Rewriting. Rewriting life.

We’re starting over.

We’re almost through the end of the first month of the new year. If you’ve settled on ambitious goals for yourself, this may be when anxiety starts to creep in. We can be really good at making plans and, with that, setting high expectations for ourselves. One of my big challenges is to embrace the unexpected and unwanted everyday revisions that life demands from us all, the stuff that happens and stumps our march ahead. I’ve been telling myself that change — an addition or deletion; an edit of some sort, really — will do me good.

The act of rewriting requires acceptance and humility.

Self-editing helps sharpen my focus, eliminate redundancy, clarify ideas and sometimes take my columns, book chapters and Substack posts in an entirely new direction. It also requires discipline and patience, two traits that the journalist and mother in me doesn’t always possess.

As I write and rewrite, I tell myself, “Good work requires a lot of work.”

My goal for this year is to adopt the same openness I’ve adopted to rewriting my work to rewriting my life. I’m already a bit of an expert at this: When my husband died of pancreatic cancer in 2017, 30 days after his diagnosis, I had no choice but to reconfigure all the neat plans I had and reassess my place and permanence in a country that is mine by choice, not by birthright, but it is mine.

I often recall one of the final conversations my husband and I had. He asked me …

“What’s your purpose in life?”

It’s a deep question, but also a simple question. Months later, after he was gone and I felt rudderless, I drew concentric circles on a piece of paper and designated each of them as its own world. In the smallest of circles, I wrote the letter “F” to represent myself. It’s a reminder that I’m the anchor to my worlds, the root from which they grow, and that in order to build anything or improve anything, I must start with myself.

Every piece of writing we produce is a living organism.

It’s conceived, grows, fails, falls, matures, grows and fails and falls again and, again, it matures. Just as we do.

I’ve created a video series that ties life and the writing life together through tips and strategies I’ve learned along my prolific career as a non-native English speaker writing a lot of different things in English, for some of the most recognizable names in news and publishing. It’s called “Here’s One Thing About Writing,” developed in partnership with Take It Easley Productions. It’s one of several perks and products available only to paid subscribers. Make an investment in yourself and join our community for $70 a year or $7 a month.

The first video in the series explores a basic question: What is your story about? Because if you don’t know what you’re talking about, you won’t be able to keep people interested in hearing/reading/experiencing what you have to say. Here’s a tease:

In the months ahead, you’ll hear more about my interactions with the worlds around me, or those circles in the drawing I’ve shared with you. Until then, help me spread the word by forwarding this post by email or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter.

Oh, and because this is a work in progress (what isn’t, really?), I’d love your feedback. Send me an email, connect with me on Twitter at @ByFernandaS or, if you’re a subscriber, leave a comment.

With love and purpose,

Fernanda.