Happy 2021! Off to a rainy, windy, book-filled beginning..

Starting the New Year right with typewriter and thirties-style robe (inspired by Myrna Loy in The Thin Man.)

Happy 2021! A Rainy, Windy, Book-Filled Beginning

Hello, my friends! If you’re reading this, you’ve made it safely into 2021, a year which I hope will give us more health, hope, peace, and comfort than 2020 did. Welcome!

We’ve had crazy weather here in the Seattle area, so mostly I’ve been staying inside, writing poems,  trying to read several books at a time, and looking at online classes for creative non-fiction and fiction. I made a list of the books I read last year and wanted to start out the new year getting reading (and writing) in during these days that force us to hibernate with flooding rains, high winds, and generally unpleasant to venture out into weather.

Here’s a list of the books I’m starting out with: The Last Neanderthal – Claire Cameron (with my mom), She Should Have Known – Jean Hanff Korelitz, The Red Comet – Heather Clark , The Colossus and Other Poems – Sylvia Plath (I’ve read her collected, but wanted to see how she put this book together),  and Margaret Atwood’s Dearly. A mix of genre fiction, poetry, and biography). Last year I started with a lot of Virginia Woolf and Joan Didion, so I’m taking a little easier this year (with the exception of the thousand-page Plath bio). (Here’s an article with a little bit about what I read last year during quarantine for Salon.)

Last Full Cold Moon of 2020

We also got a new printer after our old one (20 years old!) finally conked out, and I immediately printed out the two manuscripts I’ve been circulating. I also realized when I printed out my Excel spreadsheet of poems that I had written a ton of new work last year, so I’m thinking of incorporating some of it into the two manuscripts or starting a new one entirely.

I don’t make resolutions per se – but I do want to take some chances – apply for jobs I want that I might not get, stretch a little bit and apply for fellowships and grants more broadly, try to write some more personal essays and a little fiction along with my poetry, think about how to stretch my writer’s brain by taking classes outside my comfort zone. Once you have your degrees, you don’t need to stop learning – I’m trying to find opportunities that work for post-MA-and-MFA writers who perhaps want to experiment with a different genre or try an advanced class in a different subject, like, for me, folklore and mythology.  In general, I’m looking for: abundance, joy, wellness, good magic, love, friendship, beauty, and peace. Less: anxiety, stress, feelings of failure.

Glenn and I dressed up on New Year’s Eve for our stay-in celebration

Celebrating Saying Goodbye to 2020

And what are the things you want to leave behind from 2020 (besides Trump and coronavirus)? I’m going to try to spend less time on social media and the news (not original, I know) and more on things that make me happier and healthier, like playing music on the guitar, memorizing poems, and being outside when I can. I hope that after the vaccine I can also see other people again, and visit bookstores in person, but I won’t waste as much time and money on things I learned I could do without this year. I hope to keep up with old friends in other states and countries (a benefit of 2020) and remember that taking some time out once in a while, not running somewhere constantly, can be a good thing.

I lost a lot of family in the last two years (both my maternal grandparents this year, my cousin, a close Aunt and Uncle last year), so I hope to make time to let people know I care about them while I can. Making health a priority is on my list too – this year, I’ve learned that I was never being as careful as I thought, and as someone with a primary immune deficiency, I’ve learned that taking care of myself often involves more rest – and effort – than I thought.

Another thing we’re doing at the start of 2021 is putting together a box of food for the food banks (ours are seriously empty, we’ve heard, yours might be too) and a box of clothing to donate. We’re making an effort to get the house in order before Glenn starts his classes. I probably should do a box of books and magazines as well – my bookshelves and bedside areas are overflowing. I also want to continue the practice of giving even small amounts to charities, causes, and businesses I want to support, consciously – something I became aware of in 2020 was how each dollar that goes to a worthy cause or a business on the edge is a way to make the world a better place. So, yes, I’m going to try to remember to buy that book from the publisher or an indie bookstore or from the author, to subscribe to that art or literary magazine I like to keep it alive, get a membership to a museum that’s important to you, to give to environmental or other causes when I can. Write a note to someone who’s made a difference to me. I like the idea that we can help make 2021 a kinder, better year, even with small efforts – small efforts by a lot of people can do great things. Happy 2021!