In Anticipation of Spring ~ by Kristine Raymond

 
Though the calendar says it's January, days like today stir in me the hope for an early Spring.  The woods are still; bare branches stretching upwards towards an azure sky, their leaves dormant beneath the bark.  A songbird trills, its song piercing the stillness, its mate responding in kind from a nearby pine.

Wisteria vines, their blooms long since withered away and scattered like dried leaves on the wind, tangle and twist around the wrought iron fence, securing a hold against the fierce winds and bitter cold still to come.




 


And yet, mere feet away, a dandelion peeks out from among the shadows, basking in golden sunlight.



 

 

Though it's early afternoon, shadows fall long across the ground, striping the fallen leaves and dormant turf.  A chill passes through me as the sun slips below the treeline, a reminder that winter's grip is firm.  





The air stirs; a gentle breeze wafting across my cheek.  A kiss from the Universe, thanking me for my appreciation of her abundant beauty and granting Her assurance that Spring's not far away.


*Photos taken by Kristine Raymond on the afternoon of January 8, 2020.  



Copyright © 2020 - Images by Kristine Raymond - All Rights Reserved. 

HELP! Blog Post Ideas Needed ~ by Andi Lawrencovna

Oh boy.

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I’ve been sitting here for a while now trying to think of something to write about, and I’m drawing a total blank.

Christmas is over. The New Year is here. Resolutions suck. And, you know…Facebook…

Sometimes, I’ve found, it’s okay not to have a plan or any ideas on your plate. Your mind needs to take a break to reboot, because we really are just super high-speed computers, if you think about it.

We rush, rush, rush all through the holiday season, trying to do everything for everyone, and even though a lot of us have time off, it’s not a vacation. Or, you go on vacation, and when you get home you need a vacation from that!

Breathe. Relax. Go look up flowers on the internet and try to smell

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them through the screen. It won’t work, but it’s kinda funny to look at and it’ll make you smile when you think about it later.

As we start this new year needing new ideas and new goals and new MORE…take time to sit back and relax a bit.

Don’t reflect. I think every time I try to sit down and reflect about last year, I depress myself because of all the goals I set and didn’t achieve, forgetting about what I did get accomplished. Reflection is great, but there is a time and place for that, too. Don’t let the new year get bogged down in last year’s…stuff.

For right now, just take a little moment not to worry about the past or the present or the future. Have that blank plate or page or whatever, and let yourself be okay with it – trust me, it will fill up fast.

The key is moderation. I know – really?!?!

Yeah. It’s so stupid and I hate that stupid phrase but “everything in moderation, including moderation.” Life is a balancing act of doing and resting. We tend to have attitudes of: if we’re not doing, we’re wasting, but that’s not true. Seriously, taking a rest is NEEDED. Our bodies and minds are so often forced to action that finding a moment of peace becomes a quest for the Holy Grail.

And a lot of times we need permission or an order to take that moment to ourselves, because those crazy active ideas in our heads keep telling us to move and we don’t want to listen to the “stop button” we’re pressing subconsciously.

So, here is your order to breathe, sit back, and relax for a moment

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this year.

All those ideas you have or don’t have but are looking for will still be there in an hour, a day, or whatever. You’re too active not to go back and pick them up later, so don’t panic putting them down. And heck, if you need me to tell you to get back to work, I can do that, too. Not a problem.

In the meantime, after you’ve taken a minute to rest and recover and get ready to move forward, if you could think of some topics you might want to hear me ramble about, hit me up! Or not. Because you’re resting, and so am I. We’ll get back to the grind soon enough, but until then, this has been your friendly reminder that it’s okay to take a break, and not have a plan because the plans are coming and they’ll add up soon.

I guess I should really re-title this blog post, but…it hopefully got your attention, and you’re hopefully maybe a little giggly about it and breathing a little easier with it.

If not…uhm…blame Facebook. Seriously, everything happens because of Facebook, I take no responsibility after this.

Love you all and I hope that you truly did have a wonderful and blessed holiday season and start to the new year. Next month look for my post on getting back to work…maybe. I might have found a new idea to go with by then so, you’ll just have to breathe and move forward at your own pace.

(P.S.: Here are some links to pretty and fun things that you can look at to help you take that moment break…)

DIGITAL BLOOMS ARCHIVES

FUNNY MUSIC

DORKY COMICS

REJECTED PRINCESS

Resolutions vs Truths ~ by Grace Augustine

I've never been one to set resolutions for a new year or any other occasion. However, with that said, I do set new annual truths for myself, including a special word for the new year. Below you will find my 20 Truths for 2020.

My special word for this year is FORWARD. With this being the year 2020, the year of perfect vision, it is only fitting that I choose this word. I will let go of the past, of all things that no longer serve me, and look solely to the future and what it holds. I will move one step at a time and enjoy every second of that step, making new memories and new friends and achieving new things.

My wish for you during this new year and decade is one of prosperity in all areas of your life. It is one of hope in all good things. It is one of peace and love that you share with all who surround you.

Passion ~ by Cynthia Land LMT, RYT

One of the great things about starting a diet or projects/resolutions at the beginning of the year is that there is so much wonderful collective energy around them.  In yoga this determination or passion to persevere is called tapas. The yogic principle of tapas refers to three ideas simultaneously; heat, discipline as well as passion. Tapas comes from the second of the Eight Limbs of Yoga  .  When we discover something we’re passionate about we can say that it lights us on fire. Sometimes fire doesn’t carry us all the way and we have to have discipline to carry us through to achieve our goals. 

When I discovered how wonderful yoga made me feel not just physically but also mentally and emotionally, it lit me on fire. I became passionate about learning how to teach it to others. And 17 years later I am still passionate about passing on its powers to others.  Tapas is why you see professional football players become coaches, it’s why are you see professional dancers become instructors, it’s certainly one of the reasons why you see people like Neil deGrasse Tyson pontificating about astrophysics, it’s a passion so strong it cannot be contained to one medium.

You don’t necessarily have to be great or gifted at the thing you do. I am probably the least flexible yoga teacher I know.  That is why I have the discipline to keep working on my yoga poses to maintain my flexibility. However I have such a passion for the philosophy of yoga and a desire to learn, that I continue to delve into the books and teachings, broadening and deepening my knowledge base. 

As you can see right here on Originality by Design there are many things keeping people passionate and on fire.  What keeps you passionate in life? 

Adventures in Writing ~ by Holly Barbo

Every author brings to their writing elements of their past, their interests and… what makes them tick. They create the magic from the essence of what they are and you; the reader, gets transported into another world. I write in and mix several genres. Not sure if that makes me confused or multi-faceted.

~ grin ~ 

One of my earlier childhood memories is of wanting to learn to read. Starting school meant going to that place where I would learn the key. It was the only purpose for school, in my mind. Well… it turned out it wasn’t quite that simple, and I struggled with the skill. The much younger me persevered. I was determined even then.

Once I caught on, I sampled different genre of books in the school library but, I found the stories that swept me into another place fell into a cluster of categories: adventure-intrigue, suspense, thriller, sci-fi / fantasy and historical fiction. Those were magic. My childhood favorites were: Mara- Daughter of the Nile by McGraw, Mrs. Mike by Freedman, several of James Michener’s books and, of course, all of the Dragon Riders of Pern tales by Anne McCaffrey. If you are familiar with any of these you can see what makes my writing tick. Writers were a marvel! I was content to sit with these books and never write… only read.

In spring 2009 I was working in our furniture store. The market had crashed 6 months before and business was quiet. A story crept into my mind. I pushed the bothersome thing away. I needed to vacuum, dust, fluff pillows and make my store appealing to the invisible hoards of customers who were waiting to stream in and be tempted beyond their restraint. Once the housekeeping duties were done the story pushed again. It wanted out. Finally I gave in and sitting down at my computer I began to write what became The Sage Seed Chronicles. For the most part, I was the conduit. Ten months later, four of the five books in the fantasy series were complete.

We list The Sage Seed Chronicles as fantasy but it also has sci-fi elements. I seem almost incapable of writing a pure genre story. Eventually I sampled writing in several other genres: steampunk, thriller, dystopian, adventure, historical fiction and suspense. Several are combination. But what I was drawn to write is where I loved to read.

One of the online groups I was a part of suggested a multi-author short story anthology. Short story? How do you write a short story? Really. I’m sincere. I hadn’t a clue. I’d just completed five books with the word count around 86,000 each. The pace and development of a novel is measured and developed. Now I’m being asked to write a story in about 5,000 words? 

After the initial disbelief in the concept I read and studied a few short stories. The pace was different, and the skill was to cut out the unnecessary… whatever that was. I took on the challenge. My first short story was also a new genre for me: dystopian. The Tin of Honey was a hit with the readers and eventually made the Semi-finals in the ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story competition.

Since that time I’ve used short stories to explore genres. I don’t write romances, zombies, horror but seem to be suited to weaving historical with contemporary-suspense/thriller and like world-building.

From the very first of the Sage Seed Chronicles I’ve taken current event worries and woven them into a plot. The books aren’t diatribes on what is happening now. I work hard to take concerns and put them into another setting. It’s therapeutic to “solve” something in a story I have no power to fix in real time. 

If you look at the graphics, you will note the genre spread: steampunk, thriller, dystopian, adventure, historical fiction and suspense. Currently I have nine full length books. Three books have won a single award and Vortexes has four by itself.

~YAY and Happy Dancing~ 

Also on my bookshelf are several short stories. We titled one set Quick Reads (above graphic) and the tales are longer. Perhaps a couple of lunch breaks in reading time per story. All of these are long enough to be singles but are also gathered in a five-story collection. Another set, above, is a trilogy and (LOL) one is waiting to become a trilogy.

~Whew~

Continuing to a smaller scale, I’ve a seven-story collection of mini tales that are too tiny to be out on their own and are only found under the title of Tendrils. Again, whether it be books or short stories, my genres cover the same territory… that which I fell in love with as a child.

I need to make a point here. Many of my short stories have children in them but are NOT children’s books. My readers range from 14-16 to in their 90’s. I write about serious topics which are not intended for young children. The only ones which could be read by kids, as far as subject matter, are The Dragil (from the Quick Reads set), Rockets (found in Tendrils) and the Beyond Time Trilogy.

A bit about me. Earlier I mentioned a furniture store. We closed the

Author Holly Barbo and Misha

store but continue to custom build, restore and repair wood furniture. You can see examples on our biz website: https://www.barbofurniture.com. Yes, I still write between work projects. You must do something while glue is drying, etc. My author website is http://hollybarbo-books.com. Come visit. 

Oh… and I’m currently working on a new thriller. Watch for it this year.