New Beginnings

I love the fresh start of a new year, with its implications of a clean slate for you to write a new chapter of your life.  Even the fact that I have gotten off to a slow start this morning can't damper my enthusiasm.

We didn't get to bed until almost 2 last night, so we slept in until 7:30. Then up to read the paper and all dieting considerations went out the window as I heated up a slice of my friend Pam's coconut-walnut bundt cake to go with my morning coffee.  Maybe not calorie free, but an excellent first meal for the new year.

After the paper I crawled back into bed until almost 11 while Blair was a whirlwind of activity, doing laundry, cleaning house and making lunch.  He scooted out the door around 1 to go to work.  A bit of a let down that he has to go in today, but he's probably not thrilled about it either so I tried not to gripe.

As for me, I'm doing my own laundry and catching up on a bit of work so I can hit the ground running tomorrow.  This is a short week for me as I leave for Tucson on Thursday to teach for 3 days at NSA University.  Much of this week will be spent finalizing parts of my talk.

But I will find time to take a long walk today.  It's sunny and near 60 with a light, crisp wind.  Way too pretty to stay locked inside the house all day.  Then the Panthers play today and I'll catch the last half of the game as I am under strict instructions to call Blair at work and let him know who won.

And I'm excited about working on my second Millicent book.  I'll blog more about this in the future, but through networking, a friend recommended me to an editor at Random House who has agreed to read the first few chapters of my middle-grade novel, along with a synopsis.  I decided I wasn't happy with the book I had and decided to devote my efforts to a new book.  I've spent the last 3 weeks worrying out plot details, but I'm close to having a working outline in place to write from.   One of my New Year's resolutions I am most adamant about keeping is doing 2 hours of creative writing time each morning before hitting e-mail or regular assignments.

Today is a sweatpants and t-shirt, no makeup day.  Just a relaxing day of taking care of small details interspersed with fun activities such as reading, napping, petting cats, and listening to music. A perfect--if somewhat slow--start to the New Year.