{"id":1901,"date":"2018-01-01T11:58:56","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T16:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/?p=1901"},"modified":"2018-01-01T11:58:56","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T16:58:56","slug":"reflection-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/reflection-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year to you and your family. May this year be a blessing for you all.\"\"Copyright 2018 Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m typing this via an iPad, by the way. So let\u2019s just blame Apple for any typos, omissions, grammatical errors and stupidity, m\u2019 kay?<\/p>\n

Honestly, I hadn\u2019t planned on a blog post until the new season of the #WordCountPodcast<\/b> launching in a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Then I saw one of my handwritten PostIt notes with the words \u201cwrite more blog posts 2018\u201d scrawled on it.<\/p>\n

Might as well kick that off right now, then\u2014it being the first day of 2018 and all.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

2017 was a year with highs and lows like each year before it. My cognition hasn\u2019t improved much since the strokes 2 years ago, and I developed new DVT blood clots a couple weeks ago.<\/p>\n

But with both of these issues, I\u2019m choosing to look at the silver lining.<\/p>\n

My cognition hasn\u2019t improved, but the work-arounds I\u2019ve been learning and practicing under the watchful eyes of the brilliant folks at BWH Neurology continues to improve. The DVT\u2019s, while worrying (no one seems to know why my blood acts up occasionally), the clots were caught and the situation is being managed pharmacologically.<\/p>\n

There were many more triumphs this past year, and that is what I want to focus on in this post as the wins of 2017 will springboard me into 2018.<\/p>\n

Highlights from last year include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 My Wife started her own consulting company in 2017 and she already has two clients.
\n\u2022 My sister is shortly moving into her brand new home in Florida with my Mom. Construction began in 2017.
\n\u2022 My son began his Junior year at Albright College and is now living off campus.
\n\u2022 My daughter began her senior year in High School and she has already been accepted at college for the fall (announcement pending her final decision).
\n\u2022 Four published stories, one in an award-winning anthology.
\n\u2022 Completed the brilliant Contemporary Dark Fiction online class offered by Richard Thomas<\/b>
\n\u2022 Met new friends in the class, and here I want to single out S. L. Coney<\/b> and Becca Borawski Jenkins<\/b> who have been and will continue to be marvelous friends, writing Sherpas and over all brilliant and delightful people.
\n\u2022 Was accepted at Emerson College and began my online MFA
\n\u2022 My first semester consisted of two graduate courses\u2014a writing workshop and a literature course\u2014resulting in a 100.00 and a 95.88 respectively.
\n\u2022 The Emerson Writing, Literature and Publishing department chair along with the Popular Fiction director at Emerson have added teaching courses to my curriculum which I also begin this Spring.
\n\u2022 I read 68 Books last year. Check out that list if it interests you over at my Goodreads site.<\/a>
\n\u2022 I attended the Gamut Magazine Writer\u2019s Workshop in Chicago\u2014finally meeting both Richard Thomas and Mercedes M. Yardley. Those two were on my \u201cmust meet\u201d bucket list. I was delighted to ALSO meet: Joe Meno, Jac Jemc, Lindsay Hunter, Jan Bottiglieri, Casey Frechette, Sarah Read, Rena Mason, Ashleigh Gauch, Alec Fugate, Pamela Dugan, and Alana Southwood.
\n\u2022 I attended BOSKONE and ReaderCon (and will be at both again in 2018) and signed up for StokerCon (coming this March).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just the \u201chighlights reel.\u201d Friends and relatives came for visits, I finally decided to give up my car (as driving is a focus issue for me) and that was an incredibly free feeling. I have the love of an amazing partner, and a support system in place that I am incredibly great full for.<\/p>\n

Focus on the positive. That is one of the mantras for 2018. The other is \u201cbe better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Future-2018 Goals & Hope<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

There will always be things I want to accomplish and don\u2019t get done over the year. I spend the first few days of the new year reflections on what was done and on what was missed. Are the missed things important? Are there things I need to logically accomplish first before I can tackle a specific goal?<\/p>\n

These questions and more go into my planning for the next year.<\/p>\n

I expect this list of future goals to be a \u201cliving\u201d document. The first page of my new bullet journal contains the list I\u2019m about to share with you. I do expect that it will change and morph as the months slide by. But has of today, January 1st, here is what I hope to accomplish in 2018:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Attend my daughter\u2019s high school graduation.
\n\u2022 Continue to grow and nourish the relationship Tina and I share.
\n\u2022 Build and execute a health regimen that takes into account my physical and mental limitations, yet allows me to work toward improving my physical situation.
\n\u2022 Continue to write every day. My goal: 500 words a day. Whether on a story, revision, blog post, what have you.
\n\u2022 Build a Social Media platform that makes sense yet doesn\u2019t become the typical \u201ctime suck\u201d that platforms like Facebook can become.
\n\u2022 Build a writer\u2019s identity\/Marketing plan.
\n\u2022 Write 12 short Stories (\u201cpublication ready\u201d) and one novel. 500 words a day X 365 = 186, 500 words. At 5 k per short story (60k) and 90k for a novel, that should be doable if I push it.
\n\u2022 Determine the final direction for my \u201cArcana Chronicles\u201d series.
\n\u2022 Crush another 24 credits toward my MFA. My goal is to graduate in May of 2019.
\n\u2022 Attend three writer conferences and one workshop beyond Emerson.
\n\u2022 Remap my finances\u2014medical expenses has eliminated any hope at retirement, so I have to figure that all out this year and execute a financial plan.
\n\u2022 See my children as much as possible.
\n\u2022 Visit with my family in Florida for a week without the travel\/health trauma I experience now (Currently I cannot travel more than an hour without significant anticoagulation\u2014and I still ended up with more DVTs. A Solution must be agreed between my doctors and I).
\n\u2022 More author networking
\n\u2022 Sign up for and actually read TWO trade magazines
\n\u2022 Map a daily schedule that will allow for meditation, exercise, rehabilitation, writing, networking, school work and \u201cdown time.\u201d
\n\u2022 Attend more Emerson events and plug into the WLP department more.
\n\u2022 Blog once a week
\n\u2022 Better planning, effective time management (which has been a joke since the strokes), and a more positive outlook.
\n\u2022 Be kind. As kind and loving as my wife is to me, her family, and all our kitties.
\n\u2022 Be Better. Be better at SO many things…<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure more will be added to the living version of this list. But it\u2019s a start.<\/p>\n

I counting on y\u2019all to keep me on task.<\/p>\n

Peace and Love,<\/p>\n

Richard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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