*The beach at Fort Worden State Park, located in my hometown of Port Townsend, WA and setting of my novel Keep Me Afloat.*

I’m not much of a resolutions person. I tend to be incredibly hard on myself, so concrete resolutions just stress me out. Still, I love the opportunity to reflect and redirect at the beginning of a new year. I love to examine my life, look ahead, and take action. That’s why I prefer to choose a New Year’s Word instead — sort of like a yearly “theme.” Something to reflect on and fold into my life with purpose.

I’ve been selecting a Word of the Year for a few years now. 2018 was FEARLESS. 2019 was EXUBERANCE. 2020 was SLOW DOWN (ironic, right? I definitely did that!).

For 2021, I decided on the word BELIEVE. Here’s the etymology:

I love that the etymology is rooted in love, desire, and confidence. That’s how I want to approach 2021. I want to:

Believe in myself.
Believe in my abilities and expertise.
Believe that I am worthy.
Believe I can do more, be better, and excel at new scary things.
Believe in the good that still exists in the world.
Believe things will get better, not just in my own life, but in this country and the world, too.

I know you’re probably reading this newsletter because you read one or both of my novels and enjoyed them. You might be surprised to learn that I feel insecure about my writing a lot of the time. I get imposter syndrome. I can think of a million little things I would edit and fix, even in finished novels. But I’m not new to this business. I’ve been writing books for a decade now, and it’s time to put more belief in myself and more confidence into building my career.

So: Believe. That’s my word for the year.

Do you have one? I’d love to know if you do!