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So glad you have signed up to receive the For Random Learning Comes Newsletter! This is the ninety-eighth edition. People keep asking me, what's going to happen, when you get to 100?
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I don't have the answer to that yet but stay tuned!
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The past two weeks for me have been full of paperwork. I don't know why it is, but the turn of the year always reminds me that taxes will be due soon. It is also a stern reminder of all the things I failed to do last year and, due to the inevitable march of Time, have put off until this one.
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One thing I haven't done in past years, but have considered doing, is reviewing books. Publishing reviews does have a downside. It becomes very apparent to all, very quickly, just how slowly your to-be-read pile goes down.
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Like many of you, I'm sure, I am constantly buoyed about by distractions. Finding the time and the energy and the quiet to sit and read, much less finish a book, seems nearly impossible.
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Amazingly, I did get the chance to write a review of local Jacksonville author Julie Delegal's novel Seen on Goodreads. The site was kind enough, to allow me to put it on my blog as well.
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If you do click on the link, you will be taken to Goodreads where you can purchase the book. I receive no benefit from your click other than to know that someone else will have a chance to enjoy the book, too.
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My second entry below is my account of the year gone by: New Year's Post 2024--My Year. Never before I have spent so much time and effort to bring my work to the attention of the outside world. There were, of course, plenty of rejections of my submissions, but also some acceptances. I had a few chances to read my work aloud before people, and even a signing! And I met some wonderful people along the way. Read all about it below.
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I hope to be writing more on my novel-in-the-works, which is now above 26,000 words. Only about 1000 words more than before December, but with getting ready for JaxbyJax Literary Festival, Christmas and New Years, I hope I can be excused for a month of relative slacking.
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Thanks again for reading and for subscribing! It's a bit nippy here in Jacksonville, but we all know that can't last. It'll probably thaw out in a week or two. Till then!
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So Close and Yet So Far
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This essay discusses the Semiquincentennial celebration and compares it with Fourths of Years gone by.
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Drawing
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A poem on redistricting, the drawing of new districts to serve the ruling party's political purposes, with the blessing of the Supreme Court and with enthusiasm unchecked by either the people's will nor the State's Constitutional provisions.
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Attempt
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A poem describing the swirling emotions on and offline provoked by the attempted assassination of President Trump at the dinner for the press. Caveat: I do not doubt the attempt on his life was real. P.S. The photo is an attempt at beauty.
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Approaching May 1st, 2026, Anniversary of The Great Fire, Jacksonville, FL
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A poem about a very dry spring in Florida which calls to mind the terrible fire which consumed Jacksonville early in the 20th century.
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Smiles
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This poem analyzes the loss of reputation of the US in the eyes of its closest allies, and the attitude it projects, about that loss.
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