New and Improved!

January
And now let us welcome the New Year
Full of things that have never been -- Rainer Maria Rilke

Ready to begin the new year with enthusiasm? Could you use a little creative push? Here are some activities for you to try that will stir your creativity and get you in the mood to produce paragraph after paragraph of publish worthy prose or help to make the year a little sweeter.
*Clean off your desk or writing space.
*List four things you hope to accomplish this year.
*Stock up on comfort food you enjoy while writing.
*Splurge on a wonderful ink pen and expensive stationery.
*Buy a blank book to use as a 2024 Yearbook.
*Resolve to attract joy to your life.
*Hang some new calendars in strategic places in your home.
*Find and frame your favorite photo of yourself as a child. Find and print or copy your favorite personal motto or prayer and place it near the photo. Look at these every day to get in touch with the fountain of your creativity and childhood enthusiasm and energy.
*Look at your personal motto or prayer and ask yourself why you selected it. Why does it speak to your heart and spirit?

On days that you find it difficult to begin writing, do one of these exercises to prime your writing pump!

1. What I found out about myself when I cleaned off my desk.
2. Why I like the photo of myself that I framed.
3. Use your new ink pen and a sheet of your new stationery and write a letter to yourself. Begin with this:
Dear Friend;

I want this year to be more joyful and more productive. To attract these things to my life I intend to . . . 

January is one of my favorite months because it's my birth month. It is named after Janus -- the god with two faces. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings.

It's a chance to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. So, embrace it. Take a deep, cleansing breath and step forward into a year of possibilities.