Any ideas what to give yourself as a resolution this year? You could be highly original, independent of thought and genuinely impress yourself by thinking of something daft; something like, I dunno, reading more. But, as wide of the usual box of tricks when pitted against the usual smoke, drink and eat less brigade of resolution stalwarts, you'd not have thought we'd put it top of our list country-wide, would you?
Put it down to Cameron's Broken Britain (though he seems to be intact), put it down to the BBC's ineptitude (for genuine lack of new ideas), perhaps Santa popped into Amazon for tax advice and brought you a Kindle or maybe your local pub has joined the rest and closed, whatever it is though, I kinda like it.
Brits choosing to read more can only mean one thing for readers- avoid any Waterstones branches tomorrow, they'll be heaving. Seriously though, it is a market driven by demand and I for one love bookshops, we should do all we can to support them. Digitally, as this surge of e-book interest rises, I'm sure poetry can only benefit. There will be allsorts out there and the more people read, the more they will enjoy and as a poetry group, we will in some way be buoyed by that as well.
This New Year's Eve then, as I sit here wondering what amazing blog I'll pull from the hat for next week (in apology, obviously for stubbornly not posting over Christmas), I'm in an optimistic mood. I'll have to think but in the mean time, as a cop out, my list of resolutions:
1. Make a genuine Charitable effort (because every year I start out with a great sponsorship/fundraising idea and never get around to it, and the government won't be helping out soon)
2. Write more. Write something every day (this is my exciting idea to guarantee better blogs, see. I'm always thinking of you guys)
3. Read EVERY day (to not only improve as a writer but to learn as well- I like to learn)
4. Learn a language (I'm trying to think of useful and will be open to suggestions on this)
5. Eat more. (I'm a vegan and a writer, I obviously need to beef up a bit)
And at 5, I think I'll leave it there. I look forward to seeing some of you in 2013, not least at our event THIS FRIDAY. 6pm. 4/1/13. No5 Cafe.
Thanks for reading, and a happy new year
S.
3 comments:
Shaun,
It's good to see you back. Had you thought of learning sign language as a new language? It gives you a completely new insight into communicating and interpreting the world around you.
Ash
Happy New Year's Day, Shaun.
The "read every day" and "learn a language" can be combined quite comfortably by subscribing to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Amanac which always leads off with a short poem and contains many fascinating literary and historical facts.
It often gets overlooked even by people who try to write poetry and claim to love the craft that there are very few true poets who do not benefit from being read, and for our own equivalent of working out in the gym, using the creations and inspirations of other poets as writing exercises can greatly improve the quality of one's own work.
Hope to see you on Friday at the No.5, Shaun, and thanks for getting me thinking about my own early resolutions:
1) My trip to London's Poetry Library at Southbank and to Covent Garden's Poetry Cafe from 17th to 19th of this month;
2) A trip to Prague to see friends at The American University in late April - hope the weather is better by then.
Do hope 2013 turns out well for you and Lara.
Christo
Chinese would be a good start. There are so many of them to communicate with. If your books are to launch in China Shaun, it would be an advantage to be able to speak to them at signings!
As Robinson Cruso said leaving the island, "See you Friday."
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