A New Year of Inspireds

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We haven’t gotten through the first week of January, and our potential is still out there. Still within us, ready to break forth. Our ambition. Our motivation. Our inspiration. How will we keep it at the forefront in the coming months?

I’ll share five ways that I plan on being inspired this year.

round button colored green with three sentences: 
1. Ankose 
2. Everything is connected 
3. Tout est relie
  1. Remember that everything *is* connected, and look at the world that way. How is what I’m doing affecting the people and spaces around me? Be aware. Be present. And sometimes, be still.
  2. Setting Intentions. I have a great new planner for the year and it has space for weekly and monthly planning/goals/ progression, and I’m hoping to stick with it all year.
  3. My writing group and their encouragement, their feedback, their continuing friendship.
  4. Taking what I need and leaving the rest. Good advice in any situation and hopefully will maintain lower stress even as the world becomes more stressful.
  5. Carry an umbrella, bring a sweater or hoodie, tuck a notebook and a pen in a bag, and go. Go forward. And take notes.
Inspired. (c)2025
Intentionality. (c)2025
Inclusivity. (c)2025
Interconnectedness. (c)2025

My four words for the beginning of the year. They may stay all year; they may transform; they may be added to or replaced. And that will be okay because it will be what I need at that moment. Follow along and let’s see how it goes.


Inspired. Intentionality. Inclusivity. Interconnectedness. 2025.

Remember and Remembering January 6th

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January 6 will forever be Trump’s legacy—a violent, unforgivable assault on our nation’s capitol. No amount of revisionism or whitewashing by the MAGA GOP will erase it. The entire world watched in horror & nothing will ever change the fact that Trump is a fraud.

Olivia of Troye on Bluesky. Olivia is a former Trump Administration official (1st term)

Please visit below the cut and ensure that January 6th is remembered, today and every day.

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Intentions-Inspirations-Resolutions

round button colored green with three sentences: 1. Ankose 2. Everything is connected 3. Tout est relie
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For readers who have been here for awhile, I rarely if ever declare or think about New Year’s Resolutions. That changes this year. After the election, I’ve been inundated with lies and misinformation, not to mention the focus on stupidity rather than real news, and I am damn sick of it. That led me to think about my life and my writing.

I may have already written about my new job, but I started working in October, and it is the kind of place that feeds my soul. I have never had a job like this before, and every day is a joy to be there, and that allows that joy to follow me home. It’s been a good couple of months.

Obviously, I’m disappointed (understatement) about the election. I hope we can get through the next two years, and use the midterm elections to return to sanity. My first Election Connection of the new year will appear in this space next Tuesday.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am really proud of my series writing, and those will continue. In addition to Election Connection, there will be more Mental Health Monday, monthly Inspired and Friday Food posts, and I’m hoping for a return to Penny Prompts – the writing prompts based on Louise Penny’s writing and her Armand Gamache mystery series.

Those are both my intentions and my inspirations and I hope to find more throughout the year. You will find more of my new year’s thoughts below the cut.

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End of Year Wrap Up

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In some ways, saying goodbye to 2024 is bittersweet. It is both a relief and a sadness. I’m still wearing my Harns/Walz bracelets and yearn for what might have been. Nothing was going to be perfect, but I have no doubt that it would have been better.

I spent yesterday looking back at this website, traveling from December all the way back to January to find which posts stood out to me. some were great; Some were not so great, but they all propelled my writing forward. A few of my favorites are linked below for you to also look back on. Tomorrow, I’ll begin with my intentions and actual resolutions for the New Year.

After 25 or so years home with my kids, I now have a job outside the house that I truly love. I never expected this to happen, and I’m so glad that the time was right, both for me and the place.

I have a good path forward for my book. I’m organizing the research and the photos, and I will also be presenting a program in the summer on St. Kateri’s Journey and her life.

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