Around the Bend

After several weeks of exuberant holiday celebrations my body feels a blanket of fog resting over it. My mind has become sidetracked too many times and my self-control sacrificed in the name of "holiday cheer". I'm ready for the new year. Crazy though it may sound to those who know me well, I suffer from a mild case of non-routine stress syndrome. Alas, my days of romping and tromping about have eased and I now crave the church on Sundays-youth on Wednesdays-band practice Thursdays-early to bed-early to rise. The gleaming light of 2012 furnishes a weary yet hopeful sigh. Around this bend, I have no idea what I'll find, but I'm sure that like this last year it will be full of incredible surprises.

 Somewhat along those lines, I am on the final lesson for my writing class. So far this one feels a lot like a sit-down talk with my parents. Which is good. I really appreciate that this course hasn't been solely about the technical side of things, but also discovering who you are as a writer and becoming confident in that. Who couldn't use a little more self-actualization? That makes us a lot more valuable in affecting the zeitgeist. Here's a little blurb from the lesson- "Look at it this way: If you don't believe in yourself and your writing, you're in the wrong business. You must be willing to promote yourself whenever and wherever you have a chance. How passionate are you about what you want to write? How badly do you want to reach people with your message"

Well that goes against a lot of my previous notions! Of course there's a line for self-promotion, but there's also a thing called not-believing-in-yourself.

We didn't watch the ball drop last night.
But I do love this picture from 1907 when they first started the tradition.
The lights in the background are so pretty.