No, I didn’t stop this blog! But I did have a houseful of family guests, kids and grand-kids, over the entire Christmas and New Year holidays.  I did a lot of cooking and cleaning and visiting–but not a lot of brain work, unless you count a few games of Scrabble.

My last guest left yesterday, so today I am back on schedule. I did do a bit of tutoring last week, and I actually wrote my better-late-than-never 2015 Christmas letter just one week after New Year’s Day. It was quite a surprise to me to sit down and realize how much I actually accomplished in the past year, even though I wasn’t well a lot of the time. I am pleased!

Also, this past week, I received a copy of the most recent issue of Archivos magazine, which just came out. Archivos is the journal of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society , and I have edited articles for them in the past, but in this issue I have had an article of my own published: “Mott Family Memories.” It has been a long time since I have submitted articles to magazines, so I am delighted that my first submission was accepted–in fact, I was asked to submit!

Also, in the past week, after the majority of my company left, I read the January issue of Writer’s Digest–one of my favorite magazines. For Christmas, my daughter gave me an “Intuous Creative Pen and Tablet–Art” and I’ve been having fun learning to use it to create drawings on my computer. At the same time, I’m learning to use Gimp and Canva graphic design software. I am really enjoying it!

I also ordered an “Agent” kit from Writer’s Digest, to learn more about how to deal with literary agents. And I reorganized the filing system on my computer so I can find things more easily and efficiently. I had a lot of files, both written and picture files, filed in several locations, so with my reorganization, I have also deleted the extras, freeing up space on my computer.  I also made sure everything was backed up. And then I made a “2016 To-Do List.” It’s a bit overwhelming–I really need to sit down and prioritize–and do some deleting as well! And I watched a couple video webinars and read a couple articles related to writing. So I’m back to work and looking forward to a great new year!