dreams

Word for the Year 2024

What’s your word for the year 2024?

I’ve been choosing a word for the year for over a decade. And it’s a practice I’ve passed on to the women of the See Jane Write Community too.

Your word can serve as your theme for the year. It can be a source of inspiration and motivation, a mantra, or even a rallying cry. Perhaps even a prayer.

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My December Ta-Da List

Each month I help the members of the See Jane Write Collective set 3 major goals – one writing goal, one wellness goal, and one goal for another area of life that needs attention. But in December things are different. In December we craft a December Ta-Da List! No, that’s not a typo. That’s supposed to say “ta-da” not “to-do” because that’s way more fun, right?!

I can’t take credit for coming up with that name. One year a Collective member used the term during a monthly planning session, and it stuck. And since then, it’s become a yearly ritual for me.

Whether you want to finish the year strong or you’re just trying to finish, the December Ta-Da List can help.

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An Open Letter to My Inner Mean Girl

Hey, Sis,

I confess that when I’m talking about you to my friends I call you my inner mean girl. But, to be honest, I know you’re not really mean.

I know that hurt people hurt people. And you, I, we have been hurt.

We’ve been disappointed, embarrassed, picked on and taken advantage of. And you don’t want any of that to happen again.

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Who says freedom isn’t free?

Editor’s Note: See Jane Write now publishes articles and personal essays by writers who identify as women, non-binary folks, and our allies. Learn more here.

by Kecia L. Lightner

“Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; freedom is something people take and people are as free as they want to be.” James Baldwin radically made this declaration in 1960 at the third annual Esquire Magazine symposium, later to be included in his essay collection, Nobody Knows My Name.  Little did I know how this quote would resonate with me so succinctly on the day I unexpectedly walked away from a 21-year career.

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