About Me
- Pamela Clare
- I grew up in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then lived in Denmark and traveled throughout Europe before coming back to Colorado. I have two adult sons, whom I cherish. I started my writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor of two different papers. Along the way, my team and I won numerous state and several national awards, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, I was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism. Now I write historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense.
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Friday, January 02, 2009
New beginnings
I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's celebration. Despite another car accident in the family — my brother's in-laws were rear-ended and suffered minor injuries — we had a great evening. I spent the last hours of 2008 with my two boys and my brother's oldest son watching Charleton Heston overact in Planet of the Apes and eating fondue. We finished in time to count down the last minutes of the year.
Then I took my nephew home and watched P.S. I Love You with my brother and nephew. I cried from the beginning of that movie through the end. My eyes were still swollen yesterday. Egads! Great film, but be sure to watch it with a box of Kleenex. I'd avoided it all this time precisely because I knew I'd cry like a baby.
My brother and I stayed up till 4 AM talking, this past year and its struggles giving us a lot to talk over as we both looked forward to the new year. I always take New Year's very seriously. For me, it's never been about drinking — I didn't drink a drop of booze — but rather about taking a personal inventory of one's life. I've never entered a new year without ideas of what I wanted to change. Sometimes I write them down; other times I just keep them in mind.
So what are this year's New Year's resolutions?
To eat healthier.
To exercise more.
To stress less.
To get completely out of debt.
To act with greater integrity and kindness in all areas of my life.
To focus more on my spiritual life.
To write faster and spend less time online.
To offer more service to others and make fewer demands.
Does anyone have resolutions they want to share?
Right now I'm working on NAKED EDGE. I'm probably going to take an extended Internet break here soon so that I can finish the book on time. But we still have the MacKinnon Brothers interview to enjoy and a few other things besides.
Have a great day!
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13 comments:
Happy 2009! Resolutions, hum?
1) get my boys to say bed-time prayers by themselves (without me leading)
2) try a new food (sorry no sushi), you'd be surprised at what I don't eat (like seafood and ketsup)
3) get out of debt
4) continue to write - which requires time
I am sure there are more, but these are the ones i can think of at the moment.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful year so far....
Christi (where it was 73* in Dallas today!)
Hello Pamela! Great resolutions, and while we'd miss you if you take an internet break, I'm selfishly excited about you finishing Naked Edge.
My resolutions are 1.) write at least a little bit every day; 2.) party more and stress less (a less eloquent way of saying - focus on enjoying the present instead of stressing about the future; and 3.) get at least a little closer to getting out of debt.
Good luck on your resolutions Pamela and Christi!
Resolutions? Let's see.
1. Lose 25 lbs. (I really need to lose 50 but I'm going to take it slow and learn how to eat right and exercise)
2. Write (A friend has finally convinced me to try it if for no other reason than to accomplish something I always wanted to try)
3. Enjoy my trip to Scotland with my friends
4. Spend more time with DH.
HAve a great New Year and keep writing!
You have some good resolutions, Pamela.
Mine are always the same...
1.) Quit smoking (it's not exactly fun having to freeze your butt off outside because we don't smoke in the house anyway).
2.)Finish my MS that has taken me well over a year already.
3.)And to spend more quality time with my husband. We are always so busy, sometimes I think we put our relationship last :(
Good Resolutions, PC!
Mine are:
1. Rejoin Weight Watchers
2. Exercise everyday even if it's only in 10 min increments
3. Meditate daily
4. Enjoy being with nature (staying out of the house, more in the fresh air)
5. Work on getting some bills paid off
6. Finally find the job I really want to do. The one that nourishes my spirit as well as my pocket.
Hugs, everyone!
Hi, Christi, Haleigh, Debbie D, Barbara and Debbie H —
These resolutions all sound remarkably alike! I wonder if we can find a way to support each other in following through and not losing our good intentions.
I know for me that when deadlines get tight and work gets stressful, that's when I start taking shortcuts, particularly when it comes to taking care of myself. I suppose that's probably true for most women.
But here's something I've learned: when you get better at taking care of yourself, you get better at everything.
I also know that the only way to get time to write is to make time — sometimes at the expense of other things, particularly if you have a job or are a mother. It's an either/or situation sometimes.
So those things are really hard to balance out!
I can't believe it's so warm in Dallas, Christi. Here it was in the 50s today, but tomorrow we're getting snow and the low will hit around 5 degrees. Typical Colorado see-saw climate.
Christi, Haleigh, Barbara, Debbie D — have you heard of the Book in a Year program through RWA? I think they have a BIAY loop for members who want to build incentive. I could join BIAY but it always takes me a year anyway; what I really need to do is BIAM, but I can't write a book in a month. Or even five months. Gah!
Debbie H, good for you for keeping up the job search and the meditation!
Good luck to all of us!
P.S. Barbara, how can I make my blog look cool like yours???
I still haven't seen PS. I Love You for that very reason. I have to wait until I'm in the mood to cry. lol
I think many of your resolutions are ones I could easily apply to myself. I usually don't make specific resolutions, I just try to make the new year better than the last.
And you're right about taking care of ourselves - I need to do a better job of that.
Pamela - I just discovered you this past weekend when I walked into my favorite place, and comfort zone, a bookstore, looking for something to read. I found Ride the Fire and never left the house all weekend!!!I had the excuse as a California resident... it was only 52, foggy and cool, in Newport Beach where I live.
Not only did I love your book, and am on my way back to the bookstore today to find as many others as I can find, but your writing came so alive on the page for me that I cannot wait to return to the frontier again!
I am a single mother of 2 daughters, one of whom is a sophomore at CU Boulder. I have lived in the U.S. for over 20 years having moved here from Dublin and Jamaica where I grew up. I learned about the Seven Years War from the english side, and to read about it now through the eyes of an american is to understand the struggle, bravery and strength of character of this amazing country of my daughters.
I seldom make New Year resolutions as so often all my good intentions have flown out the window after about a week. However reading your blog has inspired me to try again, so my resolutions for 2009 are:
1) to make a serious effort to get my finances in order
2) to spend more time exercising and less time sitting on the couch with a book saying that I will "do it tomorrow"
3) be strong enough to say 'no' when no is the apropriate response
4) to seek a resolution to the rift between myself and my sister, and,
5) to bravely embrace and rely on the truth of the spiritual influences in my life
Vivienne
Hi, Leslie — Good plan! I wouldn't have watched it if my brother hadn't stuck it in his DVD player. I'd been steadfastly avoid it, too! I don't mind a good cry when I reach the end of a book, because I'm usually a wreck then anyway. Good luck with making 2009 your best year ever. :-)
Welcome, Vivienne! I am so happy you found me! Ride the Fire is one of my personal favorites out of the books I've written, so I'm delighted to know you enjoyed it. Right now, all of my historicals are on the shelves, so this is a good time to be looking for them. Most of them, including RTF, were out of print for quite a while. I hope you enjoy them, as well!
Too cool that you have a daughter going to CU! That's 10 minutes up the street from my office. I'm a CU grad myself (Classics major). I'd love to know more about the Seven Years' War from the British perspective. I know the facts — that the war here was just a tiny part of the conflict, that in some ways this war was the first WORLD war. But to have the British perspective would be to know more about the British worldview.
My ancestors fought in every American war from the French and Indian War to Vietnam. They arrived in Jamestown from Suffolk in 1610. So Colonial American history has always fascinated me. I love putting myself on the frontier with the Colonial worldview and exploring what it must have been like then. But I love all history. :-)
In the meantime, please pop by any time. And congrats on raising two daughters! I know what that's like, except that I'm a single mom of boys — very different, I'm sure.
Good luck with your very worthy resolutions. That last one is particularly well phrased. It's one thing to recognize spiritual truths in your life; it's another thing to act on them, keeping them consciously in mind.
And thanks for stopping by!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all had a lovely holiday,
New year resolutions? I didn't really make any firm ones, but there are a few things Id like to work on,
*Excersise more and loose some weight while I'm at it.
*Work a little harder on my phD and get the ball rolling with it
*Make more time for me, I haven't been looking after myself properly for a little while recently.
I'm sure there are a lot more that I can work on, but think i'll stick with that for the moment.
Good luck with the writing PC!
I just saw "PS I Love You" over the holiday and I LOVED it. Well, parts of it. But it was wonderful.
I sort of have Resolutions. I generally only make them if I feel like I have a shot at carrying them through.
1) Live each day to it's fullest, not take the little things for granted.
2) exercise more regularly.
Yeah, really, that's about it. LOL. I'd like to continue being a better me, giving back; which I started doing more of in the tail end of 2008. Mainly I'm prepping myself to deal with what's coming down the road.
I need to call you PC, I've been missing you.
It is a new year. It is time for new beginnings. I am going to speak from my heart. There is so many things missing in our lives. We all need peace, faith, hope, and love. Family and friends in our life someone to lean on, someone to cry on their shoulder, someone who speaks from their heart but doesn’t say hurtful things and if they do that they know they did and they say I am sorry. I watched a movie tonight that showed what we all forget in life what matters, it shows we should all be happy with ourselves with the gifts in our life, be with our family and friends. Don't judge someone for who they are, what is in their hearts. We should look in the eyes of those people and know what is in their heart. Life is to short. People will come into your life some will be there for a little while, while others will be there forever. The people in our lives will one day go home and if we don't say the things we need to, if we don't be there for them, if we don't do all we can to say I love you to these people we will have regrets. I would love to see each and everyone in the world to be able to grow old with someone. Someone they can love forever but I do know that we sometimes get off the path with our loved ones arranging from separation, cheating, divorce, and death. I hope with all my heart we all will learn from the pain that happens from what pulls us away from the one we thought would be there and couldn't for what ever reason and that we all can find someone who will truly love us and be there till the day we take your last breath. There is so much pain and sorrow in the world and it's time we all joined together and love spread our love to everyone we know even a stranger. This is what I feel in my heart I pray the world will be at peace open your heart and let who you are show thru. God Bless Good night Happy New year and I hope you will have the new beginning that will bring joy in your life, that will bring love in your heart and in your life.