Always look on the bright side ...

I had a problematic Christmas season. A dear friend died, and while it was a blessing (he had suffered from a terrible disease for a long time), it's still a big adjustment for everyone, especially his wife of 53 years.

My day job has also been challenging for the last few months. And I'm in the initial stages of a new book and it's like pulling teeth to write. And I need to find a publisher for my cozy mystery series. And the weather sucks. And ...

Yep, I can find reasons galore to be in the depths but my Word for the Year is "upbeat". I promised myself that this year I would be upbeat, I would look on the positive side of things, I would not dwell on misery but always look ahead, to the next thing.

Deep breath.

You'll hearing me humming some Monty Python tunes soon....

The simplest way to stay upbeat is to remember: this is all temporary. Just wait a day, or a week or a month, and it'll all change. I'm telling myself that now as I prepare to delve back into my book.

Just a while now. Soon the words will flow....

J L
(so many books, so little time)

And the Word of the Year is ....

Every year I choose one word to sum up what I want to accomplish in the year ahead. Last year it was Flexible. I tried to be flexible with people, my life, my deadlines ... and mostly it worked.

I struggled this year to find a word, but I finally came up with "Accepting." It's not quite what I wanted, but it's close. I want to accept the fact that some things are out of my control. I should ignore them if I can, and if I can't, just note it and move on. I want to accept the fact that I really have nothing to do with my success -- I can only write a good book, throw it out there, talk about it some, and hope.

Accepting...let's see if it works as well as Flexible did. I'll report back in 350 days or so.

J L
30 books and counting