A Bouquet of Possibilities

Quitting the Thrift Store turned out well, after all.

I'd wondered if I'd sink into a slough of despond without it, since I'd volunteered at least once a week and since the store management and I had parted under a cloud.

But no--instead I quickly felt lighter and brighter.
I must've been more depleted there than I'd realized.

I was done with my freelance editing work project (the three presidents), so I decided to sit at my laptop and see what showed up to write about.

What showed up was editing Wikipedia, so that's what I've been working on happily, off and on, for the last couple weeks.
I take it as a sign that I'm onto a good thing when that thing leads to other possibilities, and Wikipedia has.

I've been editing the entry for fandom's Organization for Transformative Works (OTW)--specifically cleaning up one pesky paragraph of non-neutral, non-cited information.

It's laborious! 
If I could write it from what I already know, it'd be easier, but everything in the encyclopedia is supposed to be anchored in verifiable, reputable, secondary sources. 
(No primary sources, no original research.) 
That wipes out info on blogs and other social media, since they're self-published. And that makes writing about OTW especially hard, because a lot of info about fandom is on such platforms.

Still, it's a fun challenge, and I'm willing to do the work to make the entry good.

I wrote to OTW, asking if I could put their logo on the Wikipedia page.

They wrote back and said yes, it's free to use. 
And btw, since I'm writing about them, would I like to write a guest post for them?
I said yes, I'd be happy to.

I've been so energized by writing about something I care about personally, I wrote to my managing editor proposing a book for teens about fandom.
They wrote back saying it's a possibility, and would I write up a short proposal so they can consider it more carefully?
I said yes, I'd be happy to.

So... who knows? It'd be great to get paid to write about something I care a lot about.

I'm a huge fan of fandom. It's all about making up stuff, which is this neat, elemental thing humans do that I love.
Lots (most?) of it is of godawful quality, but so what? Making up anything is entirely different from consuming stuff. 
I feel slicing pangs of jealousy that I didn't have Internet fandom when I was a girl.

Of course quality and content matter, but I say, 
Write it all, and let love sort it out. 

Which reminds me:  
Happy Valentine's Day!

bink and I spent yesterday afternoon making collage cards---she's going to scan them sometime today so I can share them online.