Unspiration

I hope that everyone had a relaxed and merry Christmas, and that Santa brought you what you wanted – perhaps Santa took note of some of our recent suggestions…

Image via Wikimedia Commons
in the public domain.

Santa was certainly kind to me; I have had my watercolour obsession sated, and picked up a number of hard to find books.

But Christmas is behind us, and the year draws to a close. A time for reflection on what has passed, to contemplate the potential of the new year.

To come up with our resolutions, those aspirational statements of intent that we will religiously adhere to for, oooh, a good two weeks or so, then begin to stray from, before abandoning them wholesale by the time the calendar page flips over to February.

Why not make it easy on yourself? Make some resolutions that you can’t help but keep – some uninspiring, demotivational, anti-resolutions.

1. I shall once again fail to be the first man to set foot on Mars
2. Conversely, I’ll be the first man to set foot on my glasses at 3am…
3. I will learn to enjoy Twilight and New Moon…
4. … just as long as we’re talking about qualities of light, and astronomical phenomena.
5. I will complete four novels this year…
6. … that last resolution kindly provided by Stephen King.

And one genuine resolution, one that all writers make, and all writers should stick to.

I will write every day, no matter how much or how little

Of course, this is only the new year by the standards of the Gregorian calendar, for many others the new year has already begun, or is still some time away. Rather than await an arbitrary date change, the opportunity for change and improvement arises now, in the moment. Carpe diem…