Neo Sol Librarian

        It finally happened. It was inevitable. Ticking time bomb even. I quit my job at the library I honestly thought I was going to grow old in. But even with the best intentions and best ideals, sometimes the shit is just too bad to continue. And it was just bad all around for me. I can't speak for anyone else. I don't have their perspective. But for me, I was seeing a preview of my life if I continued at the library the day I quit. I was becoming drained. Some people may term this burnout, but it felt like more than that. It felt like I was falling into myself.  To the point that I no longer wanted to interact with the world because doing that at the library was enough.      I quit with no plan (which wasn't the plan). I quit with no prospects of a new job (which was definitely not part of the plan). And I quit while we are all still going through a pandemic (which, did any of us intended the pandemic to be as impactful as it has been? Bigges...

    I got published! And the main reason that I didn't write about it here earlier was that a) I didn't think it was that big of a deal. The contest winners won money and finalist were published in the anthology along with the winning entries. I won no money but was a finalist. One story in an anthology with a bunch of other ones. Not really a headliner. And b)  the story was under contract for 3 months while it was sold on the website, so I couldn't post it during that time either. I don't think many copies sold and after the 3 month run, it is now unavailable, with my Momma holding the only physical copy.      What I did learn from this experience is that I wanted to do this more often. Connections with other people, especially with people that don't know you from anyone else off the street, found connection with something I wrote.      But of course I could be making all this up. The book is now out of print, even taken down from the websi...