A New Year’s Resolution

The start of a New Year is traditionally a time to reflect on the changes we want or need to make. I have been thinking about what a delightful surprise blogging and this website have been. It has provided me with a regular creative outlet, introduced me to people from around the world and brought intriguing and thought-provoking articles to my attention.

I really want to explore how much further I can take this experience; so for about the 2nd time in my life Ladies and Gentlemen, I am making a New Year’s resolution. [Ed: Did she just say ...? Oh dear God, the Mayans were right! The world really is coming to an end - they just got the date wrong! Panic!!].

That’s right, I said it. I’m gonna keep blogging. In order to do so, I have chosen 3 projects I’m going to attempt to keep me writing and (hopefully) improving my skills as a blogger.

Challenge #1

I’m going to participate in the Weekly Writing Challenge on WordPress. Write one post per week on a specified topic? Me?!! Well, I’m gonna give it a good go. If nothing else, it’ll give me something to do on the many nights of insomnia.

So bring it on 2013: the headband, fingerless gloves and leg warmers are on. The warm-up exercises are gonna have to wait as getting dressed exhausted me, but I’ve got your number!

Challenge #2

I’m also going to attempt the Weekly Photo Challenge too. I have spent years taking photos during my adventures through life and geography and hopefully somewhere in there are images that will suit the suggested themes. I’m not sure if this fits the criteria of the challenge, but I’m pretty much housebound, so I’m using what I’ve got to hand. In addition, I’ve dusted off the camera and placed it into my travel bag so that on the rare occasions I leave the house, I can explore the world through the lens again.

Challenge #3

I really enjoyed writing the Sound Of Music post and feedback from friends and family has got me inspired. So for 2013, I am going to produce a weekly music post. My intention is to share the fun and whimsical, classics and little-known; tracks you know by people you don’t and people you know doing tracks you may not be familiar with.

Here’s how it’ll work:

The posts will be titled “The Listening Booth” and will be uploaded on Fridays.
I’m going to choose 520 tracks from my music collection to share with you.
Each week I’ll present 10 songs for your aural pleasure.
Each week’s offering will be a mix across genres.
I will attempt not to repeat artists or bands for the whole exercise.

Yeah, that last part has me worried too; but I figured that this was a good way to reduce the likelihood of falling back on artists/bands with large back catalogues. And that’s before I work out how to post songs that are not available on YouTube!

It’s going to be a challenge as I know my body and health will not cooperate in any easy way, but I intend to keep “sticking and colouring” my way through 2013. Fancy coming along for the ride?

This piece was written and submitted as part of WordPress.com’s Weekly Writing Challenge. The writing challenges are designed to “help you to push your writing boundaries, show off your blogging chops, and, hopefully, spark more post ideas”. The posts should be specifically written in response to the challenge set.

You can see how other bloggers responded to the challenge, by using the link above.

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