By Will Eichler
So this will be my final blog post of 2020, and I could write about how terrible the year was, but that seems sort of pointless? Everyone knows 2020 was a terrible year. I also would rather not try to find the best things that happened this year; looking on the bright side, as well intentioned as it might be, feels a little tone deaf considering where the world is right now. Over the course of this year, I’ve been trying to find steady work as a writer, while also juggling moving to a new city, trying to meet new people, looking after two infuriating cats, and ensuring that Next Page Ink has quality content to post, whether it is written by me or someone else. For the pieces that are written by me, I usually just type out something using a small idea when I get the chance, hoping my stream of consciousness can push me over the finish line with each one. For me, that’s a lot of what writing is, and I’m hardly unique in saying that. I just find it easiest, at least when writing my posts, or journaling, to allow my thoughts to push themselves to the forefront of my mind and just put them down as they come. After that, it’s just a matter of hoping someone finds my thoughts worthwhile enough to read. The entire lifespan of a piece of writing could probably be broken down into those two aspects, thoughts and faith. And those are the main things I have to bring with me into 2021 as well. I really do hope that 2021 will be the year that many of us thought 2020 would be. I’ve begun looking into grad school, I’ve begun what I hope will be a successful job hunt (I love working for Next Page, but it’s a passion project and I’m okay with that), and hopefully there will be some other great things in store for next year (I knocked on wood immediately after writing this). However, I also think that there is a not insignificant stretch of time ahead of us before things are actually able to return to something resembling normalcy. That means a few more months of isolating, seeing people infrequently if at all, and wearing a mask in public (which I have to emphasize, I do not really mind, wear a mask). All the while, I’ll do my best to write when I can, improve at my craft, and work on the next issue of Next Page. Here’s to 2021, and good riddance to 2020.