Fallow January
A season of winter work.
DIVE Writing Group Winter 2026 cohort kicks off this month! Make winter a season of writing in this amazing group facilitated by Kerri Anne. You can sign up for Tuesday or Thursday cohort. And there are a few other writing workshops to check out here.
Hello friends,
It’s the first newsletter of the year, so I guess I should say happy new year. But I think maybe just “welcome to January” will suffice. As I write these words, I feel like I am dragging a bit. Maybe you feel the same?
I like the tradition of turning the year, marking the transition. But I don’t enjoy the expectations that come in the aftermath. January is too long, too grim for bold declarations.
Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson reminded us that New Years Day is “cosmically arbitrary” and I’d argue the whole month of January is a bit arbitrary in terms of kicking off the year in full force.
I prefer to let January be an in-between month. A fallow period. This is a season of incremental movements as opposed to grandiose change.
For reasons beyond my control (sounds like life’s tagline doesn’t it?) I did not have a restful winter break. I feel like I am still working at recovering from the month of December. It’s always like this, but I think we can all agree that this week in particular has been ladened with heaviness and darkness. How do we continue to live and create in this world that’s hellbent on destruction and oppression?
It’s really easy to fall into “The Gap” as Rosie Spinks calls it, “the chasm that lies between how I want the world (both personal and collective) to be and how the world actually is.” Yes, yes, yes.
Right about the moment that I was on a downward spiral into The Gap, I came across a picture of a letterpress print with a quote from Toni Morrison. It seemed to find me in the exact moment that I needed it.
“It is the job of evil to keep you from doing your work. We have to keep doing the work through dark times.”
-Toni Morrison
I think keep thinking about the idea of “winter work,” the kind of work our ancestors did in order to get them through the darker hours of winter. This was always a season of mending, sewing, spinning, whittling, storytelling. The preparation required to be ready for when the bountiful hours of sun and outdoor work returned.
Our modern lives may look different, but we’re still in need of that time. The creative acts of care and attention that carried our ancestors through the dark hours help us do the same.
I made a more/less list on New Year’s Eve and I wrote “analog” in big bold letters in the more category. I heeded my own words this week and made a little zine/book/collage devoted to the topic of winter work, and that’s what I wanted to share with you today. I made it as an accordion style book, so it looks far better horizontally than vertically. But hey, these are the constraints of sharing analog work in a digital space!
In the name of fallow January.
In the name of sticking with our creative work.
In the name of tending and mending in the darkness.
-Anna
Abolish ICE graphics from Justseeds - good for printing up and using as a poster or hanging in your window.
I want more crow costumes and big puppets in my life like Phoebe Wahl
An excellent writing prompt from MONDAYS ARE FREE devoted to color.
If you’re in need of some creative prompts this month, check out Jessie Kanelos Weiner Wet January watercolor series. I’m looking forward to sitting down with my sketchbook and making some tiny people inspired by Nishant Jain
I LOVE the Winter Work booklet. I especially adore the texture of the trees.
I woke today thinking about Matt's job at the fire department and especially when they respond to a fire, car accident, or anything else, especially the big ones. They train for these incidents. They each have their role, and they each calmly (mostly) do their job. They don't try to do all the jobs and they dont run around like a chicken with its head cut off screaming "The sky is falling!" They get down to their work and do the best they can. And in times like these, I want to embody that energy. Yes, I want to be situationally aware of what is happening, and able to respond to changing circumstances, but mostly I just want to get down to the work that is mine to do, to make my contribution, to help how I can. That Toni Morrison quote puts it succinctly.