What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

-

I always thought it was ironic to combine a night of drunkenness and indulgence with making new goals/resolutions. How many times have I resolved to have a healthier lifestyle in the new year, only to wake up on the first day of that new year, hung over, exhausted and regretting all of the rich, albeit, delicious food that went along with the celebrations.

New Year’s Eve is not the night to get creative and start making fancy cocktails…and yet every year I do. Because New Year’s Eve = party. And I just end up answering that call – to celebrate! I don’t even like champagne, but come New Year’s, I suddenly MUST have some.

A couple of years ago, I realized that many of my friends don’t even believe in making resolutions because they never stick. I was floored by that opinion, because, of course, I realized that for the most part, they are right.

But what does that say about us? Can’t we change? And if we want to make some changes, why not make them at the beginning of a new year? It seems that sometimes resolutions do stick…case in point…Mike decided he was going to learn guitar and he’s still going full steam ahead two years later!

Out with the old and in with the new. In my family, we had the tradition of letting the old year out the back door in a great burst of noise – banging pots and pans with wooden spoons. And then letting the New Year in through the front door, with an equal bang, smash, crash.

New Year’s Eve also has some romance to it. Dress up. Kiss the one you love at midnight. It’s time to be wined and dined. It’s full of Hope. Nostalgia. A perfect set-up for good times. And the perfect set-up for disaster as well.

Great expectations can equal dashed hopes. I unfortunately fall into the category of people who can never quite enjoy New Year’s Eve. I haven’t mastered the art of it. Whatever plans are made, they hardly ever turn out the way I’d hoped.

Last year, Mike and I rented two of the all time best movies to watch on New Year’s Eve – according to several websites. Anyway the first movie was pretty dated. It was called Blythe Spirit, screenplay by Noel Coward. When the next movie started, we were encouraged by the idea that at least it wasn’t going to be a Noel Coward movie – but of course it was! And although it wasn’t as bad as the first one, it was just okay. I think it was called Brief Encounter. 

Anyway, the plan this year was to pick much better movies – but there are no good movies to rent right now. We were going to go out to a movie – but we’re both recovering from a flu bug – so we need to stick close to home.

I’ve always had the idea that it would be fun to go to Nathan Phillips Square one year, but the reality of standing in the freezing cold has never quite appealed to me. It’s time to get reflective. TRY to remember all the important events and milestones of this past year and maybe, just maybe make a New Year’s resolution. What have I got to lose?


Popular posts from this blog

The Ins and Outs of Submitting to Literary Magazines

-
Image
Ten questions to keep in mind Choosing which Magazines to Submit to There are so many journals that it can be hard to choose. Here are some key questions to ask yourself to narrow them down: 1. What literary magazines do you like that match your writing style? It’s important to get a sense of the publications you’re going to submit to. Read a recent issue. You’ll have a better idea of what pieces you have that match the editorial aesthetic of the magazine and vice versa, not to mention that it’s worthwhile to read as much as you can in your genre.  2. Are you looking for a print magazine? An online magazine? Both? These days, writers are seeing the value of online magazines, which are readily accessible to readers. However, print magazines are still coveted by many writers, especially if they’re available in bookstores and newsstands. Some publications have their issues both online and in print—a decided advantage. Where would you ideally like to see you...
Read more

Q&A with poet Robin Richardson

-
Image
“ The truth, and the vulnerability of sharing it, is liberation. ” Robin Richardson is the author of two full-length collections of poetry, and is Editor-in-Chief at   Minola Review, a Journal of Women’s Arts & Letters .    Her work has been shortlisted for the Walrus Poetry Prize, CBC Poetry Award, Lemon Hound Poetry Prize, and ReLit Award and has won the John B. Santorini Award and the Joan T. Baldwin Award. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in many journals including POETRY , Tin House , Arc , The North American Review , and Hazlitt of Random House. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and BA in Design from OCAD University. Richardson’s latest collection, Sit How You Want , is forthcoming with V é hicule Press. She is represented by Samantha Haywood at Transatlantic Agency, who is working with her debut memoir this year.  A couple of weeks ago, Robin Ric...
Read more

Constraint: The Creative Gift by Guest Blogger Heather J. Wood

-
Image
Novelist   Heather J. Wood shares the benefits of limitations... Heather J. Wood One often thinks of creativity in terms of the blank canvas or the blank page—i.e. the freedom to be able to write about anything one's imagination can conjure up. Some writers chafe at the thought of restrictions. Yet, having set limitations can also be an immense source of creativity. For myself, at least, boundaries have allowed me to go in unexpected directions. I would not have imagined myself writing a teen-oriented novel involving roller derby. In fact, I would have thought the idea was ludicrous a few years ago. Yet when I was offered the opportunity to write "something about roller derby", which eventually turned into my recent book, Roll With It , I was given a wonderful creative gift. The project turned out to a liberating rather than a restricting experience. For one thing, I wasn’t worried about being "literary", so I felt free to write more naturally a...
Read more