1. AOC insists opportunity knocks for Australia's 2032 Olympic bid  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Tokyo Olympics could be the greatest ever after the coronavirus pandemic, says AOC president John Coates  ABC News
3. Sport boss claims hosting the Olympics could pull Australia out of a post-coronavirus recession  Daily Mail
4. AOC CEO looking at great sporting decade  7NEWS.com.au
5. Channel 7 sweats as Olympics plans still up in the air for 2021  Herald Sun
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Readers respond to the COVIDSafe app's launch  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Australian Gov releases source code for CovidSafe app as promised  techAU
3. Government's lack of honesty on virus app is a problem  The New Daily
4. What You Should Know About COVIDSafe's Issues And Bluetooth-Related Risks  Gizmodo Australia
5. Covidsafe app: how to download Australia’s coronavirus contact tracing app, how it works, what it does and problems  The Guardian
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Tributes flow after death of veteran journalist Frank Crook  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Editor, broadcaster, raconteur and writer’s writer Frank Crook dies  Daily Telegraph
3. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Laid bare: How the Dean Laidley story reveals cultural change  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Dean Laidley police photo leak: Fourth officer suspended  NEWS.com.au
3. 'Gross stupidity': Fresh investigation into Dean Laidley photo leak  Yahoo Sport Australia
4. Vic watchdog to probe leaked Laidley pics  AFL
5. IBAC to investigate leaked Laidley photos  Yass Tribune
6. View Full coverage on Google News

TGIF

  Posted to Flickr – at the window, lower right margin. Or here.

Finding it a challenge to carve out time for your writing because of other work or life commitments? I encourage you to join me in my Daily Writing Challenge. Even 100 words a day adds up! I also have an Inkygirl Daily Writing Challenge Facebook Page.

One of my goals in 2020 is to not only be more diligent about writing something FIRST THING in the day, but also not to be so picky about what I write (social media posts don't count, though :-)).

Reason: Last year, I was always trying to work on my middle grade novel first thing in the morning. While my goal of morning writing worked sometimes, there were many mornings when I just had too much going on. I'd be distracted because I'd be on the road, or have morning appointments, be stressed about book illustration deadlines.

As a result, I ended up NOT writing many mornings. That fed into my growing overall frustration at my lack of progress, and eventually I just gave up.

Keep in mind that I never have trouble focusing on contracted book work. If someone is expecting work from me and I have a deadline, that's one thing. My middle grade novel project, however, tend to always be shoved to the back burner. Part of the reason, I know, is psychological. In the stupid part of my brain: "Once I finish writing and revising, I'll have to start sending them out into the world, and what if I end up getting nothing but rejections again?" 

But I'm also aware that I've spent so many years focusing on illustration work that my writing muscles still feel rusty, and that's feeding into my whole "but what if I can't write anymore" insecurities.

The solution, I think, is that I need to write a LOT more, and on a daily basis, even if it's not writing for my middle grade novels. I like what Jeff Goins said in his post, My Morning Routine In 10 Simple Steps. After breakfast every morning, he writes something.

From the Goinswriter.com article on a morning routine:

This can be a blog post, book chapter, article, or just some random notes to myself. For me, it’s not about what I write as much as it is important just to write. Usually, I wrote around 1000 words; sometimes less, sometimes more.

I've started to do this as well. Sometimes I write by hand in one of my Rhodia hardbound journals (also an excuse to use one of my fountain pens), sometimes I write on the computer. Sometimes poetry, a sentence or two from an imaginary story that doesn't (yet) exist, stream-of-consciousness first-person of one of the characters in my book, sometimes a blog post.

Do you do morning writing? Do you have a life that makes finding writing time a challenge? Feel free to post below.

I won't lie to you. My brain was Ok this morning accepting the fact that a walk was on the way after breakfast . It also knew that today was shopping day . The day of a telekit from work. It was my feet that were complaining . Complaining loudly at that

A 14-second video captured the unsettling scene inside St. Anthony of Padua Church in Greenpoint as the Rev. Jossy Vattothu presided over the 9:30 a.m. Mass, with the man strolling casually inside the house of worship with a container of juice in his right hand.

Times columnist Bill Plaschke is joining the airwaves with a morning show that kicks off this week on all-sports radio station the Beast 980 AM.

MasterChef’s John Torode narrowly avoided disaster after a tea towel placed near to a stove caught alight during his cooking segment on ITV’s This Morning.

KATE MIDDLETON wore a yellow dress with a tree-inspired pattern on This Morning today. The 38-year-old mum of three spoke about her new project.

APPLE cider vinegar is the trendy thing to drink that health and fitness gurus swear by- but is it any good?When should you drink apple cider vinegar? in the morning? Read on to find out.

PHILLIP SCHOFIELD - a host on This Morning alongside Holly Willoughby - has addressed claims that he "moved out of his family home" he shared with wife Steph Lowe following the announcement he is gay.

Investigators believe the shooting occurred early Saturday after a physical altercation occurred between two adult male neighbors.

A colorful morning at the Hendricks County 4-H Fair

Personal trainer Alice Liveing, who has worked with celebrities including Maya Jama and Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, takes you through her morning workout.

Your thoughts are on pink. Pink elephants with floppy ears, Pink polcadot pillows, Pink rabbit-eared flip-flops with, Non-slip soles, Pink cereal, Pink hair bobbins, and The bright pink coffee shop, You would take her to, To apologise and review, Her new pink shoes. Why must everything be so loud? Bedraggled mops slop over, Tired hospital […]

Night shift work, behavioral rhythms, and the common MTNR1B risk single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs10830963, associate with type 2 diabetes; however, whether they exert joint effects to exacerbate type 2 diabetes risk is unknown. Among employed participants of European ancestry in the UK Biobank (N = 189,488), we aimed to test the cross-sectional independent associations and joint interaction effects of these risk factors on odds of type 2 diabetes (n = 5,042 cases) and HbA_1c levels (n = 175,156). Current shift work, definite morning or evening preference, and MTNR1B rs10830963 risk allele associated with type 2 diabetes and HbA_1c levels. The effect of rs10830963 was not modified by shift work schedules. While marginal evidence of interaction between self-reported morningness-eveningness preference and rs10830963 on risk of type 2 diabetes was seen, this interaction did not persist when analysis was expanded to include all participants regardless of employment status and when accelerometer-derived sleep midpoint was used as an objective measure of morningness-eveningness preference. Our findings suggest that MTNR1B risk allele carriers who carry out shift work or have more extreme morningness-eveningness preference may not have enhanced risk of type 2 diabetes.

The "Good Morning Football" crew discusses which sophomore QBs and their offensive weapons they're most excited to see play in 2020.

[Dublin] : National Art Union for Ireland, [between 1847 and 1851?]

Wednesday's collection of links.

Thursday's collection of links.

Friday's collection of links.

Stanley Lake with McGown Peak in the background.

Morning Routines at the bund. At the bund in shanghai every morning a group of old people practice Tai Chi, an ancient marital arts form in china.

India's lavish weddings go online in virus lockdown  South China Morning Post

This collection of songs heard on Saskatoon Morning will be updated weekly.