Success? It's all over the place.

As they should be, Mondays are devoted to success. At least here they are. This week I'm celebrating myself—because yes!—and others.

A pretty litttle posy to me: After committing (to the small and mighty Imperfect co-writing gang) to posting here every weekday, I did. I do.

Another bouquet, please and thanks, wrapped in recycled newspaper, because I also committed to submitting at least one piece of writing a month for publication. Last week I submitted three times, and got to the point where it felt pretty okay. Good, even. Because while writing soothes the wild soul, keeping it locked away and unseen (the writing, not the soul—but both, really) delivers only part of the balm.

Claire Ross Dunn gets a teetering arrangement replete with richly scented stargazer lilies: she is leaving a trail of Lost in France successes all over southern Ontario, tootling her prop- and book-filled car from bookshop to uni to library to bookshop. Writers work hard, y'all; and this one might work the hardest.

Poet and artist Désirée Penner is inspiring on so many levels; you'll see lots about her around here, 'cause I'm a hardcore fannnnn. Her recent IG post embracing rejection has gone unkown-writer-viral, reaching over 12,000 impressions. A giant tussie-mussie of rich-hued irises for D, please.

The powerful flip is that in her erasure poems Désirée embraces the pain of every no-thanks, rather than digging to find the kindness in the rejection emails. Safe to say most artists tend to focus on negative feedback; Désirée's blackout poems give all of us a nod of validation and companionship in that self-imposed suffering.

And a random kudo-coloured nosegay to a charming and innovative little local gift shop, Lady Lou Collective. They cleverly reconfigured an old-school gumball machine to deliver custom-made stickers, and a very talented staffer created the artwork for the first series.