cheers to a gentler new year
my favorite stories of 2024 and creating kinder new years resolutions
Happy New Year friends! I think I can still say that? We’re only coming up on the third week of January, but it feels like more than two weeks have passed since the beginning of 2025.
I’m excited to have started the year reading one of my short stories at my friend’s All Arts Open Mic Night series. (The series is happening biweekly in Eckington for any interested writers or performers). It's been a while since I’ve read something for an audience, and each time I do I’m reminded of the power of our stories, and how they take on a new life when spoken aloud. It’s not every day — and everywhere — we can connect so immediately with readers and audience members. I’m grateful for the welcoming and inclusive arts community of DC for offering so many opportunities to do so.
As I think about my goals and intentions for the year ahead, I’m also looking back and reflecting on some of my favorite stories, adventures, and pieces I wrote last year.
Best of 2024
Reads
I read 35 books this year, which is more than I average. I’m a pretty slow reader because I love to study authors’ craft on a sentence level, and I also hate giving up on books that I’m not immediately hooked by. I’ll plod through something that’s only partially holding my interest waiting for it to pick up.
My favorites this year were The Women by Kristin Hannah and Good Material by Dolly Alderton. In true Kristin Hannah form, The Women was a heartbreaking and emotional portrait of a woman coming of age. The novel chronicles Frankie’s time serving as a nurse in the Vietnam War and follows her transition back to a society that doesn’t appreciate her service, let alone believe she was in Vietnam. This novel taught me about a period of history I didn’t know much about and shined a light on the overlooked women of Vietnam. And, it was definitely the book I cried the most while reading.
In Good Material, I greatly enjoyed how Alderton writes about modern relationships and gender dynamics. Good Material is propulsive and sometimes hilarious while delving into the complicated emotions that arise after a breakup. I loved it so much that I went back and read Alderton’s first novel, Ghosts. I have to say Ghosts was the most painfully honest fiction I’ve read describing the world of dating apps, particularly in one’s late twenties/early thirties.
Shows
A show I loved this year was Shrinking on AppleTV. My husband and I both enjoyed this series for its exploration of mental health and healing and its heartwarming and uplifting tone. I loved the complexity of the characters, the diversity of life stages they’re in and issues they face, and the multigenerational friendships they form. Shrinking invites us to take stock of our mental well-being and begin to heal from our traumas. Though it explores some heavier themes, it manages to be quite funny and upbeat.
Writing
Last year, I published a short story and wrote 9 substack posts. The two I’m the proudest of are my post from March, which discusses creating meaningful travel experiences and connecting with local culture, and my long-form essay about the intersections of writing and travel, two of my great passions in life.
I wrote two new short stories that I’m currently shopping around to literary magazines, and I continued working on a novel that has been in progress for many years. On the novel front, I received feedback from literary agents and worked with a developmental editor to finesse some key scenes. I learned a lot about the publishing industry through this process, and I’m currently pausing as I figure out what my next step is with this book.
I’ve also started working on a new novel — interconnected stories of 3 young American expats in Europe — and I’m having a lot of fun with the first draft of this project.
Adventures
My favorite travel adventure, perhaps unsurprisingly, was our trip to the French Riviera, detailed in the Substack post above. This area of France holds a special place in my heart because I spent a week there by myself at the end of my teaching abroad stint ten years ago. It was amazing to go back there, share it with Ted, and see this meaningful place through new eyes. We also discovered how nice and relaxing it is to travel slightly off-season.
Looking Ahead
In general, I’m not a big New Year’s resolution person. I like to believe that we can start a new habit or practice—turn over a new leaf—at any point we want to. I also don’t love what New Year’s resolutions often equate to: setting a bunch of lofty, unrealistic goals and then feeling bad if we fall short.
Yes, I’m working on things, and tweaking habits and ways of spending my time. One of the biggest things I want to change is how much time I spend on Instagram and social media. I’ve been doing well with shifting this habit during these first few weeks of the year. An approach that’s helped me spend less time on apps is paying attention to how I feel during and after I spend fifteen minutes mindlessly scrolling Instagram. I’ve noticed that while looking at repetitive, promotional content for ten minutes or so, I often feel anxious, bored, or unfulfilled. I don’t want to kick social media altogether, as I still like to post a little bit and stay in the loop. But I don’t want Instagram to be the first thing I reach for when I’m feeling bored or stressed.
I could say that my New Year’s resolutions are to read more or to write more. I could put a figure to those things if I felt like it — read 75 books or write 80,000 words — but honestly, I don’t want to. I want to enjoy the art I’m interacting with. I’d rather linger over 10 books and cherish the time with them than blow through 100 I can barely remember. (No shade to those who can read and enjoy 100 books in a year, that’s just not me). I also don’t want the time I spend working on my new novel to feel like a slog or like another thing I “have to” do. I take my art seriously enough that I don’t need to put this kind of pressure on myself. Instead, I want to protect my writing time as a joyful, creative space.
A gentler and perhaps more helpful resolution is to work on not comparing myself. To stay focused on where I am right now instead of where I stand relative to anyone else. To lean into the process and keep building a sustainable writing practice.
The thing about resolutions and goal setting is that they should be for you. To make your life richer and how you spend your time more fulfilling. Resolutions should help motivate you to live your best life, not cause guilt or shame if you don’t meet an arbitrary finish line. So, I encourage you to find a softer milestone for this year. A more flexible resolution that nudges you in your desired direction, yet can bend with life’s ever-shifting circumstances.
Cheers to a gentle start to the new year.
I also take my time reading! I’m often noting how authors pull together a scene, give us good seeds without overwhelming us with information, and all the other gems to be found. Cheers to the new year—hope it’s full of wonderful writing and reading❤️