goal: write a little every day

in journalism school, i received the best advice for being a writer. i heard it over and over again: in order to become a better writer, read and write. read the work of great writers. read newspapers, books, magazines, reviews, blogs. read voraciously. and write; practice your craft. experiment. journal. write publicly and privately. work on projects large and small, professional and so personal they may never see the light of day.

somewhere in the midst of my transition from professional writer to business professional, i stopped writing. i didn't make writing a priority and so i just stopped doing it. i was burned out by the daily toil and stress of pumping out endless blog posts, so i just stopped opening my computer. but i stopped writing daily professionally five years ago. i stopped writing professionally altogether three years ago. and in the time since, i have longed to return to it, at least privately. i keep journals that i write in sporadically. and last summer i worked on a personal blog that i kept up for three months, before my full time job took over my life.

over the past year, i came up with the idea to start a new writing project. i do think that project will come to fruition, but some things going on in my personal life have caused me to push my timeline back. it's fine. i want to get to place where i long to write again, and then i want to enjoy myself. i don't ever want it to feel like its a burden again. i have loved writing since i was very young, but making it my career and livelihood took the joy out of it. i want to feel that joy again. i want my writing to be an emotional release and an artistic expression.

i want to get back into the habit of writing often. i want to exercise a muscle that has atrophied. so, i'm setting a new goal for myself: write a little every day. it can be one or two lines or thousands of words if i'm feeling ambitious. it can be written publicly in this forum or somewhere else. or it can be privately, for my eyes only. it can be about something interesting or serious or totally fluffy and superfluous. i just want to do it and make it consistent.

so, here i go.

the best of 2014

this week we said goodbye to 2014. and i looked back on this year that was and thought of its enormity and importance in my life. so much was accomplished and enjoyed this year; so much celebrated and achieved. loved ones of mine lost loved ones of theirs, but as the year closed, all my loved ones were healthy and happy, something I have learned is precious and lucky.

i can't say what 2015 will bring -- for better or worse -- but i can commemorate 2014 as a year that was good to me and one i lived to the fullest. i started out the year taking a personal leadership class, which made me think about taking better care of myself mentally and emotionally. i learned about the importance of meditation and taking time for myself, my family and friends.

2014 was....

the year i graduated from columbia business school and completed my mba

the year we celebrated being married one year and enjoyed being newlywed and married the whole year

the year we spent the summer in westhampton and ginger went to the beach for the first time

the year I started work full time in business development and shawn started a new job, too

the year i went to cuba

the year i learned to golf

the year we went to napa and i started to really love and appreciate wine

the year ginger overcame her chronic carsickness and lyme disease, and spent summer weekends in a backyard without a fence -- yet she didn't run away or into the road

the year i started to remember how much i miss writing and i wrote this blog

the year i visited friends around the country and met all their new babies

so here's to 2015. i see more work, more wine, more travel and more people having babies in the new year.