2013: Wrap it Up

© by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Happy New Year!

Party, people!  It's already December 31st and  2013 has been consumed, used up, down the pipe, glug-glug,   it's  gone!  New Year's Eve!    A perfect day? Yes!   Sun was out.   Here in NW Ontario it's been incredibly Canadian today, brutally  cold and bright for the last day of 2013.   At -38C,  the snow  squeaks when you're brave enough to go out and  walk on it, Apparently it is too cold for Florida-types,  but in reality,  it was a perfect, normal, winter day. Perfect for partying New Year's Eve, and the party's ON!

Speaking of perfection, in 2013, completed goals,  fulfilled dreams, even small successes helped and it's a perfect day to stay in and  wrap it up.

First of all, with something over  381,000  hits on this website in just over 11 months (since the 'hit counter'  was installed on this site, that is  ) —which is amazing — I want to thank each and every one of my loyal readers for stopping in here at Incoming Bytes.com. 

I also wish to thank my friends  around the world near and far;  those with creative, persistent ideas, wonderful solid people  who continue to inspire and support my dreams. Movers and shakers, individuals with dreams of their own,

For example, Robin Tidwell at Rocking Horse Publishing suggested we put my previously-published eBook    Morgidoo's Christmas Carol  (a unique Christmas classic for all ages ) into print.  Not just an idea!  It's done and out there!   Fantastic.   

Rocking Horse Publishing designed a new cover for the  2nd edition.   Robin did a  wonderful job on the project.  Morgidoo's Christmas Carol 2nd edition  is now out  in the USA,  Canada, UK, India, Australia, France,  Germany, Spain,  and everywhere else Amazon reaches. In fine bookstores everywhere.  How can that NOT be an inspiration and good luck for an author?

Now it may sound strange that I  specifically  mentioned Robin Tidwell, but she was actually the first person ever to read 'Liv Manlin' , my first novel that was collecting dust,   and encouraged me to submit it for publication.  It ended up being named "The Fires of Waterland" (historical fiction) (Redmundpro)  that was published and launched in January of this same lucky year. 2013, The Year of the Writer.  How do you beat that?

Then there's the  luck of the Irish,  —After all, everybody has luck, don't they? er....No

Did you publish a best-seller, too, win the Megabucks lottery or perhaps a free ticket for the Super 7?  How about the gazillion-buck SuperBall?  Did you even come close? Win a free donut?  Find a quarter on the coffee-shop parking lot?  Write a few short stories?  As an aside, did you ever persuade the spouse to read your first poem?  My first poem was awful. It's still awful.   

Nooooo...you say?   Okay, those were trick questions anyway.  Did you close your eyes, scribble more poetry, and just buy another ticket ? Did you keep on writing no matter what your critics said?  Did you listen to your instincts? There you go, that's called persistence, and optimism. Hope.   It is lucky to be persistent.   Join the group.  You're in great company. We all win when we keep trying. Smile.   Lottery non-winners, authors-to- be published or not,  scribblers and lucky anonymous, terrible poets, ordinary people.   The eternally hopeful. God Bless us all.

That's the point. We're optimistic, looking forward to 2014 and the NEW opportunities offered. Learn lessons in life. Take notes. Who knows, we may even publish again, put out a new edition,  and really get that best-seller going —and win the lottery too, (which might be easier) in 2014...er...we hope.

Meantime, good health, no accidents---how can good luck like that be beaten?

We may have to look this way and that, searching under rocks, and think positively to identify the genuinely wonderful things that did happen looking back at 2013,  because  sometimes they're tiny. Miniscule tiny miracles.  A page at a time.  We always have greater expectations, don't we?  I  have to admit that  2013 was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination,  and let's be realistic. Publishing a book or, winning the lottery doesn't guarantee life will be better. . Oh yeah?  but it wouldn't be nice to run a test on that theory ?

Let's Wrap it Up

No matter; the year 2013 is toast anyway 365 days gone, so let's wrap it up.  Best of 2014 to EVERYONE. Have a Happy and Safe New Year,

p.s.  And please don't drink and drive, plan to come home to your loved ones in one piece..

Happy 2014 !!

Is that Incoming I hear?

photo credit courtesy of www.gahzebo.com

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