Guest Post: Karen Brown- resolutions and drafts: A magical combination

Today, Karen Brown- author of The Longings of Wayward Girls, discusses why she broke her rule of not making resolutions.

Guest Post by Karen Brown:

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. It’s always seemed like a gesture doomed to failure, made at an incredibly auspicious moment—one that each year feels full of magic. Keeping a resolution made for the New Year was a little like having made a wish knowing that I was the only one able to grant it. As a child I’d address my weaknesses: I vow not to procrastinate. These seemed things I could address and control, but they were dull, everyday commitments, and never seemed to match the thrill of a new date written at the top of a school paper. I found soon enough that as the year progressed I fell back into habits that were probably not in my control to change.

As an adult one New Year’s Eve, standing in a line for the ladies room in a club, the band booming through the wall, I spoke my resolution out loud to a woman I hardly knew. “I’m going to publish my writing.” I’m sure she smiled at me, indulgently, and then disappeared into the next available stall. This resolution seemed far too outlandish—and it would take years for it to become a reality. Maybe a resolution is simply a reaffirmation of our dreams, and a chance to prove we can be the person we imagined?

This year, I decided to make a resolution before the new year presented itself. I wanted to finish a draft of my new novel by midnight. Even making the decision had a sense of the fairy tale about it. I’d been working on the thing all summer, and making little headway. I was dabbling, not really writing. As New Year’s approached I knew that a deadline was necessary, and what better reward than that sense of completion as the new year rolled in?

I made no other plans New Year’s Eve—no other commitments. I worked for fourteen straight hours with few breaks. At eleven thirty I wrote the last scene and at midnight I opened a bottle of champagne—a gift from the childhood friend to whom I’d dedicated my first novel, and who before a visit last summer I hadn’t seen in over thirty years. Of course the book isn’t entirely complete, but reaching the end, letting the story lead me to reveal where it’s been headed all along, is completion enough. A new draft for a New Year! Other than health and happiness, as a writer I can’t think of anything better.

Thanks Karen Brown for taking time to write this guest post! If you enjoyed reading this, check out the interview and author spotlight that Traveling With T posted about her last summer.

Guest Post: Melinda McGuire talks about New Year Resolutions & the power of “yes”

Melinda McGuire is a Southern Lit loving and writer with a big heart person! Melinda and I began tweeting some because we saw each other via Deep South Mag- and then Melinda let me guest post a couple of times on her blog! Reading her blog posts made me know that I wanted her to write a guest post about her resolutions- and she did. And it’s beautiful.

Melinda McGuire and the power of “yes”

2014 and Learning the Power of Yes

Christmas Day has passed. All of our boxes are packed in the attic – better organized this year, thankfully, since I was still unpacking random ornaments and wrapping paper on Christmas Eve from these mysterious boxes and bags I had hidden from myself. I guess I wanted to give myself a challenging game – hide and seek the Christmas Decorations. I lost, so well done my evil twin, well done.

I have double motivation for New Year’s Resolutions. One – another year is coming, a fresh start, a clean slate, the opportunity to make changes. Two – New Year’s Day is my birthday, another year older, an opportunity to reflect on where I am in my journey of life.

I have some of the usual resolutions on my list: lose weight, get in better shape, survive running a Mud Run and Color Run with my oldest child and my husband, do a better job of managing my money, improve my organization habits.

I also have a resolution that may not be on everyone’s list: learning when to say “yes” and why.

Saying “yes” –to more time with my family, more time “unplugged,” more time reading for pleasure, more time resting, more time playing, more time working on the IMPORTANT, more time reading and studying the Bible, more time in prayer, more time seeking ways to use the gifts that I have been given to bless others. “Yes” to strengthening and building my spiritual life, my family life, my professional life.

Saying “yes” – to initiating experiences that I want, to seeking out the important in my life, to setting boundaries, to giving myself permission to fail, to giving myself permission to succeed!

Yes to gratitude, yes to peace, yes to rest, yes to perseverance, yes to optimism, yes to hope, yes to good coffee.

Yes to warm blankets and old movies, yes to afternoons in the sunshine, yes to late night summer barbeques, yes to family traditions, yes to days on the lake, yes to road trips, yes to planning for spontaneity!

Yes to hugs, yes to kisses, yes to towels hot out of the dryer, yes to new socks, yes to beautiful bookmarks, yes to notebook after notebook of writing and business information, yes to the free flow of ideas.

Yes to kicking the negative soundtrack out of my head permanently.

Yes to knowing who I am and being that person with grace, compassion, and joy.

So, here’s to 2014 and to learning the power of “yes.”

If you enjoyed reading Melinda’s guest post- visit her blog!

Guest Post: Jolina Petersheim, author of The Outcast, reveals her 2014 resolutions!

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of reading The Outcast by Jolina Petersheim. Fresh-faced and earnest, Jolina is the kind of woman that you just want to soak up her presence. She would be the person who give the advice to you in a moment of hard times- the advice that would be so poignant- and yet so simple. I eagerly await Jolina’s next book!

Jolina Petersheim 2014 Resolution

Over the past few weeks (and especially since I learned about this guest post), I’ve contemplated my resolutions for 2014.

I even thought about keeping a list in the kitchen, where I spend a majority of my time, but I never got around to writing them down until now:

Keep my computer, closet, and kitchen organized (i.e.: child-proof everything).
Send Christmas cards and/or photos (it takes a year for me to gear up).
Get up at six to write (unless Miss A is teething, then all bets are off).
Run in a 5-K with my sisters-in-law.
Have a weekly date with my daughter and husband (preferably on separate nights).

I will actually try to meet most of these resolutions (well, maybe not the Christmas cards . . . or the running bit).

But then I started thinking about when I’m so busy being busy, I miss out on the beauty of everyday life.

So, over the past few days, I have gone in the opposite direction and made an effort to be still.

Well, I have a toddler, so I haven’t been still as much as I have forced myself to embrace the moments not jotted down on my to-do list.

Yesterday, when my daughter put my fleece hat in my lap and then motioned for me to put it on my head, I obeyed, promptly bundled her up in her own hat, coat, and boots, and we went outside for a walk—going downhill together hand-in-hand.
When she dumped water over the edge of the tub—saturating the rug on the bathroom floor—I just rolled it up and continued sitting there, reading my book, until my daughter lifted her chubby little arms, letting me know that she wanted out.
On our daily walk, instead of just waving at my neighbor as he passed me on the road, I motioned for him to pull over, and we chatted about his grandkids and his health.
I stood outside, listening to the snow geese migrating north.
I read more books to my daughter; I read more books from my To-Be-Read pile, too!
I unplugged from the Internet for longer periods of time.
My daughter and I played with marigolds seeds—the flowers long having frozen in the garden.

All of these simple, exquisite moments would have been lost amid the hustle and bustle of everyday life if I hadn’t made an effort to go with the flow instead of fighting against the current—eager to reach my destination and check off another to-do from my New Year’s list.

Now, I also realize that life is going to resume its pace once the holidays are officially over. But I figure that if my main New Year’s Resolution is to be present in the moment, I will make more of an effort to enjoy life rather than trying to squeeze every second of productivity from the hours that I’ve been given.

What are some of your favorite ways to “waste” time?

If you enjoyed reading Jolina’s resolution, please visit her at her website and tell her!

Guest Post: Cecilia Dominic, author of The Mountain’s Shadow (CLP Tour 3)

Traveling With T guest blog post: Confessions of a tree junkie

I enjoyed looking through Tamara’s blog while preparing to write my post for it and particularly liked the #literaryconfessions. What a fun idea! So, here are my own #writerlyconfessions:

Confession number one: I just made up the word writerly. We writers are allowed to do that, right?

Confession number two: I pretend it doesn’t matter that much, but I’m really sensitive to my writing environment. Yes, I have scoffed in the past at people who say they can only write in certain places or at certain times. Aside from a slight preference for morning, time of day doesn’t matter much to me, but place does.

I pay rent on a lovely office in downtown Decatur (near Atlanta) with a view of the town. Yes, I have a non-writing job that makes it necessary to have an office away from home. It’s generally quiet and comfortable, and I have a nice couch, wireless internet, and a Keurig machine. Yet I put off going to the office today so I could work on this post at a coffee shop. Why?

It’s no accident that there are lots of scenes in the woods or on balconies in The Mountain’s Shadow. If I were in that setting, that’s where I’d be, somewhere under the trees or where I could see them. My heroine Joanie Fisher has fond memories of visiting her grandfather at his Ozark Mountain estate and the walks they would take through the woods. Perhaps I, too, have early learning and associations between trees and comfort. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and the lot next to my parents’ house is undeveloped and wooded. In the summer, I fell asleep to a symphony of crickets and other night insects. In the winter I gazed at the lacework of leafless branches against the sky. When I’ve traveled out West, I’ve felt smothered by the exposed openness of the desert.

There’s also a potential psychological principle at work. I’ve heard in various contexts that when you’re stuck creatively, looking at something green can move you past the block. Researchers have actually proven the association between looking at something green and creativity with a series of experiments in Europe.* In one study, participants had to log into a creativity test through either a predominantly green or a white screen, and the ones who logged in on the green one scored 20% higher on the task. That’s significant. The results were the same even when compared with other colors like red and blue.

So here is a sampling of my preferred writing spaces. See the commonality?

And looking up, trees with the gorgeous blue October sky:

My favorite room in my house when the weather is nice is my back patio, which is covered. The only thing that would make it better would be if it were screened in. Yeah, mosquitoes love me.

I even sneak in outside writing in the middle of the work day when I can. There’s a little bench under the bridge by the stream at the Wesley Woods Health Center on Emory University’s campus. I snuck in some writing one day before an afternoon preceptorship workshop.

That was a bonus because it is very wooded, and there’s a stream. Gazing at any body of water seems to also get my creativity going. Yes, I’ve tried writing at the beach, but I’ve found I have to do that long-hand due to sun glare and general concern about electronics near salt water. Perhaps there’s also something about lack of foliage that makes me prefer to read rather than write at the beach. My dream writing view would have both trees and ocean.

Oh, and my absolute favorite place to write? On the porch at my parents’ cabin in Blairsville, Georgia, which is about two and a half hours north of Atlanta. I can hear a stream, but I can’t see it. That’s okay; mountains stretch into the distance and make for a lovely view even when there are no leaves on the trees.