Welcome to the last Friday of 2021, and the last day of this odd, squirrelly year. I hope your holidays have been enjoyable. I know too many of you have gotten sick—I do hope you’re healthy and hale now and have a bunch of new books to read! I received a number of titles that I can’t wait to dive into. 2022 is going to be a wonderful reading year, I can already tell.

And since this is the last day of the year, it’s resolution time! If you’re anything like me, you’re starting to think about what changes you want to make going forward. Last week, I saw this lovely nugget on Instagram, and it’s a perfect way to approach the new year. 

Fifteen minutes of anything won’t necessarily change your life.  

Fifteen minutes a day of [[insert your goal here]], day after day, will.

Want to write a book? Read more books? Start a yoga practice? Learn a language, an instrument, a skill? Fifteen minutes. That’s all you need. If you do it regularly, the accretion of that small effort will show results. 

I’m working on my annual review, and I’m focusing on the idea of slow productivity. What you do during your workday matters, without question. But in my particular field—writing novels—day-to-day doesn’t always look that impressive. But if you put in the time, you end up with a substantial finished project, so when you look back over the year you’ve just had, you can see how those 15-minute increments can add up. 

This year, I’m committing to this practice, if only out of curiosity about what 15 minutes a day accrues for me in 2022. Join me!

📚Friday Reads

I just finished the last of my holiday reads—THE HOLIDAY SWAP by Maggie Knox. I loved it. Elevated romance; intelligent, capable, appealing leads in identical twins Cass and Charlie; adorable, swoon-worthy love interests; and a setting straight out of a holiday movie. Plus, baked goods. I’m about to start making my own sourdough, and I learned some excellent lessons throughout. IE: do NOT use iced sugar instead of flour to feed your starter. 😂

Now I’m to a reread of Cal Newport’s DEEP WORK to gear up for 2022. What are you reading this exciting weekend?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!