New year, new book, new everything

Well, not quite new "everything," but sometimes it feels that way.

As I mentioned in my last post, every year I choose a Word of the Year, and I use it to inspire me throughout the year. This year's word is "upbeat": I am determined to stay "upbeat" no matter what gets thrown at me.

I'm normally a very upbeat kind of person, but sometimes I get bogged down. It was a challenging Christmas this year. A dear friend died, but he had been in the grips of a terrible disease, so it's hard to be too sad. That's little comfort to his wife, of course, but one hopes with time she gets there. And my Day Job has been a big challenge lately. And my current WIP is a dragging its heels, the characters not quite ready to talk to me.

So you see why it's important to have a good Word. Every time I start to feel down, I say "I am upbeat this year. That [insert bad thing here] cannot beat me down, because I'm upbeat. I can whip it, I know I can. Just hang on..."

And trust the magic of beginnings. Because really, we have new beginnings every day, don't we? It may look like it's the Same Old, Same Old, but does it have to be? We can make new beginnings whenever we want. All we have to do is try.

And stay upbeat, of course. That's important.

J L
(so many books, so little time)


And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings. ~ Meister Eckhart