writing is an inherently dignified human activity

In 2023, after several years of failed new year’s resolutions, I decided to try something new. My annual attempts to “write more” never seemed to last longer than a month; I began to fear that I was someone incapable of finishing projects, of executing on ideas. But in early December, I seized upon a sudden, capricious urge to start a newsletter—drafting my first post on a Wednesday evening after work—and once I’d sent my first email, it was easier to continue writing. That was my first strategy: to begin my resolutions in December, unburdened by the cumbersome weight of the new year. A few weeks later, while drafting the usual new year’s resolutions—scroll less, read more, call my parents every week—I came up with a second strategy: to offer myself the generous buffer of a two-year goal, instead of compressing all the changes I wanted to make into 12 months. As I wrote in my journal, What…might be possible in 2 years? What if I seriously, very very very seriously, commit to my literar

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• Ella Song