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March was the month for decluttering, and I think I did pretty well. I have a lot more I could and should do – I haven’t gotten to most of the closets, but I accomplished quite a bit.

It’s amazing how restful a clean, empty surface is.

I also did pretty well on personal decluttering – I’m about 7.5 pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of the month.

Continuing my Spring Cleaning theme, for April I’m tackling the studio. It’s time for a major reorganization and purge so I can find the floor and the surface of the tables.

I think I may pack up my kaleidoscope supplies for now. I haven’t been making them lately although I think I’ll get back to them eventually. I let myself lose momentum when a couple promising designs didn’t work out, and kits never feel like they’re completely mine. I seem to go through phases anyway – I’ll dig all the stuff out again when inspiration hits.

I want to set up a basic metals station instead. I’m not sure I’ll do much soldering (although I may play with my little butane torch) but I want to at least be able to make sheet metal frames without worrying about metal shavings in my clay.

I’ve been having the usual beginning of the year thoughts… There was a time management class I took once. One of the first things they had you do was decide what you wanted, and what your priorities were. They said that was a step most people skipped. They asked, “Where were you ten years ago? Where do you want to be in ten years?”

I always wanted to be a writer. And that’s when I realized that if I didn’t start writing, it was never going to happen. Pretty simple epiphany, huh? But it got me moving.

So, my question for the year is:

Who do you want to be…

Today? Tomorrow?

In ten years?

And this year, I’m going to work on the baby steps to get there.

Writing

• Write every day (or close to it)
• Finish the rough draft of The Median by the end of the month
• Revise my YA princess story Hyacinth
• Submit to at least 25 agents by the end of the year
• NaNoWriMo in November

Art – I’ve been neglecting this for the writing, lately.

• Organize the studio – I do this every so often, but the piles have overtaken me again. I need a clean work space to get inspired and fill it all up again.
• Sculpt a creature that looks like a cross between a tamarin and an anime character (with the big eyes). I want to write a story about them eventually
• Have fun – grab some clay and just play

Life In General

• Declutter/arrange the house so it’s more relaxing
• Eat better (this is what I need to do to lose weight)
• Increase exercise – there’s a gym at work and I’ve been doing some, but I need to do more

Btw, I did pick a word for the year, but I’m not sure I’m going to post it. It’s the right word, and gets me into the right mindset, but I think it’s going to sound sappy and trite if I try to explain it

I was thinking of this for my word of the year but it’s not quite right… But since I’d already found some links, etc, I thought I’d post this anyway.

Winnow

1. to free (grain) from the lighter particles of chaff, dirt, etc., esp. by throwing it into the air and allowing the wind or a forced current of air to blow away impurities.
4. to subject to some process of separating or distinguishing; analyze critically; sift: to winnow a mass of statements.
6. to pursue (a course) with flapping wings in flying.

When I was a kid my family would go up for a week every summer to visit my grandparents, and while we were there, we’d rake blueberries for the family stand.

Then we’d come back and run them through the winnowing machine. A blueberry rake strips the low bush of berries, but that means you get everything: ripe berries, green berries, a few squashed ones from the metal tines of the rake, plus sticks, leaves, and a few spiders.

The winnowing machine has belts and a fan. The green and squashed berries are carried away by the moving belts. Leaves and sticks are blown up and away by the fan. The heavier ripe berries (which is all you want) roll down the belt to be caught in the green quart baskets. And you can’t beat wild New Hampshire blueberries fresh from the fields for taste. The bland cultivated ones around here are nothing in comparison.

It seems like a good word for a year where I want to declutter the house and a few pounds, finish the rough draft of my NaNoWriMo book, and go back and edit another into a final draft and finally try submitting it to agents. I want to take my life and blow away all the time wasters and things that don’t make me happy, and end up with tangy sweet goodness at the end

Other possibles for word of the year:

Savor Mastery Act Complete Completion Baby-Steps Climb Control Refresh Renew Compose Plan Wu-Wei Dream Adventure Brave Concentrate Breathe Declutter If… Joy Create Commit Grow Soar Coalesce Shine Decide Discover Practice Sift Harvest Gather Emerge Refine

Check out Christine Kane’s blog post about picking a Word of the Year.

I’ve done it once – at the time I picked Delight. It helped me remember to have fun, try new things, and allow myself to take some time just to do what I wanted, and be happy. It’s not a resolution, just a little reminder, but it helps.

I’m not quite sure what I want my word to be this year… I know what I want it to mean. I want it to be all these things rolled into one (only without any associated advertising jingles):

• Seize the day
• Just do it
• One step at a time
• Baby steps
• Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

I want it to remind me that all it takes are little changes to add up to something big. That all I have to do is Start, the rest will come on its own. That if I just take those 5 or 10 minutes here or there, that I can accomplish something, but if I just sit and procrastinate, I never will. One foot forward. One step at a time. But taking time out to slide down the bannister is always allowed.

I want to remember who I am and who I want to be, and “keep on swimming” until I get there. Emergence, Leap, Practice, Accomplish, Do, Action, Begin, Focus, Climb, Stairway? It doesn’t really matter what the word is, as long as it brings the right thoughts to my mind.

And the word that seems to resonate for me right now is Focus.