# This Has Always Been the Year

Originally published: 2016-01-01
Canonical URL: /2016/Jan/this-has-always-been-the-year/

At a quarter past eight on the first Monday of the new year, the yellow line on the way to the city has just passed Orinda. A young man is standing in the bicycle priority area near the doors, reading a paper magazine. _Write Your Novel in 2016!_ is the cover story, followed by more teasers below: "2 Tools That Can Fix Any Story Problem," "What's _Really_ at Stake? The Secret to More Compelling Characters," and "5 Great Caribbean Literary Festivals: Get Away, Get Inspired!"

It catches the eye of a young woman who got on at Lafayette and has spent the last six minutes scribbling in a Moleskine notebook. "Oh!" she says, approaching. "Are you a writer, too?"

The man looks up, seeming slightly surprised and confused, which slightly surprises and confuses her in turn. "[Of course not](http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/12/thinking-about-writing/)," he says, indicating the magazine. "If I were, would I be reading _this_?"