New Year's Day 2014

This New Year’s Day morning began with U2’s “New Year’s Day” as the first-song-of-the-year ritual that I’ve kept for 30 years now.  Ian watched this promo video of the single from their 1983 album "War" with me, as we looked forward to a relaxing and creatively productive day off together, after last night’s New Year’s Eve fun. We had first spent some time with good friends Lee and Wen Li, and had the chance to say good-bye to Wen Li (for now) and to wish her luck as she travels back to Beijing after spending the past three months as an artist in residence in Poughkeepsie. And then we saw 2014 in with friends and co-worker/friends at Joe, Kristen and Daryl’s New Year’s Eve party that was a great and memorable celebration.

I’ve blogged about this song and its importance to me in an earlier blog post at the start of 2009, so I won’t rehash it again here. (That post can be found at http://write-rite-rightabouttime.blogspot.com/2009/01/rite-about-time-new-years-day.html.) My memories of that first New Year’s Day at home after living for three years in Boston haven’t been forgotten, and my feelings about the holiday haven’t changed much.

But one thing has changed somewhat – my ideas about New Year’s resolutions and goals. Like many people, I start each New Year with good intentions and expectations, only to see many of my resolutions and goals fizzle out into regrets and self-recriminations. And then, the next New Year, I start all over again. This happens especially with my writing goals – each New Year’s Day, I vow to finish a manuscript by that year’s end, only to find my work-in-progress impeded by various obstacles (including my own writer’s blocks) and remain unfinished on New Year’s Eve.

As the Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/ gang aft agley” – the modern-English translation is roughly “The best laid plans of mice and men/ often go awry.” And it’s true – sometimes it’s futile to count on an expectation, because the future is uncertain and things can transpire to keep that plan from happening. That can be so frustrating and disappointing.

In last year’s New Year’s Day blog post (found at http://writingontime.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-years-day-2013-just-be.html) I decided to take a Zen-like approach to my writing, and focus more on appreciating the act of writing itself, rather than pressuring myself and forcing my writing to meet self-imposed deadlines. I had still hoped to accomplish my writing goals, though, but I still have unfinished manuscripts now.

I’m starting to see New Year’s Day differently. Yes, it’s a significant day on the calendar, the beginning of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. But it’s also just one of an infinite number of days in time. And I need to take each day as it comes, and to focus on what I can accomplish and appreciate about each day.

Today I spent some quality time with Ian and with my family. I had good (mostly-healthy) meals. I got some much-needed rest. I chatted with my friend Michelle. I started reading “Quakeland,” by Francesca Lia Block, one of my favorite authors. I worked on some notes for my “Time’s Crossing” novel. I wrote nine pages in my journal. And I’m writing this blog. It was a good and productive day.

And I hope to have many, many more good and productive days in this New Year.

How about you? Do you have any traditions for New Year’s Day? Do you have any goals for this coming year? How do you feel about the making (and sometimes breaking) of resolutions?

Any responses and comments are welcome and appreciated!

Happy 2014, everyone!