Oops, I Almost Forgot To Send Out Our Newsletter
I’m over here, but my brain Is over there
I almost missed publishing our Tuesday morning newsletter.
We publish twice a week. I do Tuesdays, and Debbie does Fridays.
And since lately we’ve been overflowing with stories, I like to get a jump on it. Sometimes, I’ll even start putting it together on Sunday night. Or at the least on Monday. So that come Tuesday, all I have to do is hit publish.
Tuesday is also one of the days I edit for Middle-Pause.
So last night (Monday) or about one a.m. this morning, I thought I’d just take a quick peek at the submissions lineup. Wow! About ten stories were waiting there. My morning was cut out for me.
Then it hit me, along with the proverbial hand to forehead.
Duh! The newsletter!
Now, if there were only a few stories to edit, I might have let it wait till morning. Or even pushed it back a day.
Instead, I chose to jump right on it.
And share some of my angst, at least with my co-editors. So, I created this title for the newsletter as I drafted it in our pub:
HELP! We’re Deluged with Stories!!!!
And this subtitle:
And it’s almost one am, and I just remembered, Oh! the NL!!!!
I wanted to say something like Oh, Sh*t, but we’re talking headline of a newsletter going out to all our subscribers representing the brightest and the best of our publication.
So, instead, I chose this for an image:
It was either that or two dung beetles at a feast:
I wanted sympathy and commiseration, and not just from my fellow editors, or I wouldn’t be telling you this.
True Confession: I recently turned seventy.
A milestone, yes, but hardly the end of the continuum known as old. Still, as much as I don’t want to admit it, my memory’s losing some of its sharpness. Which I hope is temporary and fixable. After all, I take a Moringa supplement for memory and focus.
But not late at night.
The formula I use contains caffeine. Maybe that’s the secret since I’ve cut way down on one of my favorite functional drugs. Especially since when I drink coffee — now only once or twice a week — I’m up to pee every two hours all night long.
Whereas when I drink my usual combo of green, black, and herbal tea, I’m only up once or twice. That makes a huge difference in how well-rested I feel the next day.
But I sure do miss my mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Wah!
Oh, but I digress. Where was I?
After creating those truth-telling titles and adding a poop pic, I painstakingly linked thirteen stories into the body of the newsletter. I’m quick. It didn’t take too long.
Then, I needed to rethink the title and image.
Reflecting on all those stories popping up so quickly reminded me of bamboo and how, once it finally sprouts, it grows fast. Like three feet a day.
Then I thought, nah!
We should save that for February, when potted bamboo plants proliferate, in honor of the Chinese New Year. (February 10, 2024.)
But it’s almost two a.m. and I love the lesson of bamboo.
So I penned what I hoped were bon mots, found a nice image, and went to bed.
And woke up to two delightful surprises.
Debbie said she liked my original headlines and picture!
And you, Dear Readers, liked my bamboo story and took the time to tell me so personally. Immediately upon publication. Not only that, many of the writers linked therein felt honored to be included in the newsletter and made a point of thanking me for that.
Thank you all.
And you are so welcome.
It means a lot to us that you read and value our publication and send us your stories. Each one of you has unique, informative, and often astonishing things to say. So, we editors want to ensure each story gets the focus it deserves.
One way we do that is to space out our publishing so each new story gets top billing under the heading, latest for at least an hour, when at all possible. Sometimes longer.
The other way is by linking them in our biweekly newsletter.
That way, all the new stories are right there in your email, at your fingertips, for your reading pleasure. And if you’re linked, Medium sends you an email notification. That’s probably how I got all those lovely responses so quickly. I swear, within an hour, I got the email that said my story had ten clappers.
So that bamboo’s shooting up already!
And doing us a world of good by reminding us that investing in ourselves may take a while, but the results are more than worth it. So get ready to surprise and bless yourselves like y’all have surprised and blessed me!
Come to think of it, let’s repeat the bamboo message come February.
P.S. If you don’t think your comments matter, guess again!
Marilyn Flower’s a sacred fool who writes every day — fiction, poetry, and blogs — inspired by a process called SoulCollage®. She’s the author of Creative Blogging and Bucket Listers: Get Your Brave On. Follow her Sacred Foolishness or SoulCollage® for Writers, and Stay in touch!
