little things

Reassessing ~ the New Year is here

New Year’s sparkler, photo by Wout Vanacker on Unsplash

Happy New Year!

kids remind me that the world is full of wonders that jaded eyes will never see. The burdens of adulthood are real, but they are not the whole of reality
— Parker Palmer, December 31, 2022 facebook page

I don’t really do once-a-year New Year’s resolutions anymore. It’s too easy to lose track, feel unsuccessful, become discouraged.

 I’m now a “my goal for (this month or this week or even this day) is…” person. So I really enjoyed reading Tiffany Yates Martin’s December 29 blog about not doing lists, the “best of last year…” or the resolutions to accomplish. Instead, she looked at favorites—big items and small, big moments and small. With no further ado and piggybacking on Martin’s idea, here a few of my favorites.

2022 FAVORITES

Favorite book that made me laugh: Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

Favorite book that helped me learn about other cultures: Aftershocks ~ A Memoir by Nadia Owusu.

Favorite alone time away:

  • in Red Wing—a couple days to write at the St. James Hotel overlooking the Mississippi River,

  • breakfast—a huge honey bran muffin and tea-to-go from Hanisch bakery,

  • self-care—a haircut (first professional cut since the pandemic and retirement of my salon friend) at River Blu Salon DaySpa.

  • AND an evening meal on the patio at Scarlet Kitchen & Bar of Mediterranean salmon with quinoa, a cucumber tomato feta salad, with two sauces—tzatziki and green schug, accompanied by a couple of watermelon cucumber mojitos!  Yum yum.

Favorite times with loved ones:

  • With my son—the walks we take around town or a park or the cemetery

  • With my daughter—planning bird and butterfly friendly garden areas and bushes for our yard

  • With both—Christmas Eve, watching the latest Glass Onion mystery, and sharing a meal

  • With my sister and mom—eating take-out fish on the patio after weeding the flower gardens

  • Extended family day—clearing out mom’s old sheds, sharing laughter, memories, and squeals!

  • With friends—walks along the Mississippi or St. Croix rivers, farmer’s markets, lunches together 

PERSONAL PLANS for 2023:

I’m not so hyped anymore on big outward adventures. I’ve become a homebody, even more so since Covid. My best friend and I often tease each other about how boring we may appear, but we have a rich inner life BECAUSE of the big adventures we’ve had at earlier points in our lives and the small adventures we still find in daily life.

Visit Scotland

Yes! A big adventure. I haven’t been back to Scotland since 2014. Too long. My son and I’ll spend some time on the Isle of Iona. It’s such a gorgeous Mediterranean-like place (except during squalls, which will arise November to February) and it always tugs at my heartstrings.

But where else? We don’t want to be on a train the whole time, jaunting from place to place. Not my idea of a fun vacation. My son has been studying ancient time periods of northern England and eastern Ireland. So we’ll figure out a second central place in one of those areas. We’ve plenty of time.

HOUSE PROJECTS

the new breakfast bar

This past year, we had more water and electrical issues. Not at the same time nor in same place! Thank goodness. We needed to replace the outside water faucet and the light fixture outside the front door. We had a second story toilet pipe leak onto the first floor ceiling and a plugged-up floor drain in the laundry room. Again.

For more countertop and storage, we replaced our baker’s rack with a breakfast bar! We’ll be adding a couple floating shelves above it.

Potential 2023 projects: redo hillside wall, replace gutter and soffit, replace old toilet with a leaky bowl (yup, still water issues), and refinish wooden floors.    

The hillside wall next to the driveway needs redoing. The old railway ties have started disintegrating. But the salesperson who measured it and talked the design and materials over with us never came back with an estimate. When nudged, he was busy. Come the spring, I’ll check with somebody else.

The current gutters and downspouts appear to be from the 70s. They’re brown, contrasting with our cream-colored house, definitely a dated look. With a maple tree and an oak, there’s lots of seeds and leaves and twigs. We want gutter covers, and received a written estimate. He was ready to go at any time. We received a verbal estimate for new soffits, but that guy can’t make it until spring and never gave a written estimate. So another stalled project.

I’d love to refinish the wooden floors, but they take up half the house—the living room, hallway, and bedrooms. It’d probably be more economical to do everything at once. But moving all that furniture into the kitchen and dining area and living with the cats elsewhere while its done? Ack. It’d be more convenient to do just the living room (carpet is stained and ratty looking) and leave the hall and bedrooms for another time.

WRITING GoaLS for 2023

Writing my novel is never ending. 95,000-100,000 words. How can that be so much trouble? Ha!

Previously, I thought I was up to Draft 9. But reflecting back, I’m on Draft 2, which I started in 2021. The previous versions just shuffled chapters, eliminated some, added others. It was my way of getting to know the characters and their world, learning how to focus (pare down, layer in) and tell a story.

Take a writing class:

I’ve taken several online classes since 2020:

  • forums through Women Fiction Writers Association and Lawson Writer’s Academy

  • webinars through Grubstreet

  • webinars through bloggers Jane Friedman and Kristen Lamb

For 2023, I’m looking at a Crafting Scenes course at Grubstreet this spring.

Check plot and stake viability (via a word doc outline or an excel checklist)

  • Check for dropped threads in my subplots

  • Cut superfluous scenes

  • Check beats, are stakes increasing/changing—physical, emotional, and/or professional?

  • Of course, continue to read blogs to do with learning the craft of writing a GREAT story!

Check characters and settings (via excel checklist)

  • Have I given enough intriguing introduction to each new character or new setting

  • Do all the characters belong in my current story? 

  • Watch out for talking heads. Create great (not merely good!) beats for dialogue

  • My current critique partners find my older main character intriguing but they find the younger main character… Boring? Amorphous? Too ordinary?

    • Is she too quiet? What makes her spark?

These are my 2022 favorites, and some of my thoughts and plans for 2023.

What were your favorites in 2022? What thoughts have you given to 2023?