Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit.
I figure it's best to start a new year off with as much luck as we can garner.

On to my serious thoughts...
I chose HOPE as my word for 2025.
I know a lot of people who are anxious about the coming year. There's so much we can't control on a macro level. But we can hope for the best and we can work towards that goal...we can have say on a micro level. We can try to make our little corner of the world a better place.
We can volunteer.
We can pick up a piece of trash on the sidewalk.
We can smile at our neighbors and spread a bit of glee.
We can drive a little less.
We can plant a tree.
We can take care of ourselves physically and mentally.
I like to think of it as ripples on a pond. If I toss my
one small pebble in, it will make a ripple, but it won't make much of one. But if I invite all my friends to toss their pebbles in at the same time...well, we'd have a tsunami of HOPE.
So I invite you to toss a lot of HOPEFUL pebbles in your ponds this year!
One of my favorite quotes from Hometown Christmas (I know, quoting yourself is pretentious LOL) is
"I can't change the world, but I can try."

Let's make 2025 a tsunami of hope! Holly

Check out some of my books!

Deck the Halls

Exclusively available for Kindle and KU.
 Around the Square
Book 1-6 are available now! Book 7 & 8 are available for preorder and the final book will be out this fall!

Slip and Fall: A Harry's Pottery Mystery #2 Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery #1 Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Nook
A View to a Kiln on Jeopardy!!

Hometown Hearts

Word of the Year—2018

Years ago, I gave up on New Year's Resolutions.  Instead, I pick one word to build my year around.  I love that other people have joined me in the tradition.  I've used words like Stop, Moment, Awareness, Step, Optimism, Change, Stretch, Time, Hope...

I've been mulling 2018's word and finally landed on Chapter.  With that word I'm acknowledging that things changed last year and will continue to change next year. 

In 2017 I lost my mother in July and losing her has left a hole in my life.  I went back to school in August and discovered so much glee in Ceramics and My Novel Freshman Experience.  My family is another year older and they're lives are changing and evolving, and I'll confess, I feel such a sense of pride when I look at what amazing people they are. 

So 2018 will begin with me in a new place...a new chapter if you will.  By choosing that as my word of the year, I'm reminding myself that even when change is hard, I should more than accept those changes, I should embrace them!  I should try and make this chapter the best one yet.

How about you?  Do you have a word of the year?

Happy New Year, my friends.  Thank you to everyone who's followed my pottery adventures and a huge thanks to everyone who's picked up a book, left a review and shared a bit glee with me!

Holly

PS My new release, Once Upon a Valentine's is out on Tuesday! I hope you'll check out my PTA Mom series!

Word of the Year...2017

Yes, I gave up  New Year's resolutions. They seem doomed.  How many people follow through for the whole year?  Not many. 

For a while, I tried to make resolutions I knew I could keep.  But that seemed like a cheat.  More than a decade ago, I settled on the idea of choosing one word and centering my year around it. That was something I could succeed at. Words like Glee (LOL I know you're shocked), Time, Optimism, Stretch, Stop, Moment, Love, Awareness...  

Most of my words represent a trait I want to grow over the coming new year.  I put my word on a PostIt by my desk and every time I sit down that year, I'm reminded.  

Picking my word requires some pondering and mulling.  But I'm happy to announce I've found my word for 2017.  It felt as if 2016 was fraught with anger, division and sadness.  The country—the world—seemed divided by US and THEM.  So in 2017, I hope we all find ourselves thinking in terms of WE.

So the word I choose is Hope.

Yes, I know, I can't control the world.  I can't control the country.  I'm going to start with me.  I'm going to Hope and try to live my year with glee and kindness.  I'm going to Hope to see the WE in everyone.  I'm going to Hope that the glee is contagious. I'm going to Hope that it spreads beyond me.  I'm going to Hope that the world becomes a kinder more tolerant place.  HOPE—it might seem like a passive word, but I'm going to turn my Hope into something active.  I'm going to turn my Hope into a movement.

I HOPE you find a word and that you not only make 2017 a happy new year, but a year of personal growth!

Holly

PS I picked my word and wrote this blog before I went to see Star Wars Rogue One where they said, "Rebellions are built on hope."  That fit in nicely with my idea of turning Hope from a passive word to an active one.  I'm planning to build my year rebelling against all the negatives in the world and I'm hoping and working for positive ones!