How quickly Hanukkah flew by this year.

Every year when my family lights the candles to honor the miracle of oil lasting eight days in a ransacked temple, I think of other miracles.

 The miracle of love.  https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/the-miracles-of-winter/  The miracle of dreams coming true, the miracle of manifesting your wishes into reality — using words and willpower like magic wands (hey, it worked for Oprah, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, “the pioneer of personal development” Shakti Gawain and one of my favorite authors Mark Acito: http://www.walletpop.com/2010/12/09/does-the-secret-work-in-hard-times/)

Miracles are especially on my mind now as I work on my next manuscript — a novel that combines historical fiction and magic.  In this version/draft of the story my character uses magic words to cross into another realm.

Words are its own kind of miracle. I really believe this. Do you?

Words make magic when they offer hope and clarity to a desperate friend who needs to hear the obvious (even if sometimes that friend is yourself). Words make magic on the days they seem to just seep from your fingers and appear on the computer monitor in patterns you couldn’t have possibly imagined only yesterday. Words make magic when they create fictional worlds  that start to feel real. 

 This holiday season, what miracles are on your mind?

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Albert Einstein