It’s the start of a New Year.
My New Year always starts a little later than the calendar. Why? Because I’m human and holidays are busy and often stressful. Then it’s the New Year immediately followed by my birthday and I like to celebrate my birthday for the better part of two weeks and then you get the kids back in school and try to get caught up on things like putting away the Christmas decorations and paying bills and sleep. Whew! Sometimes a girl, even a Queen, needs a few extra days and weeks to get ready for new adventure.
Over the years, I’ve become rather partial to starting my New Year closer to February. Some years February is still too early. Sometimes I don’t start my new year until April. Maybe.
Anywhoooo…..
As you can see, we’ve redesigned the website – and there are a few more changes coming. My niece, AKA Warrior Princess Shelby has some great ideas for making it all work, thankfully. I can either write or make the site look pretty. I don’t seem to be able to manage both. So, she’s now living in my Queendom and making things work around here. I really appreciate it because it will give me some time to work on the exciting activities coming to the palace.
1) First, we’ve created a Members Only section. This is for readers who want to get a bit more involved in our community. We’ll start off with a book club, but there will eventually be group adventures, recipe exchanges and real-life gatherings. Members will also get the first look at upcoming books and short stories and discounts on anything I end up selling, like photographs, fiber projects and writing projects.
2) I’m developing a podcast. I think I’ve assembled all the technology and my son and his friends have promised to help me figure out how to make it all work. I’m hoping to have that up and running by spring.
3) The Veterans Project will keep going. Soul Warrior Tina is working on a memorial, so you’ll be hearing about that plus, we’ve met some amazing people with incredible stories to tell. Watch that page for updates.
I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. For the better part of my life they’ve become my nemesis. I seem to always fail at whatever new goals I set for myself Jan. 1. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say “fail” – it’s a big, heavy word. It’s more accurate to say I’m human and life happens. Plus, I tend to get distracted easily. I used to think that was a negative trait. I’ve decided that it just means I’m creative and my mind is far too busy to stay focused on any one thing. The world’s a great, big beautiful place – so why stick to just one idea, project, book or blog!?
That said, I have decided I do want to work on a couple of things this year. The first decision I made is to read more. A lot more. I received some great books for Christmas and have downloaded many more on both Kindle and Audible. That goal goes hand in hand with my other goal of writing more. Read more=write more.
It’s been a rough start. I’ve read some, but sadly seem to read Facebook more than great works of literature. That needs to stop. So, I decided I’d invite you to join me in this goal, so we can all read together. That’s where the new book club comes in. Every other month, I’ll introduce two new books; one non-fiction and one fiction. Participants will be able to discuss the book in the members only section and I’m hoping to create some sort of live event in which we can all get together either in person or online to chat about what we’ve read.
The other goal for the year is to slow down -- Live more intentionally and be more present. I tend to ride a hurricane of chaos. While that’s kind of fun, I am feeling pulled to not only write and read more, but create, garden, hike, cook…. And those are all activities I’d like to share with you.
I’d love to hear what you think and what some of your goals are for the year, so please feel free to comment. And if you’re inclined, head over and get signed up for the book club. If you don’t want to do that, that’s totally fine. Join our mailing to stay up to date on anything I come up with as this new year gets rollin’!
Glad you’re here!
Queen Karma
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