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Subplots & Storylines – January 2020

Tracey Dyck 14 Comments

It’s 2020 and high time for a new S&S banner, right? Ta-da! 🙂 Hard to believe the first month of the year is DONE, but here we are. It was a mostly good one in my corner of the world, minus a few tired days and some sickness passing through the house. I read great books, got back to working on WIP, met up with several friends, and revived my bookstagram (which had been languishing for months).

One of the loveliest things about January, though? The days are getting longer. Right around the winter solstice, daylight hours are SO short here, from about 8am to 4pm. But now the sun starts climbing closer to 7:30 and doesn’t set till after 5… which means my daily work commute is no longer in the dark. SO HAPPY.

First up in this month’s Subplots & Storylines: silver screen reviews on a web-slinger, a raider of tombs, and motley shows!

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6 “Remembrances” to Defeat Self-Doubt

Tracey Dyck 16 Comments

“I’m returning to my work-in-progress!” she announced to the world. “It’s been three months! I can’t wait to write again!” And everyone cheered.

But, dear reader, she did not in fact return to the novel she was supposed to edit until sixteen days later. She had good reasons for delaying—actual Reasons, not Excuses—but by the time she hauled out the laptop, notebook, sticky notes, pens, and spreadsheet… an insidious little something had time to kick in.

Self-Doubt.

Yes, between her zealous announcement and the actual action, her old friend returned to give her a poke in the ribs. Now, this “old friend” had reared its ugly head before, and she knew a few tricks for fending it off. But even so, Self-Doubt had a nasty habit of showing up from time to time and giving her a heckling when she least expected it.

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2019 Recap & 2020 Goals

Tracey Dyck 18 Comments
image via Unsplash

2019… what a year! Some big things happened in my personal life, while other pursuits stalled out. It was a time of transition and growth, and I’m getting better at being kind to myself in those times—understanding myself in a more wholistic way, realizing that I can’t do everything, and letting go accordingly.

As I mentioned last week (thank you for all your encouragement on that post, by the by!), I took more time than usual to figure out where to set my sights this year. But ideas and goals are taking shape now, and I thought I’d bring you along for the ride.

First, though, how did those 2019 goals turn out?

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Rooted

Tracey Dyck 19 Comments
image via unsplash

This January, I’ve been slow to transition into the new year—slow to evaluate 2019 and set goals for 2020. That’s okay. I’m allowing myself time to wrap up some loose ends from last year, and let ideas about the future percolate a little longer than normal before announcing them to the world.

The whole concept of announcing goals has been running around my head too. On one hand, yay for some sense of accountability! On the other… sometimes we do more announcing and less doing. So for my part, I’m still thinking, praying, dreaming, and I might share what floats to the surface in a week or two.

Another thing is that I usually don’t pick a word for the year. But for the last year or two, the word with has been strongly impressed upon my heart and became an expression of a lifeline I found in Christ during a time of overwhelming pressure.

With is still very dear to me. But lately, another word has also whispered itself in my ear.

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