Newsletter
Inkslinger Newsletter #9
September 2022
Hello all, dear readers! I hope you all had a great September.
Me? I went on my first vacation since before the pandemic — spent a week down on the Oregon coast, just south of Newport. Pre-pandemic the Oregon coast was our vacation home away from home. Somewhere we’d go 3–4 times a year. But then Covid hit and the borders closed for the longest time and even when the US-Canada border opened again, we just didn’t feel comfortable travelling yet. Until this past week. It’s a long drive — 8 hours non-stop, but we broke it up on the way down, stopping off overnight in Washington, and then 2 more nights in Rockaway Beach before heading to our destination for the remainder of the trip. We lucked out with beautiful sunny weather, up until our last night there, this past Wednesday when it was hit with wind and rain (nothing like storms Ian and Fiona, though!). In any case, it was nice to be back in the US finally for a bit. We hit all our favourite old haunts — cafes, restaurants, stores (except we missed going to Trader Joe’s on the way home before it closed). But that just means we’ll need to take another trip down across the border soon just for a little shopping trip!
Okay enough about my vacation story. Let’s get to this months articles and poetry, shall we?
(Note: This newsletter itself is unmetered, but all the links within are, so if you want to read more than 3, it’s best if you’re a paid member to get unlimited stories! You can always sign up with my referral link here: https://caitlinmccoll.medium.com/membership — you still pay the same membership fee ($5/month or $50/year) but I get a little bit of a commission from that, which helps support me (and others!) on here.)
Poetry
I shared 5 pieces of poetry this month (posted every Friday). I’m getting close to the end of my poetry — with only 3 more poems to share before they’re all published here on Medium! They’re all nature-ish related, well, except Nightstalker II which is about Hate.
Non Fiction
I wrote 8 non-fiction pieces, a variety of stuff from psychology topics like Imposter Syndrome (Raise Your Hand If You Feel Like An Imposter, Too), Borderline Personality Disorder (6 Positive Traits of People With Borderline Personality Disorder), and Affective Realism (Affective Realism: How Your Body Feels Affects Your Decisions And Actions), though that’s more neuroscience than psychology.
I also wrote about some temp tattoos that I ordered for fun — and to see if I wanted to get any for real (Help Me Choose My Temp Tattoo To Put On First!) and my review of the company (LittleTattoos.com Temporary Tattoos).
I rambled on about my first year on Medium (What I’ve Learned From One Year On Medium) and finally reaching the 1000 followers mark (I’ve Reached 1000 Followers! Thank You!). And I also wrote a review of the vision board, affirmation/motivation and gratitude journal app Perfectly Happy (Need Help Achieving Your Dreams? Perfectly Happy Can Help!), which I’m enjoying using (the gratitude junkie that I am).
What If Series
Finally, I’m continuing on with my ‘What If’ series of articles, using Scenario Cards as writing prompts.
I was getting kind of close to the end of all 3 packs of the box of scenario cards (well, 19 more to go) but then… my husband gave me a whole NEW box for my birthday last week, with a different focus for each pack — gratitude, vision and impact (whereas my current What If cards revolve around the 3 themes of ‘your self’ ‘your life’ ‘your world’).
So I’ll be continuing my series into the new year, so I hope you are enjoying them! This month, I wrote 31 What If pieces (don’t worry, they’re short, only around 3 minutes each!). Here they all are.
Pick and choose which ones sound most interesting to you and I’d love to hear your thoughts on each one, too! This is a collaborative series! Do you have a favourite? Or a couple? Let me know!
What If…You Could Be On The Cover Of One Magazine, Which Would You Choose?
What If…You Could Start One Thing Today That Would Make Your Life Better In The Long Run?
What If…You Were Never Judged Or Shamed?
What If…You Could Gain More Experience In A Skillset in Two Years?
What If…You Could Be CEO Of Any Company?
What If…You Could Travel To See Any Natural Wonder?
What If…You Could Wake Up With Any Superpower?
What If…You Could Control Your Dreams?
What If…You Could Give All Human Beings One Thing?
What If…You Made A To-Do List For The Whole Year?
What If…You Could Reconnect With Someone You’ve Lost Touch With?
What If…You Could Go Back To School Just For Fun?
What If…You Could Launch A Successful Product?
What If…You Had To Choose The Title Of Your Autobiography?
What If…You Could Teleport One Place Daily?
What If…You Could Feel Others Pain And Suffering?
What If…You Could Resurrect A Loved One For A Single Day?
What If…You Could Become Internationally Famous?
What If…You Had 10 Minutes To Live?
What If…You Could Change One Thing About Your Life?
What If…You Could Choose Any Job Without Restriction?
What If…You Woke Up Excited? What Would You Do Differently?
What If…Your Best Could Read Your Mind? What Would They Learn?
What If…Someone Else Made Your Decisions For You?
What If…You Could Spend The Day As Someone Else?
What If…You Could Be Reborn As Someone You Currently Know?
What If…You Could Relive A Past Mistake To Learn A Lesson?
What If…You Could Erase A Single Thing From Your Life?
What If…Your Parents Could Experience Your Life For 24 Hours?
And that’s all for now, dear friends and readers. I hope you enjoyed my writings for this month. Onwards into October! Wishing you all a great season of The Great Pumpkin (a Charlie Brown reference, if you didn’t know).
With gratitude,
Caitlin
