December Newsletter

Like my previous newsletter, this is more for my benefit than anyone else (I’m still practicing). 

Before I get this party started, I need to point out that today is the second day of Hanukkah! For Jews, this party is already well underway. Happy Hanukkah everyone!

November did not go as I planned. I started off gung-ho, but by the end of the month I was off track, and missed my most important post: Chapter One of The Second Wife’s Story. All I can say is hooray for a new month!

Maybe the holiday season was not the best time to be reviving and preparing for a relaunch of Stories From the Past. Maybe I should have started off slower. I could probably blame my missing first chapter of The Second Wife’s Story on the flu that I caught immediately after Thanksgiving. Or just maybe I could say, Well, I’m not quite there yet; take a closer look at where I went wrong, and start fresh.

I think I’ll do that.

No Excuses

I was inspired by a simple post from one of my favorite bloggers. Christian Mihai, titled The Five Habits of Extremely Prolific Bloggers.  The first habit on his list? Yeah. “They never make excuses.”

So without any more excuses, and remembering that every day is a clean slate, I can take a look at the past, see where I went wrong, and try again.

Habit Building

As I think about the month of December, and my plans for the New Year, I am reminded that I am building new habits for the rest of my life. Habits don’t change overnight, and I have to be patient and not take on more than I can handle. I am building a blog, writing a book, and building a habit, so I need to take on one task a time.

In his article, How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science), James Clear debunks the 21-day habit myth and explains, “if you want to set your expectations appropriately, the truth is that it will probably take you anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into your life — not 21 days.” This is encouraging, and a bit daunting, as I was hoping to have my new daily routine set before the New Year begins.

There I go again, expecting perfection overnight. Well, that ain’t happening.

But eight months? I’m not expecting it to take that long, but at least I can be assured that with dedication and determination, my goals of regular, on-time posting and having Mary Davis Skeen’s biography, The Second Wife’s Story, ready for publishing will be accomplished  within the new year. I CAN do this.

Re-launch

I have to remember that December is the busiest month of the year in the United States, and that my readers are probably just as overwhelmed with holiday preparations as I am. I still have a lot of planning and organizing to do in order to prepare for a professional New Year launch.

I intend to follow my own inner clock which tells me that December is a time for reflection while January is a time for renewal. This month I’ll be looking over what I have completed so far, and tweaking and preparing for a clean new start in January.

My posts will be simple, as my focus will be on completing two chapters of The Second Wife’s Story (appearing after Christmas), and cleaning up and preparing Stories From the Past for its new start in January.

What to Expect this December

• Navajo Greetings and exploration of the name (Navajo vs. Diné)
• Hanukkah for non-Jews (with a nod to rembembering the Shoah)
• A Slovenian Christmas Eve (Recipe and Tradition)
• (n)O Christimas Tree (Stories from Olean, New York, and Lark, Utah)
• Mary Eynon ancestor profile page (not a post)
• The Second Wife’s Story, Chapter 1, Wales
• The Second Wife’s Story, Chapter 2, Aboard the Clara Wheeler: from Liverpool to New Orleans

To accommodate for the holidays, posts will not necessarily appear on their regularly scheduled days and times.

Fundraising for Austria:

I’ve been invited to Austria for the inauguration of a museum housing exhibitions on the Jews in Bucklige Welt and Wechselland regions titled “With – Without Jews.” The museum will tell the stories of the many families who disappeared during the Holocaust–including mine.

I will be able to gather so many more stories of people who can’t tell them.

Fundraising for this trip begins in January.

Tentative stories for the upcoming months:

• Rothsprack Cousin Connection
• Uncle Bernie (Kwiatkowski)
• Mary Rogers (Damron)
• Tante Rosa and Tante Rosa
• Ruth’s story
• Aucke Wyckoff’s story
• The story of a Pony Express Rider
• Mother was a prostitute (Not mine, Silly!)