Word of the Year—2023

 

Last year my Word of the Year was Thankful. And I have so much to be thankful about. My family. My friends. Indoor plumbing...LOL

In past years I've had words like Patience, Stretch, Step, Glee, Hope, Time, Chapter, Stop...

As every new year approaches, I spend some time thinking about what I want to concentrate on for the next twelves months. I went round and round this year, not quite able to settle on any one thing. Finally I had it. I've talked before about how little things make me happy. But little things is two words. I know, I could have cheated, and I thought about it. But I hit on an adjacent word...Mindful. To be honest, it's a more powerful word than little-things. I plan to spend 2023 concentrating on the small moments that give me glee and hope. Moments with my kids and with the Minions. Moments with Himself. Moments with friends. Moments at the cottage. Moments in the studio. Beautiful, glorious moments.

But I'm sure there will be other moments to be Mindful of.

There's a poem I learned when I was very young...

“I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.”

― Robert Browning Hamilton

So more than being mindful of the small, gleeful moments I'm hoping being Mindful reminds me to embrace those moments that aren't as gleeful or aren't gleeful at all. I want to meet them head on and see what lessons they leave me with. Lessons and gifts. I think most of our problems comes with one or the other...frequently both.

When I started writing, I wrote straight up romantic comedy. Books like I Waxed My Legs for This? my PTA Moms, Everything But...series, Not Precisely Pregnant. But over time, I've added more serious books. Books that deal with those non-gleeful moments. Briar Hill Road, Just One Thing, Carry Her Heart, my Hometown Hearts series... They all taught me so much as I wrote them. I'll confess, I cried more than once with all of them. But each left me some new insight about myself and about life. Just like those harder moments in real life leave us gifts. 

So I will be Mindful and try to embrace all the moments 2023 offers me. I will try to recognize them and hold them close. 

As the new year begins, I wish you all a marvelous, gleeful year!

Holly

Looking for something to read in 2023? Check out:

Surprises in All Sizes anthology.
One of my Hometown Hearts stories is included!

Signs of the Times
Available for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited

Chances
Amazon 
Barnes and Noble
Kobo  
Apple Books 

A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery
Kindle
iBooks
Kobo
Nook

Connections

Thankful.

That was my 2021 Word of the Year. It was a good word because there's so much in my life I'm thankful for. Himself and my family always starts my list. I have the most amazing kids who've brought new family members into our lives...people who didn't grow up in my house but who are every bit as much a part of my family and my thankful list as the kids I gave birth to. I'm pretty sure they were always part of our family...we just didn't know it. 

My connections start with my family but grow from them to friends and neighbors. I'm thankful for all of them as well. 

I'm thankful for home...both for the house we live, the house my in-laws built and lived in, as well as the cottage and barn out in the woods. I'm connected to that as well...we discovered that my family homesteaded the land at the end of the road. I love that connection.

I just watched Tick, Tick, Boom. I love Rent and it was a lovely way to look at Larson's life. He left a mark. He impacted my life with his music and story. And I realized how thankful I am for my writing and even my super imperfect attempts at pottery. In my writing I'm able to talk about things that are important to me. Family. Friends. I got another note not long ago from someone who read Just One Thing at just the right time. They said it helped them deal with their grief. For me, as a writer, that's it. That's why I do what I do. At their heart, all romance stories are about connections. I really believe that's what everyone craves...connections. Not just craves...it sounds like something you could pass on. Like chocolate cake. You might want it, but you don't need it. But people need connections. 

So here it is, a few days after Thanksgiving and I'm still thinking about being thankful. I'm thankful for all the connections in my life. Family. Friends. Readers who I've never met but found something to connect to in my writing.  My home.

In A Hometown Christmas the heroine has a saying that, to be honest, I sort of loaned to her. "I can't change the world, but I can try." She feels all alone, but when she looks around she realizes she's not just connected to her town, she's totally entangled in it. 

So on this Thanksgiving week, I hope you find a lot to be thankful for. And I hope when you look at your connections you find that you are entangled in them...in love.

Holly

Here's the list of the entire Hometown Hearts series!

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3

Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

 Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Blue: Hometown Hearts #6 

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

Something Perfect: Hometown Hearts #7 

Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, Kindle

Something Unexpected: A Hometown Hearts short story 
Amazon

A Hometown Christmas: Hometown Hearts #8
Kindle 
Nook
AppleBooks
Kobo

PPS. Here's my latest kiln opening!!

Word of the Year—2021

 

Every year for more than a decade I've talked about giving up New Year's Resolutions and instead coming up with a Word of the Year. My Word of the year for 2020 was Patience. I feel very prophetic about it because 2020 was definitely a year that required a lot of patience. I tend to try to view the world as a glass half full sort of place, but frankly this year has been required a lot of work to maintain that view. So many people are hurting and suffering.  1 out of every 1,000 Americans has succumbed to Covid. Even while I find the beauty in the world—whether it's the minions, my family, a new studio, a new book, the cottage—I see the beauty but it's tinged with the sorrow that we've all felt.  Patience. It's taken a lot of work and patience.

Most years I simply share my Word of the Year. This year, I'm going to walk you through how I pick one. (If you've watched Trippin' with Holly and Susan videos, you've seen my weird, circular thought process in some of them.)

I've tried to make a difference where I can. I've tried to spread glee. I've...I've patiently tried to make the world just a little brighter.

So now I need to pick a Word for 2021. My first inclination was HOPE. I'm hopeful that before the end of '21 things will be better. Not necessarily back to normal, but better. HOPE feels like a good choice even though I've used it as a Word of the Year in the past. I don't think anyone can ever have too much hope.

And yet, I also think this coming year is going to rely on SCIENCE. For a decade scientist worked on a new way of developing vaccines. They worked, they tested their mRNA technology and when this horrible virus came along, they'd laid the groundwork for preparing an effective inoculation in record time. My family is filled with frontline workers and I'm so proud and THANKFUL for the work they do. And I'm so THANKFUL for that science as they've begun getting inoculations that will protect them. So THANKFUL. That's another great idea for a Word for '21. I'm THANKFUL for my brave and amazing family. I'm THANKFUL to the scientists who've worked so hard for a decade and put us in a place where we could confront this pandemic in a timely way. 

I'm Hopeful and Thankful. Both words encompass science. So now I've narrowed my word to one of those two. Those Trippin' videos will also show you that I have no problem twisting things to suit my purpose...I could just pick two words. And yet...I love having one word to focus on.

I'm hopeful that scientist continue to work hard and think of new ways to save lives. I'm thankful for all they've done and are doing. If you've ever read How to Catch a Groom, you know of my inherent fondness for science and I feel this year has proven that fondness out.

I'm thankful for all our frontline workers and hopeful their jobs will become just a bit easier in '21.

I'm hopeful that our country will find a way to come together and work together for the good of all of us...the good of the least of us. I'm thankful for all the people who've spent their lives working for the least of us.

I still haven't decided. So I plugged the both those words into Google to see what popped up. I found:

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” Gilbert Keith Chesterton

You all know that glee is a word I use a lot. I strive for finding that glee everywhere in everything.

This seems like a sign.

So while I'm full of hope for '21 my word of the year is THANKFUL.

I'm thankful for scientists. Thankful for frontline workers who've faced so much this year. I'm thankful for Himself. I'm thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful for my writing and my pottery. I'm thankful for Tallulah. I'm thankful that despite the troubles this year, the new year brings with it hope for something better.

I am thankful. 

I've had words like Patience, Stretch, Step, Glee, Hope, Time, Chapter, Stop...

THANKFUL. It's a good word to add to my list and a good word to center the new year around.

When I wrote Same Time Next Summer, I investigated TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) and discovered that recovery from a TBI isn't sudden. It's slow and difficult process. I suspect 2021 is going to be like that. Things will be better, but not all of a sudden. Slowly, with hard work, we're going to get back to normal or a new normal. And I am going to try to be thankful for each step in the process. 

Wishing you all a hopeful, thankful new year!

Holly

PS My Books and Pottery

HollysWoodsStudio

And check out Hometown Hearts:

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3
Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

 

Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5
PREORDER. Available 1/21
Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

PREORDER. Available 3/21
Kindle, Kobo, Nook