New Year reflection

For as long as I remember books have been apart of my life. My siblings and I would sit inside on a beautiful summer's day in Alaska. And believe me Alaska has gorgeous summers. We would spend all day reading silently to ourselves or listening to my second oldest brother read Witches or One Fat Summer which were two of his favorite books. We'd unwittingly be up reading well past midnight. (It is the land of the midnight sun.)
I also remember writing being apart of my life forever. My big sister and I would get diaries for christmas, usually two. We'd sit there and fill it up that day or sometimes have all week writing sessions. We weren't writing real stuff from our lives but make believe; we were storytelling. Sometimes we'd do a crossover, where the same event happened in both our books! It was fun. I'd write my characters' pov and she'd do hers. Every few hours we'd swap journals and we'd read one another's and giggle.

That seems like yesterday but also another lifetime ago. Life has gotten so hard. I want to promise in 2010 to simplify things but it would be a lie. I can still remember when it dawned on me that my words had power and I had a way to share my soul and lay it out for the world to see, on paper. I was 13, in front of my teachers desk. She held a paper in her hand and asked, "did you really write this?" I remember saying yes ma'am. It was a poem for a school project. Mrs Toni Andres entered my friend Lynne and I into a contest, THAT SUMMER I received a book in the mail, saw my words on a page and my name printed underneath. Nothing was simple from that day forward. My poems have been published but this is the year that I Make Dreams Come True, I Want A Novel...in PRINT.
How about you? What do you want in 2010?
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
CASSE