♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #74
Lists! We love lists. Top 10…. 5 Ways… Worst 3… List helpful hints for your topic of choice.
Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.
I’ve been waffling and debating for a week now about what I planned to write on this week’s blog, but I don’t feel anymore secure or the least bit closer in my choice. I plan each month’s blog at the end of the previous month and try to write all the entries within 1-2 weeks after that plan has been set. Sometimes things get in the way. Other times, I run through it like no one’s business. When things are busy, that time line gets mighty complicated. So, you can imagine, in the middle of the holidays, working, and trying to get a cover finished for my next release, that I am strapped for both time and ideas!
So what did I come up with?
The 12 Top Rituals In My Year
I’m not talking magick, although I could. Instead, my list will contain a year’s worth of annual activities that are my version of modern rituals.
1. January
I refuse to make any resolutions. Ever year, growing up, I listened to adults brag about their great new goal for the upcoming year, and then I watched them botch it within a few weeks. The taking of a resolution was as meaningless as the communion they took. Granted, many people were well meaning, and struggled through a good portion of the year attempting to make good on their promise. There were even a few who met the promise and went beyond.
The event of New Years and resolutions became something trite—conformist.
Yes, I have a rebellious strain running through my DNA. Of course I don’t make my stands in the conventional ways, because that would be too conformist. Instead, I refuse to fall in line, and make my own path. I start every year the same: Not resolving a thing, but, instead, working toward my long held goals.
2. February
This one is easy. During February, I try to think of how close March is and that the cold is ebbing. My cheeks burn in the cold and my lips are dry from the winds. The ice has become tiresome and the snows continue to fall. My heart might break, but I can count the days to relief.
In 2016, this ritual was interrupted by a late snow storm in March that crushed me into a weather born depression. When the sun returned, I was never happier to see spring.
3. March
Each March is when I start to crank projects into high gear. I’m facing the summer, and I want to see my books released in time for summer reading. If I don’t have a project, then I’m settling my reading list so I can start writing 
come fall. This is the best time to send me reading recommendations (if I’m not harried by stressful deadlines).
4. April
I’m ready for planting. I look at the ground and see if it’s thawed enough. Are the early blooms poking up yet? The list for my herbs is formed.
I also start most of my art projects for marketing my books at this time. The longer days, the warmer sun, and the brighter colors renew my energy and you’ll see all of that entering into my art.
My eye starts to turn toward Fall, and how long I have to knock down that reading list.
5. May
May is the month my parents were married. It’s the month of Mother’s Day in the United States. Between planting and celebrating family, I’m starting to read those books on my list, and that new release is hitting in days!
6. June
My Birth Month!!
I’m kicked into high gear with a new release and reading. I spend time walking my dog and enjoying the stillness and warmth. The winter is almost forgotten, but I’m already growing nostalgic for Fall.
7. July
Rest. I might be working. I might be celebrating my new release still. Above all, I am resting. Some might find winter the time when they sit back and renew. The cold weather can keep you house bound, and no one really likes to drive in storms, or on icy roads. It can be days before they clear completely. Instead, I rest when it’s warm, and everything is green. I cherish the thunder and lightning.
8. August
I’m still resting, but I’ve plowed through a good portion of my reading list for the summer and Fall is on the cusp. I’m thinking of the apples and new projects that will carry me through the doldrums of winter. The heat is getting to me by now, so I’m staying in more, and the dog is restless.
This is when I will plot which project I should undertake next, and usually reach out to my editor to see if she’s available for another book.
9. September
Kids are going back to school. The air is cooling. Me and the dog are walking again. I’m rested and ready to attend events, especially apple picking and other harvest time doings. The first pie has probably gone into the oven. I’ve got a firm grasp on what project I’m going to be doing and that should be coming underway very soon. The reading pile is set aside for domestic tasks.
10. October
A month long celebration of Halloween begins late September and carries into the start of November. I pile up horror films, old favorites and new offerings. Candy corn is purchased. Pumpkins are carved. Decorations go up, and the smile on my face is a sign that I have all I need to face the coming dark.
This coming year, I look forward to handing out candy to the neighbor’s children!
11. November
My mother and brother both have birthday’s in this month. I go home to have Thanksgiving Dinner. Through the start of the month, I gather the things I will need to make a dinner of my own (left overs don’t leave my mom’s house anymore). The first pumpkin pie is baked and I’ve hammered out a plan with my editor for the next book, while I start working on my next project.
12. December
Starting that next project gets batted around quite a bit, but now that Christmas is upon us, the time is getting tight to do things, and I feel that sucking hole of another year gone by dragging down my mood, I set to work in earnest.
Decorating the tree and the apartment help to brighten the close of the year, and I fight off the fear that I haven’t quite accomplished all that I intended, and another year has passed without grasping the laurels I’ve had my eye on for decades. Perhaps that’s what makes winter to beastly? The cold is just icing on that toothache.
♠
Those are the rituals of my year. I follow them pretty closely year to year, and you might rather call them habits. However, coming to call them rituals is due to the reasons that drive them.
Let’s hop on over and see what the other authors have written in their lists…
