What a year this has been! 

May you look back with satisfaction on the love you shared with friends and family.  May you take time to savor everything you accomplished and enjoyed these past twelve months. 

Not that it was all gin and bananas, naturally. Every year has its challenges, yet here we are, ready for the future. 

Whatever flavor of year-end holiday you celebrate, may it be a joyful time of self-love and celebration with those you hold dear – especially your very own self. Please give yourself an extra hug, and drink a cup of cocoa with peppermint Schnapps, with my compliments.

This was the year I found out writing a book is like giving birth: Just when you think you’re done, it becomes clear that you’re only at the beginning. From final edits to cover negotiations to the publicity phase, there is so much to raising up a book after giving birth to a manuscript. And I am grateful that the giving birth and the raising up both went so well.

Our East and West Coast launch parties were a blast. The reception for Aphrodite’s Pen was so energizing. I had the chance to be interviewed, to write guest blogs and articles, and even a naughty short story for Crunchytales.com in Europe. 
Plus I got to write blogs for my website, on subjects ranging from writing sexy memoir scenes to reclaiming the older woman in fairy tales. They are all here for your perusal when you have a free moment during this busy season.

I am thankful for the terrific support this year from contributors to the book, from reviewers, from folks who came to launch events, and from readers who continue to review the book online. My hope is that Aphrodite’s Pen will continue to inspire creative reflection by our whole cohort of vibrant older women.

The coming year promises to be an intense time, certainly here in the United States, where an epic challenge for the future of the country looms like a big wave on the horizon. Even so, we may take the time to consider our own creative goals for the year, and how we will take care of ourselves in 2020, including bringing our stories to life.

Many of us are blessed with the prospect of a New Year we get to define. We are liberated by working fewer hours, or by full retirement. The rocking-chair-and-television concept of retirement is, thankfully, passé. We vivid older women can set our own priorities, choose our own balance of creativity, connection, and community involvement. A year without the necessity of work can be daunting, in the same way that a blank sheet of paper can intimidate the writer. As we come to the turning of the year, it is a great time to consider all the things we want to experience and to feel in the year to come. I will lead a workshop in January about creating a Vision Board for the year. Sounds pretty woo-woo, doesn’t it? But a Vision Board can be a great tool for inspiration, focus, and motivation. More in the coming months on that subject. The blank year before us is a ticket to freedom, and we are blessed with the chance to plan how we will fill that page.

But before we do, let us take time to be grateful for the year that has been. With all its complexity, all of its inevitable losses, it is good to be alive. Wishing much joy to you and yours.