Here we go again

Happy New Year, take 2023!

Welcome to IWSG Jan 2023

How many times have we gone through the motions of vowing to change in the new year? Too many to count, for me! But the change in year does remind me to try harder or resolve anew, as it were... I always have big plans, lofty goals, and personal growth promises that inevitably fizzle out. I realize now, that when I plan these things, I'm at the end of my holiday break from work. It's easy to reach for high hopes and dreams when you have a ton of time on your hands!

So this year, I'll be more reasonable. I'll go easier on myself. I'm going to keep up with the Blogging at least once a month for IWSG -- your voices are what keep me chugging along on this writing journey and expressing my thoughts is wonderful therapy! Eating better and exercising more gets a jump start when I go back to work and get away from sedentary-dom, eating out, and extra sweets with company and the holidays! Not that I didn't love every minute of it! 

And Writing more. I really want to work on this. It was so much easier to begin the process. We start out bright-eyed and hopeful. Sure there are many obstacles along the way: will anyone like our writing? will we ever get published? will anyone buy it? -- some of you are in these stages now! But once you've been through those, the harder challenges arise: critics, marketing, failed publishers, and pandemics! Well, I'm over it. I have to make a plan, plotter that I am, and stick to it. If I want to call myself a writer, I need to keep writing, right? (haha) And that means I need to keep working through all the hard stuff that goes with it. So that's what I would like to do. We'll see how it goes...

Thank goodness I have support from you all! And I want to jump back into our weekly WRITERS CHAT! TUESDAYS @ 7:30 PM (EST) It is time.

We use Discord - a private chat group website. Please join us if you can!

And lastly, a piece of my heart is missing as we said farewell to the sweetest dog in the world just before Christmas. Comet held on long enough for our middle son to come home and say goodbye. Having my family fill my house, I was able to make it through the difficult time. And now that they're gone and I'm taking down the Christmas decorations, the house is even emptier, deafeningly quiet. I need some time to heal before I make him a scrapbook - so many tears. Dogs are the best, we don't deserve them.

I hope you enjoyed your holidays and are looking forward to a jamboree for 2023!

via GIPHY