NftM #2: Everything's in order in a black hole

Hello.

Saying it's been a tough couple of weeks is quite an understatement. I hope you're healthy and safe wherever you are. 

It's difficult not to think about what's happening and wonder when it's going to end and how we're going to pick ourselves back up. Sometimes, though, we need a break. We can't solve, well, all of this, but we can take one step to make right now a little easier. I hope this week's newsletter helps.

1. Feeling down? It's normal to feel under the weather right now, but taking a few seconds of your day to focus on the positives can help. 

2. Sometimes, small, intimate concerts are better. Enjoy this short performance by French singer-songwriter Pomme.

3. Oh boy, don't get me started about morning routines. (Yes, I have written about it.) While some CEOs wake up and have a cold shower at 4 am, some of us hit the snooze button one too many times. That's not necessarily a bad thing.  

4. Leonard Cohen's 1984 song Hallelujah has had a fascinating journey over the decades, with hundreds of covers in every genre imaginable.

5. Laziness does not exist. If you're struggling to focus and get things done, there's probably a good reason that's holding you back. 

Photo: foundin_a_attic

5 novel ideas I stopped writing but may pick up again during isolation

1. Five former university classmates meet at a funeral and remind each other of a suicide pact they made years before. Each of them tells part of the story as the others start dying.

2. A writer and her depressed rockstar ex-boyfriend meet again only to remind them of all the reasons why their relationship didn't work. (I may have written the first chapter already. You might read it as a short story here soon. Stay tuned.)

3. A young couple sets off on a journey to find a woman from a set of 1960s photographs they found in a thrifted chest of drawers.

4. A man loses his mind. That's it. That's the plot.

5. A 30-something writer continues to sabotage herself by not putting her writing out there due to perfectionism and dies without ever having published anything. Her grandchildren find her notebooks, read her stories, and think how good they were and how sad it is she never had the confidence to put herself out there.

That's it for today, friends. 

I realise this is my second ever newsletter and don't have any subscribers yet, but if you come across this and want to say hello, send over cool links or neat list ideas, please do get in touch at [email protected], or hit me up on Twitter.

Of course, if you liked what you read, please subscribe.

Stay safe and stay home. 

Cecilia