Before my lum reeks wi’ the fuel o’ ithers coal… for those unacquainted with this term, it’s a saying for when the bells chime in a new year at midnight. It means ‘may your fire always burn to keep you and yours warm and release lots of smoke from your chimney with the gifts of coal from your neighbours as you bring in another new year’, or something along those lines… I was thinking about new year resolutions and whether or not they are useful for me to create or if I’m just kidding myself.
Every year I say I will do this or that or even stop doing that or this in order for my life to be mellow and peaceful as I progress through a new year. It’s safe to say that I have never ever completed such a list, in fact I always add to it instead. And the year never works out the way I expect it to anyway, where’s the fun in that?
So I thought, this year I’d be realistic with my goals:
- When taking a break from writing, I will not eat the chocolate treat I have taken from the goodie box before the kettle has finished boiling. It is to have with my cup of tea, not before I’ve even taken one sip. If I do fall under its chocolate spell, I will not have two. One is enough (said no-one ever).
2. I will use a notebook for any ideas I have for my WIP instead of the back of receipts, post-its that always get lost, homework sheets or letters home that need to be returned with a parents signature. And definitely NOT with the words ‘if the house is on fire how will the kids get out? Sledge? Jump? etc’ on it. Writing PLOT or STORY IDEA beside such babble will not help in the slightest. Must try harder.
3. I will log out of all social media before starting to write. I only have XX minutes before XX happens/XX comes home, so I’ll just need to get on with it. Pandas, cats and other cuteness can wait. I mean it. Go. Now.
4. I will read as much as I write. I will try to stay awake after one page turn. I will not walk and read at the same time unless I am in a soft spongy land where it doesn’t matter if I bang into things/people/animals.
5. I will aim to achieve what all husband-shaped giants announce when they leave for work. I will try to ‘Be Awesome’ every day.
6. Most of all I will be the best me I can be. Everyone else is already taken. Oscar Wilde said so, so it must be true.
Happy New Year to you all.
I will be joining you with a lot of these. Thank you for all your support and friendship over the last few years. I am sorry I didn’t really get a chance to meet up this year as much as I’d like, but you are all a constant inspiration and support to me. I wish you a very happy hogmanay and a productive 2018. We can do this xxx