The Year of the Reader/Writer

I dubbed 2025 the year of the reader/writer and I had two main objectives in addition to simply reading more: to secure an artist residency and an agent.

I nailed the reading part by completing the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and by being an active member of the Graffiti Book Club. I took a self-directed artist residency in Joshua Tree (and in the process ticked off my bucket list item of traveling alone) and attended Literary Cleveland’s Writers Conference. I did NOT secure a literary agent, but I tried and I keep trying. And, as Meatloaf once famously sang, “two out of three ain’t bad.”

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge

For years (like 5 or 7 or maybe even 8) I have been trying to complete the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and have come up short.

This year, I gave it a go again.

It wasn’t easy. In fact, it was super hard.

I may have had to take an extra long lunch break a time or two.

I possibly canceled commitments with friends.

I most definitely sacrificed some beauty sleep.

My boyfriend, in an attempt to make sense of the additional stress I felt as we neared the end of the year and I still had five highlights to go began asking questions (I had recently lost my shit when Chat GPT led me astray in its book prompt suggestions thus forcing me to read additional books under an already unforgiving timeline):

Jeff: Who is monitoring this challenge again?
Me: Me

Jeff: And is their a prize for completing the challenge?
Me: No

Jeff: And what happens if you don’t finish?
Me: Nothing

Jeff: And why are you doing this again?
Me: [he’s met with a cold stare]

My sister, on the other hand, stands in solidarity with my choices to make our lives as complicated and chaotic as possible and so tirelessly cheered me on. Then at our Christmas Eve gathering, as a testament to her belief in my being able to wrap this up before the New Year, she presented me with the most momentous of gifts…

(If you too need any custom items – she’s available for hire!)

While none of my answers may have made sense to Jeff, I felt compelled to finish.

And I did! Yay me!

Not only did I complete the 40 basic challenge prompts, but I did the 10 advanced prompts as well.

While I can’t promise you a trophy (although Ash can), if you would like to participate in the 2026 challenge, I can provide you with the prompt list; it looks like Pop Sugar is giving a sneak peek this year.

Joshua Tree Artist Residency

I went there to write…
Here is what I did instead.

I listened to a Mumford and Son record on a Victrola that looked like a suitcase. 

I roasted in the sun in a beat and bent metal turquoise chair in the middle of a dirt yard.

I met a Vodou priestess who keeps a dead bird in her freezer. 

I bought an adorable and outrageous pair of overalls stitched with red and orange hummingbirds.

I observed the beauty of a tumbleweed as it blew across the road.

I learned just how quickly the American dream can turn into a derelict shack in the middle of nowhere. 

I studied elements of craft.

I drank coffee with chicory out of a gifted mug and thought about where I’ve been and who I love. 

I taught myself how to install an HP print driver. 

I noted the allure of contrast – red, yellow, and fuchsia flowers popping from a brown belly.

I went to Walmart. 

I read.

I got lost – a lot. 

I spent too much money on souvenirs. 

I prayed. 

I admired the dedication people have to their art – even when it is ugly. 

I noticed color swatches in the sky as it merged with the ground until it became a dark veil.

I experienced secrets the desert is holding.  
 
I acknowledged that my process is just fine the way it is. 

I held a hand to make a leap. 


I traveled to the end of the world. 
I curated stories. 
I understood that this is the only way to survive it. 

Together. 

End of the World sign by @jackpierson9
Thank you @deserthouseresidency for hosting me! I did manage to finally pull it together and do some creative “work” 😉

What’s Next Year’s Theme?

Next year I’m calling The Year of the Letter. I’m a sentimental. And I romantic (I got voted a hopeless one as my senior year high-school award). I love things like love notes, and lace, and pastel colored-maps. Sepia toned photographs, scribbles in coffee-stained books, sad songs, and hand-scripted cards.

Over Christmas my family played a game I bought for my nephew called Cloud 9 from Uncommon Goods. The game is a great inter-generational conversation starter. You begin with nine cards face up and go around the table allowing each player to pick one at a time to fill in their perfect sky (mine is pictured below!). While “gust of winds” may cause you to lose a card or forfeit a turn what you learn about the people you are playing with leaves everyone a winner!

For example, I learned that Grandma JoJo loves sending and receiving mail (letter writing will be something I do more of in the next twelve months). I also plan on sending more thank you cards inspired by the book of a friend of a friend and the many I have received from Theresa Zele.

More to come on how I plan to materialize my theme in the new year, but here is where my head is currently spinning to:

Class to take:
– Calligraphy

Books to Read:
– Women’s Letters (gifted to me years ago by Grandma JoJo) Edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler
– A Secret Gift by Ted Gup

Things to Do:
– Check out Pen-pal programs, or just write longhand to the people I already know and love
– Find and use beautifully curated stationary (like the marbled stacks I saw while in Florence in March) along with the pens my nephew gifted me for Christmas
– Create and collaborate on a letter writing event with Tara Tonsetic (more info coming soon but it is currently slated for Feb. 19. Tara can also help with my calligraphy class and stationary accrual. Check out her site Modern Meets Vintage). Thanks for the introduction Jen Jones Donatelli.

What will this be your year of?

Tell me! Tell me!