Bridge over the Niobrara River.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is one of my favorite places in the world. I like it so much, I’ve left instructions in my will to spread my ashes there.
A few weeks ago, KC Heath, co-owner of Nspire Today forwarded me an email about John Emery, a black and white large format photographer, who was going to be their artist in residence. KC thought it would be an awesome story. I agreed, but it’s not the kind of story Nspire does. We talked for a few minutes and I said, “You know what, KC? I like taking pictures and I love being in nature. They’re both good for my mental health, especially when I can actually go and do those things. I can write my column about it.”
I sometimes get behind in my writing for Nspire Today. We aim for around 1,800 words per article. My stories are typically 1,700-2,700 words, but the majority are around 2,300 words.
I can write longer if needed. I also find that, as I near 3,000 words, my hands start to hurt. Sometimes, I’ll push through as it means I’m close to being done with a second story, but my editor, Jeff, has repeatedly told me to only write one story a day, so I don’t risk burning out. I typically write 14-17 stories per month plus a column about mental health.
Another year of Formula 1 is about to begin. Well, technically it began early this year because of Ramadan, so Free Practices 1 and 2 are already over. Each year, F1 makes a new intro video, which is shown at the start of each televised viewing. This year’s intro sucks.
I looked at the clock – 5:27 a.m. I’ve lost nearly 90 minutes in this flashback. The screaming woke me up again. My nausea alternated between a 7 and a 9. When it finally settled down to a 3, I started crying. I thought to myself, “I don’t feel well.” Then, a memory unlocked of a conversation I had many times with my mother when she came to wake me up for school.
Some of the books I’ll be reading in 2024.
I’ve got a new stack of books just itching to be read over the next year. My new year typically begins sometime in November. October and the beginning of November is where most of my trauma occurred, so when I start to feeling better I like to start fresh and a new reading list is one of the ways I try to do it.
I’m getting this out late, so some of the books on my list I have already read. It is also an ambitious list, so we will see if I can get through them all.
It’s been cold outside.
Note: to any of you who got the Book List notification, it wasn’t supposed to go out until Jan. 22. I think I got the scheduling part right now, so I apologize for spamming your email today. Thanks for being patient with me on this.
Note 2: Okay, folks. I’m a dummy. I forgot to turn off the notifications for MailerLite. This should not happen again. You should only be getting one notification from now on. I knew I forgot something yesterday. I apologize and you all can kick me later.
Many years ago, I used Icegram Express when it was known as Email Subscribers on my site. People who signed up via Icegram would receive an email every time I wrote a post and it worked well. Then, something went wrong and it wouldn’t send to hotmail anymore. So, I did some investigating and found MailerLite solved all my needs except for one. I made the switch as I felt I could deal with that one thing.
Just testing to all of you as I’m trying out a new email subscriber campaign sender because MailerLite sucks.
If you see this, then I did everything right. Fingers crossed.
The Sugar Factory in Scottsbluff on the evening of January 11, 2024.
A few days ago, I woke up to find my computer had rebooted. When I went to recover my open files, LibreOffice went through the process, but, then, nothing. Untitled1, Untitled2, Untitled3, and so on were empty. I sat and stared at my screen. There was no anger, only sadness. I’d lost the all the posts I had been working on for the blog except one. That one is titled Book List 2024. I lost the last bit of the file, but it’s easily replaced.