December 2023: The Precipice of a New Year
We have once again arrived at the precipice of a new year. After the emotional charge of the holidays, I am grateful to be turning the page. For me, this is a time filled with hope and promise. Not only do I get to fall back into the natural rhythm of life, but I review the past year and set goals for the year to come.
2023 was a wild year. The excitement of reaching a lifelong dream of publishing a novel and getting engaged to the love of my life were catalysts to a great deal of change in my life. There was so much positive growth, but change can also be exhausting. Reaching the end of the year felt like finishing a marathon. In 2024, there are talks of marriage and vacationing to sunny locales. Both possibilities are exciting to consider. Obviously, there will be at least one book to publish, and if I put in the time, I hope to make that two before the year is out. I am only beginning to grasp the undertaking I am committing to. My hope is this time around, I have the benefit of experience and that will aid me as I pursue this goal.
I finished reviewing the first draft of Lester. I am less than enthusiastic about the next phase because I am not happy with what I have produced. Good thing it’s a first draft. There are aspects of the novel that are excellent and need a simple fine tuning, but the main narrative is not striking the right tone. It is evident to me where the storyline is disjointed and contradictory and which sections were rushed or under-developed. As I stated before, 2023 was a big year, and I can see that reflected in the quality of my work. I will begin rewrites for my second draft within the next few days.
While pursuing a career in writing continues to be my main goal, in the coming year I have two others that have been dominating my thoughts. These are less about building something new, but rather rebuilding things that were lost. Many of you know about my love of hiking and in the last couple years, that hobby has fallen to the wayside due to health issues and a focus on reaching my life’s dream of publishing a novel. Being out in the forest was a way of meeting that connection between both body and spirit, and I would like to get both of those things back. In the coming year, I will be dedicating some of my energies to rebuilding my physical strength. There’s no better way to say this, but the mountains are calling.
The spirituality piece is a tricky thing for me to navigate. I found it late in life and have always felt my relationship with my Higher Power was difficult to consistently connect to. I have moved away from the tools I once relied on, and I believe I am suffering for that lack of connection. It’s time to reevaluate what is missing and what needs to grow. I would like to restore that former connection because it truly was a beautiful thing.
To clarify, when I refer to a Higher Power, I am referring to the sense that there is more to this mortal coil than what I can touch with my hand. The idea that there is something that lives in my heart that can’t be formed into words or made tangible. Some of you might find that in God and religion, and some of us find it in other ways, but every way in which we connect to something greater than ourselves is worthy.
Thank you to all of you who shown their support to me this last year. It has been invaluable in pushing me forward and despite my own mental blocks, I am always grateful for people who show up and actively demonstrate their love and care. Thank you.
I wish to all of my followers a safe and happy new year.
Kimberly