Blog #56; A New Year, a renewal of purpose

 Hope everyone had a good time ringing in the new year.  At the McClelland household, things were pretty quiet.  And this time of year seems to be the time to reflect, and to look ahead.  More often than I'd like to admit, I worry about the amount of books I sell or give away, and worry about what other writers think of me.  I worry about what YOU think.  About my books.  About me.

As some of you may know, a while ago now I converted to the LDS (Mormon) faith, and a big part of that faith is using the gifts and talents we have been given for the greater glory of God and above all to make the most of our talents.  I have striven for over 30 years to do that with my writing, and I want to focus more on that in the coming year.  I want God to be pleased with me, and I want him to be pleased with the work I create because he has bestowed upon me these gifts or talents.  We all have them.  I remember one time, at a writing gathering, many of the people there were either graduates of, or teachers at, Ivy League schools.  They were literally a group of geniuses in the field of creative writing.   Yet, when I took a walk to the nearest convenience store, the poor cashier was ashamed.  "The people who came in here were all high-faluting, knowing so much about poetry and such."  And I told him I was attending the same conference they were, and if you got to know them you'd see they are regular people, no matter how arrogantly they act.  In fact, most of them probably put up their arrogance as a defense for insecurities.  Literature was their gift.  What are you gifted at?  Math?  Natural sciences?  Those people had no idea when they were treating you bad that you have special gifts too.

There are some "resolutions" I want to make, even though I technically don't believe in resolutions as such.  One is to finally finish a decent draft of my novel, A CONTRITE SPIRIT.  Another is to continue, in my leisurely way, learning languages on Duolingo, a website that allows you to take introductory lessons of languages for free.  My favorite is Italian, because I already know a lot of Spanish and they have so many cognates.  Another is Dutch, as I know a lot of German and they also are related.  Eventually I would like to branch out into other Latinate and Germanic languages, but it's a process, and all in good time.

I also have been spending too much time playing video games.  I'm going to have to cut back on my trips to Middle Earth, and Europe of 1066.

Have a good year, and I hope to hear from some of you in the new year.