Happy 2020!

Hello again, mateys! New day, new decade, still same old me!

Hope your New Year is off to a good start, or at least decent. Mine's definitely been decent. For one thing, I had the day off from work; now that the holidays are over, business is quieting down and so my hours will be reduced a bit. That's fine, provided I don't have to work one measly day in the week. I well remember working a morning shift at WinCo last year and quietly griping, "It should be against the law to go to work this early right after New Year's."

Today, I took advantage of my free time to make some art. So here's my first completed piece, as a little personal commemoration:

Pretty fabulous job if I do say so myself. Took me most of last night and most of today to finish it, but well worth it.

On the side, I have a few Sharpie drawings that I was inspired to draw after "Inktober." After drawing this girl...

...I decided I wanted to draw her again. I might save her for a story; most of my stories have at least one character that loves to get wet, along with at least one major swim scene. You could say water is my signature, like how Hayao Miyazaki (whose movies, I'll admit, I've yet to watch all the way through) is known for flying.

(Yes, she's in a freshwater pool this time. This is how she "trains" herself, and she still loves to feel the water all around her.)

Speaking of my stories, yes, I'm going to dedicate 2020 to some more serious writing. They say you should take your time with a novel, but you don't want the project to drag on forever, either. So we shall see how far I go with Terence and Reid's stories, and other stories besides.

And speaking of books, I do resolve to do some more reading this year: a minimum of 50 books. After all, they say the best writers read as often as they write.

Also, in lieu of a long list of resolutions, I use a theme. I was inspired by one lady I saw on the news a few years back; she picks one word to revolve her whole year around, and I decided to take a leaf out of her book.

Last year, the theme was "Finish," which means I resolved to finish more of what I started. I'm always fantastic at beginning things but horrible at finishing them, and not just where my stories are concerned.

The year before that was "Create." I think you can figure that one out. 

This year, the theme is "Love." Therefore, I resolve to fill this entire year with love: love toward God, love toward others, love toward myself. Goodness knows this world could always use more love.

Here's to the next chapter of our lives, mates. Tally-ho!

By the way, it's hard to say what officially inspired me to take up writing, even as a hobby, but I'm quite sure the "Stories" sequence from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas had a great deal to do with it. The movie as a whole is okay (not fantastic, not horrible), but this sequence is quite charming.

(Screenshots courtesy of Disney Screencaps.)