Many of us look forward to the start of the school year, and not just for the obvious reasons, like A LOT of summer together time. There is a crispness to this season; it’s in the air and the pages of our kids’ new notebooks, in their freshly laundered uniforms and first day of school outfits, in the anticipation of fall’s first apples. It’s a time of new beginnings, a fresh start.

Dreadfully busy as we all are, it’s good to stop, take stock, and prioritize; see how far we’ve come and where we want to go.

Because really, why not make our resolutions now? We’re rested and sun-warmed. (Whereas by January, frankly, many of us are recovering from harried holidays and semester’s end. Forget resolutions, we really just want to wrap ourselves in fleece, clasp warm drinks and watch Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey or any series not set in a sun-drenched paradise.)

I’ll kick off this resolution thing: for the next month or so, I’m going to focus on getting my novel in the shape it deserves. I may post a little less. Maybe the blog will host links to some of the excellent bloggers I’ve discovered this year.

If you feel like it, share your resolution for the new school year; I’d love to hear about it and support you as you have me.

Last spring I decided to blog and publish; I wrote my first piece here on June 8, 2014. My writing journey and lessons learned are chronicled in “How To Get Published: My Year of Magical Writing,” up on the Mom2.0Summit blog. Maybe it’ll be useful to some of my fellow writers. The best part of writing it was reminding myself how much I’m still capable of learning–no matter my age.  And connecting with a host of readers, old and new.

Thank you all for joining me here. I hope the 2015-16 school year is our best yet. We may not be successful every time, but the very act of pursuing a dream? That counts for a lot. No matter what grade you’re in.