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Holidays Filled with Hope...

I started to write about my regrets of the past two months. How I haven't been well and I haven't written, not much anyway and how blah blah blah - my life isn't going as I want it to. Bah humbug to that sort of post.

However I realized I needed to write about the hope that has filled my heart in the last few days. As I worked yesterday on "the" story, I felt motivation pour through my veins and I realized that spending time regretting something is spending valuable time I could have used anticipating what my characters would be doing next. Or anticipating the next story that's mulling around in my brain. OR actually working at the computer turning my dreams into reality!

I have a number of ideas with help from writing buddy Sherry Hartzler on epubbing some of our work. She's already doing a bang up job of promoting her books Three Moons Over Sedona and Island Passage over at Amazon, ebooks for Kindle. You might want to check them out. Very inexpensive and great reads. They're both available in paperbacks as well, if you prefer the old fashioned way of reading as I do.

I don't have a Kindle and am content to still hold a book in my hand but maybe someday my thoughts on that will change.

Right now my holidays are filled with hope. Hope for the well being and health of my family, hope for the future of our country - I know that's far fetched but still....I'm hopeful we'll get back on track. And hope I'll be able to get my three unfinished novel written to THE END.


Maintaining hope is often something we have to work at.  I easily get bogged down in the silt of life and have to pick myself  up and dust myself off and get back on the track of life. It's an ongoing process. We just have to hang in! Hope you are hangin'.

Hope your holidays are filled with hope and joy and goodwill toward man. After all. It's all we can do. HOPE.

God bless you and yours this hope filled holiday season.

Comments

  1. And God bless you, Barb. It sounds as if you're getting it together and hopefully the e-publishing things works out -- it's a very good idea. I got a Kindle for my last birthday and I like it very much -- but not for everything. But it sure is nice not to have to be bogged down with books when travelling or lunching on your own. But it does lack the intimacy of holding a book in your own hands and being able to flip back through pages to re-read something.

    I live in hope that my homeland has more sense than the politicians give us credit for!

    Merry Christmas and keep writing!

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  2. There you go! Regret just steals our life.

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  3. I find this post uplifting. I have been feeling more hopeful this month, which took me by surprise. Somehow, I've made "Hope" my mantra, and it has changed my perspective.

    Today my sister gave me a little wooden sign for my birthday. As I was opening it, she said, "it isn't much . . ." and seemed to be feeling like it wasn't "enough". But, when I opened it I was thrilled. I said, "How did you know?"
    "What do you mean?" she asked.
    I told her, "Hope has been my mantra all month! I LOVE this!"
    Hope is freeing.

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  4. Beautifully written, Barb. There's nothing to be gained from looking back at what we haven't done–that's over, gone, behind us. And there's nothing like a good hour or two at the computer to boost my spirits and give me hope. Blessings and here's to a New Year filled with Hope.

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  5. Yes, this was beautifully written. I also hope you have a New Year filled with much hope.

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  6. Excellent post, Barb - and a reminder to keep hope in our hearts!

    Best for the holidays and 2012 - with such a positive outlook and an open mind, it sounds like it might be a very good year for you :)

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  7. Wonderful. There is no greater gift than hope.

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  8. Oh, Barb! I feel your pain. It is so easy to get bogged down with the woes of life. So glad you're on the upswing now:) Merry Christmas, friend!

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  9. Sometimes I think of it as being happy on purpose. I don't always make it all the way to happy, but I don't think I quite have the right to let myself sink down into the sadness I sometimes feel. I have this undercurrent of joy and this assurance that is not quite to the belief stage that all things that come to us, both bad and good are part of some reason we can't see. When really bad things happen, this underlying assurance kicks in -- it's like a song of the Mother, comfoting in the middle of needing that comfort.

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  10. Kate - being happy on purpose is a goal I'm always working toward. And sometimes we do have to work at it.
    I was so down from being ill that it continued when I started feeling better. The depression has lifted and I'm feeling joy once again. I miss feeling happy.
    Thanks to all for commenting. Love reading the comments as much or more than I like writing the posts.
    Have a great Christmas!

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  11. Loved the article and thanks for the mention of Three Moons Over Sedona and Island Passage. We are living proof that girlfriends reign supreme!!!

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  12. Merry Christmas to you and I have the same "hopes" as you do..except I don't have novels to finish so I "hope" you get yours done! I don't have a kindle either and I still get a thrill out of picking up a book, smelling the pages..enjoying the feel of it in my hands...but who knows, I too may one day go to the "other side" of reading!

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  13. Loved your post about hope and hanging in there. What would there be without hope. Merry Christmas Barbara and good luck in finishing your stories.

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  14. and hope leads to faith and faith is the best we can ask. Sometimes the Bible hits the mark just right.

    Christmas for us was a mix. Mostly good. Missing someone awfully much. Looking forward to New Year's Eve and day -- which we call Twelfth Night.

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  15. Wondering on the reasons people write... Would you mind to tell more about the reasons you write at http://crayzys.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-do-you-write-why-do-you-post-your.html

    Guess my overthinking has unthunk me into why I have a drive to write... It is as if it was process-driven.

    Maybe as a professional writer you could break the ice... no one likes to leave the 1st comment.

    Motivated by a recent read that writing might be a dialogue between the emotional part of the brain and the logical side--subvocalization dialogue.

    Writing for me is like a magnet. The pull is the drive not the clunk when it is done..

    My wishes for the New Year are:

    May your slippers be filled with blessings and may these blessings multiply into gratitude with each step.

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