Looking Forward

Christmas has come and gone and 2010 is right around the corner. I can't get over how fast time flies - seems like the older I get, the faster it goes.

I don't typically do New Year's Resolutions because I can never seem to keep them, but I do have several things I'm looking forward to in the coming year.

1. First and foremost, I'll be a first-time Grandparent and I am so excited. I've been dreaming about grandchildren for several years now and that dream is finally coming true. Currently, we don't know the sex of the Tadpole, and I really don't care as long as he/she is healthy.
2. My youngest daughter will graduate from high school in May, and although I'm not looking forward to this, I am so excited for her. Christine's life is wide open and the possibilities are endless. I just know she will be a success no matter what she does with her life.
3. My writing group, The Community of Mercer County Writers - or Nomadic Ink - has several great events planned for this coming year. We hope to grow our group and add more talented writers and we want to make our presence known in the community. One event I'm really excited about will be in June - Prose for Pets. We will be partnering with the Mercer County Humane Society to promote and sponsor pet adoptions. It should be a great event. We are planning to publish and sell a chapbook of pet related stories and poems - all proceeds will go to the Humane Society.
4. I will be having several things published in upcoming books. In "The Women of Mercer County" - to be published in January - I will have 3 personal essays in memorial of Granny Devine, Granny Sallee and my baby sister, Amy Carter Sallee. In "Speaking Out II" I will have a personal essay about my grandmothers and their gardens, as well as several poems. In "New Southerner" magazine, I will have a personal essay about my grandparents farm - this was a finalist in their non-fiction contest.
5. I am going to knuckle down and finish the editing process for my collection of essays, tentatively entitled, "I Dream of My Past." This will be a collection of my Mercer's Magazine essays. I have had many people asking for a book, so I want to make this a reality for the upcoming year. I would love to be featured at the Kentucky Book Fair in November.
6. I am also finishing up my first full-length collection of poetry. This book will contain the poems previously published in my chapbook, "Out of My Comfort Zone," plus many new ones. Some of my poems are a tad bit on the dark side, and I have contemplated organizing them into a book of their own, but I haven't decided.
7. I will also be working on a book for Arcadia Publishing about my historic hometown of Harrodsburg. This one is going to be lots of work and I hope to have help from others in the community.
8. I also have an idea for a play I would like to write for the Ragged Edge Community Theatre. Since becoming the Theatre Administrator, I have become excited about new projects for the theatre.

There are many more things I'm looking forward to, but these are the highlights. I know it looks like I have a full plate, but I plan to stay busy to help minimize the empty nest syndrome I know I'll be suffering from.