Failure to Launch: Time to Explain Yet Another Delay

Oops.

Good thing, I hyped the fresh restart of the blog as Soft Launch 2.0 where gradual changes would be implemented over several months rather than a glorious all-at-once new beginning.

Though, there have been no changes since I made that post promising a restart and more specifically, I lacked the most important change where I start rolling along with daily posts as promised.

I had a Han Solo-like bad feeling that I timed the declaration wrong and it was better to wait until after my family took our week-long vacation at the absolutely wonderful Medeba. My hope was that I had a few days before leaving that I cold post some things and there was Wi-fi up there where I could post a few small things throughout the week.

Well, the days before the trip were occupied with pitching to some major magazines and finishing up major client work, so there ended up being a lot less time for recreational writing. Then once we journeyed up north, the Wi-fi and writing time was weak, so it needed to be reserved for some client work that came up while I was there.

So, here we are with a delayed launch. But before we left, I had started on a tribute piece for Kamala and I'll obviously need to write something about the terrific Chadwick Boseman as well. Plus, there are all the things that I promised in my previous post, so there is definitely stuff waiting to come charging into the world to be read.

I do have to reiterate that Medeba is marvelous. I have a long history there as I was a Cabin Leader in the 90s, Program Coordinator in 2000s, a student in their year-long Leadership Development Program (now known as Prosago) and finally, full-time year-round staff in their Guest Group Coordinator position. It is also the place where I met Emily, and anyone who knows, is aware how well that turned out for my life. They also just provide amazing programs, but like all camps they were hit hard by Covid-19 as they had to stop taking schools and groups in March and then couldn't open up their summer camp.

I've already praised their great Medeba-in-a-Box program, but also in the summer they rented out some of their facilities for social-distanced car camping that is best described as glamping. It was an amazing value for all the great stuff you get like mountain biking, paddling and swimming, plus great accommodations for a camping style trip. They are still accepting bookings in the fall, so if line in Ontario and you want to have a weekend or week away then please consider them. They are a great option for a relaxing vacation if camping is something you like but you want to avoid putting up a tent and such.

But now I am home, and ready for what will be an interesting fall. Due to our school board and government not being very clear on how they actually plan to implement effective social distancing for the return to school, Emily and I have decided to opt into online learning for at least the first month and a bit (our board allows us to choose to opt into in-person schooling after Thanksgiving, which in Canada is the second Monday of October). This means that the hours I expected to have uninterrupted work have now been occupied with two energetic kids who love the art of distraction. But this time the promise is that the education will be teacher-led online and I own three computer so all three of us can do work, so I'll remain optimistic that my days will be productive with some occasional need to assist the kids. If I turn out to be delusional, back to early mornings and late evening writing sessions.

The blog is going to be active this fall and beyond and the much-touted big plans will slowly come to life on here. I apologize teasing a fresh start a week and half before being able to pull it off, but such things happen when offering something for free and the real job starts frantically waving around its arms for attention.

The truth is that I need this little site to be active and thriving. I need it for many reasons, some pertaining to growing my career. But most of all in 2020, I need it as a creative outlet to help cope with how things are right now and have a place where I have the freedom to process and express myself. I want to take advantage of that freedom to be more creative and try out some fun things that I wouldn't really have the chance to explore with most other paying outlets. If you've stuck with me this long, I hope you enjoy all the different things I have planned over the coming months.

I want to mix personal experience with pop culture writing. I want to try out some more creative writing on here. I want to play around with the concept of movie and television reviews. I want to grow this blog into something more.

It seems like a great time to say thank you for the years of support. I really appreciate all of you as readers and things are going to get even better. I am excited and hope you are too.