E.M. Goldsmith
I did a tarot drawing for 2019 on New Year’s Eve in 2018 as a way to concentrate on the upcoming year. In review, January we saw the Magician – a sign of new beginnings.
In January, I restructured my WIP – taking it from 34 longish chapters into 60 short chapters and I felt this was great forward movement. I also joined a gym of sorts, OrangeTheory, and my body is changing and getting stronger. Other things, closer and personal, are also moving forward.
Liverpool is hanging onto their lead in the Premier League. That matters to me. Watching Liverpool play brings me a joy like nothing else. I will be getting a Liverpool tattoo on my left arm if they win the league in May. They have 4 points on Tottenham and 5 points on Man City as of this writing. May is a long way off.
In February, The Chariot will fuel the momentum of the new year. This card represents a journey toward a long-awaited destination. For me, that means getting book into the query trenches or developing all the tools to get the book ready for representation and sale. It also means getting my health back in gear with my diet and exercise plan.
Two close co-workers fell critically ill in January – one cancer and one a stroke that left him paralyzed on his right side. Both gentlemen are my age and lead healthy lives. We never know when our mortal time will be done so I am reminded to thank the Lord above for the grace of a new day, a new week, a new month, or a new year. This is such a temporary state of existence. We should not squander it.
Pack up for your journey and put that first step out. That is the hardest bit of getting started, that very first step. Try and keep warm. Yes, winter is here but spring is coming. The journey is only beginning and the possibilities around the bend are endless.
I have two weaknesses. Gummy bears and Liverpool FC. The worst the gummy bears do is expand my aging waist. I can live with that and I can keep writing. In fact, the sugary goodness of the little bears can push me through hard endeavors like a query or a synopsis. Oh how I despise writing a synopsis.
Liverpool FC, however, can distract me to the point that my book languishes in the background. How I wish they had a proper women’s team when I was coming along. I would have left school to play for them. How I envy these young women.
In years past, when they would lose, I would languish for days. It was so heartbreaking. Now, I get that way if they draw, but as long as they keep winning, my writing will flourish. The bit where my characters keep earning the names of various Liverpool players, well, that is not something I can control. Obsession being what it is. I love that football club. So if you know any Liverpool players or staff, tell them to keep winning. My writing career depends on it.
My writing efficiency would be increased tenfold if I would give up my obsession with EPL football and my lovely Liverpool. I wake to the day of the Liverpool vs Man City match. I worry. I have a book to finish and a poor finish for Liverpool could derail my entire day. I refer to Frankie the Pug’s thoughts regarding my favorite team.
Liverpool is playing Chelsea today. The writer explains. She’s been a fan since 1986, back when she was in school in the UK. There have been lots of underwhelming years in the interim. Many groans which Frankie understands nothing about. Early mornings in tears, but since this Jurgen Klopp fellow has shown up, Liverpool is starting to look like the team it was when the writer first became aware of them. At a Chelsea vs Liverpool match back in her university days after a raucous breakup with a Man U fan. So she cheered for Liverpool to annoy her ex, but as she watched them play, well, it was magic. It fueled the love of a game few played back in the states, one she played better than most of the boys back home. The writer played into her university years, and later coached in the US, sharing her love of the game with a new generation, all the way until her daughter was eleven years old. Her daughter feels much like the pug. This game too much distracts the writer.
Ok, a pug can do nothing about the nervous writer. Peace will resume only after the appropriate match has been played. Frankie is going to take a nap. Then she will remind the writer, there’s a deadline. A contest to enter. A novel to finish. Whether Liverpool wins or not. Frankie hopes her diet is not displaced by a Liverpool loss. Now the writer glares at the pug. This is a hopeless situation. You’d think the writer was in love. Like in the real world in love with an enter football team. It’s pathetic.