2024 is My Year To Grow
January 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, focus word, Growth. LearningHappy New Year! I’m super excited for all this year will be. You see, 2024 is going to be my year to GROW. Last year was all about change and I found a fabulous quote that illustrates the connection between last year’s word and this year’s word.
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
Gail Sherry
What does it mean to grow?
I love looking up synonyms for my word of the year. For grow, there are several other words that help communicate what I’m thinking. Those include evolve, build, cultivate, develop, product, sprout, thrive, and stretch. Each word jumps out at me at different times. Right now the one that makes me laugh is sprout. My plan for 2024 is to sprout out of my little seed as a writer and bloom into something more.
Growing as a writer
My goals this year include learning new things. Most of these will be related to publishing my first book. When Plans Go Awry will be launched into the world June 4, 2024 and there are many steps to finish this story’s journey. To support the launch, I’m interested in growing my newsletter list, building a launch team (more to come about that), and all the other things needed to ultimately grow sales. There are a lot of new things to learn about all of this!
Growing in my relationships
In my personal life I hope to grow as well. First, our family dynamics will change. We are growing as a family when my son gets married this year and we gain a daughter-in-law. I’m also wanting to grow in my walk with Jesus, and grow in my relationships with friends and family by spending more time in these areas. I’m also looking to continue to grow in better health. I spent a lot of time in 2023 working on things to make changes and I hope to continue in this area as well.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
All in all, I’m excited about 2024 and what it will bring. You’ll see all sorts of reminders for my word throughout the year. I made a mug with all my words on it, so I could be reminded of the magical journey picking words to focus on takes me. Here’s my first reel I made about my mug, which was too large for me to post here. Instead I’ll share a pic of me using my mug!
I love choosing a new word every year. It is by far one of my favorite new years traditions. If you have a word for 2024, I’d love to hear what it is. Just make comments below. Here’s to growing in our word we’ve chosen for this year.
0 1 Read moreAttitude is Everything
November 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Attitude, Denise M. Colby, encouragementWhy is attitude everything when it comes to our writing? Because it is our own choice what our attitude will be. And if it isn’t great, we have the choice to change it.
How we react to feedback or the different set-backs on our writing journey can make a difference. I have had plenty of negative feedback, disappointments, “where do I go from here” moments. But I’ve also encountered encouragement that has helped me pick myself up off the floor and get back at it.
In some ways, my writing journey has been a great life lesson of growth for me.
And I want to encourage you in your writing journey.
Change your attitude
My word this is year is change. One definition of change is to become different; be altered or modified. I also love the definition to replace with something else, especially something of the same kind that is newer or better. For me, attitude was part of the change I wanted to make this year in how I approached my health, my time, and my writing.
Writing is such a mental game
Attitude becomes a philosophy – if you think negatively, you will be negative. If you think positive, you’ll be more positive.
If you think you can’t do it, you won’t.
When you think you can, you will keep moving forward and not let the negativity stop you. Our attitudes in every little step will allow us to keep moving forward.
Be willing to learn and accept feedback
Write and write some more
Try and try again.
Don’t give up.
Denise M. Colby loves to write words to encourage, enrich, and engage with others. You can find similar encouraging posts on A Slice of Orange such as meeting writing goals or when your confidence wavers, and on her own website denisemcolby.com , including a blog post about Moments of Encouragement. She also loves to write about her word of the year and share quotes that include that specific word in them. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
0 0 Read moreHow My Life Changes Affect My Storytelling
September 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Word of the year, writerslifeI have made the realization this year that as my life changes through the years, the way I view my original story has changed. Change being the central word here. And my word for 2023. So what type of changes in my life am I talking about?
Life is full of changes
I knew there would be several big life changes this year on a personal level. Two children graduating and one getting engaged being among the largest change. I also have been making strides in some health choices, adding in yoga daily and working with a doctor to heal specific areas of my body. And then the bonus life change was the addition of our puppy, Ace, in June.
But the other reason I chose the word change this year was for my writing. I wanted to change the way I edited my story. Change my phrasing. And not be afraid to change my characters. All for the better, of course. I felt focusing on the word change could help me mentally make significant changes in my story to make it stronger.
Age changes us
What I didn’t plan for was really thinking about my story from a different perspective. An age perspective. See, when I started writing my story over ten years, I was in a different time in my life. My kids were younger, I was younger and my relationships were younger.
Young love looked different to me. And I’m not as naive as I once was. Life changes over the years have exposed me to new perspectives.
But I’m not upset about all of this. I’m just more aware. And have to make decisions now based on this new awareness. Taking some time to figure out what I believe in, how I view the world, and what’s important to me will help me write better stories. My own life changes can help me develop stronger characters who go through their own life changes.
Change is important
I have enjoyed learning about the word change this year. Change allows us to move forward in life and experience new and exciting things. We all change and evolve daily, weekly, yearly.
I think our writing changes and evolves with us as well.
Do you think your writing changes as you grow older? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Denise Colby loves to write about her word of the year and share quotes that include that specific word in them. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
Writing Time Literally Going to the Dog
August 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, writing lifeWe have a new puppy, so my free writing time is literally going to the dog right now.
So instead of writing some great blog post, I thought I’d share some cute pics of our puppy.
But first, being the historical writer that I am, I looked up the phrase, go to the dogs, just to make sure I had its meaning correct. And sure enough, the summary meaning is becoming ruined.
Although it was originally tied to bad food that wasn’t good for human consumption. For this post, I thought I would write a fun, cute article that basically says my writing time has been ruined. That I’m distracted by the dog. Hence, all my writing time is going to the dog.
Meet the new dog
So, without any further ado, let’s meet our new puppy, Ace.
This is the first day we brought him home from a lab rescue group. About five months old, he’s super sweet and pretty easy going.
Of course the call came in the week of my son’s high school graduation, so things were pretty chaotic. But we had to go with the flow if we wanted to adopt him. My word this year is change, and although I knew there would be a lot of change this year, getting a puppy wasn’t on my radar! But he’s stolen our hearts and we love him.
Naming the Dog
Now, it took us about a week to name him. This is mostly our son’s dog, so he had some cool names he was coming up with. A huge 80’s music fan, Huey was at the top of the list, as well as Elo, and a few others. But what tipped the scales was when my other son threw out the name Ace. As in Batman’s dog Ace (from the Justice League cartoons). Being a batman fan, that one became the winner and thus our dog is named Ace.
So of course, we had to have a photo shoot with my son wearing his Batman costume so we could introduce Ace to everyone on social media. We even found a dog toy with the logo on it. Such cute photos.
Why My Writing Time is Going to the Dog
We have had middle of the night wake-ups, and other puppy antics too. Like chewing. We can’t really leave him alone too much right now. Which makes it difficult to dive into my manuscript.
We are now in puppy training class, which also teaches us humans on how to behave with the dog. As you can see, we have our hands full. It won’t last forever, but this is what we’ve been doing this summer. I hope to show him periodically in my Author social media. So follow along on my instagram at denisem.colby I’ll leave you with this last pic so you can say awww.
Denise Colby loves to write about her word of the year. Each word builds a new layer in her writing journey (and her life). In 2022, her word was Work. This year, her word is change.
2 1 Read moreHow To ReStart Writing After A Prolonged Break
July 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, writerslife, writing processHow do you restart writing after taking a prolonged break? Do you jump in to a daily quota right away or start slowly one time a week working on your manuscript? Do you spend time reading what you wrote, first? Or, do you start writing a new scene to work with something fresh? Do you start a completely new project, or go back to the one you were working on before?
I don’t think there is a wrong way to restart writing, but there may be ideas we can use to help us get back into strong habits right away. I’d love to hear what you’ve done. Share them in the comments below.
As I am writing this blog post, I’m facing this very thing, restarting writing. I took a few months off to enjoy my sons’ graduations (college in May, hs in June) which I wrote about in last month’s blog post, and now I’m ready to write and edit again. As I started working on a few scenes over the weekend, the time flies. And I need to it to be quiet around me, which is hard to do with everyone home. All of these thoughts made me realize I need a game plan. And I couldn’t remember what I did before.
One thing I’m truly thankful for is my critique group. With a possibility of a weekly submission, I have a built-in deadline to help me complete a task. This is a huge motivator to restart writing.
Next I need to figure out when everyone will not be home, or I need to go somewhere to write. I love my large monitor, but maybe getting out the house will be exactly the best approach.
Denise is writing a western historical series set in 1869 California. She’s in the middle of editing the first book in the series, a full-length novel as well as a fun rom-com novella, with a few side characters.
0 0 Read moreFeatured Books
FOREIGN RELATIONS
A foreign woman is dead, two countries want her forgotten. Detective Finn O'Brien wants justice.
More info →
