The Happy New Year Blog Post

Happy (much-belated) New Year! <insert party horn noises>

I realize today is March 26. The tulip buds are poking out of the ground; Ohioans are alternating between snow boots and summer shorts on a daily basis; and we're nowhere near the "new year" anymore. But that's okay--I've never been a first-one-out-of-the-gate sort of person. Better late than never, right?

So now that we're here, what did The Very Busy Kathryn do in 2017?
 
I took a course through the Children's Book Academy. Then I took more classes through Storyteller Academy. I went to conferences, volunteered a ton with SCBWI, and hid in a cabin for several days to write by myself. Plus day-job. Critique-swapping with buddies. Family-togetherness. Spine-stupidness. Various traveling. Ate way more fast food than I should have. Kept stubbornly playing Pokemon Go. (I WILL catch them all!) 

I did so much that I honestly can't remember everything I did. My "2017 Summary of Art" looks like this:

  
I'm fairly proud of that mess.
 
2018 hasn't slowed a bit. So far I've been to Disney World, taken another Storyteller Academy class, passed my 11-year writing anniversary, and (mostly) completed an upstairs renovation of my house and Life Changing Magic of Tidying-Up clean-out.

I'm also trying to keep better track of my life with a planner. (I haven't used one since high school--eek!) Ignoring the fact that I didn't open it until February when writing pal Kristy Boyce forced me to, it has helped me feel more organized. It has also made me realize that, um, I really do do a lot.

Kristy helped me pretty it up with unicorns, too!

All my goals for 2018 can be summed up in two mottos: "Keep Moving Forward" and "Just Keep Swimming." (And yes, those are both Disney quotes.)

On the surface they may seem the same, but I look at them in different ways. To me, "Keep Moving Forward" pertains to the craft and doing of things--the aim to make better art and better stories and not get bogged down by everything else. "Just Keep Swimming" is more psychological--the will to continue working and submitting hour after hour, year after year, with the blind hope that everything will come together someday.

I'm also becoming a huge fan of the "Better Late Than Never" concept. It might just become my third motto.

What's next on the horizon? By now, I'll bet you have a pretty good guess:

More writing.

More art.

More classes.

Repeat.

Keep Moving Forward.

Just Keep Swimming.

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

Note: Christmas thank yous should be going out in April. You already know my thoughts on that. ;)