Friday, January 10, 2014

Something Old, New and Borrowed for 2014

by Malena Lott

It's ordinary time. I used to loathe the "in between" — of holidays, life events. I always wanted something to look forward to 
Every woman needs her own power drill. 
- something BIG and bold and photo-worthy.

Now I relish the ordinary day and finding extraordinary moments within each one and I've tried to stop judging a day, a week, a year as "good" or "bad." Now to jumpstart this year, I give you something old, something new and something borrowed to make our writing year a big success.

Something Old:
I get the rights back on Dating da Vinci this summer sometime. I'm thrilled I'll get to give it a new cover, new pricing and control the marketing. And the cool thing about the Internet is even "old" things are new to someone. And my novel Fixer Upper was the first one I self-published in 2010 and it's my top seller now. Pause for a moment and be proud of your past achievements. 

Something New:
I do like to set my intentions for the year so it helps me to come up with a theme to keep me on track. I settled on Get Real, where I've (probably stupidly) committed myself to a weekly blog post and video about a new topic I (and we) can get real about. I started with time because I'm so tired of how much it slips away and am certain I'm the one to blame for any of it being "lost" or wasted. I want to take bolder action with my intentions this year and that means paying attention to what I do and where my mind goes.

I'm currently writing my second Messengers YA book, Genesis, and I know once I commit to daily work on it, I'll love the story again.) I'd like to finish a mystery I started but don't want to commit to that just yet. It might be 2015 and that's okay with me. I also get to edit and publish other writers' work and that's a fun challenge. The story and strategy are my favorite parts.

I think it's important for writers to be broad with their interests, too. We can feel like we live in a cave in a world of all imaginary people. That's why I started a new media site, Sooner Spaces, focusing on stories about stylish spaces and the people behind them in Oklahoma and it's been a blast. I'm getting out of the house, meeting people and getting to be creative in a new way.

Take a deep breath of gratitude that we get the opportunity for creating something new. 

Something Borrowed:
Well, it's not exactly borrowed, but I have set an intention to not buy anything new the rest of this year for me personally. After a closet cleanse, I realized I have loads of extra clothes and if I do need something, I'll try to shop thrift first or actually borrow a friend's. We'll see! I'm also borrowing lots of great advice from people I admire to include in my Get Real series.

Treasuring the things we have help us to feel we have and are"enough."

I'd love to hear your old/new/borrow for 2014 and I hope you'll get real with me this year. No time like the present.

Malena Lott is a storyteller and strategist from Oklahoma. She's written five novels and two novellas under her name, one young adult book under pen name Lena Brown and an advice book, Dance Mom Survival Guide, with co-author Jill Martin. 

7 comments:

  1. LOVE this post, Malena! You have got so much on your plate!!

    I love what you said about committing to not buying anything new. I've been trying to do that myself-- with the internet, it's just too easy to click on "buy"-- and so far, so good! I'd love to see a follow up post on how it's been going for you!

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    1. I'll keep you posted, Brenda. One of my best friends finds the BEST deals at Goodwill so last year I bought a few designer pieces there (dresses and jackets) so I think that set me up for a bit. Good luck to you as well.

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  2. This is such a good head space to be in for the new year.
    I've also vowed not to by any new clothes for myself for a time (the year is more than I can commit to, but definitely the winter).
    Good luck with all your good projects. I wish you lived closer to NYC. We would love to have you read one of your indies at Authors Unbound.

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    1. Ariella, I MUST visit NYC soon. Maybe in 2015! My goal is to get to Hawaii this year so we'll see how that goes. Good luck on your year, too, my dear.

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  3. Great post, Malena!

    My "Something New" is my New Year's resolutions, which are: 1) change some things and 2) do some stuff differently. So far, so good!

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    1. Thanks, Lauren. Best wishes to you. I love to switch things up. Makes all the difference.

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  4. I like the clothes idea, Malena. I am a huge thrift store buyer and have spent the past 20 years shopping used. I still have a closet full but it's a fraction of the cost and sometimes I think of my Salvation Army like a clothing library and don't let myself buy a bag unless I bring a bag!

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