Working from Home

I started picking up some freelance work recently and I thought this was an appropriate visual of the experience so far:

This is what happens to my copy and research after I'm done with it...

Of course, this is the ideal--a harmonious union of intellectually satisfying work, with all the benefits of being able to take a break and play with the kids.

What this picture doesn't show, is the piles of laundry, or dishes, or the ring around my bath tub...something has to give. But let's be honest, those things were never my strong suite anyway.

My dream has always been to be able to stay at home with the kids, and write--from my desk near a window that overlooks the ocean in Mexico--obviously...but hey, it's a start.

My blog is SO last year!

My blog has been stuck in 2013! Sorry about that. The first month of the new year has felt a little like trying to pull myself out of bed at 8am after that New Years Eve Party.... or for a more appropriate metaphor: after my five year old has a nightmare and wets the bed at 1, and my two year old wakes up at 3 afraid of the dark and climbs into my bed. The rest of the night spent being kicked and trying not to fall off the bed without waking anyone else. Pick your poison.

Well it's almost the end of January and I'm just now gaining some momentum. It's the tortoise not the hare right?

The past few years I have not made a New Year's Resolution, or at least not in the typical sense. Last year, I decided to do a One Word Resolution, to encompass the general spirit I felt I wanted to carry into the year. Last year my word was CREATE. I had a lot of beginnings last year, beginnings of projects and ideas to work on, but also figuring out the blueprint for practical things like, where to live (buy a house)?

This year, my word is: COURAGE

I'm not a visual artist. Cut me some slack.
I do enjoy crayons and glitter, and symbolism, lots of symbolism.

I feel good about the things I created last year, but this year will be about taking the next step and seeing them through. I have said before that I am really good at starting projects but not so great at finishing them! So, for me, it will take courage to face the obstacles that get thrown in my path, especially my own fears of failure and stretching my comfort zone.

I already have one big ticket item I can check off, before 2013 ended I signed myself up for a writer's conference, and it's coming up at the end of February (ahh!! so scared, and excited, but scared...more on that later), and I'm taking everything else one step at a time.

I am not a planner in general, I don't like to make long detailed lists, but I do like to have a direction, and a motto or mantra to embody that helps me move where I want to go.

Do you have a word, motto, mantra, or resolution for the year? Are you still rubbing the sleep from your eyes?