I want to wish you and your family and friends a blessed and Happy New Year! I’m so grateful you’re part of my journey and appreciate so much when you stop by and read my musings about writing or celebrate with me when I have good news. You truly are one of my best gifts. . .
And guess what?! In just a few weeks I’m going to have some big news to share, and I cannot wait! So please keep visiting and reading so you can be part of the celebration!
Happy New Year!
Patti Richards
Sensibility- The writer journey, full of its twists and turn, highs and lows, is one I’m grateful to be on!
Sense- When it comes time for New Year’s resolutions and goal setting, be kind to yourself. Set measurable, reachable benchmarks so you can look back on 2020 and be happy with what you’ve accomplished. Remember, life is a one-day-at-a-time journey. Look for the joy!
It’s smack in the middle between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and I’m looking out my office window at a winter blue sky and fresh snowfall. It’s a white and wonderful around here, and I’m enjoying having my daughters home from college for a few more days and looking forward to our family New Year’s Eve celebration. I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you Happy Holidays and especially a Happy New Year! Thank you for making this writer’s journey so pleasant by visiting here and sharing your comments along the way. I appreciate each of you!
In the New Year, look for more installments on Writing for Today’s Child, author interviews, great giveaways and new services from PGWRites Critiques as I approach my 100th Sensibility and Sense post! I hope you’ll visit often and let me know your thoughts as we learn and grow together!
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2018!
Sensibility- Find a quiet moment between holiday activities to just think, breathe and be. Turn your heart to thankfulness for all the blessings in your life.
Sense-Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, consider making a list of reachable goals for each month of 2018. As long as you’re moving forward, even baby steps are steps in the right direction!
Last year was a year of celebration at our house. It started with my youngest child’s 16th birthday. Wow, just writing that makes me feel, um, well-seasoned! That was January…fast forward to May and we had one college graduation, one high school graduation, one graduation party complete with tent, chicken salad sandwiches and a string quartet (thanks to my daughter and her friends). Then my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and that was June.
In July we took a road trip to Disney at my high-school graduate’s request. It was so HOT, but there was lots of laughter and great memories made along the way. August rolled around and it was time to pack my middle kid off to college for the first time. But just two weeks before she left, we decided to add a puppy to our family- enter Barnabas (Gracie and Willow still haven’t quite forgiven me). Crazy right? We said our goodbyes to our girl standing on the sidewalk after holding hands and praying, and my emotional roller coaster was in full swing. Fast forward to October, and I was dancing to “Don’t It Feel Good,” with my son at his wedding. Wow, what a year!
Now it’s January, and I’m finally getting around to my first post of the year. I don’t want to make excuses, but after reading that last paragraph, you have to admit I’ve needed a little time to catch my breath. Joy, while the best stuff of life, can be exhausting!
So here we are in a brand-spanking new year and you’re probably wondering what’s on my calendar now? Absolutely nothing. Now that didn’t sound quite right, did it? What I mean is, absolutely nothing big. You might be thinking that’s a bit of a let down after last year, but seriously, my essentially-empty calendar is such a beautiful thing to me at present. Why? Because it gives me room. . .
Room to think and create and write and revise. Room to commit to getting a major overhaul done on my novel. Room to look at my work with fresh, new eyes. And hey, even room to exercise (kind of fell off the wagon those last couple of months). And yes, room to breathe.
Do you have room to breathe in your life? Or are your margins crammed so full you can barely make it from one task to the next? Even in this crazy broken world filled with technology and the next new thing all of the time, that’s no way to live my friend.
Hip, Hip, Hurrah! by Danish painter P.S. Krøyer, 1888
So raise a glass with me (a few weeks late) to margins. May they be ever empty of busyness and filled with all the joy and grace and sweetness we can hold! Happy New Year everyone!
Sensibility-Margins give us time to recharge and reflect. Be wise in how you use them.
Sense- Get your new writing year off right by saying “No” to things that eat into your writing time. If it isn’t essential, let it go.
What are some ways you protect your writing time and the margins in your life?
