Another Year, Another Moon...!
Thinking About the New Year, the Old Year, Redemption and Second Chances
In Defense of New Year’s Resolutions as Second Chances at Life
Happy holidays, and happy full moon! Full disclosure: being on winter break from teaching, I looked up the full moon at some point last week and mistakenly thought it was TOMORROW, but just learned otherwise today. So here we are! Deadlines make short work of us all.
This month, I’m thinking about how to mindfully wrap up 2023, what I want to manifest and look forward to working towards in 2024, and all of this reflective thinking got me ruminating about second chances, and hope for redemption.
This actually crystallized when I was half-heartedly reading THIS NYT article about culture that personifies America and American values, and Bret Stephens wrote about the film Pulp Fiction being all about second chances. His take really surprised me in its insightfulness.
But then I got to thinking about how New Year’s Resolutions are sometimes our own attempts to give ourselves a second chance at some aspect of life: a second chance at being healthy, achieving aspirational behaviors and habits, letting go of negativity, or jump-starting our creative pursuits. New Year’s Resolutions can remind us of our values, and who we want to become, as long as they are not coming from a place of fear, shame, guilt, envy, social pressure, or negativity. Easier said than done, amiright?
When I think back on former NYRs, I mostly groan, and sometimes laugh. And then I remember my absolute most successful New Year’s Resolution ever, which was for the year 2019: Drink More Water. Literally, that was the only one I REALLY held myself to that year (although, not being a relaxed human being, I did have a few secret NYRs that year that you can read about here).
Here’s the great thing about the year of Drink More Water: I did it! I drank water!
Even when I didn’t drink water, I didn’t beat myself up about it. But I also realized how dehydrated I had often previously let myself become, and how it was okay sometimes in life to have to pee. Bathrooms are not the enemy! Water tastes great! It made me feel good. Sometimes, it’s nice to encourage ourselves to do things that just feel good and are also genuinely good for us, no strings attached. There’s no downside to Drink More Water. Truly, there isn’t.
So this coming year, while I have virtual to-do lists cramming my mind and spewing forth from my nose and ears, I’m going to try to Embrace the Joy. Just Embrace the Joy. And drink water. And write when I want to, and when it is fun.
Full Stop. Thanks, 2023. It’s been real.
In Lieu of a Writing Prompt, some Inspiring Resources:
For those of you who are interested in some resources to support creative pursuits such as writing, publishing, and all things verbal, here are some great Substacks that I’ve been reading, books coming out, and classes/webinars/events coming up (a few by yours truly), so I hope you’ll feel inspired.
If we can do anything for ourselves and the writing community, however, let’s embrace the joy, support each other, lift up our colleagues, and let go of some of the stress and toxicity that is rampant in the publishing and social media (hello, Goodreads?!) world. Love to you all. Feel free to share your New Year’s inspirations or resources or favorite reads or good feelings in the comments. Here we go:
Jami Attenberg, one of my favorite writers, has a Substack called Craft Talk that is really a great read about writing:
Also, Jami’s book, 1000 Words, which is all about writing and inspiration, comes out in January. More info here: https://www.loyaltybookstores.com/book/9781668023600 (with thanks to my friend Jill of the Substack Early and Alone for telling me about the very first #1000wordsofsummerchallenge, which really helped my writing and ability to finish book projects!)
Michelle Hoover, of the 7am Novelist, is doing a fun January webinar series about meeting your writing goals and considering (and surmounting) “What’s Holding You Back?”: https://substack.com/home/post/p-140087110?source=queue I’ve been a loyal listener of the 7am Novelist ever since Michelle’s 50-day novel writing challenge in 2022, and the March March in early 2023, and her podcasts and guests are always fantastic. Super inspiring!
If you want to know what’s in the stars for us writers, Jeanna Kadlec has a great Substack called Astrology for Writers. Turns out this Full Moon in Cancer signals rebirth! I had a feeling!
I’m giving a Webinar for the Orange County Library System on Mon 2/26 called “Revising and Selling a Memoir,” from 7-8pm. Registration is free, but a tiny bit complicated without a library card from that Florida system, so you can email Sarah Fisk at sfisk@ocls.info to manually register for the webinar, I believe!
Also, I’m teaching my first creative nonfiction course for the Writing Co-Lab this winter! They have an amazing line-up of stand alone workshops and longer-term writing classes, and I hope you’ll check them out! (Founded by Brian Gresko, Sara Lippmann, and Amy Shearn, some very cool writers and teachers)
My course is going to be a 3-week Flash Memoir class! Hope you’ll check it out if you’re interested!
Happy New Year, and Happy last Full Moon of 2023!