March 17th

I don't know about you, but I'm really a bit over winter. It's funny how you can be doing fine with winter, and it can be treating you fairly well on the whole, and then within the space of a few short days, numerous things go awry. And you haven't got light warm breezes and yellow flowers and the feel of grass beneath your feet to support you as sweep things into shape. (Well, you might be lucky enough to have a few crocuses, but they keep getting covered up with snow.)

And then, goodness gracious, it's St. Patrick's day, and that leprechaun pops in for morning tea, messing with wires and data as these geeky hispter-doofus leprechauns of the twenty-first century tend do. And as the leprechaun skips away and the emails-that-need-answering pour into your inbox at last, and drivers and folks around and even yourself all start to get snarlish, you realize you're at that point. Spring really needs to get here. 

But guess what? It's coming! And even if it might seem impossible that spring will soon be here, I'd like to share some proof. I hope it gives you as much of a lift as it gave me. 

So, following, a few things I saw on my walk.  

skunk cabbage shoots in non-frozen water

milky ice with withered edges

sporing moss, spring moss green

numerous red-winged blackbirds, buzz-trilling in the trees

2014, The Year of [insert intention here]

Do you love New Year as much as I do? It’s my favorite holiday of all. One of my rituals is getting up before dawn and going out to greet the first sunrise of the year. 

6:50 this morning.

Ever since I first understood New Year’s resolutions existed, I have taken this time of year very seriously. My family and friends seem to find it a bit amusing, but accept this little quirk as my Very Important Ritual. It goes like this:

• Purge and deep clean creative/work space
• Take some quiet, reflective alone time
• Buy new journal (chosen by me, and only me!)
• Write The List

Do you make The List? I'm betting many of you do, too. My List’s structure has evolved over the years, and I no longer make resolutions, which tend to set even a very determined person up for certain failure. After all, a single transgression, one slipup, and you’ve already failed. These years, I make a series of goals for each area of my life: Health & Fitness, Professional, Creative, and so on, depending on what I most hope to grow.

The thing about goals is this: it's incredibly easy to fall short of meeting them. And so, I tend to make BIG goals for the next year, knowing it is somewhat unlikely I will be able to fully complete them in the 12 months I’ve set myself, but feeling I would rather make it partway through a really big goal, than fall short on one that was smaller and possibly less worthy. Do you, like me, allow yourself to start the year dreaming big with a huge sense of hope and possibility? I believe it can carry me through my inevitable slumps in energy, inspiration, and motivation (and also through moment or three when I kick myself for making such big goals that seem so far away. Hah.).

7:05 

Since I was fourteen and read The Year of Living Dangerously by Christopher J. Koch, I have also named each year. I’ve had The Year of Going Forth, The Year of Simply Living, and The Year of Achieving Greatness! I have a good chuckle as I add this dash of melodrama, but I’m careful to always choose a name that has real meaning. It’s the banner I hope to march under for the next twelve months.

What would be written on your banner for 2014, if you had one? What do you most want to achieve or learn or heal or feel? Have you thought about how to get there, and determined the steps it might realistically take? Do you make resolutions or goals, and if so, do you prefer smaller goals or larger ones?

In 2013, I feel I’ve finally achieved one of my big goals for the last few years—to let go of some fears that were holding me back creatively. And so, 2014, I dub thee... 

The Year of Creating Fearlessly!

Arise 2014 and my writer and illustrator friends, and go forth. May you strive for something close to your heart and work toward your goals boldly, bravely, and fearlessly!

 

Sunrise!  

Digital Love

By my daughter, Jonquil, aged 8.
Created via a Wacom Intuos4 tablet.

A couple of exciting things happened this past week, chief among them the fact that I finished revising a book I've been working on for nearly a year. After suffering substantial writer's block during the second half of last year, it's a great feeling!


The other thing was that, inspired last weekend at Whispering Pines by a conversation with author/digital illustrator friends Liz Goulet Dubois and Carlyn Beccia, and availing myself of a substantial RISD faculty discount, I finally bit the bullet and bought a drawing tablet. Yes, I am on my way to digital-artist-hood. Hurrah! Huzzah! Hoopla! 


Of course, the only one who's really had a chance to use it so far is my daughter, but she kindly painted something she knew I'd love. Hell, she could have painted anything and I would have loved it, but my love for this is has sprinkles and a cherry on top.