January 2014

January 2014

Wow, another year. Didn’t this last year fly by faster than every before? Isn’t that what everyone says on the first days of a new year? Every year we talk about how hard it will be to get use to writing a new number for the New Year. Every year we think over what we did the previous year and what we want to do in the New Year. Every year we set resolutions that are quickly broken for one reason or another. Each year brings its own blessings and each year brings its new challenges. Some years are harder than others. Some years we achieved something we longed for and some years we had to let go of things we longed for. The year 2013 brought about some changes in my life, some I liked and some I didn’t like. But, life moves on whether we like the changes or not.

I’m learning to let go of the past, both the distant and the recent past, unless the telling will do some good. I’m learning to care less about what others think of me and concentrate more on how to please God. That’s been a challenge for me having been raised by a mother who drilled into me daily the lesson that “people will talk” every day of my life until she died. After hearing that for a lifetime, no matter how many times I rejected it, the recording in my mind still repeats itself whether I tell it to shut up or not. It’s a very stubborn voice, just like my mom.

There are a few things I did in 2013 that I am very proud of. I put the finishing touches on my book, Home Should Be Safe: Hope and Help for Domestic Violence Victims and will start out 2014 by entering it in the Writers Digest Self Published book contest. I also entered an essay about my relationship with my mom to Good Housekeeping’s memoir contest. I bought some new writing instruction books to help me expand my writing abilities into new areas. Last but not least I concentrated on my freelance speech writing for a company called EZ Speech to the point my assignments come in steadily. Now it is time to broaden my horizons.

Yes, I do have some goals for 2014, mostly related to my writing for that is where my passion lies.

• I have my new Writers Guide and will submit articles to magazines.
• I’m going to write essays and short stories and submit them, something new for me.
• I’m going to write an e-book on self publishing taken from the class I taught on self publishing at local Community Centers. I’ll sell it from my website http://www.minaraulston.com/home
• I will plan and write other info e-books and sell them from my website as they are completed.
• I will sell my book, Home Should Be Safe: Hope and Help for Domestic Violence Victims on Amazon as well as on my website.
• I’m just plain going to write more.

What plans do you have for the coming year? Share your plans here.