There is a lot to say on this first day of 2017, and the first is that I am typing better than I was three days ago when I sliced open my left index finger on the lid of a Progresso soup can. Save yourselves and stay away from it. Those lids are faulty and it was not the first time I cut myself on the lid but it was the worst. So basically, I'm recovering from my injury. What made me laugh was when the intern present in the ER with the doctor patching me up said "It looks like a Frankenstein finger." A little ER humor. He wasn't actually an intern, he was still a med student but graduating soon.
So, some other big news for me is I'm finally a college graduate, and when I checked my graduation status the other day, it said that I was graduating summa cum laude, which means with highest honors. Honestly, I worked my butt off to get every A and I just wouldn't settle for less, so when I say how happy I am, multiply that by ten. I think the greatest revelation is that I have no more exams to take, research and papers to write, PowerPoint presentations to put together, or discussion board posts to participate in. My time now is my own, and thank God for that since I have about 50+ books on my Kindle I want to read. I find some of the BEST free or $.99 indie books and just can't help myself. I've been collecting them for some time and reading three right now. If you're ever looking for a good book to read and you enjoy e-Books, I can definitely recommend some. I read a lot of mysteries, crime novels, and literary fiction. Basically, I read the synopsis, read the reviews, take a look at a quick sample of the writing and if all seem good, I download. It's become sort of a hobby now.
There's no doubt that 2016 was a challenging year. Aziza was still sick with Celiac, which we finally have a complete handle on and she is doing great. I was taking classes back-to-back, spring-summer-fall, and all full-time with an internship, so I was overloaded to say the least. We all endured a very trying and ultimately for some, a disappointing presidential election, and without saying too much on that, I will only say that I pray for all of us. The way our new pres-elect is dismissing our own government agencies and their findings is very scary. We very well may have a traitor in the White House. The drama with our new pres-elect grows more and more disturbing as we get closer to him being in the White House. This is becoming that car crash I need to look away from but can't. I want to be oblivious and just focus on my fictional novels, live in a bubble where the real world doesn't have to exist. With how massive input can be from all forms of social media and TV, there's no way to escape it, no way to hide under the covers until it's all over. I can only hope good wins out here. Right now it seems like we are on a fast-track to a dark place, and maybe that's dramatic but with the current political climate, I'm finding it hard to see anything different.
On a much, much lighter note, I'm pleased to be writing poetry again. It's been about 6+ months since I was able to dedicate any time or thoughts to poetry writing. Publishing the last two poetry collections was a real labor of love, and it does take a lot out of you. You go into media mode after the book is together and then it's all marketing. I learned so much about book marketing - online marketing, that is - that if you ever want to self-publish and promote your own book, I can lead you in the right direction. But for me right now, I have a new blog, As Write as Rain, and I'm just enjoying writing and sharing, and will do that throughout the year. A new collection in 2018? I think so.
Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy new year! What you didn't do or get done last year, make 2017 your year!
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