An observation about the new year . . .

. . . it's much more exciting to start a new year when you've done something fulfilling--like spending 3-4 days writing and developing your novel--in the final days of the old year. Then, it's not so much a starting over as a continuation. (I hope to continue . . . will continue . . . am looking forward to continuing . . . what I started this week.)

. . . as for the blunders I made in the nick of time to end the year with a fizzle, I hope the new year promises rebirth.

Sometimes our simple, naive, stupid acts make us feel so much, maybe they even change so much, which is one way of interpreting William Carlos Williams's lines: "So much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow . . . "

"If so much depends" on such small moments, then I really need to do a better job of making every moment matter. I need to think before I act. I need to show more restraint.

Just some things for me to think about as 2012 starts . . .