“Remember, there is no right answer to where you are going, except forward.”
- maya stein
Dear Friend,
I don’t have to tell you what a gut punch of a year this has been for those of us craving a just and equitable world.
Everyone I know worked so hard this year—donating, door-knocking, texting, calling, you name it. And yet, here we are.
Where do we go from here?
In The Denial of Death, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker wrote, “The most any one of us can seem to do is to fashion something—an object or ourselves—and drop it into the confusion. To make an offering of it, so to speak, to the life force.”
This resonates with me. We never know where our efforts will lead. All we can do is to continue stubbornly and patiently loving each other, bearing witness, and making beauty. Making our offerings, each in our own particular way—to the life force.
Looking Forward
For me, this means putting forward my own writing and offering writing workshops and retreats so that others may find their authentic voices and use them.
Leading writing workshops is both my livelihood and my way of giving back. As such, it’s my commitment to make the workshops affordable for all who want to be there. So if you find yourself drawn to participate and the cost doesn’t work for your budget, feel free to email me and we’ll set up a sliding scale and/or installment plan.
Starting in January, I have the following offerings:
Online Off-Leash Writing Workshop (starts Jan. 9—one spot open)
In-Person Off-Leash Writing Workshop, Ann Arbor, Michigan (starts Jan 14—two spots open)
Online Memoir & Fiction Workshop (starts Jan 15—four spots open)
Online Intensive Memoir & Fiction Workshop (starts Jan 14—one spot open)
Looking Back
This year I realized a long-held dream when Katie Goodling and I co-led our first Women’s Creativity Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. For five days and six nights, we wrote, painted, danced, sang, and ate delicious plant-based meals. We swam in the ocean, visited the volcano, learned about Hawaiian culture, and basked in the rugged beauty of the Big Island. I couldn’t have asked for a more delightful group of people or a more rejuvenating experience.
Stay tuned for our next big adventure in 2025!
This year I also poured a lot of myself into this Substack newsletter. I’m profoundly grateful to all of you who have joined me on this journey by reading, subscribing, leaving comments and sending emails. I look forward to continuing to build our relationship in the coming year.
I began the project of writing about my dad in 2023 with my personal essay, The Exuberant Professor: Introducing Harry. This portrayal of my beloved Vati’s irrepressible spirit remains my most popular Substack post.
This year I added three more short pieces to that memoir project:
On Forgiveness (about an anti-semitic experience I had in grade school and my efforts to live up to my dad’s example)
The Road Between Us (about my relationship with my mom)
Sunrise, Sunset: A Lyric Essay (about my parents’ divorce and my own separation)
I got a lot of positive response this year to my essay What Comes Between Mother and Crone?—a reflection on the stages of a woman’s life.
I also gained traction and interest with the pieces Splinter Selves, in which I ruminated on the roads not taken, and Are You A Follower, a Bender, or a Breaker? in which I playfully explored my own relationship to authority.
Speaking of playful, I delved into the holiday of roses and chocolates with the piece Confessions of a Valentine Scrooge, which includes a link to my gold-lamé-suited performance of the disco anthem I Will Survive.
In November, I shared reflections on meeting the challenges of the moment through the essays Unstable Ground and An Agnostic’s Prayer.
I also introduced you to someone living life on his own terms in The Man Who Dwells on Lava and shared some fabulous reads in Haiku Reviews: 20 Books I Loved in 2024.
Thank you again for sharing this journey with me. You inspire me and buoy me up. Let’s keep making our offerings to the life force in 2025. You never know how far your ripples could reach.
With love and solidarity,
Tanya
Find your authentic voice within a warm circle of creative peers. Off-Leash Writing Workshops and Memoir & Fiction Workshops start in January. Join us.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and insights during the past year, and have a wonderful New Year!
Dear Tanya, I knew you were prolific but I had not idea you were as prolific as you are. Good for you and keep it up. Love, Hans PS And your titles, like OFF LEASH CHRONICLES and LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK are simply grand. Keep on looking forward. And thanks.