Books and Binges – Help Me Out

“The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings”

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

Don’t expect any profound commentary on the works of Lewis Carroll. I chose the quote because it felt similar to the title of this post.

As I mentioned yesterday, today is my project review day. I’ll settle down with my assortment of notebooks for the year. What? You don’t have an assortment of notebooks? Here’s what I have.

A Moleskine to record the day. It has the to-do list, thoughts, and often memorabilia or funny memes that I find to paste within the pages.

A sketchbook because I’ve told myself I should never be without the opportunity to draw when the mood does or doesn’t strike.

A project book that, as of the end of today, will have an outline of the projects I hope to address in 2023. It’s a book of dreams, and I approach it knowing that I’ll never finish everything I’m listing.

Finally, a writing journal. I have a beautiful notebook given to me by a Kings Dominion cast member as part of our Secret Santa exchange. It will serve for those times of writing when I’m way from a keyboard or are just feeling creative.

But this post is not supposed to be about notebooks. I need your help.

One of my Three Words for 2022 was Read. I did a lot of reading. I did not however make my Goodreads goal of reading 25 books. Still, I reset the goal to do so in 2023.

Which comes to my need for your assistance. What should I be reading?

Here’s what is currently on the list.

In my morning quiet time I am reading through the New Testament and the Psalms. That will take me through the course of the year.

As a companion to that I’m reading A Year of Days with the Book of Common Prayer by Edmond Lee Browning.

For other books, I’m once again working my way through Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft because it’s good to read that every couple of years or so.

And, I’m reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.

My challenge to you then, is what to add to that list. Give me your recommendations in the comments.

While you’re doing so, give me some good recommendations for binge-watching. I don’t tend to watch television on a regular schedule.

In 2022, I worked my way through all of the Marvel movies, the Harry Potter Movies, the Lord of the Rings Movies (which should be viewed annually), and the Hobbit Movies, which…well, let’s not go there.

I did a couple of series as well, most recently concluding with Wednesday. And of course, I did all of the Christmas movies. Although sadly, I did miss viewing Rudolph this year…mainly because I’m too cheap to pay to watch it and I missed it when it was aired.

I do my viewing while working on art projects. So, inspire me with your suggested viewing lists.

On a side note, while I currently have a record of posting every day in 2023 (insert rimshot here), I’m not quite sure where the blog is going, or staying this year. You can subscribe in the side bar to be emailed when I’ve got new post.

Let’s get going on 2023. “Regular” work returns tomorrow and that’s all I’ll say about that.

I’ll be looking for your reading and viewing suggestions.


 

Three Words for 2023

Happy 2023!

Is it 2024 yet? Let’s not go there. At least not today.

I don’t do resolutions. Oh sure, there are things I want to work on and during tomorrow’s parade I’ll be addressing that list.

Why not today? Well, there’s one more night for Santa at the amusement park.

A few years back, I switched from my annual More or Less post to choosing three words for the year.

The Write Side Shop

This was at the inspiration of Chris Brogan and Rob Hatch who still post their three words annually.

For 2022, my words were Recover, Read, Rise.

I did a good bit of recovering. I’m stronger, and lighter than I was on this day a year ago. Were it not for the summer bout with COVID, I might even be further along. But the Late Great Unpleasantness™ of 2021 is behind me. So to speak.

I did a good bit of reading. Not always books, so don’t judge me by my Goodreads list. I didn’t make that goal. The plan is to just keep reading. Early and often.

I hope that I rose to most occasions. I did manage in the process to write, illustrate, and publish three children’s books. More are coming in 2023.

But, without further delay, my three words for 2023.

PRAY

I believe in the power of prayer. I believe it’s a necessary and benetifical communication with our Heavenly Father.

You only have to check out the news, or social media, or heck, check out at the grocery store, to understand that we’re in some difficult times. I believe prayer is necessary to get us through these times. I”m not sure we’re promised that times will get better. But I do know that times of revival and renewal have always come about through prayer.

I believe that, while prayer may not always change circumstances, it will most assuredly always change me.

I also know that I fail at this daily. So in 2023, I want to make prayer a daily focus.

PREPARE

I mentioned above that I’ll be going over my project lists tomorrow. I already know I won’t get to everything on the list. And that’s okay. But I want to prepare for the year ahead. I want to prepare for the unexpected. Because life is always unexpected.

I can’t plan for calamity not to happen. But I can put myself in a better position to deal with that when the disruptions come.

No, I don’t know exactly how all that will play out. Most likely I’ll be back here a year from now telling you how nothing went as planned. It will take some thought.

And definitely some prayer (see above).

PLAY

Truth is, my family and I haven’t had a lot of time to play in the last few years. We had the pandemic, we had last year’s Late Great Unpleasantness™, and a few other challenges.

While we know the challenges will come again this year. I want to be more purposeful about takign time to enjoy life. To go to the beach. To go the mountains. To join a pool for the summer. There’s a list.

But the point is to not always be looking for what lies ahead, but to live in, and enjoy, the moment. More on this as we go along.

So, there you have it. My three words for 2023.

PRAY. PREPARE. PLAY.

I’ll check in ever couple of months to let you know how things are going.

Happy 2023!