I wasn’t going to, but… #SOL23

I wasn’t going to Slice today. I wasn’t going to choose a word for 2023. I wasn’t going to do anything other than dig into my notebook after not spending much time with it over the last few weeks.

After a lengthy deep dive during this evening’s weekly Teach Write community write on ZOOM, I was cold and my fingers became numb. (Sure wish I’d put the heat on in that room earlier!) I put my purple Inkjoy down and took a break. I clicked over to TWT to see if there was a prompt or inspiration from today’s host or if anyone’s Slice caught my eye. And there they were, one after the other. Slice after Slice with OLW in the title.

I wasn’t going to choose a word for 2023. Not for any particular reason other than I didn’t feel inspired to do so. But then I thought, if I was going to choose one, what would it be. 2022 was a rough year. Enough to fill the pages of a notebook or two with the roller coaster ups and downs of 12 very challenging months for me and my family. My one regret? That not much got written other than what spilled onto the pages of my notebook.

I rarely Sliced. I wrote hardly any poems. I made next to little progress on my picture book manuscript. I want a 2022 do-over! I need a mulligan. I need a second take, another chance.

“RESET,” the muse on my shoulder whispered. Whoa! Big Magic happened in true Elizabeth Gilbert style. It’s a good thing I was listening.

Reset. That will be my OLW for 2023. I popped into Canva for more inspiration, and there it was.

Time to hit the button!

Thanks for wondering and wandering a bit with me today. And many thanks to the crew at Two Writing Teachers, and the extended SOL community, for giving us the time, space, and encouragement to live the writerly life here every Tuesday throughout the year and daily during the month of March.