Last fall, when times were tough, I found a blank notebook and pushed myself to write two sentences about good things that happened each day. Sometimes it was hard, and my sentences were just “The day is over. I can sleep now.” or something along those lines. But it still pushed me to see the good, and I needed to do that.

I recently started reading The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. I love the concept of writing a short poem or essay about something good from each day. I’ve been doing some form of daily writing for over fifteen months now, and I’ve mixed it up by writing different things, or in different styles. Brain dumps, poetry, paragraphs of fiction, flash fiction. Now, micro essays focusing on a delightful aspect of each day.

Gay gave himself some guidelines for the project, and I love them and am applying them to mine as well. He started and ended on his birthday, as I am starting today. He wrote them quickly, by hand; I found a beautiful (delightful!) blank notebook just for this project. I need to sit and focus and work on these, but also make them spontaneous and thoughtful. I love taking on new projects, and I love having rules for myself and holding myself accountable. But this is also a project about delights, and I’m determined to keep it light and delightful.

What I’ll do with it in the end, I don’t know, but at least I’ll have a record of a good year, and that seems to be exactly what I need right now.