New Year, New You

Isn't that the most awful slogan you've ever heard? I don't know why it annoys me so much, but it just irks me. Like I need a new me? I kind of like the me I am - I've spent years cultivating it, after all. I've put a lot of work into me.

But, like most people, I guess I spend the early days of the new year contemplating what was and what could be. So I went back to my LJ and took a peek at last year's NY post, to see what I managed to accomplish.

I don't really have any resolutions this year, but a lot of hopes. I hope to find a new job (I'm still hopeful I can regain the job I almost had locked up). I hope to finish at least one new book. I hope to find an agent. I hope we remain healthy and happy and if not wealthy then comfortable.

One at a time, then:
1.I never did get that part-time job back. I still don't know what happened with that school or if they ever hired anyone for this year. Which is fine, because I found a really great FULL time job that I love. It's not my dream job, or it wasn't when I started, but it only proves that sometimes we don't really know if our dreams will really make us happy. I have taken the words of the Great Sages, The Rolling Stones, to heart, and use it as a way of life:

You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.

2.I DID finish a new book - The Sword of Danu, which as of today I will begin editing, hopefully for a Spring release. I also rewrote the Historical Fantasy/Fairy-Tale Retelling-with bits of Steampunk novel. Twice.

3.And let's see, last on the list...oh, I finally found an agent. I love her, and she should start submitting soon. 2012 will hopefully bring a contract.

Other highlights of 2011

- I turned 40. Yeah, okay, so I'm old. But I don't FEEL old. At all. I am around little kids all day long, I read YA and write YA and I think it keeps me from feeling washed up.

-bought another new car. So we have two working vehicles and it's not breaking the bank. I like that very much.

- Overall, we're pretty happy. The health isn't as great as we'd like - I had a trip to the ER for my stomach and hubby has had a year full of not feeling well, doctors, tests, and a hospital stay. It could have been worse.

Plans for 2012:

At least two trips, one in Feb. to NYC with Hubby and one in May to Balticon. The schedule for Spring is looking pretty full later in the season, but that's okay. There's also the Maryland Faerie Festival, and the NJSCBWI conference, and maybe a professional day at the NJ Librarian's convention in AC. Busy week, that.

Hopefully Beautiful, Marvelous Agent Lady will sell Smoke & Mirrors to a great house and for a great deal. I have faith in her.

Finish the Library of Athena series. One book left.

Finish another Steampunk novel.

Write, write, write

Finish Grad School. By this time next year, I'll be done. Just two semesters to go.

Take the family camping at least once. We have a car that will make it, and Boy's never been camping. Which I find a terrible shame, since he's nine years old already.

Be happy

Happy New Year!

Reflections

The dictionary gives many definitions of a reflection. The two I'm thinking about are: 1."A thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation." 2. A transformation of a figure in which each point is replaced by a point symmetric with respect to a line or plane."

When I look through family albums, I see pictures that reflect on my life. I pause at the photo of the girl sitting in front of the mirror and reflect or meditate, trying to recall this particular time and event.

Bits and pieces of it come back. A wedding. Everyone wore white. My mother made my dress with her skillful hands and old sewing machine, a Singer, I believe. I was flower girl and carried a basket of white flowers that I scattered on the floor as I walked down the aisle before the bride.

Mirrors are good reflectors. They don't lie. We can't hide ourselves from a mirrir. They show us the way we are. Looking in a mirror reflects a happy face, a sad face or a puzzled face.

Another great reflector is a body of clear water on a calm day. Notice the trees in my photo then look at the water. You see the trees, point for point. You can see your own face, too, or your dog's or cat's reflection.

Reflections are all around us: in a windowpane, eyeglasses, a shiny dish or pan, even in ourselves. Yes, our lives, the way we live, the things we say and do are reflections to those around us. I ask myself, "What do other people see in me?" I also ask myself, "What does the reader see in the characters in my novels?" They are reflections of the world I build for them, whether it's contemporary or fantasy or another world from my imagination. Everything my characters say and do reflects on his or her life. Her past influences her present and her future. I meditate when developing characters so they'll be like real people, with a history, someone the reader can relate to, and perhaps even see themselves in the character. So I talk to my heroes and heroines and they tell me their stories and they reveal the point that transformed their lives.