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Welcome to the January 2022 edition of author David Claiborne’s newsletter, a monthly publication about New Years and regrets.

Not mine, of course.

I have occasion to be thinking about regrets thanks to an article by Kevin D. Williamson, an author who has grown on me over the past year. It’s a pleasure for me to read someone who shows more dexterity with a simile than I, and who may be more intelligent than this one to boot; I learn something about writing or language and I must look up a word nearly every time I read one of his columns, and he is almost always insightful about one thing or another. Incidentally, I am reading his book, Big White Ghetto (title truncated considerably), which has substantially more cursing and profanity than his columns. This isn’t important, but his use of profanity is also something I’ve been thinking about as long as we’re on the subject of thinking about things. The hard subject matter of his book contraque his columns on a public-facing news mag may be to blame.

Anyway, Mr. the Williamson had this to say in his article: “I have never understood those strange people who insist they have “no regrets” and have always assumed that they either are too stupid to understand what it is they should regret or that they simply have never really had anything to lose.” (Italics in original.)

I’m also reminded of a passage from a book by Eiji Yoshikawa about the eponymous Musashi. I’ll have to paraphrase because I can’t be bothered to re-read a book just to find one forlorn paragraph, but the gist is that to decide to live without regrets is to decide not to hold yourself accountable to any standard, which is no honest way to live.

So, regrets? I guess if you’ve lived and grown you should have plenty of ‘em, and if you don’t, a body just might need to do some soul searching.

Various

The Christmas sale of Planet Mission: Part One went well. Thanks to everyone who made a purchase or shared the sale with a friend. If you missed it, the Kindle edition may be found here on Amazon.

I finished the manuscript draft for my third book. Its working title is The Halo Sound. I hope to release it later this year after the release of Planet Mission: Part Two, which should be this spring/early summer.

Author E.L. Haines was kind enough to review my book on his website, where he blogs. You can also find his books there and on Amazon, if you are so inclined. 

You can find my Amazon page here.

Subscribe on YouTube to listen to my audiobooks for free here. 

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In closing, happy New Year to all! May your regrets to come help you grow and prosper.

David