Happy Valentine’s Day and Congratulations to the Giveaway Winner

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In celebration of romance, I wish you all a day filled with love.

A Valentine’s Day Prayer

  May you give and receive love
  If you seek it, may you find love
  May the lost in this world feel
  … Utterly Loved

Utterly Loved Valentine’s Day Giveaway Winner

The grand prize winner of a Kindle Fire chosen by Random.org is:

     Robert Zimmerman

Congratulations, Robert!

Thank you again to our anonymous supporter for donating the Kindle Fire to the winner.

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaways. 

Special appreciation to the participating blogs who hosted the three new poems created just for the occasion:

    THESUBCLUBbooks who shared Transformed
    Literati Literature Lovers who shared Indescribable Love
    Bookish Temptations who shared Temptation by Valentine

Be sure to visit their blogs for more Valentine’s Day excitement happening today and through the week.

Thank you to Goodreads, whose fabulous giveaway feature resulted in 1000 entries for 10 signed copies of Utterly Loved and almost half that number adding Utterly Loved to their “to be read” shelf.

Please be sure to share with everyone you know that Utterly Loved, with brilliant foreword by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Sylvain Reynard, is now available for Nook!

Utterly Loved for Nook
Utterly Loved for Kindle
Utterly Loved in paperback

Have a wonderful rest of your holiday, everyone!

Your humble shoe,

~ Kat Bastion

© 2013 by Kat Bastion

Resolutions… For a Lifetime

Happy New Year!

 

I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution.

Am I an exception to the masses? I’m not sure. Perhaps you could share your thoughts.

 

The idea had always seemed impermanent to me. Anyone I’d ever known who’d made a resolution made an attempt to curb excess of one sinful nature or another, only to abandon said restriction before the next legal holiday.

I’ve never exempted myself from those who have behaviors to modify.  I’m certainly sinful, just as any other person, being human after all, but I’ve never been moved to change with a “resolution.”

Until I had.

Reflecting back on the last few months of my life, I realize the major changes I had ever wanted to make in my life, the person I had always strived to be, had happened.  Events beyond my control flicked on a dusty switch that apparently had always been destined to shine a brilliant light.  I’d blinked in amazement as the darkened world around me suddenly glowed brightly.

Like all things new, however, there will forever be vast room for improvement. Infinite lessons await us as we seek to master… becoming our better self.

Coming off a landmark year for me as far as changes go, I’m embracing the next stage with the strong foundation of the last.  Truly, the first affirmation was admitting to myself that I haven’t changed.

… I’ve transformed.

As I dangle from the safety of my familiar cocoon, the moment has come to fly.  Time to stretch my wings.

I will endeavor to be who I was meant to be… the butterfly.

With beauty and grace, I accept who I am.  I will remind myself daily of what I was meant to do with my fragile life in this harsh and unforgiving world…

To live each precious moment to its fullest
To multi-task less and focus more
To think of others and act so they feel it
To love with all the fire and passion in my heart
To cherish those whose lives I touch
To stand strong amid the darkness and brighten it daily
To believe the smallest kindness matters
To give charitably in thought, word and deed at every opportunity
To honor the vessel in which my heart and soul reside
To write for the love of writing
To spread awareness of those in need of love
To save the world one book at a time…

The last resolution came about from publishing the romantic poems in Utterly Loved, and yet, from that one project, all the other tiny miracles within me strengthened and took hold.  One book pivotally changed me.  The belief in a singular collection of heartfelt poems delivered with a message powerful enough to change our world… transformed me.

Of course, there where many catalysts along the way, for which I am forever grateful… My readiness to accept change toward growth.  The humanitarian efforts of the author who wrote the inspiring foreword for Utterly Loved, Sylvain Reynard. The support of loved ones and new friends made along the way.

I look forward to the path unfolding before me. My journey is not for the year ahead.  The adventure I’m taking will be for a lifetime.

Please join me in embracing a lifetime of resolutions.  Our world will be a better place if everyone commits to spreading love in a place very much in need of the kindness of our hearts.

Begin by purchasing Utterly Loved.  For yourself.  For your friends.  Your library.  Your church.  Share the beautiful poetry with a serious message of saving those in need of everything we have to give.  Daily.

Purchase Utterly Loved in paperback
Purchase Utterly Loved in Kindle edition

So? I’m truly dying to know… 
Have you done New Year’s resolutions in years past?
What are your resolutions this year?
Are you ready to commit to Resolutions… For a Lifetime?
What are your ideas for lifetime resolutions?

Thank you, my friends.  Your support in spreading awareness of charity, in giving all you can to those in need, in purchasing and sharing the news of Utterly Loved, is deeply appreciated.  Have a happy, loving, and prosperous year to come… that you may share your abundance with others.  May love and hope spread like wildfire in our world.

Your humble shoe,

~ Kat

Oh… {slides back in before you leave}
P. S. ~ I have one more very important resolution to add…
         To keep my desk uncluttered for maximum creative writing flow! 🙂

© 2013 by Kat Bastion