Happy New Year

 Today is the first day of a brand new year. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and from my family to yours we wish you all the best for the coming year.

The past year I have spent so much time worrying about what was wrong with me, when they would find a diagnosis, having tests, seeing dr's, waiting for test results, seeing specialists and before I knew it a year had past. I had my diagnosis' and guess what I am still seeing dr's, still having tests and still waiting for results! While these things are inevitable they do not have to be the focus of my days. This year is going to be different. 

One of my favourite quotes which you will probably remember from my last blog is that worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you very far. So on that note: I don't want to think in terms of New Years Resolutions but with a brand new year comes brand new opportunities. We cannot do anything about what has happened in the past. We can look forward but again my crystal ball seems to not be functioning so I have decided this year I am going to focus on the present. I want to be present in my life, in my children's lives, in my husbands life and the rest of our family's lives. I don't want to think about the past and I don't want to worry about the future. I really just want to focus on each and every day as they come. We don't need to wait for a brand new year for a new start, we get a fresh start each and every day!

Outside of my family, I want to focus on greeting my health challenges with trying to find the positive in each and every day and not dwelling on the pain and how crappy I feel. I have accepted the reality that I will most likely continue to live my life in chronic pain each and every day. If I wait to live my life for a day where I feel well...a whole year will go by just like 2011 did and before you know it so will decades.

I also want to spend more time on my blog and turn this into a resource that I can use to help others. If I provide nothing more than people knowing they are not alone then spending my time on this blog will be something very worthwhile. I also want to spend more time writing, I want to write my novel this year. I may choose to keep it to myself  or do something more with it, but this is something that I want to do for me. I have the start of many outlines and some with character development I just need to decide what resonates with me and go from there. In addition for the next 30 days I am going to try to write a blog a day. This should be an interesting challenge for myself and hopefully a lot of fun too!

Do you make New Year Resolutions? What plans do you have for the coming year? I would love to hear from you! Here is to making 2012 a wonderful year.


© 2011 Rhonda

Interesting Article

 While procrastinating on working on my novel I was doing some research on writing. I happened upon Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes by Stephen King http://oldsite.greatwriting.co.uk/content/view/312/74.

What a wonderful gem to happen upon. He couldn't be more right about not picking up a reference book or in my case heading to Google while working on a draft. Just write. Remove distractions so that you can continue with the flow of what you are working on. How many times I have been sidetracked by checking one quick fact before I moved on with my story only to either a) never get back to my writing that day or b) forget where I was going with something.

As with most gems I find valuable in life most of these points are merely common sense. It is always nice to have a reminder no matter where you are at with your writing career. I love it when something catches my attention and makes me think.

What do you think about Stephen King's article? I know it is old, do you think it still applies today. I wonder if he wrote that article today how it would differ with the internet, social networking and self publishing.

© 2011 Rhonda