Zoomies

Merlin: (crouches and hides beside the foot of the stairs)

Pyewacket: (comes down the steps and turns the corner)

Merlin: (POUNCE)
 
(Ball of wrestling kitties rolls across the living room)

(Two kitties get the zoomies and race into the dining room)

(Zoomy kitties come tearing out of the dining room, through the living room, and up the stairs)

#spoiledcats 

My most recent Medium articles

After three weeks of hearing nothing from the publication to which I had submitted these two articles, today, during my lunch break, I bailed and withdrew the submissions. I have since published them myself.

Vacationing in the Era of the Rona

It's OK to Stand Your Ground

I will keep writing, as well as trying to connect with publications within Medium that are a bit more prompt about getting back to authors who have submitted articles. 
 

Still writing for Medium

I am still writing for Medium, but I have tried a new tactic to see if I can get my name in front of more people's eyes.

Within Medium, there are different publications that accept submissions from writers. If you want, you can submit directly to Medium.com, but there are so many articles submitted there, it will be challenging for your work to gain traction if you haven't already got an established audience of followers. More paid members reading your article translates into more money being paid to you at the end of the month.

The publications within Medium are geared toward stories of a given type. There are publications that accept submissions about relationships, career, tech, writing, and a lengthy list of other categories. If your story fits into one of these niches, then it will be worth your while to attempt to submit it to the requisite publication. The good news: more eyes that are interested in your topic will see your story if it gets published there. The other news: the editors of said publication have to review your work first, and that can take time.

So, I have three articles sitting and waiting for editors to review them. Hence, I have no links to recent articles, even though I have been writing steadily.

Cross your fingers that my articles will make their way into their respective publications soon. I am impatient and I want to see what happens to my stats when an article is in a publication.

I'm all set to carpe freakin' diem.

Vacation in the times of COVID

Vacation in the times of COVID:
Socially distant beachgoing
Pizza delivery for dinner
Sitting on the porch, people watching, in the evening

My kind of day! 😀

I'm HOOOOOME!

My vacation began at 3:30 this afternoon, upon my logging off from work. 😃

I promptly turned off all weekday alarms (for getting up, logging on, conference calls, and logging off). Sleeping in is now a thing.

My inbox will probably be overflowing with faxes upon my return. That's OK. Call it job security. I'll get them done ASAP when I am back to work again. Till then, it's RELAXATION TIME.

Second half of 2020

I received a sad bit of news yesterday. Joey D's dad passed away. It was not COVID-related, and it was not a complete surprise as his health has been failing for a while, resulting in his recently entering hospice care.

But still... right on the last day of June, arguably the final day of the first half of the year, 2020 has managed to fetch us all another swift kick. This year has been nothing short of brutal so far.

I am praying that the second half of 2020 is less grueling than the first half was. The bar is set immeasurably low on that score.

Saints preserve us if we haven't yet seen the worst this year can throw at us!