"Don't take anything personally."

I had a great example of the importance of this this week. Raised in a tough home, I'm *definitely* a people-pleaser quick to think that people are angry at me. But this week, *just* as I was going to reach out to someone I thought was angry at me, they posted about being livid with themselves.

Depression & self-hate don't just hijack the rest of your beautiful brains.

They're also damned egotists.

Don't let the wrong things live rent free inside your heads.

I'm not sure how fully I've adjusted to switching my days to my nights - today the best I could do was two sleeping windows, while feeling pretty raw-eyed between them - but we shall see.

Going out for a wee walk now, before a 6:30 class, then hope to have the newsletter / next podcast miniseries up before more recording after midnight.

(One wee editing task I need to do in the middle of that, too. Just need to keep executive function sharp! 🤞 Or clone myself, but that might be distracting...)

I knew this last story rejection was coming.

There's always a Sad that comes with knowing that the money would have helped, but I *always* treat a submission as a pending rejection. Past success is no guarantee of future success, & I love competing in open slush piles.

However, I won't be resubmitting it. Like I said, outside the novel MS, I'm putting fiction aside now. Over a decade of publishing, had my chance, etc.

Will make this one free-to-read soon.
Maybe in another era, I'll do better.

How we do on the #CoSoNightShift. 🙃

(Join us! The coffee is damned fine.)

Recording's going really well. Middle of the night has allowed me to get a lot more done than in day slots, so I should be able to finish this within the week. (Then editing, deciding on any audio flourishes, etc.)

Currently resting my voice after 2.5 hours of recording. Maaaaybe tomorrow I'll have time for a BookTube recording, too, but for now I'll switch over to other writing for a bit, to keep my whole "night owl" workflow strong even if I'm all talked out tonight.

#CoSoNightShift

Happy little mountain valley thunderstorm. :)

Up on high, clouds roll over the mountains all the time, and you can feel the deep pulse of thunder in your heart when then storm is right overhead.

The phone picks up the higher-end static-hiss of tires on wet asphalt over any deeper tones, so I didn't bother trying to share the thunder booms.

But they've reverberated in rich, rumbly waves over me for the last hour.

It's no wonder our first gods were thunder gods, from Indra to Zeus to YHWH. :)

All right. 😊

Up and at 'em. First class in 20, second straight after that, and then we'll see how much of the night I can work through, recording after midnight when the highway is calm.

I'm no spring chicken, but fingers crossed.

Thanks for keeping the world going this afternoon, folks! Great job! 👌🏻

Okay, folks. Humanist Book Club is now up.

This week's topic is abstract, but super important.

The Ministry for the Future is an imagined supra-structure in the UN.

We've been struggling for centuries to interact better together on a global level.

Should we come together as sovereign states?

Monied interests? (I jest.)

Action groups united by civic interests?

In theory, more unites us than divides us.

In practice, what's the best way to pursue collective change?

https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-struggle-for-a-more-global-response-to-climate-change/

The one good thing about having a bad day is that it sets a *really* low bar on the next one. Happy Tuesday, ya goofs. 👌🏻

I have a few tasks this morning, then I'm putting myself down to sleep through the afternoon so I can work after my evening classes all through the night.

The last time I was a night owl was in grad school. Should be an interesting transition!

Nobody trip over the power cord for the world today, okay? So long as the lights are still on somewhere, we got this. 💪🏻

I usually save this one for New Year's and my birthday, but today it's on repeat.

What's your go-to "we'll get through this, no matter what" jam?

#CoSoMusic

https://youtu.be/ii6kJaGiRaI

Seriously a Bad News Monday...

But I have my life, and my health (sanity sold separately), and that's not nothing.

Tonight I'm easing into a night-mode workcycle for the next two weeks, to finish my audiobook at better recording hours. Plus, the next miniseries of Global Humanist Shoptalk drops tomorrow!

But for now? For now we will go for a walk, and talk to trees that must surely wonder why humans can't just live off the sun and the earth like they do.

(I will tell them, "Heck if I know!")

Every time something happens in my industries to knock out another path to financial compensation for one's work, I need to take a wee breath and remind myself that we human beings are worth more than our economic output.

And... when I take that breath while making the mistake of checking the news and seeing what harmful pap *does* keep getting financially rewarded instead? 🙃

I need another breath or three.

Breathe with me, if capitalism has rattled your sense of intrinsic worth today, too. 🏵

With all the usual apologies about phone camera quality, this was my sunrise today - a rich, sprawling glow of misty pink-orange sunlight on the rainy horizon. Good morning and good new week to all of you.

I am the weirdest imbiber, because the day after, I always have an urge to go straight out for a run first thing. 🙃

Today, though, my streets runneth over with a terrific ongoing rainstorm, so I'll just settle in with a cup of coffee (and LOTS of water) to edit a piece and send it out instead.

Morning CoSo! ☕ 💧

A lot of you fine folks "liked" without replying.

Maybe you're not inclined to asking for flattery?

I get it.

But since I am entering the end-stages of "borracho" (drunk), and tipping into "guayabo" (hungover), I will just say this.

You're all doing *so much work* in your communities simply by showing up.

Maybe it doesn't always feel like enough, with our tempests-in-teapots on the news.

But it is.

You are the hearts that help us all abide.

Thank you for your steady presence with it all.