I’m sitting in the kitchen next to an oversized bowl of sangria. The heady scent of fruit and wine is already going to my head and it is only midday; there is much cooking yet to be done before I can begin to celebrate properly.
In Italy it is tradition to have a cenone (large dinner) on New Year’s Eve. We’re making around 10 different appetizers, including the cute penguins on the right (photo creative commons via Vlad B).
Then there’s lasagne as a first course, followed by the must-have cotechino con lenticchie (pork sausage with lentils) which is traditionally eaten on NYE to auger good fortune in the new year. Desert is pandoro layered with mascarpone and forest fruits.
All of this has required a lot of preparation and planning, which has made me realize that I haven’t done enough planning for what happens after NYE — the entire year of 2011.
As such, here are some of my goals for the new year:
- Find a way to keep my room tidy at all times.
- Re-balance my sleep cycles so it’s easier to get up in the mornings for work.
- Publish my current WIP, a short story anthology, in February.
- Edit and publish Above Ground as an ebook before October.
- Read and review 24 indie novels as part of my indie reading challenge
- Replace this year’s phrase (“I can’t be bothered”) with “Sure, why not?”
- Negotiate a pay rise during my annual review in January
- Throw a fancy dinner party for no reason whatsoever
- Update this blog and Qazyfiction more regularly
- Donate monthly amounts to a charity promoting literacy
This list is a starting point. Of course, many goals get blown by the wind of possibilities over to the shores of neglect and forgetfulness, so my first step will be to make more definite, measurable plans in the start of January.
What about you? What are your resolutions for the new year?
A.M. Harte 
I want to have a dinner party this year too, just for fun :-)
With my writing, I want to get two novellas complete, and my new novel as well – which means either ready to self pub, or submit.
With life? Find a good balance for everything, which is pretty vague really so not likely to be achieved ;-) I spend more time thinking about writing goals than any other goals though!
Yeah it’s always easier to set writing goals than life goals. I tend to neglect life for writing — hence the “tidy my room” goal :-)
Sounds like a fun set of goals, and I love the penguins!
They were a roaring success at the dinner party!