Tag Archives: New Year

Looking back and looking ahead

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Happy New Year! I hope your year is off to a great start.

Four years ago (how can four years have passed since then?), I shared T.S. Eliot’s beautiful passage about last year’s words and next year’s words. These early January days have me looking back at last year’s writing and anticipating what will become of my work for this year.

In December, right on the heels of NaNoWriMo, I had the opportunity to speak with author John Vonhof about my experiences writing a novel in the month of November. My conversation with him is available now as a podcast on his site: Writers & Authors on Fire. I hope you’ll check it out! And if you’re also a writer, his series is a fantastic resource of encouragement and practical advice for writing and publishing.

One thing I didn’t mention in my conversation with him is the twelve pens I ran out of ink in November.

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The fruits of my NaNoWriMo labors: two full notebooks and twelve empty pens

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A new year to create

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I’m not much for following trends. For several years now, I’ve seen friends and strangers choose a word at the beginning of each year that will define or act as a theme for their year. Last week on social media, I noticed several people sharing their word for the year and asking others for their one particular word. So the trend is still alive.

I don’t think a single word can define me for an entire year, but maybe I’ve been looking at it all wrong and should instead think of it as a word that could inspire and challenge me through the year ahead.

On my last day in Raleigh in 2014, I walked through a downtown neighborhood and snapped photos with my cell phone to help me remember that rapidly changing corner of the city. I came across a house whose owner wanted to inspire passersby: Continue reading →

Playing in a winter wonderland

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It may not feel like winter where you are (or where I am, of that matter), but I’m enjoying some time off and playing in this wonderland—snow-covered or not.

I hope you won’t mind me taking a break to enjoy time with family and friends this week. I’ll be back next week to greet the new year with you.

In the meantime, to encourage you to head outside, here’s a photo of someone who loves to play outside, no matter the weather:

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My pup with her favorite tennis ball in her favorite kind of weather (from 2014)

Blessings to you at the close of 2015. I’d love to hear how you’re wrapping up the year and ringing in a new one!

Settling in and a New Year’s wish

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Happy New Year’s Eve!

It feels good to be back here with you after a four-week break to move across the country and start getting settled in to an unfamiliar new home.

I hope you’re enjoying some rest during the holiday season, though I know tonight may bring revelry and exuberance as we usher in 2015.

As I settle in to my new home and get accustomed to unfamiliar surroundings, I’ve been struck with how fortunate I am to live where I do, near a beautiful protected park along the river. From the first morning’s walk with my husband and dog, I was captivated with the surprising beauty and peace of the place.

I was surprised one morning to see this tree filled with vultures. I tried to look alive as I ran under the tree.

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How many vultures can you spot in this tree?

This isn’t even a very big tree. I was amazed at the numbers gathered there and was briefly unsettled, until I remembered my husband telling me about the salmon spawning here during his visits in November.

The vultures didn’t care one little iota about me. They were here for their Christmas dinner, and given the smell of rotting salmon coming off the river, I was glad for their presence. They still have work to do, and I find myself happily looking for them and counting them each morning. Today was breezy, and several circled the river riding the wind. They looked almost graceful in their enjoyment of the ride.

While I would never have thought vultures would teach me something about a new calendar, these birds have. Not everything can stay the same, nor should I want it to.

Not everything can stay the same, nor should I want it to.

Just as I don’t want salmon carcasses left to decompose along my running route, I don’t want to cling to the old things that are no longer meant for me. I need to let go, and I need to embrace the sometimes ungainly, unlovely helpers I encounter along the way.

While I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, there are things I have to let go of to embrace the year ahead. Can you relate?

My wish for you (and me) is this:

May we let go of what must be left in 2014. May we embrace the coming year. May we encounter gentle paths along the way. And yet, when we encounter the inevitable rocky paths, may we embrace those, too, knowing that they help us stay sharp, they help us develop compassion for others’ rocky paths, and they challenge us to become a stronger, better self than we would be if all our paths were calm. Most of all, may we flourish.

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I’ll leave you with a scene I’m blessed enough to see every day. The dog is settling in well, and we both enjoy stopping here in the mornings to watch the river teem with birds. I couldn’t ask for a better way to greet each morning, and I wish you many moments of calm and serene beauty as you start your year.

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My dog and I run the trails and stop by the river each morning, becoming more “local” every day. 

 

All the best to you in 2015!

PS—Thanks to some crazy VAT law the EU passed, the price for my ebook will go up tomorrow. So buy it today before the price increase! (I think it’s a steal at $3.99.)

Next year’s words and a new voice

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A dear friend of mine sent me a new year’s greeting with wonderful words from T.S. Eliot:

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language/ And next year’s words await another voice. … What we call the beginning is often the end/ And to make an end is to make a beginning.” (from Little Gidding, II and V)

These words resonated with me for so many reasons, not least of which is that I wrote the last words of the last chapter of The Flourishing Tree book on the last day of 2012 (well, the first draft anyway). They are last year’s words. And now that I’ve made an end, I’m ready to make a new beginning.

There’s still editing to do to the book, and there’s the daunting task of finding an agent and publisher, but I’m excited about other writing projects I’ll begin in the year ahead. These projects have patiently awaited my attention and my voice.

Your end of 2012 and beginning of 2013 may not have as much to do with writing, but I bet there are words involved, nonetheless.

Are there words of hurt or shame or pain that you have carried over into this year from last year? Perhaps a friendship that ended with a hurtful email? Or the sting of being overlooked by your boss for a well-deserved promotion? Or words spoken in anger to a spouse or child that threaten your most precious relationship(s)?

Let me invite you to heed Eliot’s advice: let last year’s words belong to last year’s language and begin to look for a new voice to embrace. A voice that is full of love and healing and soothing. Continue reading →