Here in the Northeast, 2013 blew in on a gusty wind while the full moon waned. This morning, just before five o'clock, the wind scuffled around the corners of our house. The guy who delivers the newspaper pulled up to our driveway at his usual time. Nothing momentous here until, a few hours later, I hung a new calendar on the wall.
The new year stretches out in front of all of us-you and me-like taffy, brimming with sweet hope and possibility. I avoid making New Year's resolutions. However, a few days ago a major writing project that had languished in my file cabinet for several months (while I completed a memoir manuscript) called out to me. I answered the call.
I (re)discovered research notes, detailed hand-drawn maps, family trees, character sketches, and plot lines for a novel held together with a rusty paper clip. Sixty-seven pages of a first draft lay beneath it all. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I haven't felt this excited about writing in a long time. I'm giddy. My heart pounds when I sit down to work. Heck, my heart pounds when I simply glance at the papers strewn across my desk. This, out of the blue, is what I want 2013 to be for me: filled with this new journey of hard work doing something I love and care about deeply.
I hope you, too, discover a project for this fledgling year that makes your heart zing and wakes you in the middle of the night because you can't stop thinking about it. I hope you answer the call.
Happy New Year!
