Starting From the Beginning

Today was Zack's first day back to school, and after dropping him off, I had this urge to drive my Bug somewhere.  I don't think I've driven anywhere at ALL in the past two weeks, thanks to the holidays, and the awesome-super-fantastic CD I made was just waiting for a reason to be turned up really, really loud.  Who cares if there was a bit of snow blowing through the air?  Crank it up and zoom, I'm outta here.

Flowers in the vase of my VW Beetle.

Instead of driving 45 miles to Annapolis like I usually do when I want to shop anywhere other than Target and Walmart, I went the other direction and drove an hour to Salisbury.  My destination -- the new Hobby Lobby for their big bead sale.  I rarely buy retail beads, but Hobby Lobby has Vintaj and Zack and I needed some crafty goodness, and I can easily get lost in a world of happy there.

LOVE the Vintaj toggles -- you can buy this bracelet by clicking here.

Of course, if there's a book store around, I head there, no matter if I have a stack of unread books to the ceiling or not.  Plus, they have Starbucks.  But no pie.



A big difference -- I bypassed the beading magazines and went straight for the writing magazines.  I already have a few really good books about writing memoirs, but that's not the only thing I want to write. 


I immediately honed in on Writer's Digest because my favorite author, Diana Gabaldon of "Outlander" fame, was on the cover. 


One of the goals I have this year is to get some significant writing done.  I just finished an article (not a tutorial!) for BeadTrends and I'm itching for more opportunities.  Picking up this magazine was a great first step for January 2012.


I'm doing my best in these early days to stay focused -- not necessarily on one BIG thing, but on the little things that lead up to it.  One of my focal points is staying centered and balanced and knowing how much I can really bite off and chew without spitting it out on the floor.  To that end, I'm using my handy perpetual calendar.

You fill in the number dates at the top yourself, so if you skip a few weeks, you won't feel guilty staring at those empty blocks on regular calendars.  There's a limited amount of space, too, so it makes me prioritize.  So far, so good. 

But it's only week one.

Let's not get cocky.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.