The Word

In what has become something of a tradition around here, we went out for a pizza dinner on New Year's Eve. Not just any pizza, mind you. We call it the Buddy's Blow Out meal - not just the Buddy's original deep dish super pizza, but antipasto, chicken tenders, and a Sanders hot fudge cream puff for dessert.

Yep. It blows our diet all to hell, that's for sure.

But we deserve it once a year.

We ordered our customary four-square pizza, and were happily munching away at our salads and chicken tenders when a server arrived.

"Large super pizza?" he inquired, already squeezing this huge eight slice pie onto the table.

"Oh no," I said, "we ordered a small pizza."

Our original waitperson stopped over. "Let me check," she said, and dashed over to the computer screen nearby. "Kitchen's mistake," she said when she came back. "I put in an order for a small, but they made a large instead.  Guess it's your lucky day!"

"Well," I said to my husband at the end of the meal as we boxed up an extra six slices of pizza for the fridge, "maybe this is a good omen -a sign we'll always get more than we expect in 2012."

"Hope so," he said, scooping up the last bites of hot fudge from the plate.

I hope so too, because I'm expecting quite a bit from 2012. Life started shaking up in a good way during 2011 (when I quit my job and became a grandmother),but I'd like to keep shaking it even more in 2012.

Last week I wrote about choosing one word to encapsulate my vision for the new year. When I wrote that post, I had already chosen my word. It came to me while I was on an airplane, flying to Texas to spend Christmas with my son and his family. I was reading a magazine and realized how rarely I read anything other than books or websites. It then occurred to me that my life had become narrow in other ways as well. I don't listen to music or even the radio very often. There are only a few TV shows I follow, and I don't often go to movies. I haven't been to a concert or an art exhibit in more than year. I go to the same old stores, wear the same kinds of clothes, do my hair and makeup the same ways as I have for years.

My activities and social life are tunneling inward too. I don't belong to any groups other than church choir. Now that I'm not working, I spend entire days alone in the house with only the dogs, my books, and the internet for company.

The word that came to me while I was flying was this...

E X P A N D

I want to expand my interests, my energy, and my experiences in 2012.

And after our pizza blow out the other night, I realize that it's also vitally important to expand my expectations. Part of the reason I pull back from new things is the fear that they won't live up to my expectations. Not only do I need more faith that new experiences will be positive, but I also must be prepared to accept it if they aren't and move forward without retreating into my shell of familiarity.

 We ordered big at Buddy's on New Year's Eve, and got even more than we expected.

I want to continue that trend for the next 12 months.

How about you? Have you chosen a word or words for 2012? Care to share them with me?

*Just before posting this, I was reading Kerstin's blog about her word for the year, and her decision to choose supporting words at random each month. I like this idea (I also love the way she's converting her words into a visual project) and I'd love to solicit your opinions.  How about some suggestions for words to support my idea to EXPAND? 

Clean Slate

Do you remember a toy called the Etch-A-Sketch? It was an 8 x 10 screen encased in red plastic with two knobs that, when turned, created thin graphite lines on the screen. It was one of my favorite childhood toys.  The downside was that you could only draw vertical lines - but since I wasn't much of an artist, it didn't really matter to me. One of my favorite things to do was twist and turn those knobs almost maniacally, until the entire screen was black with graphite shavings. Then I'd turn the Etch-A-Sketch upside down, give it couple of swift shakes, and all the lines would disappear.

Clean slate.

I feel somewhat the same way on the days leading up to January 1 each year. I scurry around trying to tie up all the loose ends of the Old Year before I turn my life upside down and shake it to start January 1 with a clean slate.

This year was one of new beginnings - I left my job while my husband returned to his. I started spending more time on my writing, and took a writing class which was exciting and enlightening. My son and daughter in law moved from Florida to Texas, and promptly embarked upon the ultimate fresh start - a new baby, our grandson Connor, who was born on November 14.

Although there weren't a lot of things in 2011 that need erasing, the idea of starting fresh is still very appealing. Brand new years inspire the kind of shake up I used to do with my Etch-A-Sketch, the kind that wipes away all the messiness and ugliness of the year gone by. Clean pages on the calendar spark ideas for ways to fill them with satisfying experiences,

I want 2012 to be a year of more new beginnings. I want to find my way into more creative outlets, especially musical ones. We hope to move to a new home in 2012, a major undertaking that we've put off for our entire adult lives and one that is long overdue. I want to be excited about that, and embrace the idea of this change with enthusiasm and positive energy.

There is likely to be sadness and loss during 2012. When you reach our stage of life, it seems almost inevitable. But I hope whatever losses do come are tempered with enough joy to make them bearable.

On this last weekend of 2011, I hope you are reflecting on the positive elements of this past year, and looking forward with eager anticipation to new challenges and experiences in the year ahead.

Go ahead - shake it up and turn it over.

Clean Slate.

 

 

 

 

 

Why Write Another Christmas Story?

If you were raised in the Christian tradition, there's really only one Christmas story - the tiny baby born in a lowly manger who grows up to be a Savior. But we all have a Christmas story of our own, and while it may never become the stuff of legend it might be  important to understanding who you are as a person and as a writer.

My childhood Christmases were idyllic. Although I'm an only child, I had many cousins who lived nearby, so our quiet, family-of-three centered Christmas mornings turned into huge extended family blowouts on Christmas afternoon and evening. The day was chock full of fun, food, presents, and all around excitement.

Years have passed, my cousins are scattered hither and yon and holidays have sometimes been lonely for this only child (who married an only child and raised an only child!)  I started dwelling on loss during the holidays, rather than on possibilities. I found myself thinking too much about what used to be, rather than appreciating what was, or looking forward to what could be. As a result, I sometimes dreaded the holiday, found only darkness in it, rather than hope or light.

But our Christmas story changed  in a big way this year, thanks to the birth of a baby - our six week old grandson. Hope was born again, so Christmas this year - though not the huge festive event of my childhood - regained a similar sense of excitement and anticipation.

Our writing stories might undergo similar transformations during the course of our lives. We get stuck in cycles, afraid to try new things, afraid to take risks. We lose the joy in putting words on the page, are unable to anticipate the finished product, or plan for the future. Like so many of my Christmases past, writing becomes stale and unproductive, something to dread rather than time to look forward to.

Creative stories can be rewritten, just as Christmas stories can. Like my grandson's birth, new inspiration arrives or new success infuses your writing with hope, making it sparkle and shine again, giving it a renewed sense of purpose.

May you find that for your writing life this season.

What's your Christmas story? Does it impact your writing life in any way?

 

One Word

Of course I love words. Love to play with them, find out what they mean, love to set them on the page and shift them around in circles until they find their perfect resting place, love to mull them over in my mind and rub them gently together until they nestle perfectly within the phrase. So how do I choose One Word to set the tone for an entire year?

People do it, though. Every year about this time the blogosphere is rife with writers and thinkers and creative types, choosing their One Word to guide them through the next 365 days.

Last year, blogger Ali Edwards wrote that she started thinking about her one word in November and December, "listening, looking, and being open to the possibilities." Writer and journaler Quinn McDonald advises choosing a word that "will build you up and support you, a good chewy word that will last the whole year long." Photographer and writer Susannah Conway has even created a free e-WorkBook to help you find your perfect word for 2012.

And what do you do with your word once you find one? "You live with it, invite it into your life, let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads," Edwards advises. It's a word that "sets an intention, creates a verbal amulet," writes McDonald. "It could even be a word you hold in your heart." Whatever the word might be, "it should give you a guiding light when the way gets murky," Conway asserts. "And you know the way always gets murky."

In years past, I've written about our church's Ephiphany Sunday service, which we call Star Sunday. It's the day we each choose a paper star with one word written on it, a word that reflects a spiritual idea that could become manifest in our lives during the coming year. I love Star Sunday, and always eagerly anticipate what my word will be. But this year I wanted to be more intentional about the process, wanted to choose a word of my own and see how my given word might work together with my chosen word, what paths they might lead me on for 2012.

I'll let you in on a secret- I've already chosen my One Word. It came to me quite suddenly on the airplane the other day while we flew here to Dallas to spend Christmas with our family. (I don't know about you, but I've discovered I do some of my best creative thinking on airplanes.) The minute I thought of it, I knew it was the Word for me.

I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet. I'm waiting until I get my Star word on January 8, and then we'll see how those words mesh.

Until then, if you're choosing One Word for next year start thinking about it so you can share it with me, okay?