The Quest
I'm going LONG in 2026, and so should YOU
About this newsletter: It’s devoted to short fiction, with occasional lurches into satire, social commentary, and other nonsense.
This post was inspired by Ral Joseph who produces one of the most inspirational newsletters on Substack. The prompt: What’s your North Star? What’s driving you forward in 2026? Entries were limited to just a sentence or two, and you can read them all here.
My one-liner was “To reach the unreachable star.” How do you reach an unreachable star? I explain all that in the exciting post which follows. 🚀👍
“To reach the unreachable star.”
That’s my goal for 2026.
It’s a line from The Impossible Dream.
I sang it back in kindergarten during our Christmas pageant. I remember it surprised Mrs. Campbell because it wasn’t in the script. I know she liked it, though, because she gave me five gold stars. Pulled me off stage and pasted them right across my mouth.
If you’re going to succeed in 2026, your goals need to be specific, right?
So I’ll be shooting for Earendel, the most remote star ever detected by the Hubble Telescope. It’s 28 billion light-years away. Hey, that’s even further than the moon!!
I ordered one of those build-it-yourself-rocket-ships from Amazon, and I’ve got a niece in middle school who’s gonna put it together for me. I don’t care how much airplane glue it takes, it’ll be worth it.
I know what you’re thinking: Wait a minute. It’s only 28 billion light-years away, which means it’s reachable. Didn’t you say your goal was to reach the unreachable star??
Yes, I did, ya wisenheimer nitpicker, and Earendel is unreachable.
Why? Because it’s a B-type star, and B-types only have a lifespan of about a billion years. Earendel’s light took billions of years to get here. We’re seeing what it looked like way back when. In the meantime, it died, which means it’s now unreachable.
Got all that? Just your normal time travel paradox, is all.
Hope to blast off in February. I’ll post a selfie on Facebook when I get there, but you probably won’t be alive to see it unless you had the good sense to download your consciousness to a bot. Do it now.
About Mark Armstrong: Mark’s an illustrator specializing in humor, branding, and content marketing. He writes about marketing and visual communication. He also writes humor, short fiction, and the occasional reflection.
Speaking of lofty goals and aspiring to a better and richer life, you can take that step right now by subscribing to As The Word Churns!! Just click the banner below!! 👇
Thanks for flying with the Armstrong Space Shuttle!! 🚀🪐👽
I know that Disney has the "when you wish upon a star" thing, but it is really messing with my mind to name the kingdom of Arendal (in Frozen) after an ACTUAL (though long dead) star named Earendel. Is that what actually happened???