Here’s my “word” for 2025. If you’ve been with me a while, you may remember my word some years back was “finish.” I’d been writing my first novel and needed to get it done. Finish was the word that got me there. MOTHER MOTHER was published in 2020. (Btw, brag alert: the book was a National Indie Excellence Award finalist in fiction.)
For 2025, I’ve landed on the word “accept.” For me, the word works on two levels. First, it’s inspired by the Serenity prayer: “Accept the things I cannot change.” I can control no one except myself, and no amount of hoping, cajoling, steering, talking, listening will change that.
And second, accept is a reminder for me as a writer. Writing is my passion and has been since I began keeping a journal–independently and without encouragement–at age 9. But so much of writing is out of my hands. Will an agent decide to represent my work? Will a publisher choose to buy it? Will anyone want to read my book? Will anyone like it?
I can write the story I’m compelled to write; I can pitch it as hard as I can. And that’s what I can do. Period. The rest is out of my hands. Which is where “accept” comes in. The satisfaction must come from the imagining, the planning, the sitting alone in a room and writing.
What I can control–what any of us can control–is our attitude toward our challenges and accomplishments. To be proud of our effort whatever the outcome. To be gratified we kept pushing and never gave up.
Today, I choose not to be so critical of myself. To accept that I’m human and by definition, flawed. Yes, I make mistakes. Yes, I fail, over and over again. But every misstep has gotten me where I am, and that’s a good place. I accept I have power over only myself.
Sending you love for 2025.