First day gratitude

New year 2015

On this first day of the new year, I’d like to look back at the old year for a bit. Oh, not the usual “this went well but that didn’t” blurbs. My retrospective is more along the lines of an author’s acknowledgement in the front of a book.

Every freelancer has a support system. We may not have employees or staff, but we have individuals and groups that we depend on for survival and sanity. In my case, I am grateful for:

  • My clients, who keep my days productive and interesting.
  • Colleagues and friends in my professional networks, who teach me things and give me reality checks and sympathy when people or technology leave me frustrated.
  • My husband, who cooks, makes sure I get away from the computer and out of the house, and loves me even when I’m crabby.
  • The angels with mops who, twice a month, do the heavy cleaning my aching joints keep me from doing myself.
  • Opportunities to sing. Singing keeps me sane and healthy. Some days, singing is the only aerobic exercise I get.
  • Our cats, who provide endless entertainment and purr therapy.

Who is on your support team?

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2015 Mount TBR Reading Challenge

TBR stands for “To Be Read.” The challenge? To get those dusty books off my To Read piles and actually read them!

Yes, I’m signing up for it again. And, this year, I’m going to take the advice I was given last year (which I ignored):

Don’t list your challenge books ahead of time. You will wind up reading other books and not have time for the ones on your list.

Since that is exactly what happened in 2013 and 2014, I’m going to pay attention to the advice this year. My entered-after-I-finished-the-book list will be on GoodReads:

Kat’s Mount TBR 2015 List

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Blogging challenges for 2015

Since this isn’t a single-theme blog, and my main goal is to become better at writing non-technical non-fiction, I use blogging challenges to prompt me to write outside my comfort zone.

  • NaNoBloPo (originally National Blog Posting Month; now continues with a new topic each month) has a new topic for January 2015: Habits. This could be fun.
  • January is usually when a new Mindfulness writing challenge begins at Writing Our Way Home. No announcement for 2015, yet, and they’ve just (physically) moved their Buddhist retreat center to a new home. I will try to write a weekly Small Stone anyway. I like the way it focuses my mind on one small thing.
  • Teaser Tuesdays and Third Sentence Thursday are a nice way to share what I’m reading.
  • Wordless Wednesday reminds me to recharge the batteries for my camera and get out there into the world and use it.
  • Flashback Friday is my alternative to the Internet meme “Throwback Thursday.”
  • Bev at My Reader’s Block is hosting a variety of reading challenges this year. I’ll sign up for Mount TBR again, of course, but there are a couple of others that look interesting: “Read It Again, Sam,” and “Vintage Mystery Bingo.” Sign up for those can be any time up to November 4, 2015, so I don’t need to decide on those right away .
  • I’ve lost one of my sources of inspiration for blogging topics. Sunday Scribblings shut down in 2013. I miss it. I’ll keep their prompts page bookmarked, in case they start up again.
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How do you begin to stop?

stop and start

I’m considering a new approach to my annual New Year’s resolution ritual. The whole thing is usually an exercise in frustration for me. I start out with enthusiasm, then gradually stop doing whatever it was I started, and then beat myself up over it.

This year, I may try STOPPING something instead of STARTING stuff.

A friend recently pointed me to an article on the blog “Marc and Angel Hack Life: Practical Tips for Productive Living.” The article begins with a quote:

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.
― Maria Robinson, From Birth to One

and continues with an annotated list of 30 things people should stop doing.

So, this year, I may STOP something. Oh, not my usual “stop eating junk food” or “stop being lazy.” Something more like #7 on Marc and Angel’s list: “Stop being afraid to make a mistake.”

I’ve had a problem with perfectionism all my life. It makes it difficult for me to finish projects (but it’s not perfect yet!) and makes me reluctant to try things I haven’t done before (how do I know I can do it right?). Don’t get me wrong. I love learning how to do new things. It’s the actual doing new things that gives me pause, especially when the results will be seen—and judged—by others.

I could start small, with a personal (rather than professional) project. I’ve knit scarves and sweaters, for others and for myself. Maybe I should knit a pair of socks and give them away. Socks involve skills I’ve never tried: using short double-pointed needles (but I drop little things!) and turning heels (there might be lumps!).

There’s a simple pattern with clear directions in one of my knitting books, and I’ve found some lovely, soft, non-itchy yarn. I have two friends who knit lots of socks and can cheer me on.

Come January 1, assuming I’ve finished Andy’s Christmas sweater, I’ll buy me some DPNs, cast on, and stop being afraid to make a mistake!

And, after that, I’ll jump off the deep end with a professional project:  code a WordPress theme from scratch, or teach one of my workshops as a webinar, or publish a book of essays.

We’ll see.

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Wordless Wednesday 2014-10-29: October

October landscape

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

~ from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

 

 

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