My 2014 Bucket List

It's a new year, a new day, and I am off, spirits high and goals solidly in place. I hope this enthusiasm doesn't fade, as it so often does, and that next year at this time I can look back on 2014 and say proudly and happily, "I accomplished my goals." Actually, it's more of one goal -- to write regularly if not daily and get my work out there. To that end, I have put several things in place to help ensure my success.

I used New Year's Day as my December 26 and put my writer's workbook together. This suggestion comes from Suzanne Lieurance, founder of the Working Writers Club. Every December 26 she takes advantage of the lazy day in her house, as she describes it, to put together a workbook for the upcoming year. As I read her 'Morning Nudge," I realzed that New Year's Day would be the perfect day for me to do this. My workbook is a little different -- I have sections for picture book ideas, middle grade ideas, magazine fiction and non-fiction ideas, one for notes on agents and publishers, and another for my successes. Since its a loose-leaf notebook, I can add additional tabs if I find I need them.

I've already made use of my writer's workbook for the daily writing prompts from Start the Year Off Write. It is yet another challenge, this time providing 21 writing prompts throughout January. I write something each day, based on the prompt, then comment on Shannon Abercrombie's blog. There are prizes at the end, randomly awarded to participants who complete all 21 prompts. So far, I am off to a pretty good start. I am stumped by two of the prompts, but I have completed the others, and I have until January 31st to get "unstumped." The best thing about the prompts is that they get me writing every day. I'm having fun doing it, and each success -- finishing each prompt -- spurs me on to write other things as well, or at least scribble notes about stories I am working on.

I've also signed up for the Julie Hedlund's fabulous online, year-long writing conference 12 X 12 in 2014. I did it last year and while I started off strong, I didn't finish up that way. I am determined not to repeat that this year. This year I come armed with the drafts I did write last year, ready for revising, and 30 ideas generated for November's Picture Book Idea Month challenge. I've already commented on Emma Hamilton's blog post for January, revised a short-short story, and know what story idea I want to work on for my draft. I think January is in the bag!

All in all, 2014 is off to a good start. Not only am I writing, but I am feeling stronger too. January and February are usually my blue months, but this year I am feeling a bit perkier, a bit happier. I still have my moments. One of the writing prompts for Start the Year Off Write was to write down 10 memories from childhood. That was definitely  bittersweet. Putting my Christmas decorations away hs been an ongoing process all weekend. The house will look so dull without the sparkling lights of the Christmas tree and, truth be told, I will miss seeing all those mooses, snowmen, and Santas when I come home from work. Each one holds a memory for me, and, like the childhood memories, they are bittersweet. I am happy and sad at time. There is something comforting in their presence. Only time will tell if I am moving on in this journey through grief that I have been on, or if this is simply a short detour taking me on one big U-turn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Thanksgiving Eve and I am cooking tomorrow. I have just figured out how long I need to cook my nearly 10-pound turkey breast based on my recipe for a 6-pound turkey breast. (I’d ordered what was advertised as a 4- to 6-pound turkey breast; what was put in my arms as a 9.75-pound one. Panic has been slowly building.) Algebra was never my forte, so I hope my calculations are correct. For that matter, I hope algebra is the type of math I needed to use to figure this out. It has been decades, after all, since I sat in a math class.

 

While God did not bless me with a mathematical mind, He has blessed me in many other ways. Despite my many losses over the past two years, I am thankful for countless other blessings this Thanksgiving.

 

I may have lost Bailey earlier this year, but I still have Brillo and Chaucer to entertain and keep me company. I think Brillo is channeling her brother these past few months. Things fall on the floor a lot more often when her paws are nearby then they used to. That is eerily reminiscent of Bailey and his paws of destruction. She has become quite the lap kitty since my lap is no longer full of Bailey. I can’t help but think with some of her antics that Bailey is still with us. And for that I am grateful.

 

I am grateful for the memories of Thanksgivings spent with Bate, Dad, Bob, Mom, Lisa, and Mark. I remember the smell of the turkey cooking on the wood stove in Westport, waking Bob, Lisa, Mark, and me up with growling tummies. I remember Dad making a beeline to the sideboard to see what desserts I’d baked that year, almost as if to gage how much turkey and trimmings he could eat and still have room for apple crisp or pumpkin pie. In later years, I remember waiting for him at the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport for his annual trip to Virginia. I remember Bate’s smoked turkey from three years ago that we shared with Bonnie, Lanny, and Lanny’s family. Bate was so excited about his smoked turkey. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t like it that much (the year before it was way too smoky for my taste) and now I am glad I didn’t say a word, just pulled up my big girl panties and smiled. It was our last Thanksgiving together and the smoked turkey was perfect. Everyone loved it.

 

These are Thanksgivings that will never come again, but they will live on in my memories and I am grateful for that.

 

I am grateful for the new memories being made this year. Susan is down from Massachusetts for the week, and I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in years. I’m a little nervous about that turkey, but there will be plenty of other food for Susan, Bonnie, Lanny, and me to eat, albeit vegetarian fare. I’ve seasoned the beast … eh, I mean breast … and wrangled it into Bonnie’s crock pot. It was too big for mine and barely fits in hers, but I have decided that barely is like “almost.” It counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and turkey wrangling. All that is left now is to set my alarm for 1:30 am so I can put the bird in the crock pot and pray that God will correct any of my mathematical miscalculations.

 

But what I am most thankful for this year, as in the past two years, are my friends and family, without whom I would not have gotten through it all. Thank you, for being there, for understanding, for just being you. You are my blessings. I can never say it enough or thank you enough, so I will just say, Happy Thanksgiving.