Monday, January 05, 2015

Well, Hello 2015


I'm sorry to say that 2014 hasn't been a good year for me. I didn't write about this on the blog -although I did write a post or two that I chose not to publish- because I simply didn't want to think about it, couldn't think about it. Someone extremely dear to me lost her battle with cancer in June, and bad things happened to other people about whom I care a lot.

There is one thing that "saved" me, in a way, and that was working on my novel, my short stories, and preparing the collection of short stories for publication. You know, something like in Simon and Garfunkel's "I am a rock:"

I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;

Holding that real book in my hands was certainly the high moment of the year.

So, what can I say about 2015? I certainly wish it's a very happy one for all of you, for everybody. Probably for the first time in many years, I didn't feel the moment between the 31st of december and the 1st of January as a threshold. 2015 doesn't feel like a new beginning, or a new hope. It's more like this:



I had no idea that this was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the WWII. Well, I can certainly use it this year... and perhaps I won't be just drifting away... like in this song that I love and that sometimes doesn't let me sleep at night with its obsessive refrain....



So, allow me to wish you all the best: good health, love, good books, and good music.... and if you haven't bought it yet, perhaps you might consider buying my book this year...



...from Amazon.com or Amazon. ca. Thank you! :-) :-) :-)





12 comments:

BernardL said...

I hope you have a great year, Cora, and your book is only the first of many.

Charles Gramlich said...

I am sorry for the losses in 2014.I will agree it was a tough year. They seem to be that way of late. We will start 2015 with a couple of surgeries for Lana. Fortunately pretty minor ones but I'd still rather not have them. Hopefully after that the year will pick up.

Brian Miller said...

the way i always figure it...if i have a bad year...the next ones surely got to be better you know....smiles...i hope the new one is just that for you...

Roland D. Yeomans said...

My best friend is dying of breast cancer, and she is slipping. It hurts.

I pray your 2015 proves to be kinder to you and yours.

I really appreciated the poster from WWII Britain. I am reading THE DOG WHO COULD FLY, and I marvel at how tense the Blitz was: just a walk down the street even in the daylight could end up with bombs dropping. Children and babies were killed in those terrible raids. The person you joked with the day prior could be killed the next evening.

May tomorrow go well for you. I am late since I have been healing from the flu today. Ouch. Tomorrow I go back into germ-laden hospitals again. Double ouch!!

Vesper said...

Bernard, thank you! I hope that you too have a better year.

Charles, thank you. I'm sure everything will be fine with the surgeries. It has to be! All my good thoughts and best wishes go to Lana and you.

Brian, they have to be better! :-) Thank you. A wonderful year to you too!

I'm so sorry, Roland, about your friend. Surely, something more can be tried... remember the book that I've sent you about a year ago... My prayers and good wishes go to her.
Get well and be careful! Hospitals are scary in so many ways...

Erik Donald France said...

Best wishes to you, as well ~ and, of course, congrats on your book ~!

Here's to a better Twenty Fifteen. . .

strugglingwriter said...

I hope you have a better year this year than the last.

SzélsőFa said...

Hey, I was afraid that you forgot to mention the (probably) best thing that happened to you in 2014, your collection of stories, the book.
I am sorry for your loss, and I know one often chooses to be tough, and I do like that S&G song too, but the end is so sad:
'and a rock feels no pain/and an island never cries'.
(I have never been there, just really close to this state. I don't really know you, and anyway who am I to give advices over the internet, but hey, that state is nothing one really, really wants.
It's called catatonia and is described on the short story I mentioned earlier. The one with the white walls.
You do not want to go there.)
Sorry for being inappropriate.
Have a happy 2015 filled with writing.

Vesper said...

Erik, thank you very much - on all counts! All the best to you too. :-)

Paul, thank you! A Happy New Year to you too! :-)

SzélsőFa, you're not being inappropriate at all. Thank you for your concern and your advice. Actually, what I like from that song is only what I quoted. The rest is just too sad and does not apply to me at all. But I find that stories, books, are a way to escape... :-) You too have a wonderful 2015! :-)

SzélsőFa said...

Okay, I'm glad to hear that. Thank you for your comment.
You see... mentioning that song made me a little worried :)
:)

A Cuban In London said...

Sorry to hear about your friends. Keep strong and carry on!

Greetings from London.

Vesper said...

SzélsőFa, :-) :-) :-)

Cuban, thanks! Happy New Year! :-)