New Year Resolution

I second Toni Lynn's sentiments and endorse Paula's practical realism.

I have been nursing a sick child this week, a calling I honor over any other passion. Amend that: I have left temporarily a sick child to milk cows.

But if I were to add to the previous posts, it would be to vow to keep being brave. Brave enough to post. Brave enough to approach published authors and agents and editors. Brave enough to believe I have stories worth telling.

May we all be brave.
Ana

New Year Resolutions

Evidently the top ten resolutions are – lose weight/get more exercise, keep to a budget, reduce debts, have more quality time with family and friends, find a soul mate, stop smoking, find a better job, learn something new, volunteer and help others, and get organised.

All very laudable, but – it seems to me - all very vague too. They are general aims rather than specific objectives or actual targets.

I started to wonder whether, as writers, we should have general aims (e.g. to finish that novel, to get published etc) or whether we should set ourselves attainable objectives/targets. Not just as a New Year resolution but all the time.

Write 1,000 words a day? Sounds good, doesn’t it? At that rate, you could complete a novel in 2 months. But isn’t it quality and not quantity that really counts?

So how about “I WILL write through writer’s block, or when I get stuck on a plot, or a conversation, or about how to get my characters from A to B”.

But does that work? Sometimes it’s better to take a few days break, do something else, and come back to it feeling refreshed (even if you have been thinking about it in the meantime).

So what are my targets? Mainly, I suppose, to stop ‘wasting’ so much time on Facebook when I could be writing!

And to write something, even if it’s only a paragraph or a short piece of dialogue, every day.

Achievable? We’ll see.

New Year Resolution....

I stopped making resolutions years ago. I never stuck with them, so throughout the year I felt guilty because I gave up on them. Way too much pressure on myself!!

So now I take each day as it comes. I hope and pray that the year will bring good health and happiness to my family and friends!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Blessings of the Season

This just arrived in my inbox, and I thought I would share it with you all:

Remember, be thankful for what you have.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep -
You are richer than 75% of the world.

If you have money in the bank, some cash in your wallet and spare change in a dish some place -
You are among the 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness -
You are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation -
You are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a religious meeting without fear of harrassment, arrest, torture or death -
You are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

If you can read this message -
You are more blessed than 2 billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face -
You are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder -
You are blessed because you can offer the healing touch.


Have a good day, count your blessings and remember throughout the coming year to be thankful for what you have been blessed with.

I wish you peace, joy, happiness, good furtune, good health, strong family, good friends and unshakeable faith. Beyond that, nothing much matters.

Paula

Holiday cheer

Years ago, we burned wood for heat. Fearing that Santa might decline a slide down the chimney into a hot fire, my children opted for reindeer insurance. Every Christmas Eve we arranged nine piles of best green hay, then scattered around them a mixture of oatmeal and glitter. The glitter would sparkle in the moonlight and the reindeer would see the hay. Unlike Santa, who had more cookies than he needed, the reindeer were hungry. They'd swoosh down to park and eat. Santa could use the front door. (Unlocked. See sign.) Presents were under the tree in the morning.

The city granddaughter came up with her mom last weekend. We celebrated, and she took back a big box of hay. The next door grandkids have hay stacked by the front steps for Thursday night. When something works, you don't fix it.

My choice for Santa cookies are called Tillie's Coo-coons. My grandmother's cook made them every holiday. I ate them as fast as I could find them.

1/2 lb. butter
4 Tablespoons confectioner's (powdered) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla and 1 cup flour. Mix well. Add remaining flour and walnuts. Roll into balls and arrange on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Roll in confectioner's sugar two times until covered. Cool. Store in a tightly covered container.

I wish for you and yours a peaceful, joyous holiday season.
Ana

Happy Holidays....

It's hard to believe that another year is coming to an end. With two books coming out in 2010, I'm actually glad to see 2009 go... :)

My holidays are always quiet and it seems this year won't be any different. My sister will be over on Christmas Eve, but now that her kids are older they'd rather be with their girlfriend's, which is understandable. So, needless to say, their visit won't be long.

I'm one of those people who have their shopping done a month before Christmas. Being a stay at home mom I have the opportunity to beat the crowds. With the kids getting older, the shopping isn't fun anymore either. It's harder to buy them what you think they'll like, and unless they tell you, you don't have a clue. Gift cards are the way to!

2010 will bring new and exciting things for Heroine with Hearts. So make sure you check back for the big announcement!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and may 2010 bring you good health and happiness!

My Writing Habitat

"Where do you write?"

I wish there was an easy answer to this simple question. Alas, there is not.

I write on the floor, I write at a desk, I write in a mess. I write on train, I write in the rain. (I am channeling Dr. Seuss tonight.)

I can write in other places, but my favorite places to write are on the floor and in my bed. Those are the places where I first started writing. My earliest memories are of me sprawled on the floor of my grandparents' house with a pile of books, papers, and pencils surrounding me or of me sprawled out in my childhood bed (it was a twin bed so I didn't sprawl that much) with books and papers surrounding me.

I've moved from the floor to my bed. That is my preferred place to write. Once upon a time, I read that Jackie Collins or some famous writer wrote longhand drafts of her novels in her plush bed. So I decided to follow my then-idol, and it's been a bad habit to break.

Every doctor and Prevention article on sleep patterns tells me that I should not take work to bed with me. Your bed should only be used for sex and sleep.

Clearly, I break that rule.

My queen-sized bed has multiple functions: as a storage closet, DVD rack, my makeshift desk. I wrote term papers in my dorm bedroom. I wrote and edited most of my dissertation and theses as I sat on my apartment floor, eating Doritos and drinking wine. (I was a graduate student, and my food chart consisted of Doritos, burgers, wine, and rum raisin ice cream.)

My new duvet (or whatever my mom calls that thing on the bed) has puncture wounds and coloring streaks that have come from battle (me vs. a plot hole, me vs. a poorly written student paper, me vs. editing a poorly written book that I have to edit for a side gig).

My goal for 2010 is to move off the bed and into a desk. A desk seems more appropriate for a grown-up and more appropriate for a budding writer. And I think it would make my doctor and the writers at Prevention happy.