Reflections: Writing and pictures

I gave a lot of consideration to the year 2012 and all the issues that came with it for my family the other night.  I have a good friend who is known for saying, "life is about choices," and I thought long and hard about the choices that I made all through last year.  When it came down to it, I really wasn't happy.  This got me thinking about what choices I could make this year to help turn some things around.  I hope to share some of these decisions with you, over the coming year.

When I started this blog, it was with the intention of sharing brief bits of any story that I happened to be working on, but the problem with this narrow focus (I felt) was that it didn't really convey to my readers who I am as a person.  I'm still a struggling writer, but there is so much more to me and my journey than that.  So this year I thought that I might share a little bit of that journey with you.  It's my hope that  it will make you laugh and smile.  Or, if you are in that horrid place I was just a few months ago, show that a little bit of positive thinking will help turn things around.

To start this year (and story) off right, I wanted to tell you about the best birthday gift I got this year.  With my birthday being on New Year's Day, I often got one gift for Christmas and my birthday growing up; something that I have come to expect.  This year, however, my wonderful husband blew me away when he presented me with my gift.   What I didn't expect, was that he had framed a picture that I took on our recent family vacation to St. Thomas.

Balcony view from hotel in St. Thomas

I took this picture with a really nice camera that he had got for me years ago, because I enjoy taking pictures as a hobby.  When we were in St. Thomas on vacation, I got up early one morning and waited over an hour to get this one shot of the sunrise, never really giving any consideration to doing anything else with the picture except uploading it to Facebook.  

With this in mind, imagine my surprise when I tore the paper and saw this picture blown up and professionally framed.  I was speechless at first.  The frame might have been simple black, but the feeling I got from holding something that I made was too much for me to put into words.  He gave me back a little of the confidence that I had lost in myself this past year by showing me what I can accomplish when I put my mind to it.

So this week's focus for me is about setting some goals for 2013.  I prefer to think of them like that instead of resolutions, because I never keep resolutions.  With that in mind, goal number one this year is to finish a story that I have written.  Stuffed in drawers around my house are short stories, long stories, and even some poetry; mostly incomplete.  I had this knack of giving up pretty easily with everything that I have written - so the goal now is to find one and finish it.  I will do this by dedicating serious time everyday to my craft.

Goal number two this year is to take more pictures!  Look what I can accomplish when I sit some quiet time aside to look at my surroundings with a trained eye.  In fact, I would like to open this to my readers:  What is something that you missed when you weren't looking for it?  Has there been something this past year that you feel could have been "focused" on?  I look forward to hearing from you.