New Year’s Resolutions for MA101
Time to get back in the saddle again!
Not on any personal level, of course. I do not need altering. I am already perfect.
But MA101 can always use a touch-up (and how’s this for an omen — I tried and failed like three times to type MA101 just now, typing MA202 instead, as if the blog had somehow moved up a course level, which obviously means it’s destined for great things and/or I’m still drunk from New Year’s Eve).
So without further ado, here is what you can expect from your daily Misanthropology going forward in 2013:
1. Be More About Writing
2012 was a great year for news, especially news about people doing stupid things. And I like the public-image-cock-up posts, but there comes a point where you’re making fun of yet another “Eric Cantor Punches John Boehner in the Dick, Again” sort of headline and you realize that yeah, maybe there’s enough of this stuff out there already.
Which isn’t to say we’re going to suddenly stop covering the hilarious and stupid things people do in the world — that’ll still be there. But in between there may also be discussions of, you know, career writing and all those other things that this was supposedly about, because that was the point after all.
2. Play Nice with Other Bloggers
Blog-networking (is there a buzzword for that? netblogging? blogworking?) always struck me as a little wishy-washy and self-serving. I don’t generally pass along or post the occasional “Most Inspirational Blog” or whatever awards that float my way, because they feel too much like “Participation Awards” from elementary school — they’re there because people like getting ribbons, not because you actually did anything meaningful.
But the spirit in which they’re given is usually a good one. And the same is true of all the shout-outs, guest-posts, blog-swaps, and the thousand other ways in which one blogger can put a little time and effort into thanking another for producing something that he or she enjoys reading. Yeah, there’s some unspoken hope for tit-for-tat there (or explicitly spoken, occasionally, which is always tacky), and we’re all aware that getting our stuff linked on someone else’s site is a nice traffic bonus, but I think mostly people are just being genuine about their appreciation for one another’s work.
So as uncomfortable as I am with taking compliments, I’ll try to mention it here when someone says something nice about MA101, and I’ll try to be much better about occasionally mentioning the many blogs that I do read and that do inspire me, however silent I usually am on the subject. (Tawna Fenske, Linda Grimes, Diane Henders, and Jackie Hames all spring to mind, to name just a few — and there, see? We’re already taking a stab at this.)
3. More Fuzzy Ponies
More fuzzy ponies.
As for myself, well, as already stated, I’m perfect. But “let’s do better than 2012″ (in which I got stabbed, arrested, dumped, and indebted, all of which have since been happily mended but weren’t a lot of fun at the time) seems like a good starting place, so…let’s.
New Year’s resolutions for yourself? Or for your blog? Let us know in the comments. We could all use a little inspiration, especially of the “thank god I’m not trying to do what SHE is” sort, in this first week of resolution struggles.
Thanks for the mention, Geoffrey! Though I’m presuming the “inspiration” part must come from the other blogs, since today I was talking about used condoms. Sorry about that.
I don’t actually do New Year’s resolutions – my resolutions are usually of the spontaneous kind like “Oops. Let’s not do that again” or “Hmm. I’ll do better next time”. It’s not very grand, but at least I make slow progress (or so I like to think).
Happy New Year – looking forward to the advanced 202 level!