A Year of Writing with Courage

I started this post in the old year, sitting by the fire at my parents' home and reflecting on the past year of "writing with intention".  I wrote several lists of things I learned, things that were good, things that I wished I had done differently etc, etc...  But it has taken me a little longer to actually put fingers to keyboard and post my reflections here. In part because it represents an end note on a beautiful, if difficult, year that I don't want to have to be ready to say goodbye to yet.  But time moves whether we are ready for it or not, and it is 2014.

All those lists I wrote by the fire boil down to this.

2013 was so many good things: it was embracing my creativity and trying to find my writing legs in a more intentional way; it was a gathering of returning health after a long season of asthma flares, arthritis, multiplying food sensitivities, and brain fog; it was finding myself connected in a vibrant creative/writing community (my friend Anna, my friend Copper, my sister and mom, a critique/writing circle with I & H, the Cincy Wrimos, an Artist Way group, and a highly creative church community); it was... more blessings than I know how to put into words.

It was also a year about endings and letting go, where I had to say goodbye to two precious and important people in my life- my very beautiful and dear friend Anna (age 37) who lost a difficult battle with breast cancer in mid-November, and my grandmother Verna (age 96) back in the spring.

And so, as I begin this year with contemplating a new word and a new theme for my writing in 2014, I have chosen the word Courage. 

It is in honor of my friend Anna who found a way to courageously live each day fully and abundantly and with presence even as the insidious beast cancer did its best to steal her away from us.  Who found a way to put pen to paper and speak words that mattered to so many of us even on her most difficult days.  May I have the courage to keep writing even on the tough days, and may I have the courage to live this year even half as fully and abundantly as she showed me how to do.

Have you chosen a word for this year? or for your writing? I would love to hear what it is and why.

PS- for all those wonderful people who were so kind as to comment on my blog this past year and then wondered why I never commented back,  yes I did get them and greatly appreciated them! I'm afraid I must claim the excuse that blogger kept eating my replies except for the rare instance when I was using a friend's computer... a software problem to do with my (lovely sister's) older computer?? as I seemed to not have the same trouble when attempting to comment on wordpress blogs. I should be getting a new computer in the next month or so that has more up to date software, so the "anti-Z" commenting problem will hopefully be resolved then. Best wishes for a new year and many happy writing trails for all of you!