September feels like the real New Year. The lazy vacation days are over. School is starting. The weather is getter cooler and, yes, in my culture it is the New Year, with the high holidays coming sometime in this marvelous month.
In September I feel like I am coming up from a long, slow swim underwater, taking a deep breath and swimming along with my head bobbing above the waves, looking for the shore. The shore is where I will put my feet on the ground and get back on the trail.
In September I do not make resolutions. I make to-do lists. Sometimes my lists read like resolutions: I list things like clean my drawers out, practice my piano, take a walk or a yoga class. Each day, on my to-do list I have a line of telephone calls to make: the piano tuner, my dermatologist, my podiatrist.
In September I start new things. Maybe because school begins in September I have always begun new projects in the fall. I pick up a book at a book sale on having beautiful indoor gardens. I plan our theater subscriptions. I change my clothes from summer to in-between, meaning more long pants and shirts and fewer shorts and tees.
But no matter what, my daily to-do list always starts with one imperative. WRITE. I am trying to get myself to write a certain number of words or pages each day. And I get great satisfaction from checking each item off my list. And if I do it every day, I know I will finish my novel of linked short stories. I did not complete the first draft by Labor Day, as I had promised I would. But I did make great progress this summer. And I think I will have it done before the end of the year!
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