12 Things to Celebrate From My Day

 

Photo credit: The blowup/unsplash

I haven't done a celebration post for some time. Since good things have happened today, I feel I should mark the occasion by writing a celebration post!

 

And I have reason to celebrate today! Even now, as I write this, I am smiling. I am just really happy.

 

But I am also feeling very grateful too. Just so immensely grateful for the good things that happened today. They were REALLY good things!

 

So here are the things I have to celebrate from my day:

 

1. I wrote an article which I THINK might be a good fit for a magazine I have dreamed about being published in and I HOPE it will be accepted by.

 

I got the idea this morning right after I woke up. I just had a title. I put that title down onto a blank Word doc, thinking it could be a blog post. Then I did my morning workout (Calisthenics). As I worked out, I thought, you know what? That "blog post" could be an article. And I soon had a bunch of ideas for things to write in it!

 

I usually shower after my workout, but my oldest needed to shower first (we only have one bathroom, alas!), so I grabbed my coffee as soon as it was ready and sat down at the desk to get writing. I started writing that article and it ended up being just a bit over 1200 words. The magazine I want to send it to has a word count limit of 1200 words, so I need to revise and edit that first draft before I submit it. (Well, I would need to revise and edit the first draft anyway!)

 

Now, after this, you'd think I didn't have a blog post to write for today's writing challenge. That would be true, except for...

 

2. I figured out how to write something I had an idea for a blog post to write. At first, this idea came to me only as a topic. But as I thought about it more and played around with ideas, I realized how I could make that idea work for a blog post. And the best part is....

 

3. My blog post on tips for writing short pieces came in at under 500 words. Perfect! That's been a goal for my blog posts this whole time. I wanted all of them to be short, preferably not over 500 words. But some of them ended up being a little lengthy. I was happy that I got to write that blog post AND that it met my word count goal.

 

4. My oldest had to work two shifts at work today. Even though getting him out the door to go to work today was a struggle, and despite me being super-tired today (I only got 5 hours of sleep!), I managed to get him to work on time for BOTH shifts! YAY!

 

And speaking of my oldest....

 

5. My oldest helped us out today, buying a few necessities we needed from the store. (Thank you, Centauri!)

 

My husband and I were unable to get these things needed for the family because we are both currently broke. But that's about to change, because....

 

6. I sold an article today! WOO-HOO!!! I am very excited because it's my second article with a market I recently finally broke into after several failed attempts to get a pitch accepted by them. (Yeah, I'm stubborn like that! They didn't get rid of me THAT easily! LOL) Now I can pay my oldest back. And buy my heart medication. And have a birthday party for him on Sunday.

 

7. I was able to take another online course for the third day in a row. I have a one-year plan with an online learning center, and I'm using that opportunity to fill all 365 days up with at least one course each day! And since they have a variety of courses for a variety of interests, it looks like I will be all set. LOL I have been taking courses on content writing but, today, I took a course on songwriting. I gotta say, I understood THAT course a lot better than a book on songwriting I gave up on reading because it was too technical and I couldn't understand it.

 

I was very happy to write that article today, but later today, I ended up writing something else!

 

After I finished the course, I finished making dinner. (I had food baking in the oven during my course and I just needed to make the sides next.) And while I was at the stove, stirring the macaroni, I was thinking about how nice it was these courses had transcripts for me to read since they weren't closed captioned, and an idea popped into my head.

 

Not an idea for something to write. A visual idea. A video.

 

But I knew that if I wanted this video to be acted out the way I saw it in my head, I had to write the script for it!

 

First, I ran the idea by my youngest (who is 14). I asked them if they wanted to be in this video. Then I explained what the video was about. They liked the idea and said they wanted to be in it.

 

I took that as a sign that maybe this idea had merit! Maybe it could work.

 

So after dinner was ready, I grabbed my writing notebook and sat down at the table to write the script. I only had two pages to write it with, though! (My writing notebook is divided into sections of specific things to write.) Still, I got to work.

 

And...

 

8. I WROTE A SCRIPT!!! YAY!!!

 

Why does this accomplishment make me so happy? Because, in the past, I attempted MANY times to write a script for movies. I also tried to write one for a TV show. The problem is, I never finished them! AHH! A scriptwriter I once chatted with tried to offer me tips on how to finish writing a movie script, but I think he got a little intimidated by my writing schedule, because he changed the subject! Oh well! LOL

 

But, yeah. I was pretty ecstatic to reach that point. I am just so thrilled!

 

Now to figure out how to get it turned into an actual video.

 

I think the fact that it was shorter than a movie helped me to actually finish writing it.

 

Now to get myself to FINISH writing a movie script. I lost the other ones, so I guess I have to start over.

 

9. I was able to make progress with my monthly newsletter. I am excited about the new design and the website changes taking place for it. I hope it turns out well. I also hope subscribers are happy with the new look!

 

10. I pitched an article today! Why is this worthy of celebrating? I do this lots of times! I send out pitches and queries on the daily! But THIS one was a good thing because it was about an article idea I got some time ago that I REALLY, REALLY wanted to write, but I had a few problems:

 

1. I couldn't figure out who or where to pitch it to.

2. I didn't have a specific "focus" for this article. The topic was too broad.

3. There were no current events or news items to tie it to. (Clients like this because it increases reader interest in the article.)

 

Then later today, I was poking around on Twitter, checking out various accounts related to my topic, and, boom! I found a RECENT tweet with a RECENT news item related to my topic! I did some more digging, narrowed my focus, compared my idea to similar articles out there to see how I could make mine different, and, voila! I had my pitch.

 

And, I had a client to pitch it to, as well! I finalized my pitch and sent it off. I am keeping my fingers crossed about this one! It is about wolves, one of my favorite animals. I would really like to write this article. Especially since I haven't written anything about wolves yet. So having that clip under my belt would be nice.

 

11. The vet bill was paid today. Pretty much why we were broke! LOL But that vet bill is a good investment for our fur babies. I was relieved to get that taken care of! It is a monthly bill to pay and every time it is paid, I just feel a lot less stress and a huge weight off of my shoulders.

 

12. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on TOASTED bread for lunch today. It was actually pretty good. I have experimented with PB&J in other ways, like having it as a waffle sandwich (sooo good!).

 

So those are the 12 things I have to celebrate from my day. Yes, I had a few bad things happen (I eventually crashed on my bed and slept for 2 hours, missing my window to walk the dog! Plus Hurricane Ian touched down in Florida today and I am worried about my Floridian friends), but a lot of GOOD things happened today too. Very good things to celebrate. And I am extremely grateful for all of them.

 

I will be going to bed tonight with a very grateful heart.