While I'm in agreement with Rachael Jamison over at her fantastic blog Little Revolution Inside that in no way should a New Year inspire you to make a list of all the things you want to fix or change about yourself, then start carving away at the self-image of the beautiful person you already are, I do want to start this new year with some narrowing down of choices.
Particularly considering the never-ending news feeds we all have opened ourselves to via our Facebooks and our smart phones and our high-speed internet connections, I, for one, would like to pause here at the brink of the New Year and get some focus.
What are the things I want to do most of all? I will have to say NO to some things in 2012, which is great because saying NO is a practice I am currently cultivating.
When every day forces outside of me are pulling toward some news, activity, must-read, belief, new practice, new adventure, and so-on, I want to start this year with some non-negotiables, some things I want to do and read that everything else will just have to work around. I've created two lists: 20 Books I Want To Read In 2012 and In 2012, I'd like To. I also created and printed a visual map of these lists that I posted on my inspiration wall and will write all over by crossing out the things I've done and writing comments such as hearts, smiley faces, and exclamations. (See photo).
In 2012, I'd like to:
--Write everyday
--Run a marathon
--Write one letter a month
--Make more meals with Chris
--Try Portal because Emy says so and if I do, maybe I can get her to run with me
--Read the books on my list and more
--Keep writing Letters to Muses and Editors for this blog
--Do everything on the List of Things I Want To Do With Chris
--Send out stories
--Remember that even 10 minutes of yoga a day makes a practice
I will read other books--for teaching, for book clubs, because they find me, but these are the books I want to read no-matter-what in 2012...
Books I Want To Read in 2012:
1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
2. Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
3. Great House by Nicole Krause
4. Fire on Her Tongue (Poetry)
5. Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Essays) by Joan Didion
6. The Art of the Personal Essay by Philip Lopate
7. 13 Ways of Looking at a Novel by Jane Smiley
8. The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
9. The Fact of A Doorframe by Adrienne Rich
10. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstein
12. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
13. The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker
14. One For the Money (Because Carrie Says!) by Janet Evanovich
15. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
16. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
17. The Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein
18. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
19. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
20. Finish Ulysses... :)
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