4 Reflections to Close the Year
How did your writing process unfold in 2023? What's on your poetry horizon?
It happens every November. I get this wildly inaccurate notion that I can “get ahead” of the crazy and settle into a cozy season of books and journaling—and maybe even some mindless TV. I imagine making a meditation of cleaning my office, taking time to appreciate the drafts I’ll recycle and the books that fed my mind this year.
Alas, friends. Then the last-minute client requests start piling in. The holiday cards I lovingly designed months ago won’t write themselves. This year, unforeseen illnesses put significant strain on my family. (I’ll spare you the details.)
Last year, I wrote this here—and (sigh) I’ve circled right back. There is some comfort to seeing this, though.
It’s late Friday afternoon. I’ve stalled out on several posts for this newsletter, tried jumpstarting my focus with espresso and snacks with no effect other than to make me want more espresso and snacks.
Maybe because I’ve brought so much work to fruition this year (a full manuscript, this weekly newsletter, many classes, a community!) hibernation is calling to me—hard.
All this to say that beautifully flawed thinking seems to be part of the deal for us creatives. And I’m not here to talk you out of it. Whatever the mind-state you’re inhabiting at the moment, I wish you self compassion.
Four Reflections to Close the Year
I wrote these last year and I’m delighted at the gift of my former self. Thank you old self! I think that these hold up. As I said in the original post, it’s more joyful and effective, in any creative work, to lean into the process rather than focus too much on the end product.
These end-of-year reflections are less about goals achieved/goals projected, and more about the internal and external and external factors that generate momentum in the work we have done and want to do next.
Process: What do you know now about your creative process that you didn’t know at the beginning of 2023? At its best, what did your process look like this year? Which motivations, habits, and routines moved your work forward? Which could be dropped in 2024?
Supports: Outside of your own efforts, what helped move your work forward most? If you attended any classes, workshops, or conferences this year, which supported your work best? Why? Among peers, mentors, friends, whose support meant the most to you? What would you return to in 2024? Let go of? Evolve?
Focus: Which topics, themes, or curiosities fed your writing this year? Of those, which are complete or no longer interesting? Which do you want to explore further in 2024? What’s calling you in 2024?
Fruitions: What are you celebrating about your writing this year? Which accomplishments, large or small, were most satisfying to you? (Accomplishment can be as simple as I kept writing!)
It can be eye opening to look back at the year with curiosity and discernment. What manifested in your work? Through the work? In the process? In your relationship to the work? And how did that work begin live the world—in the communities where you share your voice?
What are your takeaways from 2023? What were you most grateful for? I’d love to know. Share your thoughts in the comments.
Two things stood out for my 2023 process: first, committing to submitting (or resubmitting) at least one poem every week with an accountability partner has improved my productivity and quality. Second, a joint, close reading of Louise Glück's poems is the best poetry education I've received.
I really do appreciate the thoughtfulness of your writing.