Introducing Vignettes

My next seasonal notebook, running throughout December.

Back in January, I (very quietly) launched a new iteration of my newsletter, after a lengthy hiatus. I have hosted (and eventually retired) several newsletters over the years, the earliest being to accompany the launch of my first website, ShiverWriggle, back in June 2009.

This one, I am still relishing (always the best indication of whether I will stick with it). Partly, it’s because there have been some months I’ve just not bothered to send out an update, if things have been quiet; and that has been just fine. But, mostly, it is because I think I have finally figured out a structure that I enjoy, and which takes the pressure off.

A key element of this is focussing the newsletter around a single vignette; something that I have scribbled down over the preceding month at some point. It could be a brief observation or a more in-depth and slightly philosophical musing.

It occurred to me that it would be quite fun to look back at some of the many other notes I have made over the years, and share these as part of a seasonal notebook. The last notebook of the calendar year seemed an apt choice for sharing my vignettes, given December is always a reflective time of year.

I have also been working through all my handwritten and digital notes, trying to map them and make sense of them all. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of words, and it is going to be a long-term job. Some of those many words are journal notes I have made over the last decade or two.

So, throughout December, I will be sharing some of my past scribbles; some of those notes I have made in real-time over the last twenty or so years. I haven’t decided which ones exactly yet, as there are many candidates, but I’m looking forward to whittling down my longlist. Many will be free text, some may be bullets and brief notes. I like the idea of sharing some in their rawest form: those ideas or reflections that never made it past those initial headlines.

I’ll see you all on the first of December.

Lydia Crow
The Highlands, Scotland

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Find Me Elsewhere

I have, today, just (very, very) soft-launched my new project for 2026: TessaHedron: A Writer’s Notebook. Twenty-eight years and counting in development, I am ridiculously excited about this.

Essays, thoughts, and other such morsels can be found on Lydia Crow, my personal website. The Inventory is probably the best place to start.

My newsletter, Vignettes, will always include a round-up of the various digital haunts I have been frequenting over the previous month, as well as an indication of where I might be the following month.

I am currently hosting a year-long project, Simply This, featuring suggestions of fun and interesting things to do. Bursts of nostalgia, old-fashioned fun in its simplest state, and a not insignificant amount of cheerful daftness.