I'd like to say that I started the first day of the year by sitting down to write, but that wouldn't be accurate. The truth is, I woke up, petted the cat, fed her breakfast, looked out the front door for a few minutes, put some coffee on to brew, and then sat down here to write.
This is the part of my contemplation of this site where I say it needs to change. Twelve years ago, there were somewhere between eight and twelve people writing at Zen Dixie. I brought this up to a friend who asked if I plan on doing anything with Zen Dixie this year. Of course, I do. I always do. The problem is trying to find that magical golden mean where momentum and inspiration come together. Intellectually, I know there is no such thing. It's about sitting down and tapping out words until they create a thing.
The problem, as I saw it, was this site was designed to show other people's work. I had doubts- No. I knew that people weren't coming here to read what I wrote or see my art. For the first time ever, I said it out loud. Faith just nodded. Then she asked me a question: Does a perceived lack of audience mean that I shouldn't ever write or make art? Then she told me to make some resolutions and fold creative goals into those, consider writing about subjects that I cared about, and to just not worry if anyone else read it or commented on it or whatever people do on the internet. (For the record, Faith is eight years younger than me and probably twenty years older is technology years. She mostly hates the internet.)
I don't like resolutions because I rarely if ever keep them. Also, there's the whole calendar thing, which, like our perception of measured time, is really rather arbitrary in the grand scheme of things. She was right, though. So, part of today will be spent making my version of resolutions in the form of a daily diet of things I need to do. Writing is on that list. As for subject matter, I am starting off with two projects that I hope to continue for at least the better part of the year.
I want to write about food. No, this is not going to become a foodie website. Okay, I might post the occasional recipe or talk about something I found and liked. What is more important to me is how we choose to feed ourselves, how we see the need to feed others in terms of food justice, and the impact (yes, I am using that word as a noun) on us individually and in a more global sense on politics and the environment. I also want to look at divination and how it tickles the parts of our minds that play with our sense of time, destiny, and how we shape our identities as we navigate those things. Both subjects are part of my DNA and they seem like good places to start. Well, there's also what I read, watch, and listen to. I'm going to talk about what I like and once in a while, share some disappointments. They may or may not be new things. Click on them if you see them. Or not.
In the meantime, I am taking everything on here right now and not deleting it so much as taking it off the menu for a while until I can find a way to make it all fit. There are other projects I want to take on, some were on the list of things I made while I was in the hospital the last part of 2022. It didn't occur to me that it would take the better part of 2023 to recover body, mind, and spirit from spending almost two months in a weird, sunless state of being very sick. I may finally write about that. Or not.
Congratulations on your fortitude if you read this far. It might get more interesting from here. I hope it does. At the very least, I'm starting the year off energized and ready to do...something. Right now, I need to sign off and get started with 2024, shiny new year that it is.
Pax vobiscum, y'all!
Jas Faulkner
This is the part of my contemplation of this site where I say it needs to change. Twelve years ago, there were somewhere between eight and twelve people writing at Zen Dixie. I brought this up to a friend who asked if I plan on doing anything with Zen Dixie this year. Of course, I do. I always do. The problem is trying to find that magical golden mean where momentum and inspiration come together. Intellectually, I know there is no such thing. It's about sitting down and tapping out words until they create a thing.
The problem, as I saw it, was this site was designed to show other people's work. I had doubts- No. I knew that people weren't coming here to read what I wrote or see my art. For the first time ever, I said it out loud. Faith just nodded. Then she asked me a question: Does a perceived lack of audience mean that I shouldn't ever write or make art? Then she told me to make some resolutions and fold creative goals into those, consider writing about subjects that I cared about, and to just not worry if anyone else read it or commented on it or whatever people do on the internet. (For the record, Faith is eight years younger than me and probably twenty years older is technology years. She mostly hates the internet.)
I don't like resolutions because I rarely if ever keep them. Also, there's the whole calendar thing, which, like our perception of measured time, is really rather arbitrary in the grand scheme of things. She was right, though. So, part of today will be spent making my version of resolutions in the form of a daily diet of things I need to do. Writing is on that list. As for subject matter, I am starting off with two projects that I hope to continue for at least the better part of the year.
I want to write about food. No, this is not going to become a foodie website. Okay, I might post the occasional recipe or talk about something I found and liked. What is more important to me is how we choose to feed ourselves, how we see the need to feed others in terms of food justice, and the impact (yes, I am using that word as a noun) on us individually and in a more global sense on politics and the environment. I also want to look at divination and how it tickles the parts of our minds that play with our sense of time, destiny, and how we shape our identities as we navigate those things. Both subjects are part of my DNA and they seem like good places to start. Well, there's also what I read, watch, and listen to. I'm going to talk about what I like and once in a while, share some disappointments. They may or may not be new things. Click on them if you see them. Or not.
In the meantime, I am taking everything on here right now and not deleting it so much as taking it off the menu for a while until I can find a way to make it all fit. There are other projects I want to take on, some were on the list of things I made while I was in the hospital the last part of 2022. It didn't occur to me that it would take the better part of 2023 to recover body, mind, and spirit from spending almost two months in a weird, sunless state of being very sick. I may finally write about that. Or not.
Congratulations on your fortitude if you read this far. It might get more interesting from here. I hope it does. At the very least, I'm starting the year off energized and ready to do...something. Right now, I need to sign off and get started with 2024, shiny new year that it is.
Pax vobiscum, y'all!
Jas Faulkner
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