"Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say, it's alright."
I have always loved this song by the Beatles, and lately it's been playing over and over in my head. It's been almost exactly a year since the first case of Covid 19 was discovered in Washington state, beginning a year of fear and unknowns. My kids haven't set foot in their school buildings for ten months and wearing masks everywhere has become the norm.
But , friends, here comes the sun! As my family watched our new president being sworn in and our very first woman(!) of color(!) vice president be sworn in, I couldn't help but feel full of hope. I know that things won't completely change overnight and I know the pandemic is far from over, but I'm choosing to believe the end is in sight. We're going to make it through the long cold winter to sun-shiny days.
In light of looking ahead, I've been filling out my writing calendar and making my goal list for the year.
1. The first thing I'm working on this year is the mystery I'm just tidying up. I have a couple more tweaks to make on it and then I'll be submitting it.
2. I finished the third and final Charms draft in November and I'm itching to begin editing and revising it. I'm hoping to finish editing in March and hopefully have it published by June 1. Fingers crossed!
3. As far as books go, I have a couple of other ideas for mysteries brewing and I'm hoping to finish a rough draft for one or possibly both by the end of 2021
4. Every year, I make a resolution to write a couple of short stories. And every year I put it off and never finish a single one. I would really like to get serious about this, but I never feel like I have the time. So this year, I'm go start small and attempt to put aside one day a month to only work on short stories. Maybe that will be enough to get me going.
5. Lastly, I would really like to blog more regularly. I enjoy sharing the bits and bobs of my writing life with my blog readers. I'll be working to increase my post output.
Let me know some of your own writing/reading/life goals for the year.
Here's to hope for the upcoming year! May you have a year full of joy and plenty of writing!