In her latest essay “Give It a Year,” L.L. Barkat talks about what a difference a year can make when it’s focused on one thing in particular. Having experienced a year fixed in one place, she looks forward to how she can do “more time”:

One year for a visual art pilgrimage. A year exploring dance. Twelve months for tea and now twelve for music and bread. It doesn’t matter anymore what the reviewers say. Give it a year? I’m in.

A year has always been my personal focus on a hobby. Or to put it another way: I like to collect hobbies, so my wife implores me to focus on one per year. It works well.

A year for gourmet cooking. A year for baking.  A year for simple canning. A year to get more complicated with canning. And now a year for brewing. Next year is starting to make charcuterie.

What kind of hobbies would you want to focus a whole year on?