Today, in the Northern Hemisphere, it is a little brighter. Now that we’ve stumbled past the winter solstice, each day comes with a smidge more sunlight. This is a seasonal change that’s worth noticing, though it probably requires some effort in the contemporary world. Most of our natural, perennial shifts hurdle past without much thought, the beep of a calendar appointment an easier indication of the new day than a minute or two of extra light. Nevertheless, it does seem fitting to me that it starts getting brighter as we approach the end of the year.
Two paragraphs that I wrote at the end of last year still represent my thoughts for this moment.
Measuring what you give against what you receive is a fairly reasonable principle to keep in mind—whether the subject is money, laughter, or trips to the store. Of course the goal with this little calculation isn’t to get ahead: the well-lived life is almost certainly operating with a negative balance. If you spend your time ensuring that all is fair and equivalent and that every favor you’ve accrued is remembered, then you’re certainly missing the point.
For the writers and artists a similar ledger can be a useful heuristic: How does what you create compare with what you consume? What are you sending into the world? Is it valuable for your readers? If you ask for a reader’s time, perhaps you should offer sentences that resemble a warm meal with a cold drink and a comfortable chair. Nothing is wrong with keeping a journal. Nothing is wrong with spending time lost in thought, pleased by your own creativity, struck by the wonder of how your mind flows. But if you share your sentences with the world, ensure that what lands on the page is truly for your readers. And there’s never a bad time to recalibrate and confirm that the balance is right.
This is a long way of stating that after sending 76 essays through Desk Notes this year, it is time for a short break. A few days for me to reflect and project rather than create. So I am going to savor this final week of the year, and return in January with what’s sure to be a breathless, frenzied need to publish.
Part of my recalibration involves thinking about how Desk Notes will grow in 2024. At this point, I have some loose plans, early hints, and a few sketches, which is always a good place. The best writing, for me at least, comes when you’re just at the edge of your abilities, when you’re not quite sure whether the page will coalesce into anything worthwhile before you begin. In general, that’s where I try to linger, with the next sentence always feeling like it is just beyond my grasp. My perception is that a writer who is fighting at this edge makes for the best reading—although that part of the equation isn’t something, of course, that I can assess about my own work.
Here are two last items about Desk Notes before we reach 2024.
Click reply to this message and tell me what’s working and what’s failing. What issues kept you intrigued? What issues made you contemplate cancelling your internet service?
Feel free to pester, hound, inundate, annoy, and harass your friends and family and colleagues about signing up to Desk Notes. Additionally, if you know someone who might enjoy reading Desk Notes, and you need a last-minute gift, you can now purchase a gift subscription. Or, if you think that Desk Notes is tedious and banal, then it is also the perfect gift for an enemy—forcing someone you dislike into the awkward obligation of reading at least a few issues. In both cases, I will be extremely grateful.
Thank you for all the comments, thoughts, and questions this year. It is always intriguing to learn when my writing triggers something unexpected.
Have a good holiday, Christmas, New Year’s, and thank you again for reading. The next Desk Notes will be in January.
I savor your style, vocabulary. Issues 191 and 198 got me reading the Notes twice. I've kept them all, to enjoy when less tired, or needing inspiration for something. Growing up I wanted to be a writer. Ended up painting. Just a difference in tools. Wishing you the best of years and a well deserved rest.
Tedious and banal? Charles Schifano? Never. I vote for more travel stories, please. Happy Holidays to you and to all those who love you, Charles.