Important: Five Minute Friday

January 7, 2022 The Ameri Brit Mom11 Comments

The Five Minute Friday Link-up community is back at it again with the first prompt of 2022. Each week writers from all over the globe write on the same topic as prompted by Five Minute Friday. It’s a fun way to get creative and to meet others who write and create as well. This week the prompt is: Important.

Check out the FMF community and support the other writers!

Here is my five minutes of unedited writing on this week’s prompt:

With each new year, we find our selves setting intentions or goals. We reflect on growth (or lack thereof) in the previous year and we resolve to make the best out of the next 365 days. Although it is important to orient ourselves toward goals, it is equally important to appreciate the people and memories from the previous year.

While I’m a huge advocate for fixing our eyes on the future and not dwelling on past mistakes or downfalls, there is something to be said about the practice of looking back and taking inventory of those that have shaped us into our current state.

For 2022, I have BIG goals. I’ve drafted resolutions and tried to place time in my calendar to make those goals my 2022 reality. I’ve dreamed and laid a foundation for 2022 to be the year of so many blessings.

But what about 2021?

Like everyone else, the past year had some definite moments of aching. But it’s not as though I experienced 365 days of pain and fear. And if I really reflect, I’m certain there were more victories than failures in that calendar year.

I completed my Master’s program

My school returned to in-person instruction

I received my Covid vaccines and booster

I went to the beach THREE times

I met some pretty awesome people

Many of my friendships flourished

We were able to travel back to England as travel bans were lifted

I planned and executed the launch of my new business

And many more…

You see, there is always a silver lining. As I planned out my 2022 resolutions, I tried to be aware that growth is important to my future, but so is living in the moment and appreciating those blessings in my life now–no matter how big or small they might be.

What victories can you recall from 2021?

The Ameri Brit Mom

2019 Writing Journal

January 2, 2019December 28, 2018 The Ameri Brit MomLeave a comment

Setting goals and preparing for the upcoming year is something I look forward to every winter. I like to sit down and map out my journey for the next twelve months. I start by envisioning where I want to be at year-end and then create small steps that will get me to that point. Do I always follow-through, nope. But starting with a goal in mind for the year really helps me to develop a mindset for growth.

This year I want to focus on the literary aspects of my life.

Earlier this week I posted about my 2019 Reading Challenge where I plan to read books set all over the world.

As for writing, I decided to create a Writing Journal for 2019. I used an old notebook I had laying around, some cardstock tabs from Illustrated Faith, and Papermate Flair pens to set up the notebook.

This is a simple notebook, but I used many of the aspects of bullet journaling when setting it up. I started with a goal page:

In the middle of the page I started with my Word of the Year 2019: Adventure. From there, I broke my writing down into four parts: blog, craft, short stories, and novels. I wrote 1-2 personal goals for each of these branches of my writing.

I broke the year down into four quarters and on the following page I created a space to track my goals for that quarter.

Some other spreads in my Writing Journal include:

-Work-In-Progress sections for planning out novels and short stories

-Books of Craft to Read

-New Novel Ideas

-2019 Reading Challenge: Adventure

-Boot Camp Writing Prompts

-Craft Notes

-Blog

-Publishing

-Action Chart (for pieces I have queried or had published)

-Beautiful Words and Phrases

I’m old fashioned in the fact that I prefer to write in notebooks as opposed to using online calendars and notes. If you are a writer, I would love to hear about how you organize your writing. I find relaxation in functional notebooks. I know there are others like me out there.

The Ameri Brit Mom

Organization · Uncategorized

Happy New Year 2017

January 1, 2017January 1, 2017 The Ameri Brit MomLeave a comment

Today is day 1 of a brand new year. It’s a time to reflect on the past year and to set your sights on goals for the upcoming one. Recently, I’ve taken on a new addiction–bullet journaling. If you have a few hours to waste on Pinterest take a look at my bullet journal board. I’ve been pinning ideas and creating spreads in my Moleskine for about a week now.

In the final hours of 2016 I decided to review the past twelve months on a page of my bullet journal.

And now that 2017 has officially started I’ve also written out my New Years Resolutions.

Write 300 words per day
Read 26 books of my own choosing
Commit to Gluten-free/Paleo diet
Institute a Family Game Night weekly
Keep a Bullet Journal

I hope your year is off to a great start and that you have written some goals to motivate you in 2017!

Happy New Year!

The Ameri Brit Mom