some mornings, happiness is as simple as a workout compound all to oneself.

(*So* much muscle rebuilding to do.)

It is now time for me to stare at the ceiling, think of loved ones I worry about, play out imaginary arguments with international douchetrucks, and try to solve global corruption and general callousness toward human suffering in my head until I fall asleep.

(Even the sheep don't get involved. "Buddy," they tell me. "You keep forgetting to count us and ask us existential questions instead. Hate to break it to you, but we have *so* many better offers in other heads." Which is fair.)

Night, CoSo!

Our @joycereynoldsward has a lovely reflection on lessons learned from years of writing books in a shared universe. She includes thoughts on writing tools, and strategies to bypass certain storytelling impulses.

🤗 Joyce! There are wonderful insights in this piece; please do post future updates here with more promotional detail, so that fellow writers don't miss out!

(We're a great community of readers. We *want* to support each other.)

#WritingCommunity #WritersOfCoSo
https://open.substack.com/pub/joycereynoldsward/p/lessons-learned-from-writing-the

Three books* down, one to go.

Walkies first. The body doesn't understand why it's suddenly all full of existentialist wonder and melancholy... but it does "understand" a good breeze and the heady scent of leaves and bark in the late afternoon sun.

(*Two were more like prose poems than traditional narratives, mind you - and now I'm all itchy to write poetry. Does that happen to you, @stephen_a_allen, when reviewing a book of poetry? Does it immediately make you reach for a blank page yourself?)

Me, right after reading a novel with deep themes around the interconnectedness of all life:

Pff? Was that it? That book barely grazed me.

Me, 5 minutes later, while doing chores:

*staring at a dish like it's the first time I've ever seen one, marvelling at the totality of its journey to reach me*

😅 Just listened to a friend's podcast on Alien: Romulus, which was very funny in one way, because he and his cohosts are big Prometheus fans (and one hasn't even seen Alien 3 or Resurrection), so their complaints about Romulus not reaching for "the sublime" or being as "ambitious" in adding to franchise mythology just solidify for me why the film works so well as a return to form. Looking forward to recording my own thoughts on it soon.

Every now and then I feel deeply *seen* by a reader, and that can make all the difference some days. This was a comment on my piece last week about diplomacy games and the media.

I hit a burnout point with the newsletters, so I'm glad I took a week off to catch up on other work, but it's kind, thoughtful readership like this (and from so many generous readers here) that gives me the boost I need to dive back into the humanist fray--soon.

For now?

We all matter, or none of us do. 🕊️

😅 Well, I was going to make a joke about counting down to the start of Navidad in Medellín, because decorations start showing up in stores around a week after Feria de las flores ends (so, early September), but... I literally got my first invitation to Nochebuena (the 24th is a big event here) this morning.

So it is ON baby.

Christmas is already here. 🤣🎄

(A very sweet old lady, always asking when I'll visit her for lunch in her barrio. I do need to take her up on this sometime.)

US friends! 🧐 You know what to watch out for today.

(Cute that #StarTrek thought that you'd accept Celsius at long last, in time for the Bell Riots, eh? Or that it would be a breezy 15°C. 😬😅)