This was not my intended motto for this year. When I started thinking about what I wanted to focus on in 2019, the words that came to mind were "Risk It." I have big plans this year: I'm on sabbatical from my day job until June, I'm teaching at an international writing conference in Mexico in February, I'm trying some very different things with my writing...you get the idea. There's a lot of risks ahead to embrace. Then the Universe sent me a bunch of messages that caused me

I’m a little late in getting this posted, because the end of 2018 was a whirlwind. But I’m making the time here and now, so let’s do this. My 2018 word for the year was “Centered.” More than any of the words I’ve chosen over the past few years, this one stuck with me all year long. I reminded myself of it often—almost daily, when things got out of hand. It helped me stay focused and forced me to prioritize. Here’s an in-depth look at how it did that, in each area I set for my