Things I got right today, this year, in my life.

things-i-got-right

Received this journal from a young writer friend Tiffany Short. The lines are made up of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s writing in tiny, weeny print.

When I walk my dog, I often pick up dog do bags others leave behind–they drive me nuts. Why would you go to the trouble of bagging excrement and then just leave it mid path or park or even in the trees. But when I deposited the bags in the recycling bin by error, not once, but twice, I became even more annoyed. This time with myself. That was the beginning of my mystery series The Great Mistake Mysteries. The Best Mistake Mystery will be coming out January 7.

The idea being that we should celebrate our mistakes because it means we have put forth effort, possibly even taken a risk, stepped outside our comfort zone.  Each chapter is a mistake the main character Stephen Noble and/or his associates make and of course the errors lead to the solution of the mystery.

flowers-from-jennifer

Flowers from Jennifer Irwin, a genius writer I accidentally met and bonded with at a signing in Pointe Claire, Quebec. A signing that only occurred due to a miss-scheduling.

But now I’m also thinking about something else. Errors are the conflict in life, how we resolve them shows our character. Easy to remember what we get wrong. However we should also celebrate what we get right. Sometimes it’s the resolution of the error, sometimes it’s something else entirely. Could be something little.

Like when I finally remembered that a friend’s mom wanted autographed books to take to England for some great nephews and nieces. I was annoyed that I kept forgetting but when I delivered them, she was just thrilled that I brought them a week before her departure. False deadlines, my friends, are the way to go! Here’s my thank you gift (as if buying my books for kids in England weren’t thank you enough!)

banana-bread

Pauline’s homemade banana bread to thank me for delivering Canadian souvenir autographed books. Only two weeks late.

So I put use to the new journal a young writer Tiffany Short gave me as a gift. Her favourite author is Lucy Maud Montgomery and she purchased a journal where the lines are tiny words from LM’s books. For me! Inspiring such a treasured gift is something I got right for sure. What an honour! At first it was hard to mark this book up. Those words are so perfect. But then I decided on days of overwhelming feelings of inadequacy to write in it or on these words as it were.  I would write all the things I got right that day.

Notice the first line if you can make it out is that I deposited those little bags of dog excrement in the right bin that day. Eventually I learn from my mistakes.

kids

I gave away a Blueberries and Whipped Cream at a library reading. My husband ordered the 2000 or so remainders many years ago–big mistake at the time. The young reader was very grateful. The photo itself is the crazy face picture you let them make after the real shot. I always hope they relax and I get that photo immediately following. Not this time. Mistake? Nah! I love these kids.

 Maybe this will give way to a new series: Things I got right today.

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