Beginnings and Endings by Diana Flegal

Tomorrow a New Year begins. I, being a true optimist, always look forward to the turning of December’s calendar page to January. Fresh starts, new opportunities to balance work and pleasure, and improve valued relationships await me.

Ecclesiastics tells us, ‘to every thing there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven’.

Nick Honerkamp, lead Pastor of New Covenant Church in Clyde, N.C. believes the turning of the calendar to a New Year has great significance and can change everything. “In order to have the energy you will need in 2015; we must make a withdrawal from 2014.”

What small thing can you bring from 2014 into the New Year, or what small adjustments can we make that will improve the new year’s outcome? 

Some writers chose a word for the New Year. I’ve had hope, and another year, courage.

You might consider adopting a quote you can apply to your 2015 writing journey. One that addresses an area you are weak in perhaps, or something inspiring you’ve pulled from a favorite writing resource. Here are a few for your consideration.

“Contrary to what many of you may imagine, a career in letters is not without its drawbacks- chief among them the unpleasant fact that one is frequently called upon to sit down and write.”                                                                                                             Fran Lebowitz

“Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.”                                                               Raymond Chandler

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”                                       E. L. Doctorow

“The only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you.”                                                                                                   W. Somerset Maugham

 “Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down.”                                    John Steinbeck                                                                                                                       

“The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first.”

  Blaise Pascal 

 “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”           
                                                                                                              Jack London

Good novels are not written, they are rewritten. Great novels are diamonds mined from layered rewrites.”                                                                              Andre Jute

We are not old until our regrets replace our dreams.

                                                                                               Yiddish Proverb

                                                                              

“One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly.”  

                                                                                                              Lawrence Block

"Nothing is too big for my God to accomplish, and nothing is too little for Him to use in accomplishing it!"                                                                               Unknown

"God is so good to get the right book, into the right hands, at the right time." 
                                                                                                             Diana Flegal

May this New Year be one of adventure, fulfilled goals, and great accomplishments for each of us :-).

            Happy New Year!