As much as change is inevitable, this year I'm struck by how many things stay the same.
It's a time to pack away the Christmas finery in plastic totes. The memories, we will store in our hearts. ~
I always take time to assess my blog for the past year, look at the stats and consider the hits and misses. The same, old post on how to make a shiny bucket rusty remains the champion for four years straight.
Rack up another 22,000 views for that one! ~
If you missed that post you can click on it here.
The second runners up are always cooking posts. ~
Gourmet herb butter for steak was the hit this year. You can find that post here.
I'll tell myself that I'll do more projects and cooking posts and stop rambling about the state of the world or, worse yet, the forever jumbled state of my life. I know I won't stick to that. It would take a much more orderly person than I to follow a plan for writing.
Instead, I'll veer off into whatever direction is uppermost in my mind that day.
Today it may be my backyard feathered friends. ~
Tomorrow, it could be house destroying cats. ~
It may be a tragedy that pulls on my heartstrings or advocating for a healthy food supply. For sure I will speak out against oppression or cruelty whenever I hear of it. Those posts mean more to me than any opportunity to up my reader stats.
Over the holiday, I have been reading L.M. Montgomery's journals. ~
She is fourteen when she begins them and they carry through to after WWI and on to the end of her life. She writes of all the things that any of us would; childhood beaus, money worries, feeling unappreciated or unloved, dreams of success, broken hearts, boredom, physical ailments and the pain of giving up dreams for family responsibilities. Her times were not so different from ours.
She felt all the frustration of the limitations imposed on women. She wrote her novels in the the two hours a day she could eke out from caring for others and fulfilling the obligations of a minister's wife. The daily news during WWI was agony for her and the uncertainty was much like we feel in today's world of global unrest. For all of that, she still cared about a pretty dress and how many chickens she had canned for the winter. It is a fascinating account of the life and times of a woman who became one of Canada's best loved writers. You can find the journals on this Amazon affiliate by clicking here.
Yes, everything changes and yet a great many things stay the same. I'm going into 2015 with hopes of change for the better and a comfortable sense that not everything will be unfamiliar. I like that mix!
I choose a new word for each year. It helps me focus and stay true to my intent.
My word for 2015 is Write.
Happy New Year! My life has been so much richer with all of you in it. It is wonderful knowing that we are all opening the book together and sharing the first chapter. May 2015 be all you wish it to be!