My One Little Word for 2023

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. It has been a hot minute since I’ve written a post because of the holidays. For some reason, this year seemed busier, probably because I hosted Christmas for my side of the family. My mom has finally passed the torch to me. I must say, I enjoyed hosting, but enough about that. Today, I want to talk about my one little word for 2023.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been choosing a word for the year. In the past, I’ve chosen the words strive, perseverance, and resilience. I love these words because they illustrate strength to me. This year I’m choosing the word FOCUS. I intend to focus on my goals and aspirations and ignore those pesky distractions that pull me away from my goals.

https://allthefreestock.com/

I’m going to focus on my family. We’re at a milestone this year with my oldest. He’s graduating from high school, and he’s ready to start moving into adulthood. This is a scary time for him. There are a lot of unknowns right now. He’s not sure what he wants to study in school and that weighs on him, but he’ll be all right. We’ve all been there and he’s strong and resilient, I’m sure he’ll find a path that works for him.

I’m also going to focus on my friendships and extended family. I am blessed to come from a large, loving family, and I want to extend that love back to them. When they say we can never repay our parents, that is so true. I’m also blessed with a great creative family who’ve encouraged me on my writing journey, and I appreciate them as well.

https://allthefreestock.com/

When I say focus for 2023, the thing that springs to mind is the story I’ve been working on for the last few years. It has morphed several times, and this year is the year to make those revisions and create my final draft. I’m confident the changes I’m making will bring about the results I’m striving for. I’m going to use my laser focus to accomplish that.

https://allthefreestock.com/

So, there you have it. My one little word for 2023 is focus. How about you? Do you have a word that’ll encompass your year?  Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Avoiding Burnout

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of hard work and writing. The weather has turned colder and I’m putting off my outdoor run by writing this post. I’m hoping if I wait a little longer, it will warm up a little more. I think I’m hoping in vain, though.

https://allthefreestock.com/

But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about creative cycles. Sometimes, we get a little burned out with our writing and we need to switch gears to get our creative juices flowing again. What I’m talking about is ways to avoid full-blown burnout because none of us wants to lose that creative spark we have. So, below is a list I’ve put together to avoid burnout and have a long fruitful creative life.

Exercise

I put this one first because it’s one of the most important ways to keep creative juices flowing. Exercise is not only good for your body it’s good for your brain. Whenever, I get stuck in my writing, I go for a walk or a hike through the woods. It gets your blood flowing and gets your mind off your plot hole for a while, and many times I find that taking a step away from my work usually helps me figure out the plot hole.

I’m also talking about regular exercise as well. I think it’s important to have a regular exercise routine especially writers who tend to sit all day working on their manuscripts.

https://allthefreestock.com/

Other Creative Pursuits

It’s great to branch out into other areas of the arts. I’ve started painting with an artist friend. She’s giving me pointers and helping me develop a painting style. I’ve also started taking pictures. I used to love photography when I was younger. My passion is writing, but these other artistic endeavors help me take my creativity to a new level. That can only be good for my writing.

https://allthefreestock.com/

Balance

Balance is important because we all have more than one goal. Some of us have families and we want to be good parents, so we must balance our need to be there for our children with our creative endeavors. We have to parcel out our time. For myself I need to write, or I get cranky. So, it’s in my family’s best interest that I make time to write. No one likes a cranky Mom. But I also get cranky if the needs of my family are neglected. So, I’m always working to balance family needs with creative needs.

https://allthefreestock.com/

Creative Family

The last one on my list is creating a Creative Family. This is important because your biological family may be supportive, but they probably don’t understand the blood, sweat, and tears, that go into developing your craft like other creatives do. So, having a creative family is important when you need support or guidance in your endeavors. They keep you from hanging it up when the going gets tough.  

https://allthefreestock.com/

So, there you have the four key ingredients to help fight burn-out. How about you, how do you keep your creative juices flowing? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!