Vickie Fee

Let’s just do it — again

If I woke up one morning, let’s say it’s Feb. 2, and found myself living in an endless loop, what would I want to happen over and over?

Would I relive a favorite day? My wedding day, for example? 

No. It was a lovely day. And back then my husband could, and did, actually pick me up and carry me over the threshold. But, we also had to start a bit late because my dad had a flat tire on the way and our car broke down twice during the honeymoon trip. Would definitely change those things if I could.

Would I choose to forever look like Andie MacDowell? Drive with a slightly angry groundhog? I’ll pass on those, too.

This movie (Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell) inspires me to keep trying. (Groundhog with watch image by Pixabay)

Of the things from the movie, I’d most like to imitate is to play the piano well. I did take piano lessons for six years as a kid. But, I didn’t practice religiously and I never learned to play well. Wish I had committed.

Groundhog Day is just about upon us. Hubs and I might do a rewatching of the film, although I already know we’ll have more than six more weeks of winter. We live in the U.P., after all. But this week will be the beginning of a new loop for me. I’ve just started working in earnest again on my next book. And I’m committed to finishing and selling it in 2025. It’s a book I’ve really wanted to write for a long time.

I’ve let myself get distracted by health issues, but along with dealing with medical practicalities I’m going to stay on track with my novel. If I’m honest, I also got pulled off track by fear. The book I’m committed to finishing is a different genre than I’ve written previously. So it feels even scarier than usual. But it’s always scary at the beginning. It’s also exciting. I’m trying to focus on the exciting part.

Wish me luck. And I wish you the same. I hope the thing in your life you’d like to spend time doing over and over again works out for you. Stick to it. And don’t drive angry.

Please share in comments what you hope to spend a lot of time doing this year. Feel free to share your favorite movie or favorite moment from Groundhog Day.

33 thoughts on “Let’s just do it — again”

  1. If I’m in a continuous loop… I would choose the happiest day of my life with son. And this might sound a little too simple, but our first play under the rain as mother and son – just the two of us – was too memorable 🌻

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  2. My loop day? I don’t think I have one. My life is pretty mundane, nothing exciting.

    But if I had to pick one? Maybe the day Dawn Dowdle talked to me about becoming my literary agent. That day a total stranger liked my writing concept.

    When she sent me an email saying she wanted to set up a zoom meeting to talk, I was jumping up and down. I checked my calendar and immediately took time off work to fit her schedule. When I said in the email that if the time needed to change let me know so I could rearrange my work schedule, she said it could be changed to accommodate me, I said no. Was she kidding? If she wanted the meeting at 4 in the morning I would have taken it. She was the top of my boutique agencies list.

    I didn’t have her long enough to get to the submission process (she was deciding whom to submit my manuscript to when she passed, may she RIP), but I will always remember that day, and I hope that book will get published. I will be dedicating it to her memory, as the person who believed in me without knowing me.

    As far as a busy year? I have two manuscripts I want to send to beta readers, if I can find some.

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    2. Hestia, the offer call is a red letter day for every author. Congrats on all the writer stuff you have going on this year!

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  3. I don’t know that I have a “loop day.” There have been special days, but I don’t know that I’d play any of them continuously.

    I have a lot of writing to do this year.

    Good luck, Vickie. I think I have to rewatch “Groundhog Day.”

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  4. Best wishes to you on the new project, Vickie! I hope to spend more time on my electric scooter this year. It’s a blast to ride, but due to any number of circumstances, I only got out on it twice last year. Need to change that. Plus, if I’m on the scooter, that means the weather is good!

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  5. Great post, Vickie. So thrilled you’re penning a new ms.! The funny thing for me re: the movie Groundhog Day is that I have actually never seen it all the way through. Literally, I watch snippets at a time because I usually view it during the annual Groundhog Day marathon, so it really does feel like Groundhog Day. I hate the groundhog, because he’s a big fat furry liar. It feels like endless winter here on Feb. 2 no matter what he says. My favorite aspect of the movie is Andie M’s continual sunny attitude as she deals with her problem star Phil (brings me back to my old work days in the 90s–I even had the big coat.).

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      1. Funnily enough, I bought one of those oversized coats for myself for Christmas–guess they’re back! (Groundhog 90s?) I’ve gotten some compliments on it (even someone outside the PO), so other people must miss them, too. (Well, here in the cold, anyway.)

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  6. Wishing you a lot of success with your current ms, Vickie! Yes, focus on the excitement of it!

    I don’t know if I have a loop day or moment. What I’d like to do more is have uninterrupted sleep and true relaxation. Hope that’s not too much to ask for this year!

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  7. I have a few loop moments, like getting my very first short story acceptance (which was my very first fiction acceptance). I screamed at the top of my lungs and burst out screaming for the next few days whenever I thought about it. Maybe not a whole day, because I would feel stuck! But those mishaps on your wedding day–those are what made that day YOUR day, different from anyone else’s wedding day. I would savor those! (I never know the the system knows who I am, if not, this is Kaye George.)

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    1. Hi, Kaye! There were lots of little mishaps on the wedding day. I forgot hub’s wedding ring. My cousin’s husband drove all the way out to my mom and dad’s house to retrieve it during the wedding. I vividly remember the groom’s wide eyes when I forced the too-tight ring onto his finger during the ceremony. (It was my brother-in-law’s!)

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  8. Such a great post, Vickie, and I am SO happy and excited for you that you’re working on a new book project–hurrah!

    As I was thinking about what day I might want to re-live, I first thought of those times I had good news or exciting things happen to me (and yes, getting an agent, getting a book deal, my first pub date all came to mind). But truly, I think one of my favorite days ever was some years back when Robin and I were visiting friends at their beautiful home in the Sierra Nevada foothills. We went for a hike in the morning, after which I wrote for a couple hours. We then swam in their pool, and ended the day with sunset cocktails and a delicious home-cooked dinner, after which we looked at the gajillion stars splashed across the night sky. That was a day I could live over and over again.

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  11. I like the movie Groundhog Day and find it entertaining how Bill Murray makes the most of his endless day. But I can’t think of a single day that I would would want to live over and over. It is funny because I like time travel stories and movies, which are all about making changes in the past to make the future better.

    Good luck on your new book Vickie. I hope to spend more time walking in the parks this year. There are so many that I have never been to in the area.

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  12. “Groundhog Day” was a good movie but not my favorite, so no favorite moments there. My father managed theatres for all of my growing up years, so movies are my life. I love so many, but mostly older ones like “The Thin Man” series as William Powell is awesome, Humphrey Bogart’s “Casablanca” and “Maltese Falcon.” Randolph Scott movies and so on. I saw the original “West Side Story” 17 times (it helps to get in free) until my father forbade me because he said my studies in 7th grade were suffering. I could go on but won’t. We do watch movies a lot in our retirement. I also work many jigsaw puzzles and read a lot of books and hope to beat my records of how many this year from last along with my work on genealogy, collecting movie memorabilia, petting my pup, and living more years with my husband and dog for many more years. It is good to be retired and able to enjoy life, friends, good food, travel, and my relatives. If I could loop a moment, it would be a Thanksgiving or Christmas with all of my family still there and dating my now husband then. Good memories.

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  13. Growing up with easy access to all the movies sounds like something I could live on loop with! Nick and and Nora are two of my all time-time faves! I wish you many Thanksgiving and Christmas moments to relive!

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