What's Your Inspiration?

Distant Dwellings #1: Find your challenge

Hey! We’ve got a new year!

Well, maybe it’s the old year reincarnated, but it’s great to have a reason to restart the calendar. Every January 1, I like to take on a new challenge. One year, I tried to write a novel — an ambitious goal that floundered when the snow melted. Another year, I revamped a dilapidated kitchen. This challenge was easier since I was only sketching the layout, not doing the actual work. In 2023, I hatched the notion that I could develop a fun writing practice if I posted on my Facebook profile every day. Not a haiku or anything profound, just a few pithy words along with my novice efforts at photography. Easy, right?

Turned out, the 2023 project was more challenging than I expected. The looming commitment. The pesky urgency of finding a photo and a few words— Every. Single. Day. But, unlike so many of my past New Year’s resolutions, this one was achievable. After a few months of snapping photos and writing daily snippets, I felt energetic enough to tackle other projects: Stripped the paint from a salvaged church pew and gave it a tung oil finish. Overhauled a couple languishing manuscripts and tossed them back into the submission pool.

The refinished pew now sits in my living room. One of the manuscripts, WHISH, won the Press 53 Poetry Award and will enter the world next spring. All because of a Facebook challenge? Probably not, but I do believe amazing things can happen when I publickly commit to a task and stay with it.

Now what?

This year I want to continue a daily writing practice, but I’d like to fill notebooks with writings that are too unpolished and too rambling to share. So, in 2024 I’ll post only occasionally on Facebook and supplement those posts with this newsletter. Once a month I'll send brief emails about books and writing along with a photo and a wacky observation to stir creative juices. Intermittently, I may also send an extra newsletter or post quick notes on Substack. I look forward to engaging with you in a leisurely way without advertisements and pop-up messages.

What’s your challenge?

According to surveys in Forbes and elsewhere, most New Year’s resolutions focus on fitness, weight loss, finances, and mental health. But what about creative goals and challenges? Do you feel the stir of old dreams awakening? Are there new projects nudging that you in new directions? What’s on your wishlist for 2024?

Simply stating a goal out loud is a great step forward. Please do jump in — Click the “comment button” and join the discussion.

PHOTOS:

·       Louise Craven Hourrigan, circa 1925

·       Fountain at Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, FL

·      Sand form sculpture at Ron Jon Surf Shop, Cocoa Beach, FL