Come On In!

Welcome to a new year at Writers' Rest! I know it's been pretty quiet around here lately, but now we're back on track, it's 2009 and we have a whole new year of challenge and opportunity ahead!
So why don't we put our feet up, grab a beverage and chat a while? Have you set any goals for yourself this year?
How are you doing with meeting them so far? What are you working on? Got any great highlights from last year
to share with us? How do you hope to grow as a writer this year?
I could ask a ton more questions, but feel free to answer those and share a bit with us!
I'll start.
This year I've determined, with God's help, to be far more disciplined in my spiritual life. I hate the word discipline, it conjures up some bad memories for me, but really, what I mean is that I must take time to be with the Lord. For me, the queen of distractions, that is a discipline. It's not that I don't want to spend time in prayer and worship, and most of the time these are spontaneous things for me anyway, but over the last year I really didn't spend enough time in HIs Word. And it showed.
So how do I plan to fix this? Well, I found this link: and I have been doing the readings every morning while I have my coffee. There are generally four sections of Scripture for the day, right now it's Genesis, Matthew, Proverbs and Psalms. I confess I'd forgotten what a tapestry the Bible is. The words are so rich and full of meaning, the stories vivid and so applicable even today. No wonder God got published before any of us!
Well that's my big goal for the year. Hopefully by this time next year, I will have read through the Bible!
As far as my writing goes, I just want to keep learning and growing. I'm working on a new manuscript which is going to be the sequel to a book my agent is going to be sending out hopefully this month sometime. I'm having a hard time getting back into the writing groove, but I have so much going on in my life at the moment that I suppose it's inevitable. We'll be moving into our new home in a couple of months, so until then, I'm not going to set any writing goals that I know I can't meet. I never thought I'd say this, but at this particular time in my life, I'm actually glad I'm not contracted! I'm not saying it too loudly though!
Last year was wonderful for me in a lot of ways. I became an agented author, got a lot of rejection letters but they were mostly good, and I had the privilege of seeing at least four of my critique buddies get contracts. Yeah, I know what you're thinking...and yes, I did mope a bit, I wouldn't be human if I didn't...but I'm trusting God that my time is coming. If it's not HIs will, then I'm also trusting HIm to tell me that. So far He's using a lot of people to encourage me and prod me forward. So, hand in His, off I go into this new year, wide-eyed, hopeful, and filled with anticipation for what is to come.
How about you?