I keep telling myself to slow the F down. Especially this time of year. It's all I can do, tell myself this, because no one else will listen. December is a loaded month. The semester is over and the dreaded task of turning in grades looms. I've been dealing with mysterious health things and they complicate the world for me. And the expectations and hype of the holidays seeps in, no matter how hard you try to keep it out of the mix.
But, but, but.... there's much to look forward to in the coming year, and Omicron be damned. January will bring the pre-sale period for my upcoming poetry chapbook, "The House Inside Your Head" from Finishing Line Press. If you love me even a little, please be ready to pre-order. The publication date is May 20.
Henry and I are so hoping to do some traveling again in 2022 and I've spent a fair amount of time fantasizing over the 2022 Wilderness Travel catalogue. Working around that, at some point I'll get a new knee scheduled, and though that might seem a weird thing to be looking forward to, I am. My hiking companions and I have been putting up with crap knees for long enough.
I'm part of a new writing group with some Goucher Gopher MFA pals and that is a welcome treat, even if it is on Zoom. We're to be motivating one another to get on with "what's next" in our writing lives. Accountability is everything, my friends, and these are the "good people" to be talking and working with in 2022.
More writing, more art (I got into my first juried show this month at the Charlotte Art League), more travel. What's not to look forward to?