At the Waning of the Year
December 24, 2020

Another year about to pass. An eventful one that was both more chaotic and
seemed to drag on far longer than most. A year many of us will be glad to see
slip into the land of "that which is now behind us."

The end of the year is doubly hard for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere; it's
the beginning of deep winter and the season of the shortest day of the year: the
Winter Solstice.

But the shortest day also marks the beginning of a transition to better times.
From that day until high summer, the days will get longer--even if they don't
get warmer right away. There's a reason many faiths have holidays that cluster
around the end of December: all in some way or another mark the solstice, and
all look toward the transition to more fruitful days. As dark as things may seem
now, don't lose sight of the fact that as certain as the Earth moves around the
sun, better times will return.

So my advice--both in writing and in life--is to prepare to close the books on
this annus horribilis. Go through and prune your hard-drive of the files you
downloaded but never read. Backup your bookmarks, then delete the copies on
browser. (The sites you visit most will soon reappear....) Do the same for your
physical files, the piles of books you haven't gotten around to reading, and any
items/clutter weighing upon your mind. Follow Thoreau: simplify, simplify.

Also take a look at your stories and/or writing projects that stalled in the
past year. Does it feel like you might be able to do something with any of them?
If so, pull them out of your trunk and see what progress you can make. (It's
also OK to admit that you're still at a loss on a particular story or project.
Just leave it alone and have another look come June.)

Clean your desk. Sweep your office. Sweep the whole house if you want. Look
forward to the lengthening days and prepare yourself to start fresh in 2021, in
the hope that it will be good for you both in writing and in life.

I'll be putting up my 2020 writing statistics in a few weeks, after we cross the
border into January. See you then.

(c) 2020 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com