The New Year.

I love New Year. Like every cliche you've ever heard about New Year, I love the chance we all get to start again and try to make our lives a little better than the year before.

This year, my Hogmanay was relatively quiet. I was at home, with my boyfriend Kieran and some friends and we drank, played board games and watched TV. Hardly the rock and roll night that is expected of students in Glasgow. Instead of hitting the party circuit, we brought in the bells with Jools and his Hootenanny and I loved it.

What's most significant for me on this New Year though, is my resolution. And yes, I am one of those people that makes a resolution and never keeps it but continues to make resolutions anyway. Believe me when I say that it's taken a long time for me to get to a point where I can admit I never stick with my resolutions.

My resolution this year is to take my writing more seriously. To stop putting everything off and actually get pen to paper. Writing is what I love to do, and if I want to do it I'd better get my act together...

So here is my informal, one-sided contract with you. Don't panic, you don't need to sign. 

By the end of 2013, I want to have a novel completely ready to send off to publishers, if I want to.

It's pretty ambitious, I know, but I've got to start somewhere I guess?

And I'm thinking that if I actually tell people of my plans, I will feel more obliged to stick to them...

Hopefully this New Year will get me closer to where I want to be and will be more beneficial than a fad diet or self-help book. 

I hope that your New Year was as good as mine, wherever you are and if you have a resolution, then we can set out on 2013 together. I guarantee you'll probably be more productive than me!

An Unexpected Treat.

Today, like many people across the UK, I'd imagine, I went to go see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". And like many people, I'd imagine, I was quite nervous about entering the theatre. 

Have a look at the trailer here!

The book is definitely one of my favourites, and with how many films turn out to be shoddy imitations, I knew that I didn't want my beloved Bilbo to fall into the ranks of Edward Cullen or Eragon...

I had my Monster Munch crisps. I had Galaxy chocolate. I had Cherry Tango. But even they couldn't ease the tension that built when the lights went down.

But I needn't have worried. From the very beginning, The Hobbit blew me away.

Acting? Brilliant.
Soundtrack? Superb.
Special effects? Amazing.

It scores ten out of ten on every level.

To be honest, I came out of the cinema and a part of me really wanted to go back in and watch the whole thing all over again. 

And I probably would have, if not for the crazy queue waiting for the next screening. I'm all for fan-girling over a movie, but dwarf beards, wizard hats, elf ears and hobbit feet are a bit far...

So tonight I can curl up with the last of the Christmas presents I need to wrap, maybe a small tipple, and relive what I'd be tempted to call the best film of the year, followed closely by Skyfall.

Have you seen The Hobbit yet? Was it your 2012 film highlight?