Happy New Year

Happy New Year, folks!

It's nearly February as I write this. But it's the first post of the new year. That counts!

I won't bore you with a recounting of all that has proceeded and all that that portends. At least not all of it. Let's just say that I am equally full of optimism as I am full of fear as we look toward the future.

My fears are no mystery. We all share those fears. The American dream has never been in such danger as it is now. But all we can do at this point is place one foot in front of the other and hope the ship eventually rights itself in a handful of years—the massive breeches in the hull repaired. From thence, we shall proceed once again.

Our optimism hasn't died. Not completely at least. In all other things, Monica and I look forward to a year of helping folks find and sell homes, while I attempt to keep the creative juices flowing. Again, we proceed by carefully placing one foot in front of the other. And, as Monica and I like to remind ourselves, we have each other. That is a huge positive.

Familial health has been a recurring theme over the past few years. For all of 2024, both of our families have been juggling health issues. And so, for 2025, we hope for a season of stability and mend. Fortunately, at least for now, it looks to be trending that way, and that is a blessing.

Creatively, I have been struggling. To add an amusing punctuation mark to that, I recieved a rejection letter just the other day for one of my short stories. I have been writing. Some. Unfortunately, I have not been writing a lot. I bring up the rejection letter only because it seems to have arrived just in time for this blog post and I find that amusing. I have a very thick skin when it comes to such things. I know my worth, and as an editor myself, I also understand that rejection isn't a reflection on me and not even necessarily on the work itself. It just means that the story I submitted didn't either (a) fit with what they wanted, or (b) connect with that particular set of reviewers. No big deal, I will shop it elsewhere.

I said I wasn't going to share resolutions and such. But the lament that my creative drive seems to be perpetually stuck in low gear kind of requires some sort of goal setting. Or maybe a statement of intention. An aspirational huzzah?

Here you go. An aspiration: My novel. I need to finish my novel. It has been shelved for a LONG time. I have shared bits of it with my critique group and, in the process, have done some minor editing, but what I really need to do is finish the rest of the story. I need about a month of focus and I think I can get it done. The first draft that is. Revisions will take a year or two. The critique group process really highlighted for me that huge chunks of the story need to be refactored. But, before I get to that, I have to finish that elusive first draft. I'm thinking that I should be able to get it done by summer assuming no short stories or some such get in the way. Maybe I will publish a few excerpts here, in this blog, at some point.

Speaking of short stories. I wrote a spinoff of the novel already—a short story that captures the backstory for a particular set of characters you only meet briefly in the novel. I am in the process of revising that right now and will seek to publish it in the near future in some literary magazine. It's pretty darn cool, if I say so myself. It has a unique voice—almost like a story that one would shared at a campfire. (In fact, I did share it at a campfire, but that's a blog post perhaps for another day.)

There you go. Finishing the novel. A New Year's aspiration and not a resolution. It somehow feels less threatening.

To wrap things up: 2024 was filled with some great things and some sad things and what seemed like a host of familial health challenges. Politically my fellow Americans dramatically disappointed me, their collective intellectual and moral failings harshly illuminated as if by a bright white floodlight. I try not to let that light completely blind me to the events that were positive and to the little, but important, successes. Monica and I hope for more of the latter in 2025 and intend to focus on keeping our heads above water and smiling as much as possible.

May you too find optimism and joy and a creative spirit in 2025. Cheers.