This was not my favorite holiday season. Among many other reasons, I had the flu from Christmas until, well, today. I went through seven boxes of tissues and counting. The good news is I was already off from work, so I could stay home in my pjs. The bad news was that I fell behind in all my grand plans and had to cancel on friends I was looking forward to seeing. I did manage to get a lot of reading done.
The two books I loved the most were The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Where the Crawdads Sing. Both were much-appreciated escapes from fever sweats and body aches. The big problem was that they were so good and kept me from sleeping. I left the house to run an errand yesterday (wearing real pants), and I mentioned being homebound for over a week and reading a lot. The woman I was speaking with immediately asked if I’d read Where the Crawdad’s Sing. I got all excited to have someone to discuss it with. She said she hoped they made a movie of it and wondered who would play the main character Kya. Others, who also had read the book, joined in the conversation and we decided it had to be a relative nobody to capture the quiet intensity. Like Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone (also a fantastic book if you haven’t read it.)
I’d hoped to get more writing done, though I wrote every day except Christmas over the two-week break. I had all these grand ideas of finishing some short pieces and working towards loftier goals. I’m human, and only so much writing could get done between my reading, sweating, sneezing, and sleeping. I’m proud that at least I worked on something every day.
Since this is my first post of the New Year, I suppose I should mention a resolution, but I don’t partake. A long time ago, I read this thing about picking a word for the year instead of making a resolution. So that’s what I do. It acts as a guide. I’ve used: create, health, and writer, among others. Each has had a surprising impact on my decision making over that year. I set my alarm on my phone to go off every morning with the word, so it’s one of the first things I see. It influences me throughout the day. If I need extra focus, I leave it on my phone instead of dismissing it. The year I picked health was the year I had the surgery that fixed my health issues. Create lead to me getting back into drawing and painting. Last year was writer, and not only did I write my first freelance pieces, but I started this website and blog.Choosing my next focus word was on my list of to-dos these past two weeks, but it didn’t happen. I tend to be secretive about my focus word for the year anyway. There’s a vulnerability in it. There are goals I share, but my word of the year I keep just for me. Good luck to all of you in your adventures and endeavors in 2020 and the new decade ahead.