On Planning for Life to Continue

Today is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. We don't really celebrate it in the states, but I was in Scotland one year on Boxing Day. We flew overnight and landed early that morning. We checked into our inn and they fed us an enormous brunch, along with many people who'd come out just for that special meal. Because the Scots stay in with family on Christmas itself, they tend to emerge the day after. Boxing Day is for visiting friends and neighbors.

It's a lovely tradition.

I'm writing this blog post ahead of time. Who knows how Boxing Day morning will find me? At the moment I write this, the bulk of the Christmas frenzy and festivities lie still ahead of me. I have more baking to do (largely because we already ate them all - eep) and shopping and wrapping and traveling. I look ahead to the future, launching this missive for our selves-yet-to-be.

Also, at the moment I write this, the Mayan apocalypse is supposed to occur at any time. Already it's December 21, 2012 on the Australian side of the world.

Me? I'm figuring on the world going on. Just a bit of planning ahead.

Thinking about the future can be a funny undertaking. We take so much on faith that the sun will rise again, that our lives and projects will continue. That 2012 will wind to a natural close in just a few days and 2013 will begin.

Dates are on my mind, too, because I just signed a book deal, announced on Monday in our Here Be News feature. The deal is for a trilogy and my editor and I just discussed dates for delivery. In the world of publishing, especially print publishing, there are long lead times. The first book is planned for early 2014. I have to turn in the third book by May 1, 2014.

It's hard for me to conceive of that date.

And yet, here I am, planning for it, just as I'm writing this post a few days ahead.

An act of faith and hope - in thanks for the blessings of good fortune.