Category: writing

March 2022 Newsletter: When Fortune finds you

Another month, another newsletter. The year will once again be ramping up as I prepare for April, May and eventually July and October. Articles are being planned, poems are being written, and stories are coming together.

A lazy month

I’m going to take March as a lazy month. The weather is nice and I’ve been working more hours at work. The sun is shining through my blinds as I write this and I am simply relaxing on my day off. With this month, it’ll only be this newsletter. April will be a month filled with poems so I’m okay with taking a break.

What have I been up to?

A lot of walking. I’ve walked more this year than I have in a long while. Pokémon Go has helped motivate going on walking adventures where I simply enjoy nice weather while catching Pokémon. This year in general has been a Pokémon heavy year as I play through Shining Pearl (the fourth generation of Pokémon) and gear up to jump into Legends of Arceus. It’s more or less been a celebration of Pokémon and I’ve been enjoying the journey as I keep myself busy.

Outside of Pokémon I hosted a game night with friends and it was an absolute blast. I opted for a combination of board games and Mario Party. I plan to do more in the future but it’ll be tough to do them monthly. However, it’s one of the best ways to keep in touch with friends so it’s worth the effort.

I boiled beets. This may not seem like a big deal but it marks the start of my ‘back to cooking’. My New York Times cooking subscription is paid in full and I will slowly begin to cook over the year. I have twelve months, so what could go wrong.

Dog Training!

It’s finally time! After years of having Abby, my Golden Retriever, she will be going to training. She is currently three but better late than never I suppose. I am doing classes with my brother and mother which start on the 23rd; who knows, I might even start writing about my dog if I enjoy the classes enough.

Dating

I’m considering making dating a top priority once more. I have a couple of dating apps as my lifeline for a man adrift at sea and I’m seeing where it leads. Ideally I have a meet-cute where I bump into someone in person but as I get older I don’t know how likely that’ll be. 2020 was supposed to be my year of dating and while I had found success, the Pandemic turned it into a year of self reflection. Will there be more dating articles, who knows? People seem to enjoy when I talk about the follies of love, so nothing is off the table this year.

April

National poetry month! The format is set and this year will be a good one. April is not like my typical poetry. It is the only month where I dive in a little deeper and explain the meaning behind the poem. It’ll be three poems and this year is set to have a good variety for each. I’m feeling a love poem for April, so stay tuned.

And that’s a wrap for the March Newsletter. The next newsletter will be in June. Get ready for an awesome year of writing and content. And as always, thanks for reading!

Late nights during the apocalypse

This article was originally started in March; a time before I quit my job and a couple weeks into the Pandemic. A couple months later, I’m up, so let’s get it written. It is currently 2:32am. I meditated around 7pm, had a zoom call, practiced German, and did a little bit of coding basics. From 10pm till 11pm I played Earth Defense Force, some Super Tennis, and a couple others on the Nintendo Switch. 11pm to 11:45pm I watched The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. And then, nothing. I browsed the web and got in bed around 12:30am. Listened to ASMR for a couple hours, sleeping mask on and now I have my diffuser filling the room with lavender. It’s strange.

There is seemingly nothing on my mind and yet I can’t sleep. So here I am, sitting late into the night, writing, like I used to with my journal. Monster Cat is currently playing and I’m oddly at peace. I have a lot of projects I’m currently working on and perhaps that is what is keeping me up. I bought a blue yeti mic with the hope to get back into streaming as a means to relax and help with my video editing skills. I’ll also need the mic for video calls and I’m going to start working on podcasting. I’m also thinking of starting a youtube channel but truth be told these are just thoughts. There’s a reason I’ve been practicing habit discipline and staggering habit acquisition. My whole life I have started and stopped, not really knowing where I want to go. Now that I have some direction, I want to ease into it. If I’m not having fun, then what’s the point? Right now, my primary focus is to grow the blog, which has been my pillar for the last 5 years. It’s great to simply have a place to come back to time and time again and be myself. And thank God I did not try a specialty blog.

Getting back to 2018

You’ll hear 2018 referenced a lot in the coming year. 2018 was the year I branched out into poetry, short stories, and special series. While I’m proud of all the content I’ve written throughout the years, 2018 was something special; it carried the momentum from 2016 and 2017, the year I did study abroad. 2015, when I moved from IGN to WordPress, I had a total of 37 views. To put that in perspective, January of this year had 67 views. So remember to smash that like button! Jokes aside, I’m flattered that my blog has become so successful. My favorite aspect of this year is putting in tangible work and seeing tangible results. The blog, as of a couple days ago, has hit 150 followers, ever closer to having a full blown community. I appreciate ever like, comment, and follow. When I say “getting back to 2018” I mean surpassing 2018. 2020 is the start of a new decade and it’s the year I put a bow on everything. In College I lived my life by “firsts” and I want to create new moments by sharpening the saw so to speak.

Sharpening the Saw

I’ve begun intensive learning again. As the blog starts to generate revenue, I’ve slowly begun investing in opportunities to be better. One skill overlooked, if I’m to be honest, is my writing. My writing knowledge is acquired from reading, and well, writing. That’s it. A part of me has envisioned a future where I take workshops and attend seminars and as the blog grows, that is becoming a more apparent reality. Over the last few months, I’ve made the decision that I want to be defined by my creative talents and push past the boundaries of simply dabbling in everything. Writing once every two weeks gives me the time I need. That’s not to say I won’t write more (like this week) but the idea is to have habits form. I like being on the grid and knowing myself, I can always find something to talk about.

As far as late night rambles go…

I’d say this is pretty good. If I can’t sleep I might as well write. This next month will be a busy month and I have big plans for June. I’ll be doing update posts similar to the one you saw in May for the foreseeable future. These posts help me outline what I want to cover in a month and hold me accountable to do so.

And here we are once again! At the end of an article. This year promotion is key. I’ve been thrilled with the amount of support over the last couple months. Every like, comment, and follow has helped this blog gain exposure and grow. Hitting 150 followers was a huge treat for the 5 year anniversary and thanks to everyone who has stuck around. I’d love to see this blog grow to 500 and then eventually 1,000. 500 by the end of this year would be amazing. I have a lot of articles planned for this year and I can’t wait to write them. A reminder that supporting my Patreon is a huge help. This is the first year I’ve received support and it feels great. I have big plans for my Patreon but right now those ideas are just dreams. Remember as well, just reading this article puts a smile on my face, so however you choose to support me is appreciated. Below is the Link to my Ko-fi and Patreon if you’re interested.

Support this blog!

And finally, feel free to comment! I need to get better with the prompts, so let’s try this on for size: how have your nights been during the Pandemic? Are you sleeping like a baby or are you staying up late? What are some techniques you use to cope with the added stress?

push and pull

One side pushed, the other pulled.

Like waves, they danced.

Without one, the other could not exist.

A tide set to its own rhythm.

In perfect balance, the water sparkled on moonlit shores.

A storm brewed in the distance.

Where one saw chaos, another saw calm.

Support this blog and help me fly

Another title with no words. "Push and Pull" Nothing more than an idea, now fully brought to life. Initially meant to be a full fledged article, now a poem. Why? It's a complicated idea best told in simplicity. I also thought it would be the perfect experiment. This poem can be read top down and bottom up all the while still making sense and slightly shifting the perspective. A fun idea extremely difficult to execute.

$1.00

Thanks for reading; love all the support I’ve been getting the last few weeks! As always, feel free to comment below as I love reading your comments and hearing your feedback!

New Horizon: a short story by Mike Cole

He woke to the sound of sirens. Red flashing lights. How long had he been out? He checked his forehead, and felt the crusted blood in his finger tips. The airlock had sealed and he was alone.

The New Horizon was humanity’s last hope. The greatest minds Earth had to offer came together in one last ditch effort to save the planet. And they failed. Generations of neglect left the world barren and the burden was too much for one generation to bear. The station was a prototype terraformer and the team had been there about a month. The station had launched right before the collapse of the Western Union and while the East,  Midwest, and Southern Unions still held, he knew not for how long.

He checked the blinking screen. Sector A1 had been ejected due to a breach in quarantine. Sector B2 was damaged but still intact. Sectors D4 and E5 appeared to be operational. He tried to remember where he was. What was his name? He tried to concentrate; his vision began to blur and he stumbled a little. How hard had he hit his head? Where were the others? And with those thoughts swirling his head, his vision began to darken and he hit the ground once again with a thump.

When he was a child, he was born into a world where he was  unwanted and what resources were left, he would never own. The population had reached 20 billion and had plateaued. Hundreds of thousands were dying every day due to starvation and poor living conditions; even the rich were beginning to suffer. First, there was the orbital drilling. What was once excitement turned to disdain. Meteoroids were mined initially and the materials harvested were used to create vertical farms and diverse bio-domes with the richest nutrients. Then came the moon mining. Once scientists realized they could refine the moon soil to accelerate plant growth, they without hesitation began to do so.

“Henry?”

*static*

“Henry, do you copy?”

*bzzz* *bzzz*

“The others, they didn’t make it. Fred and Charlie were in sector A1 when the quarantine protocol was enacted. They didn’t even have time to react.”

“Laurie was killed when life support blew up. I knew it was a bad idea to build the station so Damn close to the moon!”

*warning, life support is offline. Oxygen reserves at 68%. Warning, please proceed to the shuttle bay.*

Henry drifted in and out of consciousness.

As sea levels continued to rise, so did conflict. War broke out over the dying crops in what came to be known as the ten year war. Europe was all but gone and the United States had been repaved with the collapse of the Federal Government. New Horizon, what a joke. After the dust settled, those who survived only then thought it necessary to work together. A mission to save the world yet there was no world left to save…

*warning, oxygen reserves at 27%*

Shit, how long have I been out? It was getting warm and Henry could feel the sweat trickle down his face. He checked the temperature gauge. 30 Degrees Celsius. In the distance, an explosion. Going to the window, he sees what looks to be the shuttle bay, or at least, what was. Shit. The hull begins to creak and Henry looks up just as a metal comes to greet him squarely on the top of his head.

*warning, 10 kilometers to impact*

Yes, that’s right, I have finally gotten around to writing another short story. The exciting part is, unlike the others, this story is to be continued. I will not go into spoilers and will have more in the coming months. Next week will be about gaming and all viewers are welcome. And the week after will be an article about photography with photos I took during the 4th of July. Hope you enjoyed the content and feel free to comment below!

Funds to send Mike to Mars

I love producing content. As I grow as an individual, so does my content. What was once acceptable now isn’t. As such, more time is spent working on each post. I do all edits, research, and content creation. Whether it’s taking photos for a post one day to writing poetry the next, my blog is keeping me busy. Donations are appreciated and are used to invest in creative pursuits whether that be writing classes, art lessons, and anything in-between.

$1.00

%d bloggers like this: