Image: ba1969 from sxc.hu

The beginning of a new year is a good opportunity to take stock of what happened in the year gone by, and to plan for the year that is yet to come. Actually, any time of the year is a good time to introspect, learn from the past, and move on. But, we humans – being creatures of habit – need different rituals, goals, ceremonies, targets, etc. to keep us going. As the great Voltaire, once said:

If there were no God, it would have been necessary to invent him.

The New Year’s eve is just such a ritual, where we get a chance to forget our mistakes of the previous year, and also get an opportunity to either do things in a  better way, or at least make a new set of mistakes in the days to come. Resolutions, I feel,  are the best way to do that.

I am sure all of you have made some resolutions for 2010. If you haven’t then I suggest you make one now. There is still time, and you won’t regret making one.

I, as most of my friends would already know, have made a long list of resolutions for 2010. I am sure you have a big smile on your face right about now, wondering how long will it be before I break them. I will not fool myself by believing that I will be able to stick to each and every one of my resolution. Yet, if, by the end of the year, I am able to stick to even a few of them, I will have achieved something.

I also believe that sharing your resolutions with others helps you stick to them for a longer time. This is because once you have shared your resolutions with someone, you have both an intrinsic and an extrinsic reason to stick to them. The intrinsic reason is the one that motivated you to frame that resolution in the first place. The extrinsic reason is your desire to look good, as you wouldn’t want people to think that you can’t stick to your resolution even for a few days. Additionally your good friends might help you in sticking to your resolution by constantly reminding you about them.

So, here I am sharing two of my resolutions with you:

• In 2009 I was not able to write much. So, in 2010 I am going to write for an average of one hour every day. It can be more than that, but never less.
• I have always believed in the benefits of reading. In line with that belief, I am going to read at least 200 books in 2010. So, if you have any good suggestions about a book that I should read, feel free to drop a line. If I come across any exceptionally good book, I will surely share it with you on the blog.

With that I will sign off for now. Happy 2010! May all your dreams come true this year.

What are your Writing Resolutions for 2010?

At the outset, I would like to apologise to all concerned for the delay in announcing the result for the 4,000 Etrecard credits giveaway contest. I was having a difficult time trying to decide a way to choose the winner.

Eventually, I decided to take the traditional route, and printed the name of all the entries on pieces of paper and the result looked something like this :

Then, I got one of my friends to pick one of the slips, and we had our winner.

Congratulations Brenda! Your 4,000 Entrecard credits will be in your account soon. 

It was fun having a contest on the Blog, and, I think, I am going to be holding some more contests in the future. I would like to thank everyone for participating this time and I hope that the future contests are as successful as this one was.

WordPress is a great thing. It is perhaps one of the best things to have happened in the cyberspace. It has enabled many people – like me – who were not very familiar with html and other web site building languages, to set up, run and maintain good looking sites.

Going by the number of upgrades that have been made to WordPress,  the people behind WordPress seem to be working quite hard. Usually, by the time I have  one version of WordPress set up and running, they release a new one. Not being very tech -savy, I ususally stick to one version of WordPress (or any software for that matter), till it becomes absolutely necessary to upgrade.

As of now, I am using WordPress 2.3.1 and even though everytime I log in, my dashboard tells me that my  “WordPress 2.3.1 is out of date,” I still have not felt the need to upgrade. It is pertinent, I think, to mention here that the last time I tried to upgrade WordPress, I did something wrong and was forced to resort to a fresh install.

It appears that WordPress is now almost ready with WordPress 2.5, and from the sneek peek provided by the WordPress team it seems that upgrading to 2.5 will not only be necessary, but will also make using WordPress a better experience. So, I am waiting for the new version of WordPress with great eagerness, and a little anxiety.

What do you feel about WordPress upgrades?

Taking a break from the regular posts on the blog, I  wish all the readers of NeoBluePanther.com a  Very Happy and  Prosperous New Year, 2008!

I hope all of you had a great 2007.  And if there was something that you wanted but did not get, I wish you get that, and more, in 2008.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Taking a break from the Novella and the NaNoWriMo posts, I would like to wish all the readers of neobluepanther(dot)com a Very Happy Diwali !