Wishing Everyone a Balanced New Year! Susan Sands

A new year always feels like beginning with a clean slate in so many ways. The resolutions, you

know. Eat better, exercise more. Keep an organized schedule. All the things. And yes, I do plan to improve myself in all those ways. Last year I began my second half-century of life. That sounds pretty momentous, doesn't it? Yes, I thought so too. I was busy last year. Writing, and taking care of all the things and people who live in my circle.

I'll do that this year, but I have plans to do more. Write more and better. Bigger. But I've also got to nurture and support the heck out of my last chick until I send her off to college in a few months. Give her my best as well. It's all a balance, and it's one that is easy to upset with too much focus on one thing or the other. So my biggest goal beginning the year will be balance. Family, work, exercise, nutrition, sleep.

I spent the entire day reading a book just released by one of my favorite authors. Nothing else, just reading. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy just reading. And how it inspires me to write. So, today, I'm motivated to work on one of my new projects because of the day spent immersed in that book. It was something I'd denied myself because I'd lost the balance. I don't know how I could have forgotten the pure joy of reading, of losing myself in a book. I'm a writer for heaven's sake. But I've rediscovered it and won't let it happen again.

I hope everyone who celebrates enjoyed their holidays. I had all my children under one roof for an entire week, which is hard to come by these days. I've cooked, baked, and just rolled around in the family time.

Happy New Year to everyone! I wish everyone good health, humor, and happiness in the coming year. And balance. We'll see how that goes, won't we?

Susan Sands
         

My New Year’s Writing Resolution, Continued by Joanne Walsh

So January is almost done – how did I get on with my resolution to sit down every day first thing and write, with email and other distractions shut off?  Well, it hasn’t turned out to be quite that disciplined, but I am doing better and have accumulated 5,000 words more of my next novel.  And I have discovered something about myself and how I write best.

My big challenge is to balance what I do for a living—I work as a freelance book editor and writer—with my dream of writing romance. Therefore I have deadlines to meet, and also must immerse myself in other people’s novels as well as my own.  I realised I was struggling with that—becoming involved with other writers’ compelling characters, then having to tear myself away to go back into my own fictional world.  The structure of writing a little every day doesn’t work so well for me.  Instead, I have come up with a different plan, of one day writing for myself, one day doing freelance, and so on.  It seems to be rolling out okay.  I find I come back to my book feeling more energised and refreshed.

I am also talking a lot to the authors I work with and asking them for their tips about how to stay focused and produce.  I will be sharing my findings in my February blog.

You can email Joanne/Tessa about freelance editing at tessashapcott@gmail.com.

New Year, New Books!

Happy New Year!

I'm so thrilled to be blogging here monthly.  I hope you all will enjoy it too.  I'm one of those people who loves writing down resolutions each year.  And--please, don't hate me--I'm also one of those people who usually has checked them all off by the end of the year.  It's just my nature to make lists and check things off.

This month the last book in my Holiday Heat series from Harlequin Blaze is out.  It's my New Year's Eve themed book and I couldn't resist adding a resolutions list to the beginning of the book.

Here's a snippet of the scene:

“What food do you want to try next year?” she asked, reading from the list and hoping that she could keep her courage until midnight. Only another fifteen minutes. She wanted him. She wanted this New Year’s Eve to be different from all the rest.

“Food, eh?” He wrinkled his forehead. “Not sure. I’m going with one of my cousins on a trip in Iceland to see a reindeer farm. So maybe reindeer?”

“I bet it doesn’t taste like chicken,” she said with a half smile. “When is that trip?”

“In the fall. It’s a Northern Lights trip. We spend three weeks up close to the Arctic Circle living with the locals and watching each night for the aurora borealis.”

That sounded...cold, but intriguing. “Have you done anything like that before?”

“Nah. This is the first year that I’m not competing anymore.”

She looked at him in surprise. “What? Why not?” If not for her reconstructed knee, she’d still be training and focusing on four years from now. The next winter games.”

“I have gold medals and more titles that one man could ask for. It’s time to set my sights on something else.”

“Such as...?” she asked, leaning closer. This is what she was searching for. What came after competing the way they had for most of their life? It was different for Carter because he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A little rich kid who got whatever he wanted. But that had only carried him so far. She knew that he’d worked as hard as she had to get to the winter games.

“Not sure. But this is my year of adventure. My year to find out. I’m working on that charity you’re involved with to help kids get started in winter sports, because that’s new for me. The old man is glad to see me giving back. Can you believe he said that to me?” Carter scowled. “I’ve given back a lot over the years.”

For a moment she caught a glimpse of the real Carter. “You have. I’ve heard about the board you developed. It changed snowboarding.”

“Yeah, that was nothing,” he said, flashing a grin at her. And the real man disappeared behind that flirty facade. “So what new food are you going to try?”

“Nothing exotic like you. I have a thing about dairy and have usually not eaten cheese. I know that sounds silly but this year I think I’ll give it a try.”

He lifted a brow. “Cheese?”

“Yes.”

“You seriously don’t eat cheese?” he asked.

She had friends who acted the same way when she mentioned it. “I don’t like dairy stuff usually.”

“Cheeseburgers?”

“Nope.”

“Pizza?” he prodded.

“Pesto-based pizza with fresh tomatoes. No cheese.”

“Weirdo,” he said.

“Like you’re normal!”

“Who wants to be normal?” he scoffed. “Okay...all kidding aside, what new thing are you really going to try?”

She looked at him for a long minute before the two lemon-drop martinis and her courage finally caught up with her mouth. “You.”

Click here to read more.

What about you?  What's something new you want to try this year?

Leave me a comment to be entered to win all three books in the Holiday Heat series. 

Kathy :)

Barbara Ankrum: NEW YEAR’S ANGST / RESOLUTIONS

NEW YEAR’S ANGST RESOLUTIONS

First, thanks, Lee, for inviting me to blog here today. It was so sweet of you to invite me! Here, at the very end of 2014, there seemed only one thing on my mind to blog about. Oh, yes. I’m going there.

New Year’s resolutions! I’ve always been fascinated by them.  And that is to say, from a distance, watching other people make them. For many, they work. They can be great motivators, I hear. You write your goals down at the beginning of the year and check them off as you accomplish them. In a way, written goals are a good reminder of your decision to accomplish something. But to me, there’s a self-implied ‘fail’ button attached to New Year’s resolutions because they’re sort of made out of a sense of desperation. End of the year, tick-tock, another year gone and all that. 

Don’t misunderstand me. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals: big goals, smaller goals and in between goals. And I do set them all the time all throughout the year. But agreeing to terms of a rigid resolution? (I will join a gym. I will lose fifteen pounds…) If I’ve learned anything about myself, it’s that I’m stubborn. Independent. I have a knee-jerk resistance to rules. Hence…writer.

Are we talking semantics here? Possibly. Sometimes, I have to fool my own thought process that way.  Yes, I’m just that weird. Perhaps this is a product of getting older and having some hindsight into my own dismal failures when it comes to keeping resolutions. So with the intention of liberating myself from all that self-flagellation when I inevitably fail, I’ve learned to put a twist on the resolution thing by writing a grateful list, instead. This list isn’t really about all the things I think I should do or should have done but didn’t. Instead, it puts into perspective for me the things that have become really important to me over the past year.

Getting more exercise is one of those things that always makes the resolution lists. But as I take my daily two mile walk with my happy little dog, Maggie—who’s always grateful for everything—I make it a point to feel grateful that I can walk this briskly and this easily and this far. Because I know not everyone can. Feeling grateful instead of pressured inspires me to expand my routines, push myself farther. (i.e., Maybe I’ll add that next hill, just to prove that it won’t kill me!)

Spending more time with family always makes my list and it’s even more important to me now that we’re scattered to the four winds. So grateful that I have time now to do it and that I can make time in my schedule for visits with the grandbabies. I GET to.

Writing more books/writing faster is always on the list for writers. Again, after just ending a full time job where I had little time to write, I am so grateful to GET to write again. I remember that whenever I get stuck or slow down. I remember my gratitude to be able to do what I do. No pressure, just relief, really.

And because of those long hours in the chair, writing, Yoga is in my future. When I was working full time, there was a yoga studio across the street from my window at work. All day, I’d watch women come and go, wishing I was one of them. Now, (grateful) I GET to go to yoga! See what I mean? The exercise thing goes hand in hand with the writing thing. But they both come out of my gratitude list.

That’s just a sampling of what will be on my list this year. What about you? Do resolutions work for you? Or do you have to get creative with your goals? I’d love to hear and I’m grateful to have the chance to wish you a very happy and healthy 2015!  

And just for fun, I’m giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card to get the year started out right! To enter, just tell me one thing you’re grateful for! 

Barbara Ankrum is the bestselling author of thirteen books, including her latest contemporary romance, A FAIR TO REMEMBER, from Tule Publishing. Her bestselling western historical series, ‘Wild Western Hearts’ is available on all e-book platforms. She’s been twice nominated for RWA’s prestigious RITA Award. She’s the mom of two wonderful, grown children and she lives in Southern California with her sweet husband, two cats and her scruffy Toto-impersonator walking companion, Maggie.

***Barbara's winner is Carol L.!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing address.***

Lilian Darcy: New Year's Indulgences

Every New Year, like many people do, I make resolutions. They’re all about working harder, eating better, getting fitter – all the hard, challenging stuff.

This year, I’ve decided to change things around a little. I’m not going to focus on my resolutions, I’m going to plan my indulgences.

1)     Spend More Time Outdoors

I’ve really been enjoying this lately, whether I’m out in the open air gardening, walking or cycling. I’d like to move more of my regular activities out of doors, when possible. I’d like to eat, read and listen to music out of doors more often in 2015. And maybe sometimes just sit.

2)     Read More

As a writer and editor, reading has been a professional requirement for a long time. Now that I’m moving into retirement, I’d like to read more for pure pleasure and let go of that critical professional perspective that can get in the way of reading enjoyment. I’d like to read more non-fiction, more classics, more books-that-I-wouldn’t-normally-pick-up.

I also want to jump into the kinds of familiar reads that I know I’ll love – books like the Bachelor Auction series from Tule Publishing that’s launching in February.

3)     Do Some Jigsaw Puzzles

I haven’t treated myself to this indulgence very often in recent years. About ten years ago, my husband gave me an enormous jigsaw puzzle,18,000 pieces in total, divided into four separate sections of roughly 4,500 pieces each. I’ve only ever done one of the sections. Last Christmas I started a second one, but packed it away before I’d put much of it together, feeling that there just wasn’t time. This year, I’m going to get it out again and complete it, and so what if it takes months? I might do a few smaller puzzles, too, for light relief.

That’s all I’ve thought of so far, but I fully intend to think of a few more indulgences and embrace them.

How about you? Don’t give me the R word, Resolutions, I want to hear about your planned Indulgences for 2015.

Hope you have a great year!

Lilian Darcy

P.S. If you’d like to indulge yourself with a free ebook, The Sweetest Thing, the second book in my Montana Riverbend series is free on all major ebook platforms.