Blog and book and broken promises?

January 4th: it must be about time to draft some New Year's Resolutions, right?

Clearly if my aim were to do something every day of the year then I would already have failed, so my thoughts are to be tempered by my innate ability to be late. A resolution not to be late would be interesting but, again, a failure before starting.

If I am to actually achieve anything then I ought to follow the SMART maxim: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. So my desire to lose 2 stone before the summer falls into many of those categories, but achievable? I think not. (You can't see the stash of chocolates that Santa brought!)

As this is my blog, where I can make and break all my own rules, I am therefore giving myself the gentle push to do more of it. I know I've been a little lax in recent months, but this is such a marvellous place to set my thoughts and memories free. I have plans for a new blog design, which is exciting but not yet ready for pressing the 'publish' button. All in good time, dear readers, all in good time (as I sense Jane Austin would write, had she joined the blogosphere).

My greatest challenge, however, is to publish my book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree before Easter. That's a tight deadline, and promises me a frantic few months ahead. But there is much to say about it, and the process of getting there, which I imagine will fuel a multitude of blog posts.

All sorts of plans, ideals and deadlines. Any chance of making them, whilst also holding down a job and running around after the children? A slim one, and perhaps that's what makes it worthwhile. Or at least, worth sharing.

Wish me luck!

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A little late...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Yes, yes: I know my greeting is a little late, on both counts but my excuses are many.

1. It is still the season of Christmas (up to and including, I believe, Twelfth Night or Epiphany, when the celebration of the arrival of the Wise Men concludes the Christmas story). On this ground, I am not (yet) late in wishing you a Merry Christmas.
2. We may be a few days in, but I still hope that the rest of 2012 is good for you. Indeed, this year we have an extra day to celebrate in.
3. Who really gets time to blog in the run-up to and during the festive season itself? (Oh yes: those who are more organised than me. Oops.)

To maintain that festive mood, here are two photos of the Withenay family Christmas. Firstly, the tree.

(It looked even better with the presents under it.)

And then a picture taken in the garden a couple of days before.

Isn't it great to see the beginning of Spring before you've roasted the turkey or brought lumps of coal to people's houses? What topsy-turvy weather we have been having!

So, to reassure all my lovely blogging friends, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. We have had a lovely family Christmas, full of good food, parties, games, fun with friends and wonderful presents. Celebrations may now be over as school and work resume their humdrum routine but it will be a year of many happy memories.

I'd love to say that I have a list of marvellous, virtuous New Year Resolutions, but I haven't. Last year I managed a month which (on past form) isn't bad. If I can myself, my house and (spot where this all falls apart) my family a little more organised, that will suit me fine.

Here's hoping God richly blesses your year ahead, filling it with love, joy and peace.

Happy New Year!

It is 2011. This year, everything is going to change. This year I will keep those resolutions that I make.

Obviously apart from the one where I actually make them before the New Year begins...

Actually, I find resolutions very hard to make because I know that I will break them. 365 days (thank goodness 2011 isn't a leap year!) is a long time to keep doing one thing. Or more than one thing. Particularly if you are not in the habit of it, or it involves getting up early on cold frosty mornings. Or if all you can think about is what you must do rather than what you want to do.

Take for example what I ought to do now:

1. Strip spare bed
2. Write thank-you letters
3. Check and file the pile of receipts.

Now, I can make these into resolutions ('Strip and make spare bed after guest leaves rather than an hour before they arrive...') but, in all honesty, I'd break them. And the second is only short-term (supposedly). Whilst all these things would be good to do, they are hardly inspiring nor likely to make me a better person.

The 'better person' comes with this list:

1. Go on a diet
2. Exercise more
3. Eat fewer biscuits

Again, I know I'll break them. Particularly the last one. (Would it still count if I substituted the biscuits for cake, or chocolate, or both?)

Then there is the 'must finish off the house' list:

1. Get the builders to finish installing the woodburning stove 
2. Get the builders to fix the toilet seat 
3. Get the builders to connect the TV aerial connections 
4. Get the builders to fix all the plumbing errors
5. Get the builders to finish off the electrics
6. Get the builders to complete all the certificates for the building inspector
7. Get the builders to touch up all the paintwork where they've messed it up
8. Get the builders to correct the doors that stick
9. Get the builders to finish (full stop) 
10. Employ a landscape gardener

Dull, dull, dull. Necessary, but dull. And hardly a New Year resolution.

So there is my list of what I am willing myself to do:

1. Complete the edit of my book (including possible change of title)
2. Send it off to agents and publishers, with plenty of positive thinking
3. Go out regularly for meals or dates with my husband

And here is what I have actually decided to do:

Put on some make-up every day. Just a little mascara or lipstick - nothing fancy (no-one would recognise me if so) but just something that will make me feel good about myself, give me a little confidence and won't break the bank.

For a non-make-up wearing girl this is quite some change. Five days so far and no failure yet! Maybe this year I will actually achieve my New Year Resolution thing.

Or at least for January.