It’s a New Year – A Time to Dream Big, But Be Realistic: Learning to Take My Own Advice ..... by Delsora Lowe

SETTING GOALS

January is always the time of year when we set goals and make resolutions. How many of those we keep throughout the year is questionable. So, my advice to myself for starting each new year, and keeping on-track throughout the year, is to start planning in November and December of the previous year.

As I have often discussed in the past, I belong to two goals groups (one has a daily check-in and the other a weekly check-in) and I set out annual goals that I start working on before the new year begins.

I find if I plan, write-out that plan, check-it twice (oh, wait – that’s my naughty or nice, holiday wish-list,) and check it often (at least once a month) to ensure I am on schedule, I am more likely to achieve what I wanted to in any given year.

Having said that, life gets in the way – whether it is personal set-backs or things beyond our control, readjusting goals all through the year is perfectly acceptable. And healthy. No point in making goals that will cause stress.

REASSESSING

If you are anything like me, you have high hopes and ambitions during those down-times that are less stressful. But once you get into the midst of head-down, get-er-done mode, it is easy to get overwhelmed and become negative. So, the second part of my advice is to give yourself leeway to readjust your goals from time-to-time. And that means, you can put off achieving a goal until later. It also means when an opportunity arises, you can squeeze-in or replace one new goal for another one that can wait to be finished.

SMALL INCREMENTS

As is normal at this time of year, there are plenty of experts who have advice. This morning on the news a psychologist gave some sage advice (wish I could remember her name.) Instead of setting a lofty goal (such as my goal to release 3 books this year,) set goals that are the steps to that goal. In my case, I have three books already written, so my next step is to edit them (which is my stated goal with the intention to also publish them.)

Editing a book is one goal. Releasing it is an entirely different goal. Instead, I also need to adjust my stated goals to work on the next steps (after editing) to getting each published. Those steps can include sending the edited manuscript to a professional editor, then a formatter, then commission a book cover, etc. And while that might be a lofty goal, it also means that if I edit all three books during 2023, I can then take the next steps, one at a time. And I may or may not get all three published this year. I may get one published and another one formatted, and the third one sent to the professional editor.

I now realize I need to adjust those goals to show incremental steps.

PROS AND CONS

Setting goals can help you push yourself forward. But setting goals too high, and overachieving, can wear a person out and cause a person to not reach goals. The key to staying sane is flexibility and readjusting goals along the way.

REALISTIC VERSUS PIE-IN-THE-SKY

The other piece of advice to myself every year, is to be realistic. It’s okay to set stretch goals. At the same time, add in variations of what that goal will look like, so readjusting goals won’t make you feel sad or bad.

Always remember – not meeting a goal is not a failure. It is an opportunity for adjustment so you can achieve that goal under different circumstances.

CELEBRATE

Here’s to a happy and successful new year. But also, here’s to a realistic and non-stressful new year as you reach to achieve new goals.

How do you prepare your annual goals or celebrate your successes?

One of my goals is to edit and publish the next Cowboys of Mineral Springs book.

Check out the series links on Delsora Lowe

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her newest novella is The Love Left Behind. Look for both a Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) later this fall. 

Social Media Links:

Author website: www.delsoralowe.com

Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe

BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe

Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Images:

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How Do We Celebrate Community? Welcome to the Conversation!!!

AUTHOR SARAH RAPLEE

This subject is important to me. I am kicking off our blog-ver-sation about celebrating community during difficult times by sharing some of my thoughts about community and celebrations. Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments to keep the conversation going. Feel free to invite your friends and neighbors to join us. I will check in often to add my two cents worth.

Since the beginning of the pandemic I have seen many heartwarming examples of community members coming together to help and support one another.

There have been food drives, blood drives, neighbors shopping for vulnerable neighbors, strangers lending a helping hand to others in their communities, people sewing masks and gowns or 3-D printing face shields for front-line workers.

Most people wear masks when they leave home to prevent the spread of the virus in their communities. They wash their hands frequently and well. When they can’t do so,  they use hand sanitizer. They are careful to cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbow. They make it a point to shop local, even online, as much as possible to help the community’s businesses survive.

People do these things not only to protect themselves and their families, but also to protect their communities. They understand that humankind as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves.

I’d like to share with you one of my favorite poems that most people know by first line rather than by title.

‘No Man Is an Island’

John Donne, 17^th Century English Poet and cleric

No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

How do we celebrate community in this strange new reality we’re living? How do we nurture those connections and upraise their importance in society? We get creative!!!

New Yorker’s come together at 7pm each day to give thanks and gratitude to the city’s frontline workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Parades of cars decorated with signs and balloons drive by a house on a child’s birthday. Horns honk and people sing or call our “Happy Birthday!!!”

A young woman hosts a virtual baby shower for her sister. Friends play games, joke around, eat cake together while apart, and clap as each present is opened.

Assisted living staff and residents applaud a recovering Covid patient who returns from quarantine.

  

People stand on their porches and balconies at a pre-arranged time and applaud or bang on pots and pans to cheer for frontline medical workers and first responders.

What ways have you noticed people celebrating community since the pandemic changed things? Do you feel closer to your communities, or do you feel lonely? Why?

Merry May #anniversary

Hi, I'm Pippa Jay, author of sci-fi and supernatural stories to engage your emotions. For me, May is always a month of celebration. Apart for the Romancing the Genres Blog-o-versary, May is also my wedding anniversary AND my book anniversary too. The 7th May 2012 saw the publication of my first ever novel. I'm now eight years published, with 20 titles listed on Goodreads to my name.

Not that I'm able to do much about it right now, with the UK still (mostly) in lockdown. Nor could we take advantage of the 8th of May being made a bank holiday this year for the 75th anniversary of VE day. Sigh. But because of the VE celebration, our street had a social distancing street party, with everyone sitting at the end of their drives with out own separate drinks and party food (we had scones handmade by hubs, with raspberry jam and clotted cream, yum!), while a music teacher at the far end of the road played wartime classics on his clarinet, followed by another neighbour setting up as DJ for the evening while we all stood and chatted at the required 2m social distance. It was a strange kind of party, and yet probably the most sociable our street had ever been. I spoke to neighbours I hadn't chatted to in years (we've lived here 25 years now and just about to finish paying off our mortgage, yay), and others we've never spoken to at all. We have new neighbours in the house adjoining ours that we hadn't spoken to much but apparently the young lady is enamoured of my feather footed chooks so I took my baby Princess Aura out to be seen.

Princess Aura

We stayed out until the sun was too much, but the music went on until 10am. I suppose COVID-19 has come with some benefits...

Our VE Day bunting - a little red, white, and blue, finished off with a rainbow for the NHS

In the meantime, I'm still off work as I have three children home off school and there's no real call for my support as science technician at the school I work for. All those jobs I'd put off due to lack of money, then delayed by lack of time are now being done. And next month, title 21 is due to go off to my editor. Yep, there's finally another WIP.
Keep safe, and carry on reading!

Winter Solstice, aka hibernal solstice

As I’m bustling about in preparation for the coming holidays, feeling more and more frazzled every day, I’m inclined to adopt a winter solstice mindset, a time of calm reflection. Also, hibernal suggests hibernation and that’s an idea I can get behind.

Recently I’ve been reading about how the solstice is celebrated around the world. Throughout history, the darkest day of the year has been marked by ritual, reflection, and feelings of renewal. People in Scandinavia celebrated Yule by gathering around fires to burn Yule logs and sip warmed mead – both of which were good antidotes to the encroaching dark and cold of the northern winter. The celebration also welcomed the return of the sun – each subsequent day will be longer.

Ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia, dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, to mark the end of the planting season. Music, gift-giving, and feasting lasted for several days.

Traditional solstice rituals continue to be celebrated. St. Lucia’s Day was a festival of lights during which fires were lit on the longest night to scare away spirits. Today in Scandinavia, young girls dress in white and wear a wreath of candles on their heads.

Many people in Japan mark the solstice and the return of the sun, called Toji, by bathing in water scented with yuzu, a citrus fruit. They eat kabocha squash for good luck, and they light bonfires.

Not surprisingly, fires and candles are a common theme across many cultures.

To celebrate winter solstice this year, I plan to walk a labyrinth (perhaps while celebrating this year’s accomplishments and contemplating next year’s goals) before feasting with good friends – a bit of nature and a bit of good cheer. And I’ll light a few candles.

And then I’ll crawl in my cave and not poke my nose out for a few months.

No matter how you celebrate this time of year, may your home be filled with light, warmth, and love.

~~~

If you enjoy steamy, small town romance with laughter and snappy dialogue, don’t miss the first book in this exciting new series. Buy If I Didn’t Care and escape to MacLeod’s Cove today!

Guess who’s moving in next door?

Nicole Bennett is used to bad luck—it’s kind of a family curse. She’s spent the past year stitching her life back together after losing her dream job. Well, it paid the rent. Now stuck working at her family’s grocery store while wrangling a demoralized dad and a spoiled-brat sister, the last thing she needs is for the man who wrecked her life to move in next door, even if it is for only three weeks. So what if he’s sexier than sin and makes her believe in fairy tale endings?

Ross Calvert’s life in the fast lane crashed when he lost his job and fiancée. All he’s got to show for years of hard work are a sleek sports car and a closet full of designer suits – minus the closet. Determined to salvage his relationship with his best friend, he trades in the corporate life for a brief stint as a caregiver. The decision was simple—until he discovers the tempting vixen he wronged lives next door. Maybe she’s what he needs to reboot his life.

What starts off as a no-strings fling soon veers into making promises that might be impossible to keep.

https://books2read.com/if-I-didnt-care

If you’d like the latest news about my books, and the latest updates about my cats and chickens along with a scrumptious recipe or two, subscribe to my newsletter, Dispatches from Gooseberry Cottage.

http://www.luannastewart.com/newsletter.html

Photo of fireplace by Stéphane Juban on Unsplash