A day for fresh starts?
I’m fifty-five years old, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve had New Year’s resolutions. I suspect that’s true for most people reading this, and I have a sneaking suspicion that even those people who vociferously deny making resolutions secretly have one or two. Maybe they call them something else, but they’re still resolutions.
Today is a fresh start for me and this blog. Looking back over the past couple of years, I haven’t been all that impressed with myself. So, I took stock of my work and chose to begin again. And with January 1st conveniently available…
In the last year, I’ve taken steps to distance myself from the genre fare that established me. I’m not opposed to writing the stuff, but I feel my creative energies are best directed elsewhere. In 2025, I wrote two novels that I consider the very best I’ve ever written — back to back, no less — and I want to continue that streak in 2026. If you’re agreeable, I’ll take you along with me on that journey.
A person can indeed start afresh every day they wake up alive. But there’s something about New Year’s Day that feels different. Not only because the numbers on the calendar change, but because there’s a charge to the atmosphere missing from other days. A real sense of possibility. That the new year, empty and unspoiled, waits for us to fill it with success.
Let’s see if we can live up to that.