Some people look forward to each New Year as a time a new
beginning. For others, the school year brings about annual changes, while
others see their birth date as the start of a new year.
For me, there is something special about spring. It’s more than the
end of dreary winter days filled with watching the snow forecasts. And it
certainly isn’t the idea of spring cleaning that gets me excited. No, it’s the
first day of the major league baseball season.
Why? Because each new baseball season is like the beginning of a
new life. When teams start up the new year, they get to start fresh. Their
record from the previous year is wiped clean and they get to start over.
Opening Day 2012
Every player has a chance to make this the best year ever! Last
year’s accomplishments—or lack of them—no longer matter. Stepping out on the
grass for the first time each spring means a time for a new beginning-–the
opportunity for players to start something with the hope that, come fall, their
team will be fighting for a championship.
This week that drive toward the fall started anew for hundreds of
major league players and thousands of baseball fans. The Colorado Rockies
opened their new season out of town this year and so far they are 2-1. Not
exactly championship caliber yet, but they show great promise with their
hitting. They open their home season today, and I will be there to join the
crowd. We get to cheer wildly, drink beer, eat hot dogs and hope
our guys don’t let us down and this will be the year we GO ALL THE WAY!
I’ve often applied that “spring” principle to my writing too.
Think of how much you can get done by October if you start in the spring.
Whether it’s writing a new romance, a new adventure, or a new mystery, spring
offers the perfect time to begin a new story. I love beginning new writing
projects when the weather warms up. New story ideas seem to “spring” to life under the
warmer days that carry a hint of brighter days to come.
Like those baseball players taking their first pitches in the spring,
this new story holds just as much promise. It could be the best story I’ve ever
written. It holds all the exciting prospect of wonderful things to come. Of
course there will be the doldrums of August and perhaps a few losing periods
when I throw out and re-edit what I’ve written, but right now, there’s hope,
there’s the thrill of that new idea, that new season.
So, it’s time to shed those winter pounds, time to get a new hair
style and bright, fun clothes. Time to take those steps onto the fresh grass and
start that new story and hope that come fall, I'll be fighting for a championship
in the form of a new contract!
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