Happy 2018. We’re still here, aren’t we, and that’s something, the way the world’s going. Kudos to us all for hanging in there.
At year’s end/beginning, I’ve seen a number of journalists doing “My year in stories” roundups. I considered that–I wrote a lot of stories this year!–but am not sure I have the energy for that right now, or if those sorts of roundups are even useful.
For me as a writer, what mattered most in 2018 was doing what I could to keep the humanities flame alive, and to call attention to, explain, understand, and explore some fascinating projects (and the people behind them) that can get lost in the existential shuffle that is our current political reality.
I’m grateful to have had a lot of freelance work in 2017, all of it interesting to me and I hope to at least some readers. The more I write, the more I get asked to write, and the more I want to write. It doesn’t get any easier but it feels as intensely satisfying to me now as it ever has, maybe more so. Writing is my way of understanding the world, and a daily reminder of what a fascinating place we are lucky enough to inhabit, in spite of the atrocities perpetrated all around us on a daily basis.
If you saw/read any of my stories during the year, that’s enough for me (and thank you for reading). If I think it over more and see themes emerging, I’ll point them out, but I have another deadline this week. Deadlines, man.
I will mention that one of my EdSurge stories–“What Happened to Google’s Effort to Scan Millions of Library Books?“–was No. 1 on their list of most popular higher-ed stories of the year. It also appeared on EdSurge’s top-5 list of all stories for the year, a list that includes both K-12 and higher ed. That feels really good.
One more thing: In December 2018, I finished a book proposal that matters a lot to me, and that I hope to sell before long. It’s an idea I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and that I am so glad to be digging into now. When I have news to share about it, I’ll do that here and via the usual channels (mostly Twitter, but also Facebook and Instagram, which has emerged as a space of solace in trying times).
Wishing you peace, joy, and work that matters to you in 2018. Write, read, create, be kind, and be of good cheer in spite of everything. We will prevail.
(Pictured: my TBR pile for early 2018. Not pictured: my dog-eared grad-school copy of “Middlemarch,” which for reasons obscure to me I am re-reading. I’m about 500 pages in as of this writing.)
