Happy New Year! It’s been a rainy start to the year with swims in a bay of questionable water quality, full of the detritus carried down storm drains. But it sure is beautiful!

I’ve resolved to post once a week this year, which should be a huge upgrade from the once-a-year I posted last year! Unlike most people I know, I weirdly love New Year’s resolutions. I make them with much deliberation, and I very often keep them (this whole blog started as a resolution). I like my resolutions achievable and quantifiable. A once-a-week blog post seems like both.

I’ve got two pieces of exciting news to start the year. First, my memoir chronicling my year of swimming is going to be published! After so many years of writing for writing groups, devoted friends, for this blog, but mostly into what feels like a void, it’s an indescribable relief and thrill to be able to say that my book, “Jarred Loose by Water,” will be coming out with Sibylline Press in 2028! I’ll share much more about it in the two (!) years between now and then, but in the meantime, you can read more about it here. 

In another exciting bit of swimming news, my swim (and writing) friend, Kira, and I are starting a podcast! Swim Wild with Kira and Jenny will explore the wonders of open-water swimming in the San Francisco Bay and beyond. Our first episode will explore swimming in the rain: its risks, pleasures, and perennial questions like how long to wait after a big downpour to swim. This is an especially salient topic currently, as swimming in the rain has been our norm. My swim gang, the Blue Boobies, has approached the problem in a variety of ways. Some have taken to the pool until fairer weather promises cleaner water, others have avoided the bay until they can’t stand it any longer, and some just keep swimming and hope for the best. I’m mostly in the last category, though I keep my head up and tell myself it’s safer that way. We hope to publish our first podcast episode this month, and I’ll post it here when we do.