December 2020 Finally! & IWSG

 

IWSG WEBSITE

I am so darn happy December is here! (and not only for the snow!) I'm sorry I missed last month's post, and almost missed this one, but in November I was depressed, and, today is my son's birthday!

I feel a lot better this month. Last month I think because of Thanksgiving, I felt the absence of my family too keenly and couldn't write about it. We all made it through and for that I am more than grateful. I still miss the you-know-what out of my parents though. This is a looooong time to go without hugging/touching/seeing them. But I won't jeopardize them just because I miss them.

My son has been living with us all year because of a medical issue. He can't work and is not only in constant pain, but also depressed because of it. Finally, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. It will take more time and more physical therapy for him to get back to his former self, but it IS working! I/we have much to be grateful for. So, December has not come too soon for me. 

The young lad with his snowman "Churchill!"

The other wonderful piece of news is that my book cover should be finished soon. The edits are finished. The formatting is happening as I write, and hopefully my next novel, "Rain" will be out before Christmas! (Hint, it would make a great present!) Shameless I am. But not about being happy! For the first time in a while, I do genuinely feel happy and hopeful for not only my future, but for our nation's future as well. The Covid vaccine should (hopefully) go a long way toward helping us all heal.

So I am not feeling too insecure today, even if I'm late to post. I feel optimistic and full of love for the world, and especially my son. He is a light in my life and has been since the day he was born 34 years ago. Though I'm sorry for the reason he is with us, I am not sorry he's here! I wish you all the best of the holidays, a Merry Christmas, whatever it is that you celebrate. I also wish us all the best in the new year to come. May we all be able to move on to a life that even though Covid will still be here, hopefully the new year will give us a chance to learn to live with it without fear. Blessings to you.

And before you stop reading, please stop by our wonderful co-hosts this month and thank them for being there for us! 

Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney,Liesbet @ Roaming About Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre!

Christmas Time Is Coming! And, IWSG December

IWSG WEBSITE

Happy December Everyone!

Are you looking forward to this month? To whatever it is you have planned? I am and I’m not. It is coming way too fast, but I will get to see a lot of my family over the holidays.

Recently a friend of mine wrote to me, to a group of us, and gave some inspirational thoughts that I have since made it mandatory to read every day before I start writing. I wanted to share her words with you. 

I have found this year that I’ve fallen in and out of love with writing and when I finally (just recently) sat myself down and really thought through why this was happening, especially the falling out part, I realized it’s mainly because I changed the emphasis on WHY I wrote. It was no longer about me expressing myself. It was to please others, to write what would “sell.” I gave up on my love of creating and subjugated it to what other’s said to do or not to do. My inner editor took over and told me, “Don’t use ‘just’ anymore. Don’t use commas in place of periods. Don’t use adjectives. Don’t make it too long. Don’t this, don’t that.

I lost my love of writing trying to follow all the rules. I forgot all the amazing examples there are of writers out there who broke those same rules.

Then, all these memes and articles started showing up on line everywhere; in other’s blog posts, on FB and in my friend’s letter, all with the same message. I realized what she wrote is what I needed to read out loud to myself every day. I hope it touches some of you the way it did me and helps to bring back your love of your art, whatever type of art that is.

"I will create, and I will do it for my own benefit. I allow me to express myself in whatever way my heart wishes to express itself. I allow myself to be free (for this hour, or session, or ten minutes, or whatever time you are devoting to it)".

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year. I wish you all good things and, to embrace your art…

 

 IWSG Question for December: What are five objects we'd find in your writing space?
 Eyeglasses, lots of pens/pencils, post-it notes, a keyboard, a computer. Pretty typical, I'd say!

 
 Please visit our lovely co-hosts for this month....

For the December 5 posting of the IWSG our co-hosts are

 J.H. Moncrieff, Tonja Drecker , Patsy Collins, and Chrys Fey!