New Year, New Genre

And here we are at the beginning ... the end of 2016. Sometimes I think it's a damn shame that by the time we are wise enough to ask the right questions, we have already missed so many opportunities to find and utilize the answers. But there's no changing that. For example, if what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, you can't go back a decade and use the benefit of truly living that adage to have made things better in the now in the first place. So, short of time travel, we have no choice but to change our next act. But I'm starting to wax scifi fantasy here, and while I love that, that's not what this new genre I'm writing in is about. 

I think the hugest mistake we make in relationships of all types is forgetting to be selfless. We're just not very good at it these days, and I think it's getting worse. Is it because we're all turning into a bunch of monsters? Hardly. I think we need to give and receive love more than ever before. I think time--lack of it--makes us greedy. I think we are so desperate to stay on schedule, be superwoman or man, or just eek out a much-needed release (of whatever sort you need), that we get sloppy and sometimes selfish. I mean how much time do we have left anyway? Look at all the celebs that died fairly young in 2016. Hey, if it happened to them, it could happen to us, but ... OMG ... I haven't done half the exciting things they had before they checked out. Of course, we're talking perspective here. I haven't had half the difficulties some of those icons had either. Perspective matters so much.

Funny thing is, every time I do raise my head to focus on the needs of someone else ... or whenever someone does that for me (thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful person who paid for my mocha the other day on the Starbucks drive through!) I wind up feeling lighter. The world feels kinder. The air feels fresher. Life feels good. 

So for 2017, my resolution has nothing to do with chocolate, since I'll be digging into that stuff by January 2nd, guaranteed. This year, I'm focusing on trying to be more selfless in spreading light and good will. Truth is, you really can't go wrong by doing so. Hopefully, you wind up adding some good energy to the planet person by person. And if someone rejects your kindness, you can certainly piss them off with it by continuing on with a smile on your face. (They'll think back later with some discomfort over how they became disgruntled!) I have loads of ideas for the people in my life. And I plan to spread happiness and the idea of unselfish love to you through my steamy novels. (I hope you will enjoy my new series this year, beginning with Jigsaw Hearts.) And I want to find more ways to pay it forward to strangers as Starbuck's Guy did. Any thoughts? Any random acts of kindess you've seen recently? Please share! And Happy 2017 to you!

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