LAUGHING INTO THE NEW YEAR

 by Judy Ann Davis 

Happy New Year to all!

According to a calendar of events for yearly celebrations, January 24th is Global Belly Laughing Day. This special holiday was created in 2005 by Elaine Helle, a certified Laughter Yoga Teacher, from Lake Oswego, Oregon. It was first celebrated on January 24, 2006.                                                                     

There are four goals according to the author of this special day:

• To celebrate and remember past laughter.
• To do it in public with others and connect via laughing.
• To remember the importance of laughs and smiles.
• To gain the health benefits of smiling and laughing. Laughter is the best medicine.

I will also add: When we laugh, we ease stress and anxiety, boost the immune system, improve mood, support heart health, burn calories, and even relieve pain.

When I taught career development to adult students, single parents, and displaced homemakers in a program called New Choices, young people often asked me what was the secret to my long marriage. I used to laugh and tell them: “Never say what you’re thinking when you’re angry.” Then, I’d add that both my husband and I are very polite to each other, appreciate each other—and often laugh a lot, even over the smallest things like a shared joke, cartoon, turn of a phrase, even a stupid thing one of us has done or a crazy antic of a grandchild.

HY  Hintermeister 1897-1972

As a writer, I try to write humorous or witty dialogue for my characters in my novels as well because I admire crafty dialogue that makes the reader smile. I enjoy reading RomCom novels as well.

I often think if we could get people in our nation and in the world to enjoy a good belly laugh together, there might be more hope for better understanding among everyone globally.                          

To celebrate this special day, I leave you with two jokes about writers:

1—What do you get when you cross a writer with a deadline?                             A really clean house.

2—Why do writers feel chilly? They’re surrounded by drafts. 

NEW - NEW - NEW     

COURTING BETSY -Book 3 of the Ashmore Brothers Series

  

                          VISIT MY   AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE FOR ALL MY BOOKS 

 

REALISTIC WRITER RESOLUTIONS FOR 2023

 by Judy Ann Davis

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

MAKE TIME FOR YOUR WRITING ~ This tops the list for almost all writers. We resolve to make more time for writing every year, but it’s so easy for life to distract us. We rationalize we have other tasks and chores to do for our kids, our husband, friends, or family. If we wrote only 500 words at day, we would have 15,000 words in a month. One thousand words would net us 30,000, quite an admirable word goal. Don’t feel like writing? Research, writing exercises, outlining, reading for information, and editing also count as part of the writing process since these activities propel us forward.

READ, READ, READ ~ Not only do we need to read in our genre to stay on top of the latest trends and to study other writers’ styles, structure, plotting, voice and pacing, but also we need to read outside our comfort zone. We need to delve into a memoir, a nonfiction book, editorials, the newspaper, and anything we don’t normally read. This will give us a new perspective when we sit down to write again.

GET ORGANIZED ~ Organize your writing space. File that pile of papers you were going to take care of. Clean out your emails. Clean up your hard drive. Back up your data. Review and update your blog, website, Facebook page and Twitter account. Set a timetable for writing a certain project and determine how you’re planning to track your progress.

SET REALISTIC GOALS ~ Stop beating yourself up when you don’t accomplish what you planned. Stop comparing yourself to other writers. Set realistic goals. Maybe you will only accomplish one novel per year. However, you might want to try writing a seasonal short story, or an opinion or a blog piece as well.

EXERCISE ~ Good health is important. Get plenty of rest and find some activity where you can get exercise: swimming, walking, golfing, tennis, zumba, dancing or any other activity that takes you away from the keyboard and gets you moving.

                 Have you made your New Year’s resolutions?
                 If so, share one of them in the comments below.

        

JUNE ~ The Pianist

(Book 1 of the Musical Christmas Series)
NOW ON SALE $0.99

 

NO RESOLUTIONS -- INSTEAD, GOALS!

By Bea Tifton

This time of year, so many blogs are about resolutions. We don’t need no stinkin’ resolutions. I mean, how many of those do you really keep? It’s mid-January, and I would be willing to bet some of them have fallen by the wayside. No, I didn’t make resolutions. I made, dramatic pause, Goals.

”That’s merely semantics!” I hear you cry. Or is that one of the voices in my head? Hmmm. Never mind. But no, they’re different. Resolutions are vague, wispy things. Goals are noble, strong, and achievable. Trust me, I’m a Librarian. I know stuff.

First, to welcome in the New Year, I scrubbed my house clean. Not only putting up clutter, but polishing and straightening. I vacuumed up enough pet hair from my couch to assemble another small pet. I used Windex, People! It sparkles.

Now, for my goals.

Writing
(I use a computer)

Goal number one: Write!  I want to stop talking so much about writing and write more. I plan to have my book ready by the end of February. We’ll see.  But no more procrastination, watching old mystery shows and calling it research. Well, except for “Murder, She Wrote”. I mean, really.

Goal Number two: Exercise!  I’m going to go to my exercise classes five times a week. I take yoga and Tai Chi. That makes me sound very together and artsy, doesn’t it. Well, you haven’t seen me there.  Still, as I stretch and contort my body into downward dog and go through mystical Asian movements each week, who knows what amazing thoughts will spring into my head?

Tai Chi

Goal Number Three: Eat healthy food. While I was cleaning out, I went to the grocery store and stocked up on good, healthy food. In a fit of optimistic exuberance, I bought zucchini. But no kale! I mean, I haven’t gone mad.

Goal Number Four: Don’t Overcommit. I’m going to learn to say negative to all the zillions of requests to steal my time. Even some of the more noble ones. It’s hard. I still want to change the world. And, like me, most of my friends do, too, so they ask for my help. But I can’t do it all. So I’m practicing. Enunciating. Checking facial expression for sincere, but firm regret. “Nooooooooo. No! No?” Okay, I’ll keep working on it.

So, this morning, I was so excited about my new life that I was fairly bouncing on my toes. I got in my cute little car, Sunny (what do you mean you don’t have a name for your car. What on earth do you say when you talk to him?), and tootled to the pet food store. I was going to get so much done today! I had lists. I had resolve. I had…GOALS.  So, I bounded out of Sunny, full of great intentions. And was pulled abruptly back into my car.

Goal number 52: Unfasten seatbelt before attempting to exit vehicle.