A ramble springing off yesterday's quote on Goodreads...

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering 'it will be happier'...”
— Alfred Lord Tennyson


I remember being an optimist as a child, even as a young adult. Now that I am the parent of a young adult, I find optimism a little harder. But it is still worth it, waking up each day, hoping that it will be a good day, rather than waking up expecting the world to throw daggers at you.

The experts say a positive outlook is actually more healthful. Considering I need to lose about 30 pounds, a more healthful perspective is definitely in the "necessary changes" column. I learned a lot in the article in the paper today about weight control starting with the proportions of fruits/veggies to carbs. I should go back to my morning shakes, with grapefruit juice, yogurt and bananas as the main ingredients. And I should have a salad with every meal, sticking to a vinagrette dressing.

In my writing, I have decided to blog and journal, no pressure to put the latter into the former. I'll blog once, maybe twice, a week on some observational moment (such as this "today's quote" from Goodreads yesterday). I will let my journal be private, take me where it will, only cross-posting those entries that are worth public consumption, allowing myself not to succumb to a pressure to perform.

Side note: My journal software is part of Writer's Cafe by Anthemion. It also has a scrapbook feature. However, the best part is StoryLines for organizing story planning. Map out a few scenes, then write them in randomly as the right energy/emotion strikes. In 2011, I found myself stalled a lot in word processing as I got caught up in the "start at the beginning, write to the end" mentality. Apparently my muse prefers to skip around a bit, because I've started a story and already have 6,000+ words in 4 days. Previously I'd have trouble getting that much in a month.

But the big hope is to write every day. That's the key. If I can do that, it should become habit. I *hope* I will be able to look back in a year, or even six months, and say I've gotten somewhere.