Taking breaks and strategizing
By Elizabeth Cutright

I’ve crossed a desert, dodging semis and Sunday drivers, and am now spreading holiday cheer and trying to recuperate after weeks of nonstop action. If you’re still wrapping gifts or making one last trip to the store, I feel your pain-I procrastinated to the point of ridiculousness this year, and I feel like I barely made it to the finish line in time.

But the marathon is winding down, and for most of us New Years Eve is the last hurdle on the horizon…once we clear that final leap, it’ll be smooth sailing into 2013.

This year’s holiday schedule means that many of us will find ourselves in a bit of a “deadzone” after Wednesday. It’ll be a short (or nonexistent) work week, then another break and then voila…a new year.

Though in many ways its an arbitrary cut off point -after all, real life carries on despite the calendar – the start of the year gives us the opportunity to embrace new goals, restart abandoned projects, take our vitamins and recommit to living a daily creative life. I plan on using the next few days to develop some plans of action and reassessing my goals and expectations. I plan on borrowing a lot from The Art of Nonconformity, and as I wrote in a previous blog, in order to enact the changes you want and live the creative life you want to live, “you just have to tighten up those shoelaces, straighten that hat, check those buckles and jump back into the rush and flow and ebb of life.”

So happy holidays from the Daily Creative Writer. I hope your surrounded by loved ones, copious amounts of sugar cookies, and plenty of perfect pens, crisp notebooks and inspiration galore.
Best wishes!