Oops!!! I made a mistake! I thought I had Top Writer in three categories. Triple that!!! I was named that in nine categories!!! Forgive me, I think I’ll faint now! :whistle: :yahoo:
I’m so psyched, I need to share it as a post and not in the Site News this time. Earlier today, two members of my family, Alexis and Amber, took me quite unexpectedly to lunch. I mean, I knew we were going to lunch. I didn’t know they wouldn’t allow me to pay! Just a nice time out with them for a couple of hours of chatting and a little shopping, nothing much to write home about. After all, we all have these kinds of times, right?
Before I go on, I need to inject just a little astrology here because the timing is really delightful. I was born during a Mercury retrograde, so that doesn’t usually cause me any issues. It helps my writing; I often find myself busier (ahem!), and it enables me to go into that zone where I guess all writers go when we’re thinking of the ledes, just the right wording, even just the right word. And then Jupiter moved to retrograde today. My Jupiter is also retrograde! In the natural chart, Jupiter’s home from which it rules Sagittarius is in the 9th house where we look for publishing matters. My Jupiter isn’t in Sagittarius nor is it in the 9th house. But astrology is more than one planet here and one house there contributing to one’s becoming a participant in any particular career area. And as most of you know, I am a published writer.
Okay, so back to the news because the nice times didn’t stop there.
About 3 hours after I was back home, I received a message from someone in administration on one of the sites where I post my thoughts and views on several subjects including Astrology, Astrologers, and Visiting and Travel in India. A dear friend, Puneet Tandon, invited me to join Quora about a year ago. I hadn’t even heard of it yet!
When I first joined, I really felt like a misfit. (I admit it: I tend to feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round-holed world as it is!)
And then I found the sections for astrology and India, and that round-holed world began to open up to places where I felt like I belonged. And so I began to write. In fact, I wrote “Finding the Passion…” in a Facebook Note recently because someone on Quora had asked me just the right question, and then I posted it on Medium. In other words, I was on a roll!
Apparently some folks at Quora thought so too because that’s why Jonathan Brill of Quora’s Writer Relations had written that message to me today: I’ve been named to their Top Writers for 2016 in three categories: Astrology, Astrologers, and Visiting and Travel in India!!!
As part of the honors, I’m receiving a Patagonia bag inscribed with…well, let me show you instead! I’m also getting a year’s digital subscription to the New York Times! And then there are special events to which Top Writers are invited–and additional privileges which are just plain nice.
I was still a bit baffled about the “why me” part until I read some of their criteria, which in itself was another honor:
From the Quora Blog post Jonathan Brill made today:
“The Top Writers program recognizes some of Quora’s most consistent, insightful, and valuable contributors. Top Writers are writers who make consistent, high quality contributions. Selection criteria include: the number, quality, and popularity of contributions, and moderation history. Top Writers often have significant domain expertise and are Most Viewed Writers in one or multiple topics.”
This definitely wasn’t the first article I was expecting to write after this week’s newsletter, and I need to get back to those articles now. But hopefully you’ll see what kept me at least today–and perhaps you’ll be dancing wherever you are in joy for me as well!
I’m also getting a year’s digital subscription to the New York Times! And then there are special events to which Top Writers are invited–and additional privileges which are just plain nice.