This is the first of the “at-least-weekly” entries about my work-in-progress book that I committed to in my New Year’s Resolutions.

Since many of you are reading about my book the first time, allow me to introduce you to my main character – Brandy Hill. 

Brandy’s ex-husband was mentally, emotionally, and occasionally physically, abusive. She went through a very dark time when they split up, and 10 years later has not fully dealt with their marriage and breakup. 

One good thing came from their marriage – April. April recently left for college, and the time alone has allowed Brandy’s mind to go to her past, resulting in another struggle with depression. 

This story (which, so far, has no title) is about Brandy finally facing the demons in her life, freeing herself from them, and giving herself permission to be happy again. It’s also about her helping April work through the damage done by her parents’ failed marriage and her own painful experiences with her father. This story is also about Scott, the man that Brandy falls in love with, who has a failed marriage and issues of his own. 

This is the story of a perfect, realistic love. It’s about two people who truly love each other, flaws and all. They acknowledge and accept each other’s flaws. They push each other. They tell each other what they need to hear, not always what they want to hear. They are always there for each other. They both mess up. They are both human. They each have problems. Through it all, they remain passionate lovers and best friends.

If you'd like to know a little more, please click here to go to my page about Brandy and Scott.  Stay tuned for more!

Neil Gaiman on the New Year

Neil Gaiman has a wonderful blog  that is simply called "Neil Gaiman's Journal".  Now if I simply named my blog "Sonia Fogal's Journal" no one would care and no one would ever visit my site.  But when your name is Neil Gaiman, anything with your name attached to it draws a great amount of attention.  And deservedly so. Among his accomplishments are short fiction, novels (including Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book), comic books (including The Sandman series), graphic novels, audio theatre and films. He has also won numerous awards, including Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, Newberry Medal, and Carnegie Medal in Literature. So when Neil Gaiman speaks writers and millions of readers tend to listen.  

                                      

I was still awake about 2AM on New Year's Day and was curious about his New Year's journal entry. I looked it up and here is what I found:
"It's a New Year and with it comes a fresh opportunity to shape our world. 

So this is my wish, a wish for me as much as it is a wish for you: in the world to come, let us be brave – let us walk into the dark without fear, and step into the unknown with smiles on our faces, even if we're faking them. 


And whatever happens to us, whatever we make, whatever we learn, let us take joy in it. We can find joy in the world if it's joy we're looking for, we can take joy in the act of creation. 


So that is my wish for you, and for me. Bravery and joy". 

What great words for the new year.  We will all walk into the dark this year.  Sometimes we will see it drawing near as we travel the path of our life and sometimes it will seem that we are walking in full light one moment and then are surrounded by darkness the next.  "Fake it until you make it" really does work often.  Making yourself smile when you step into the unknown changes your attitude somehow and that gets you through until you find your way out.  

I absolutely love this - "We can find joy in the world if it's joy we're looking for".  So very true.  Even when the darkness does surround us and even when it takes every fiber of our being to put a smile on our face and persevere, there are many things in which we can find joy if we look.  If we resist the urge to focus on the negative.  I truly believe that sometimes things have to be seen to be believed.  But we have to make ourselves see them.  May we all do this in 2013.  Thank you for your words of wisdom Mr Gaiman.  

Here's to finding joy regardless of what life brings our way in 2013!

Generally I hate New Years resolutions.  There is value to them.  They provide a reason for each of us to look at our lives and decide what we want to change.  There is great value to that process.  What I hate about them is that this should not be something I do once a year.  It is something I should do frequently.  And I make a real effort to do so.  

I saw the Stephen Covey quote above on Twitter recently (thank you Jonathan Gunson) and it stood out to me so I favorited and retweeted it.  

I got up this morning with a long list of things I need to get done.  I have been working through all of them all day and now that it's 8:00 at night I find that I have barely made a dent.  Every morning I know that I may very well end up at the end of the day with barely a dent in the long list of things to be done. At one time this frustrated me and stressed me out terribly.  It doesn't any more because I've come to accept the fact that there is just more to be done than I can possibly accomplish in a day.

Tonight as I thought about my writing, and my life in general, the quote above came to mind.  

"You have to do decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - to say 'no' to other things.  And the way to do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside".

As I think over this day and how Mr Covey's advice would apply to it, I have identified a couple of things in my life that run contrary to it.  

My highest priorities are easy to identify - writing and a handful of people in my life.  I need to say 'no' to everything that doesn't support either of these two things.  As a new writer I am learning at this point.  One thing I've learned is that writing is only one part of what it takes to be an author.  There is so much more that has to be done to get my name out, create my brand, show what I know and who I am, meet people in the industry.  I have to do all of these things while also improving my skills and oh yeah . . . writing.   

I also have to nurture the relationships with those people that are in that handful that are really, truly important to me.  I am very lucky that these people understand how important my writing is to me and they encourage and support me.

I identified only one part of today's activities that do not fall into either of these categories.  

So if (gulp) I must make a New Years resolution it will be exactly what Mr Covey advises.  I will continue to thoroughly examine my life and "pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically" say no to everything else.