A New Year Project

One of my Square One Projects this year will be to read a list of Classics. Spent a good deal of time online finding various lists and have now officially compiled my own. I have not read any of these except for the Little House Series which I am reading again because I have a grand-daughter and this is a series I would love to read with her. Why am I choosing to read more classic books this year? I had a variety of reasons: one, to much rubbish out there and wanted to read somethings that are well written. second, I hope to improve my vocabulary and educate myself a bit and thirdly, would like to get some new ideas and think this will help me with my writing. These authors have withstood the test of time, either because of their writing abilities or because of the the ideas they had. Enough of the rambling here is my final list. Please join me in reading some of the classics listed or feel free to share your own reading lists for the year.
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger
Crime and Punishment -Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Ethan Frome- Edith Wharton
The Good Earth-Pearl S. Buck
The Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
My Antonia-Willa Cather
A Separate Peace- John Knowles
Tess of the D'Urbervilles-Thomas Hardy
To Kill a Mocking Bird-Harper Lee
Uncle Tom's Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe
Winesburg, Ohio-Sherwood Anderson
Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand
Anna Karenina-Leo Tolstoy
Les Miserables-Victor hugo
Middlemarch -George Eliot
The Last of the Mohicans-James Fenimore Cooper
The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand
Lady Audley's Secret -Mary Elizabeth Brandon
The Return of the Native-Thomas Hardy
The Jungle-Upton Sinclair
Housekeeping: Marilynne Robinson
Walden-Henry David Thoreau
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
An Old-Fashioned Girl- Louisa May Alcott
The Cricket on the Hearth-Charles Dickens
Daniel Deronda- George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss-George Eliot

Mary Barton- Elizabeth Gaskell
Ruth - Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South -Elizabeth Gaskell
Wives and Daughters- Elizabeth Gaskell
East Lynne Ellen Wood
Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Farmer Boy- Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
On the Banks of Plum Creek -Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Town on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years - Laura Ingalls Wilder
On the Way Home - Laura Ingalls Wilder
The First Four Years - Laura Ingalls Wilder
West from Home -Laura Ingalls Wilder

Fear

FEAR! Have thought a lot about fear this week. Thinking how much I have allowed fear to hold me back from doing the things I want. Fear of failure, fear of others! What is fear holding you back from? What do you do to over come your fear?

Simplify

SIMPLIFY, getting rid of, dumping, minimalist moving, or whatever you would like to call it. I am getting rid of, unloading and simplifying my life as part of my Square One Project. I did this before about a year ago and since my move see how I can downsize even more. Setting goals, moving along on the path to the future and seeing more clearly. What are some areas of your own life you should be simplifying? closets, calendars, email or just your time :)

Habits

I haven't forgotten my Square One Project, believe me I have been working hard and getting all kinds of things lined up. In the process of moving and still downsizing, started some schooling and will soon be adding some special courses to that list. The last is a surprise I will let everyone later. I might be going MIA for a bit, just to gt things done but also have been thinking about how I use my time and am I using as wisely as I should. No, the answer of course is a big fat no! I know it is called social media, but feel that it makes me more anti-social. I realize this is the one place I am able to keep in contact with some people and things. Last few months and even more in the last few days the negativity has been flying and I honestly have allowed it a few times to suck me in, I don't post but will text friends and sit and fume at computer. Does it matter, not really for me I have so much positive I need to be focusing on and think I need to take a media/computer break. This is if I can actually not cave in. Will try for 24 hours and see if I can handle it. LOL Time to break the habit. :)

Starting Over

Three years ago my husband of 20 plus years decided he wanted a divorce. This announcement took me completely by surprise to say the least. Actually surprised is an understatement to describe what I was thinking and feeling. The shock of those words took nearly 2 years to completely sink on. I hit rock bottom and felt like there was no reason to go on. My 20 plues years of marriage, I was a stay-at-hom mother as well as a homeschooling mom. Anyone that has ever done this will be more then willing to tell you it is a JOB! Wife, mother and teacher being my primary job for all those years was wonderful; however, it doens't transfer into real world jobs. All my life I have wanted to be a writer, never expected to be famous or anything of that nature just wanted to write. Now I am starting my life completely over at square one this seemed like the best time to write and put my thoughts on paper/blog