Sunday, January 4, 2015

Oh, Kaye! and Neil Gaiman wish you all a Happy New Year




After a computer hard drive crash and attempts to migrate to a new laptop while hoping and praying for a retrieval of data (successful! well, mostly successful . . .), I was having all the issues you might expect.


What I didn't expect was for Blogger to get mad at me and refuse to cooperate.

It was enough to send a girl right over the edge.


Almost.



But, as usual, the Jungle Red women were there to lend a helping hand in posting this for me in case I wasn't able to sort out the issues, which I think I've now done (keeping those fingers crossed!).


That little act of friendship is indicative of all that I love about being a small part of this Jungle Red community.

With that in mind, I want to share, once again, as I have in the past, these words from one of the most magical authors on God's green's earth.

Everyone is familiar with Neil Gaiman's famous words that many of us post and repost every year to bring in the New Year.  And with good reason.  


They're perfect and they're timeless.  

Many of us have come to hope for new words of wisdom from Mr. Gaiman in the same vein each and every New Year's Eve.

It doesn't always happen, but this year it did.

Hooray!

So without further ado, enjoy, once again,  the magic of Mr. Gaiman, lifted in part and without apology, directly from his post at his on-line journal -  http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2014/12/new-years-wishes-and-gifts.html


WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2014

New Year's Wishes and Gifts

POSTED BY NEIL GAIMAN AT 4:14 PM


An old year ends, and takes with it people and sorrows and joys and memories, and a new one is on it way.

A New Year's Gift, for anyone who missed it:




Fifteen Years ago, I wrote:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.



And almost a decade ago I said,

...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream
dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.



Half a decade ago, I wrote:
And for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.

And it's this.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself.


Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make
mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.


And here, from 2012 the last wish I posted, terrified but trying to be brave, from backstage at a concert:

It's a New Year and with it comes a fresh opportunity to shape our world.

So this is my wish, a wish for me as much as it is a wish for you: in the world to come, let us be brave – let us walk into the dark without fear, and step into the unknown with smiles on our faces, even if we're faking them.

And whatever happens to us, whatever we make, whatever we learn, let us take joy in it. We can find joy in the world if it's joy we're looking for, we can take joy in the act of creation.

So that is my wish for you, and for me. Bravery and joy.

...

I meant, and mean them all. I wasn't going to write a new one this year. But...

Be kind to yourself in the year ahead.

Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand.

Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.

Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them.

Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love."


All that from Neil Gaiman.

And from me?  Ditto what he said.


Happy New Year, Reds!!!!!!

Be kind to yourselves.






22 comments:

  1. Smiles and kindness and love; bravery and joy and magic and dreams . . . what wonderful aspirations. Thank you, Kaye, for sharing these wonderful thoughts.

    So sorry to hear about your computer issues . . . hope it's all solved now. Happy New Year!

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  2. Good Morning, Joan - those truly are pretty wonderful aspirations, aren't they? And a very Happy New Year to you and yours!

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  3. Isn't this the trick to getting out a first draft (my New Year's wish)... Gaiman: “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes...you're Doing Something.” (Or my mantra: just hold your nose and write.) Easy to say. Hard to DO.

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  4. Hallie - Yes - Hard to do! We've been programmed to think mistakes are awful things, but really, they're just not.

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  5. No one expresses our wishes for the new year and the future as well as Neil Gaiman. His wishes are always pure poetry. So, this year, Kaye, I agree with him, and I wish you hugs and love all year. I'm sending mine. Thank you for the joy you bring to so many lives.

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  6. Susan - if you bump into Neil Gaiman (cause you guys bump into the coolest people!) will you tell him how much we appreciate him and his magic, please?

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  7. Wonderful Neil Gaiman! Thank you, Kaye, for sharing. And I'm glad he added this year's. I especially like the bit about paying attention to how you spend your time--more and more mine seems to just...disappear.

    Happy New Year, dear Kaye and dear REDS and all our readers!

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  8. Oh, Kaye! I also love Neil Gaiman, his books, and his New Year's wishes--and all his advice on writing and his fabulous commencement speech. So much inspiration. And this year I'm really taking it to heart.

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  9. Linda, I so agree! And if I could do decent caligraphy, I would write this out to frame and hang. Hmmmm - maybe I'll just do it on my computer with different fonts and colors . . . Oh goodie - a new project!

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  10. Thank you Kaye for posting Neil's hopes for everyone. Something to shoot for!

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  11. Thanks so much for sharing this.

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  12. And right back at you and yours, Kaye. Wonderful post. Mr. Gaiman certainly knows how to say it.

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  13. Neil Gaiman is THE magical guru, without any pretensions attached. His New Year wishes and, well, pretty much anytime he opens his mouth to speak put forth into the world a unique way of finding and holding onto the joy of life. His writing is not half bad either. LOL! Magic on and off the page is our Mr. Gaiman.

    One of my most treasured author pics is with Neil Gaiman at the National Book Festival in 2004 in D.C. It was the fourth year for the festival and the first year for Science Fiction and Fantasy to have their own tent or billing. Gaiman had a 10 a.m. signing and then a talk at 11. The line for his signing was legendary for signings, and there were lots of people left when it was time for him to go speak. So, he came back and did another two hours (at least) of signings so that every last one of his fans got satisfied. I got two children's books signed, and he even drew a wolf head inside of Wolves in the Walls. On top of that, after he had signed all those many books, I was nearby and he took a picture with me. The man is the salt of the Earth.

    Thanks, Kaye, for such an uplifting post today. May your year be one of great inspiration and joy.

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  14. Libby, you are so welcome - Enjoy!

    Lil, Doesn't he just?! I love him

    Kathy, I love this story, Thank You for sharing it. Now I love the guy more than ever.

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  15. I saw Neil Gaiman do his New Year's wish one year, when Amanda Palmer was the featured New Year's guest at the Boston Pops. (It may have been 2012. It was around then.)

    It was inspiring and fun and a beautiful start to the new year.

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  16. Barb, I have never had the pleasure of seeing him anywhere and am hoping that might change some day - I'll bet this was a great event!

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  17. Running in...after editing ALL DAY! YOu too, darling Kaye! xxoox

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  18. Oh dearest Kaye... I don't know how I missed your post this week—and Neil Gaiman! Did you know the first time I heard of him was from you? I love you, Kaye.

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