Potpourri

I’m truly incapable of typing this next sentence without a ridiculous grin sprouting up across my face because the absurdity of my reality is just too much to not make me laugh. Believe it or not though, as of this writing, it’s been a whopping 126 days since I last worked! No way in the world could I have anticipated my twelve day California vacation (which began March 5) would’ve received a 114 day (and counting) extension! Really and truly, this is one of those hashtag blessed moments because to be perfectly honest, this time off has been a real blessing.

Because of this extraordinary gift in time, you’re now reading what is my eighteenth blog post in as many weeks! This ties my old record for simultaneous weekly posts that I set in the first four months following the launch of my blog back in 2018! GREAT SUCCESS! I also want to add here that The Original Sweet was a runaway hit giving me my best week of views since January 2019! Thank you, Cody! We all know I don’t play favorites, but believe me if I did, this would certainly help Sweet Cody’s chances of being #1.

Back on April 22, I published the post, Coronavirus!, which detailed my first month of furlough. Well, hell! I know this timeline is a little contradictory to the eighteen week one I just mentioned, but I’m pretty sure April 22 was two and a half years ago. I mean, come on now, this year has been nothing but whack. Plus, I’ve lived a lot of life since that publication, so let’s reflect on all that, shall we?

Undoubtedly the most notable enhancement in my life is the little – or should I say lil’ – nickname that I’ve been given around our household. Melissa and I now refer to me as Lil’ Quarantine, but strangely enough, only at night.

Melissa loves referring to anything and everything I might need for quarantine as being lil’. For example, when she goes off to bed, she always asks me if I’ll be needing my lil’ remotes to watch my lil’ show. Of course I’m gonna need them lil’ remotes to watch my lil’ show and then like clockwork I always get up and get myself a lil’ water before I settle in to watch. I don’t go to bed for a solid two hours after she does, so that’s more than enough time to get a couple episodes of my lil’ show in.

Something random to share with you all, I find it almost impossible to watch the television during daylight hours. Like, it has to be nighttime for me to want to watch a movie or show on the tv. I just feel like I’m not making the most productive use of my time if I’m sitting before a television set when the sun is out. I don’t know how else to explain this quirk, but I’ve always been this way. Now the opposite is that I can only do my writing when the sun is up. I find it exceptionally difficult to write anything worthwhile at night. I don’t know if this is because by the time nightfalls my mind is just tired and my creativity levels are low whereas my yearning for entertainment is high, I really have no idea, but that’s a little sidebar about me.

My current lil’ show is Gotham. I’ve always been a HUGE Batman fan and Batman Returns still remains my second favorite movie of ALL time, so starting this show was a no brainer. I’m about to wrap up the second of what appears to be five seasons and I’ve been loving it so far. The show explores all the elements of Batman lore before Batman himself, as Bruce Wayne is just a teenager. The series instead focuses on Jim Gordon’s turbulent rise through the Gotham Police Department to his eventual role as Commissioner. If you like Batman as I do, then I’m sure you’ll love this show as I have.

The lil’ show I watched before Gotham was The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and I very much enjoyed it as well. The first two seasons were superb, but the third one got a little wild for my tastes, however, by the end it thankfully balanced out some. I’m a big believer in less is more and sometimes some of these shows seem to think that more is more and it just becomes too much for me. Like, hit the brakes on some of these plots lines. We don’t need every single character involved in his, her, or their own saga. Pair these people up! My goodness!

On June 1, my gym opened back up and I’ve been going about five times a week since to swim my laps. My goal is to be able to swim 44 of them as according to the sign on the wall, that’d be an entire mile. At this point the maximum I’ve managed to do at one time is 34, so just like Princess Tiana from Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, I’m Almost There!

Which, speaking of that phenomenal movie. I’m sure you’ve all heard Disney Parks has decided to change the theming of my beloved Splash Mountain from the Brer Rabbit story to an all new one based off that groundbreaking film. I have mixed feelings because Splash Mountain is my absolute favorite ride at any theme park ever! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! However, The Princess and the Frog is one of my top five favorite animated Disney films. I have no doubt in my mind that the new ride will be spectacular and I’ll always have my multitude of memories from the original Splash Mountain, but still, it’s definitely sad to see it go. I now feel it absolutely imperative to get back to Disneyland to say farewell to my beloved favorite before the overlay. I’m not kidding when I say I’ll probably ride it at least a dozen times that last time I know I’m out there. I’m terrible with goodbyes as they always make me crazy emotional and leaving this special part of my life behind will not be easy, but I’m already looking forward to making all new memories with Tiana and Naveen.

If you read that last paragraph and thought, what the hell is this fool talking about? Then it’s clear to me you’ve never truly experienced a Disney Park. I know I used the word ride, but Disney doesn’t really have rides, they have experiences and experiences create memories. So for me, many of those experiences have resulted in some of the best memories of my entire life and for that I’ll always be grateful to my Disney Parks.

In other news… I’M EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE to you all that I’ve FINALLY begun my search for a literary agent! This is one of the final pieces of the book publishing puzzle. It took what honestly felt like a lifetime, but I FINALLY finished my book proposal and now that I’ve got that done, I’ve begun making a list of any and all possible agents I would hope to one day represent me and my work.

It’s crucial to me that this is a mutually beneficial relationship. So while the individuals who’ll be receiving my work will be deciding whether or not they want to work with me, I have to also make sure I want to work with them, which is why I won’t be sending my book out to just anyone. I’ve been grueling through literary agencies websites and making an ever expanding list of possible agents as I want to make sure all my ducks are in a row before I start submitting my query letter. For instance, it’s frowned upon if I submit my work to two agents working at the same agency, for if they both found themselves interested, it could spark strife in their workplace and I might end up losing the opportunity to work with either all together. Should I send to one agent at a certain firm and later be rejected by them, then and only then am I welcome to submit that same work to another individual within that agency. I didn’t do all this work to not follow their protocol. If this is what they want then this is what I’ll happily do.

I’ve also been looking up each of these agents on Twitter and scouring through their tweets to ensure that each of them is truly someone I want representing me and my work. People put just about everything out there on social media, so it’s honestly been extremely easy to see if this person and I will make a good match or not. This is honestly the closest I’ve ever come to having a dating app and honestly, what a rush it’s been! I LOVE IT!

So as I wrap up this potpourri of thoughts, I wanted to share something with you all that literally blew my mind! From the nineteen blog posts that preceded this one, I wrote a combined total of 34,339 words. Shithead comes in at 61,665 words! Even after writing and publishing nineteen blogs, I’m still only at 55% of my book’s total word count! I’m not even going to pretend like that didn’t make me feel incredibly accomplished as an author, which is obviously why you’re all reading about it now.

As always, THANK YOU so very much for reading and please feel free to leave me a lil’ comment! You know I love reading and replying to them! I’m hoping next week’s blog will look a little different for all of us as I’m hoping to have a Guest Blogger! My California Brother, Dean, has accepted my invitation to write a blog for our reading pleasure! Dean is an extraordinary writer and I cannot wait to see what he ends up sharing with us! I already know it’s going to be THE BEST! So, until next week, I hope you all have THE BEST week ever!