A friend recently posted a meme in a Facebook group with this message:

2015 was practice.

2016 was warm-up.

2017 is game time!

In a way . . . somehow . . . this is my life.

The new year brings a major change. This spring I’ll be moving from my sister’s four-acre hobby farm –where I tended an alpaca herd, discovered newborn bunnies, witnessed my little papillon actually tree a raccoon (more than once), surprised a fox (and we were way too close to one another), dealt with more dead things than I ever have in my life, took a weaving class, and imagined three novels and a novella–to a home of my own near Tampa.

A new chapter is exciting, but closing the current one will not be easy. In the time I’ve lived here, I’ve become part of the local inspirational writing community, made new friends, and enjoyed Mid-South hospitality.

It’s hard to think about New Year’s resolutions when I don’t even know what “a day in my life” will look like.

But I am planning ventures (which just may be my 2017 Word of the Year).

Writing ventures include a second cozy mystery, a major revision to my unpublished novel When Memory Whispers, and a third still-to-be-decided project.

I’ve already started my travel ventures. I was in Tulsa over Christmas and, as you’re reading this, I’m headed to Arizona to hug my grandgirls. Who knows where else my vagabond feet will wander in the coming months?

(If venture is my 2017 Word of the Year, then a bicycle is my symbol.)

Let’s not forget hobby ventures.

I’ve been taking horse-riding lessons . . . on a pony. A TALL pony! Gabby probably won’t miss me as much as I’ll miss her but she’s given me the confidence to take a chance, try something scary, and live to talk about it. <said with a grin>

My weaving sample (woven on a table loom)

A weaving loom probably isn’t in my future, but I enjoyed the class I took.

A friend from church has promised to teach me to crochet an infinity scarf. I’ve already created the 72-inch chain she told me I needed.

An acting class might be fun–not because I have any talent, but because of the insights I’d gain about creating characters.

So many things to do. So many things to try.

Now it’s your turn. What ventures might 2017 hold for you?