Making 2016 “The Year of Me”

2016 is here and I think it should be called The Year of Me. It sounds selfish when you say it out loud, but when applied correctly, there’s nothing wrong with a little selfishness at times. Last year was the beginning of my LIVE LOVE LAUGH mindset, which taught me the importance of creating time (as opposed to finding time) for fun. It just seems like we can never find the time for something as frivolous and unproductive as fun. When in actuality, “Fun” should have its own separate entry on our “To-Do” list. I realized the importance of learning to enjoy life in 2015 because in many ways it was a year of loss for me. I worked my way through not only the physical deaths of loved ones, but the mental and emotional “deaths” in my personal life. It’s true that each time we’re forced to change our way of thinking or to put to rest the many matters of the heart, a little part of our old self dies. The hope is that something better is born anew, but it is not always an easy process. Because dealing with these transitions proved to be challenging, I decided the best way to honor these real and symbolic deaths, was to celebrate life. So after learning how to create time to enjoy life, I’m ready to go further and even turn it up a notch!

As my 2016 Year of Me begins, the first thing I’m going to do is to apply laser like focus on my writing. My third book in the Sister’s Trilogy has gone through a lot of changes and that’s partly because it is the last book in this storyline. There isn’t going to be a fourth book, or at least there isn’t one planned in the foreseeable future. I’ve enjoyed writing about sisters Callie, Alise, Paula and Marlisa, and developing their personalities, which were actually made from composites of real women I’ve known throughout my life. However, I have another series to start, online articles to write, short stories to submit, book reviews to film, a new blog to keep up with, plus a standalone story that would make a fabulous screen play! (Wish me luck on making that happen!) All the while, creating time to travel and hang out with other like-minded fun loving people.

So, with novel number three coming out this year, I would love to start the blog discussion on it early by giving my thoughts without giving the plot points away. One of the things that we’re struggling with is the title. We have Too Many Sisters, Too Many Secrets so it stand to reason that the next title in the series will be Too Many (fill in blank with something that begins with an S). It makes sense for continuity, but what’s wrong with shaking it up a bit? Not having things too pat? For instance, does it have to end with a word that begins with an “S”? Does it have to start with the phrase “Too Many”? I don’t think readers will be confused if it has its own unique title as long as it’s clear it’s book 3. I’ve gone back and forth on this because what’s proposed currently is not to my liking. So ideas and feedback on my Facebook are definitely welcome!