I enter this year with sadness and anticipation–more so that other years.
My sadness comes from thinking about the past and facing a year of uncertainty. It will be four years since my Mom died. Last year was filled with losses too. We have some dear friends facing major health crisis and that shadows what this year may be.
The weather in southeastern Colorado continues to be dry–we need deep moisture to heal the drought we experienced last summer. How do ranchers and farmers deal with the uncertainty of the weather and mother nature?
I’m new to this position but I so respect my Dad and all my ranching and farming friends who have experienced this for years. My Dad would say it’s just a part of the job.
I base my anticipation on my eternal optimism. I have a book ready to be published. My husband and I scheduled out our fun travels fro 2017 for pleasure and dancing last week–looks like a great year.
We got snow in New Mexico a couple days ago, so the dryness received some relief here.
All in all, I know that possibilities abound this year, and I am ready.
Larada Horner-Miller is a poet, essayist and accomplished multi-genre author who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in Spanish and a master of education degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. She is the accomplished author of six award-winning biographies, historical fiction, memoir, and poetry works plus three self-published cookbooks.
Her sixth book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, is available in paperback and four e-book formats. Larada offers the reader the opportunity to look back at 2020 and the global pandemic through her prose and poetry through reading, then reflecting and responding. She addresses all the emotions she felt during this overwhelming time and leads the reader through to a self-access: bitter or better?
Her fifth book is the authorized memoir and biography of world-renown square dance caller Marshall “Flip” Flippo. Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo is available now in hardback, paperback and four e-book formats. Recently Just Another Square Dance Caller won two awards: Book Excellence Awards Finalist and Silver award for eLit. Book Awards.
Another recent book of hers, A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter's Grief Memoir has won many awards including being a 2018 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in the Memoir category at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and a 2018 Independent Press Distinguished Favorites Award in the Memoir category. Horner-Miller has also been a past national presenter at the Women Writing the West Conference and is currently the creator of Memoir Workshops for others who want to share their family’s legacies through words.
Larada and her husband, Lin, enjoy being nestled in the mountains above Albuquerque, New Mexico, near the village of Tijeras. When not writing books, this passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic woman loves to spend time kicking up her heels at square dancing gatherings, traveling, knitting, and reading.
As co-manager of her family’s southeastern Colorado ranch, she enjoys spending time exploring her family’s historic ranch and reminiscing with her brother and his children about their mom, dad, and granddad.
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Happy New Year to you!