Changes

My backyard

2013 came uneventfully. My fiancé and I kept it calm by celebrating snuggled on the couch with our two dogs and a glass of wine as the ball dropped. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to 2012. I had a good year. I quit smoking last year, something I had been trying to do for around nine years. It was the year that I didn't worry about finances, I knew what my life as a student would be, and I didn't really worry about what my future held. In one word, 2012 was calm. 

Inevitably it had to come to an end, and I am glad it did--renewal is good--but 2013 is looking to be one of those years full of change. I'm graduating this year. I have to find a REAL career, something that I could potentially do LONGTERM…two scary words right there. It's an odd thing to think about my life after student hood. School's consumed my life for four years, and now it just won't be there. I'm also restarting my health goals; lose fifty pounds, eat organically, cut the crap, run a 5k (the color run specifically. It's in my city this year, super exited!). It's been touch and go this first 7 days. I did however, completely omit pop and all forms of fast-food and about 75% processed foods from my diet. Oh, and I lost 3 lbs. 

As the changes begin in my life, I'm also bringing some changes here. I started this blog as an outlet for my creative writing, and well that just never happened. It turned into a journal. I guess I can blame that on fear. Fear that my writing will be seen and judged and ripped apart. Which I know it will by some and that's a fear I want to face this year. I am a writer. People do read my stuff. Hell, I've had a short story published before. But putting my stuff on my blog, I run in fear of that. 

No more! I will be committing myself to one creative post a week, hopefully more as I gain confidence, but one for sure. It will be either fiction, non fiction, or poetry. There will be a color coding system, or maybe a disclaimer so it will be crystal clear what's based on fact or fiction. I urge other writers to join me. I'm playing around with a link-up for it, something where we can connect our writing and provide some constructive criticism--writing is all about getting better, and you need feedback to do so, right? If you're interested, please leave a comment, shoot me an e-mail, or contact me via twitter @Nikki_Writ (It may seem that I don't really use it, but I keep my eye on it. Twitter just never really took off for me.) 

Sometimes, I will be working off a prompt system to get the creative juices flowing and I could share those, too. I know there are resources out there to connect writers, but I like the idea of a contained writing group, an online writing workshop, if you will. Or even if you don't want to join this writing endeavor with me, if you are a writer let me know; I would love to connect with other writers in any form. 

My writing is not of the short and sweet variety. I like flash fiction, I have written it, but even my short stories are pages long. Obviously that doesn't work well for blogging. So, sometimes it will be of the flash variety, other times excerpts or short chapters. If someone is interested in the longer version of a piece, I will make it available on a request basis. It should be noted that what I post on here will be as polished as I can get them, but the longer works may be more rough.

Let me know if you're interested!

Happy 2013 everyone!