Resolution Desk

This must be the way to get a couple of New Year’s resolutions accomplished: Start and finish early. It works, it has to work this time.

On Dec. 26, My Beloved and I returned to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. By mid-month, I dropped nine pounds and relaxed into the just-a-little-carb Phase 2. She’s been doing real well, too.

I don’t intend into fall back into the Big Bag o’ Chips Almost Daily (and whole Tub o’ Dip) routine, which is where 2006 ended. That urge is gone.

MB thinks it’s easier for me than her due to gender, but there are lots of guys with serious weight problems. Mine was modest. All I can say is that my motivation was rage. When I got angry enough at myself — when I saw my gut poking my shirt out from beneath a sweater vest — I got on and stuck to this sensible diet (third time in four years). A woman at work said I’m not heavy. True enough, but I felt lethargic, and that just won’t do.

Oh, the second resolution? More frequent Brick postings. An attack of the shy’s hit me on the New Year. This Inferious Curse (has Harry Potter learned a potion to spell that one?) blocked me, had me convinced I have nothing vital to say to my “15 readers.”

The page for Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007, of my Poetry Speaks page-a-day calendar has a mini-biography of William Stafford, being his birthday. It emphasizes that he wrote a poem every day for decades, including the morning of the day he died. “Stafford urged writers to ‘lower one’s standard’ in order to sustain the ongoing practice of a writing life. In his final poem he counseled, ‘Be ready for what God sends.'”

Lots of folks would think that quote means: Keep looking up. We daily writers (just because no Bricks have been uploaded doesn’t mean ol’ Longhand hasn’t been swirling Waterman ink across Clairefontaine paper), know Bill means that God gives the best inspiration and more frequently to those who go ahead and get going without it.

As I approach 10 pounds lighter, I have the energy to heed the reminders of my second resolution: Two sticky notes that read: “Daily.” “Local.” But Daily means forget thoughtful pieces. But Local means ignore Pressing Issues. Or do they?

Writer’s Block? That’s like the opposite of SPF block, where you get burned by avoiding exposure to sunlight by staying indoors at your desk. Write? Get out! Don’t forget a hat. -30-