Marking the Miles 2025
Those of you who read my original blog a bunch of years ago will remember that at the end of each month I posted a “Marking the Miles” blog where we looked back over the month to my favorite writings and what they meant to me. With this year speeding toward a close, it felt appropriate to bring that tradition back.
I’m not saying constantly look back—that’s a great way to never live in the present and to never move forward. But there’s something to be said for being able to look back fondly on where you’ve been and the progress you’ve made. There are lessons in accomplishments, in climbing a mountain and standing at the summit, looking out over the great view you’ve earned and all the steps, missteps, bends, and even pitfalls you experienced on the way. [This is a metaphor; I don’t climb mountains. But I have climbed trails that went solidly uphill. Solidly. On the trails, I earned every blister and also the great views from “the top.” And on other days, I got out of bed, showered, and managed to put some thoughts together. Those were my mountains to climb, too.]
That’s what we’re doing here, surveying all that we’ve done in these weekly meet-ups.
So, without further ado…
This year we spent a little time in farm life with The Aftermath of Groundhog Day. Looking back, I expected that I’d shared more happenings at the farm, but not so. Maybe next year.
There were short stories: Late Night After Work Club, and the two-part story, The Pilot’s Gamble. One funny and the other spooky. What’s not to love? We talked about holidays and family, and I can’t imagine a better way to usher those things into perspective than Placemat on a Dinosaur, which garnered me the most feedback from you. (That’s the one where my family started Kung Fu fighting at a wedding, if you needed a jog to your memory.) And then there were my quirky favorites: Space Cadet, about learning to take up your own space, and Raising Spirits, about running a restaurant with no supervision (and how to pilfer dessert).
We delved into some writing tips in Misfits and Christmas Letters, and also in Trusting the Whoa, about winning over an audience with talent and behind-the-scenes work rather than just going for appearances. We visited more writing in Second Grade Me, about a younger version of me who wrote a poem and delivered it in front of the big kids—a story about fear and doing it anyway, which is everyone’s story if we’re lucky.
Week by week, we got to hang out inside my head, you and me, and we managed to cover some writerly, spooky, quirky, and amusing ground this year. All of these writings are my way of processing life and its many curve balls, and I hope along the way I lifted you up when you needed it. I hope I encouraged you to go after your dreams, to believe in yourself, and to go out on a limb for what you want.
Thank you for hanging out with me here. As much as I write for myself, I post the writings, put them out here, for you.
Some new adventures are coming our way, so let’s keep forging ahead together. I’ll meet you back here in the New Year.
