Month-in-Review Highlights: May 2025

A view on the back of the museum building from the Fondation Beyeler lawn, showing part of the museum’s current “We are Poems” artwork. Riehen, Switzerland. May 1, 2025.

I postmortem each month shortly after it ends. Previously, I used these posts to hold myself accountable on progress toward my annual goals. Starting in January 2023, I broadened these posts to address more generally my observations and experiences for the month. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)

After April broke me out of my winter hibernation, May saw me out in the world, enjoying more social and cultural time than the winter months.

I took a day trip up to Basel to see an exhibit of surrealist art before it closed (go figure that a fan of weird and speculative fiction would love surrealism in the visual arts as well). Though I wouldn’t recommend undertaking a trip all the way to Basel from Lausanne and back for a couple of hours in a museum, I made the exception in this case and I’m glad I did. The exhibit was wonderful.

Otherwise, all other outings in May took place here in Lausanne, including seeing a good friend who recently moved to Evian (just on the other side of Lake Geneva), meeting up with local friends for brunch, and yoga workshops with the other regulars at the studio where I practice followed by a social moment over tea and coffee (impossible during the weekdays, given other obligations for us all).

I even finally made it to see the Musée de la Machine à Écrire here in Lausanne, as everyone subscribed to the Letter knows. (I hope the tidbits of my museum learnings were as interesting to them as they were to me!)

On the writing front, I finished a massive revision of one novel I have in progress and sent it to someone for a look-see. (My poor spouse is reading it for me as well). I think this latest revision pass made the manuscript much stronger, but the meaning of “much stronger” depends heavily on the starting point, doesn’t it?

That done, I dug back into the planning work for the second novel I have in progress, which will be my writing-effort focus for June.

I hear some writers struggle with putting their characters through the wringer. I struggle with letting my characters catch a break. Not sure what that says about me.

Many other doings, but they make for much less interesting updates. Annual check-ups and continuing tax-time fun and other regular-work shenanigans did ensue, have no fear, but I will spare you their recounting.

As the month wound to a close, I got the shocking news that a longtime family friend died shortly after a serious accident at home. Though I hadn’t connected with him as much in recent years as other family members, especially my brother, it’s sad news that has pushed me into deep and personal reflection. Maybe there’ll be a post on that, one of these days, but today’s not that day.