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Canva Update

on February 15, 2021February 15, 2021 By Cynthia Harrison 12 Comments

I like this but I wish I could delete the punctuation. I did it for an Insta post and I’m still unsure about sizing. Like can I just make it fit Twitter, too? And Facebook? Pinterest? I’m sure the tools are there, just not of my ability to use them. This is not an intuitive process for me, I’m not patient enough to work through small details. Except on my books, and even there, I have an editor. Thus, creating images takes a lot of time, but I think in the end it will be worth it.

In other news I am also am working on a sell sheet, now that my publisher has distribution through Lightening Source. The PR person helps as much as my editor. She has given me a template on what to include and Canva should be helpful for that, too. Distribution is a huge thing. Before it was all e-sales or hand sell print books. Now I can send a book to the local St. Pete bookstores and hope they order some!

Crown of Stars

on February 3, 2021February 3, 2021 By Cynthia Harrison 2 Comments

When several stars align tightly in the night sky, astrologers call it a “crown of stars.” You can tell by the name it’s something good, right? A new Crown of Stars will gather in 2021 on February 11. This particular constellation of stars is made up of the sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. What happens? Energy opens and pours forth. Energy for new projects. Energy releasing you where you were blocked or stuck. Yeah, it’s a good thing. I don’t know about you, but my creativity has been super low key for awhile now. Everything I thought would happen, and everything I planned on doing…none of it got done in January.

This is how bad it got. I have several cherished habits: yoga, meditation, daily morning diary, weekly blog post, usually on Monday, and of course, writing the next book in my new series Jane in St. Pete. All these activities were not stopped by Covid, like lots of other things I love to do on a regular basis. I still practice yoga and meditate daily. We all know what our fun is and, for almost everybody, at least some of that has been put on hold. I love my friends, and it wasn’t great when the hugs stopped, but we adapted. We survived.

*Moment of silence for those who have passed.*

My creative life started to unwind, bit by bit, and I let it. I figured I’d see what happened when I ran out of rope. So I didn’t write in my morning journal every day. Al’s retired and we like to chat over coffee. Some days I still journal, but not every day. Next to go was my weekly blog post. That was hard to reconcile. At first I just thought I needed a break, but eventually I figured I was beginning a new phase. And today is the introduction to that, at least for blogging. Once a month is better for me than once a week. This from a woman who blogged every single day for ten years! And once a week for nine years. Yes, in 2021 I will have been blogging 19 years.

Why did I stop? It felt right. What filled the void? Old fashioned email. We came to Florida in mid-December so we got lots of forwarded Christmas cards in January. I’m taking my time, but if you sent me a Christmas card and it made it’s way to Florida, I’ll be emailing you, if I haven’t already. I miss my friends and the holidays were hard in that respect. Al and I invited my dad over and we had a feast. My son called and Dad got to see his new house (new to Dad anyway) and his great-grandchildren. My other son called December 26, but with their Christmas card, they’d enclosed several “real” beautiful Christmas photos, and I let Dad choose one of those.

And for a long time, email and working on the next book, plus Zooming and conference calls with my writing friends to share helpful thoughts on manuscripts in process (I call this “critique” — a hangover from my teaching days) was more than enough. I didn’t worry about the journal or the blog. I didn’t even fret about not opening Facebook all that often. My thought was “something will happen.” I hoped it’d be sooner rather than later, but I just didn’t know when. I let ideas bubble up and pop into oblivion. I didn’t lecture myself about getting back on track. I considered that perhaps just writing the novel was enough.

Then I read my forecast for February on Astrology Zone by the amazing Susan Miller, all about the crown of stars this month, (and in Aries a stellium: three or more transiting planets in tight mathematical degree) I realized what was next for me. I already mentioned it once, but I’ll say it again, because it is stunning in its simplicity: I’ll be blogging once a month now instead of weekly. Oh, and yes, I’m still practicing Canva.

So that’s my news and I hope this month’s Crown of Stars brings lovely new energy your way, too.

Breaking Blogging Rules

on January 18, 2021January 18, 2021 By Cynthia Harrison 1 Comment

In 2002, when I started blogging, most bloggers used Live Journal or Blogger. I had my own domain name. It felt a bit like floating untethered in a vast outer space. I liked it. My IT son maintained my site and taught me simple code, like image tags and hot links. He designed my wallpaper and added a blog roll plus a few other sidebar things. I only accepted one small text ad, because they paid me a lot of money. They sold computers. That is the only ad I ever had. I now pay WordPress $100 not to have ads.

My topic was writing and publication. I used my own works-in-progress and my problems plus solutions with manuscripts for some posts. I also blogged about submissions and rejections and acceptances. I did this every day for ten years. It was very casual and breezy. Writing about writing is the first blogging rule I broke, but I don’t think it was a rule then. If there were rules, I wasn’t aware of them. I still write about writing sometimes. I actually wrote my first book about writing. There were lots of “How to Write” books, but I could not find one I liked for my creative writing students, so I wrote and published it myself. I bought the books from the printer and sold them to the college bookstore, who sold them to my students. Once I made my money back, I got the book up on Kindle and gave away copies at workshops. I shipped Amazon a supply of print books, but they may be sold out by now. I was blogging about these processes through it all. And I still write about writing.

There are plenty of blogging rules, just google and you’ll find them. I do read the rules and blush at how many I’ve broken through the years. I’m no rebel, I just didn’t know. There seemed to be, when I started blogging, a kind of “no rules” mentality. I never revised a post. Blogging was a raw form, or so I thought. I do revise my posts now.

Another rule I still break is the one about the right way to choose titles. There is even a tool that you can submit your title to and it will tell you how clickable it is. I did that one time and scored poorly. I fixed it to the instructions and they gave me a really good grade, but I forgot to compare how many more clicks I got to those other posts I gave arty titles. When I was thinking about this post today, I only had a vague title. I had an idea for a subject, and I liked the title: “What It Is.” I knew it would not score high on the title name tool. I didn’t care. I’m drawn to intriguing titles that only make sense as you read the post. I can’t be out in space alone on this one.

My subject was going to be the state of things in my country (USA) from my point of view, but I really don’t like writing about politics (although I am interested in the topic and read a lot about it) and what can I say about Covid? I had it, it wasn’t fun but my breathing stayed ok and I never had a fever, so not that bad. I’m 65, it lasted two weeks, I stayed home, there are no vaccines, even for my 83 year old dad. I am sure I wrote about my own Covid adventure back in November when I had it, so basically I’d be bitching about the general state of affairs (political *cringe*) and the fact that I’m still wearing a mask.

But I liked that title. Which I ended up not using. Still, it got me to where I eventually found myself. Right here, like always.

What’s Up, 2021?

on January 4, 2021January 4, 2021 By Cynthia Harrison 13 Comments

I am for sure not a great picture taker, but this quick selfie was to show off my new dress to a friend. Then I blew her a kiss because I was imitating one of the emojis we often send. Then I liked it. Fuzzy photo with no hair combing or a speck of make up on my face!

Figuring that we will still be masking for at least six more months, I’ve decided to swear off make up. Even eye make up. This conversation has been going on for a while between my friends and me. Make up smears your mask. It rubs your face and creates a not good complexion. Whatever your complexion was, it’s worse with make up under a mask. For me, anyway.

Also, I am 65. When will I allow myself to go natural? I never wore make up in high school, because I was a feminist! Then later I was still a feminist but I liked this guy and he wasn’t asking me out, so I got contact lenses and started wearing make up. He is now and will be forevermore the father of my children. So the make up habit continued, especially when I was teaching. Standing in front of a classroom can feel a bit like acting. I needed my disguise.

Then you know how we used to go out and have dinner or drinks or dancing? I was not going to be the only girl in my gang without make up. Then came Covid. I know people say eye make up is essential for masks. I don’t think so. My youthful feminist does not think so; she’s still inside advising me to just be myself. There used to be an age when women could slip into the matron stage without fuss. Especially if their hair was grey. Which mine is, but that’s a different blog.

Al, Dad and I went to check out the new pier (it’s lovely!) masks in place as needed. Then Dad wanted to have lunch downtown and there was plenty of outdoor seating. I didn’t think a thing about not having make up on…although I admit it would have been a different story if I was meeting girlfriends or even if the party was comprised of Al and I eating out (literally) with another couple.

As for the Zoom conundrum, I don’t care. Those thumb-sized images don’t show much. But. What if I were giving a professional presentation or a workshop? I did one of those when my book first came out and YES I did wear make up. So my vow to not wear make up anymore may be just for the duration of this damn virus.

I wasn’t optimistic enough to think 2021 would snap its fingers and all would be normal again. We’re getting closer, but it’s a slow slog. Slower than even scientists thought! Even my astrologer thought it would be over by now. Early in the pandemic she said the contagion might last as long as December 2020. Let’s just hope it’s over before Christmas 2021.

Happy New Year everyone *insert kiss emoji here*

Afraid of Covid?

on December 14, 2020December 14, 2020 By Cynthia Harrison 5 Comments

If you’re afraid of Covid, it’s not surprising. The news stories and statistics upward of 300,000 deaths, not to mention the masking and staying away from others…it’s as if we are caught in a grim nightmare. I am truly sorry for the people who have died, and for their families. The tragic stories make me sad. The lack of help for those in need: food, rent, heat. It’s all heartbreaking and it sucks and it feeds our fears.

About six weeks ago, my husband and I came down with Covid and we weren’t sure if it was the flu or sinus infection or maybe Covid. My doctor said “Quarantine for two weeks.” I asked “Do I need a test?” She said if I wanted one, I could get one, but I was already doing the most important thing. Staying away from others. After we were better, my husband’s doctor did a blood test and he had antibodies for Covid. So he had it. I guess that means I had it too. It also means that now we are immune for however long (doctors don’t know) and we can’t pass Covid on to others. We are not contagious. And we can’t get reinfected, at least for awhile.

I’m glad because this week we are heading to Florida and I was worried about my dad. Now I know I can’t give it to him. Such a relief. I’ve had another possible health problem that needed tests and more tests. Due to Covid, I had to move our travel dates back by two weeks. I wasn’t sure what would happen even then, but today I went to the hospital and finally got the “all clear.” More relief.

But then…I mentioned I had Covid on FaceBook and was amazed at all the people who responded, worried about if I was okay. Did not one of them have Covid yet? Because I’ve been very careful and followed every rule and I got it, lots of my neighbors got it, too. It’s not that bad for most people. I’m 65. I’m fine. Most people recover at home. I didn’t get a fever and I still smelled the coffee. I could say I was fatigued, but truth is, I like a nap some days. I won’t underplay it. I wasn’t well, but it was the kind of sick where I might have talked myself into going to work, and I know Al would have, and he was much sicker than I was.

We are retired so we don’t have to make those tough calls anymore. Bosses are idiots. They get mad if you call in sick, not realizing you’ll be passing your germs around. Or not caring. Covid is teaching us how deadly germs can be, and more important, how we can stop them from spreading. But if you’re afraid, take heart. Chances are, you’ll be fine. Drink a lot of water. Rest.