This blog hop is officially over. All of the winners have been contacted. Check out my Events page to find more blog hops that you can participate in during the coming months.
Welcome to the New Year’s Blog Hop which will be going on from January 1 – 6, 2013. Happy New Year everyone and thank you to Carrie Ann for doing a wonderful job (as always) in organizing these blog hops.
The New Year, for many, means coming up with a New Year’s resolution. Oftentimes, these resolutions are goals that have been impossible to reach in the past, and somehow we think that in the New Year that will change.
Past resolutions for me have been to pay my respects to my grandmother at her grave site. to finish one of the romance novels that I began and for some reason lost the impetus to finish it, but one of my favorite resolutions that I have yet to remain committed to is to stop eating JUNK food. How do you say no to Doritos, Pringles potato chips, or chocolate covered pretzels? These are energy food, aren’t they? That’s what my mind keeps convincing me to think.
A New Year’s resolution is a commitment one makes in an effort to become a better person and led a better life. These vows are made at the start of a new year believing it is a new beginning, a fresh start wiping the slate clean of past transgressions and bad habits. Sometimes, we can convince ourselves that the past is behind us and a new and better person will emerge in the new year, but usually you can’t change a pattern, a routine, a way of life that you are used to and carved out for yourself as an adult.
These New Year’s resolutions, promises, and commitments are peppered throughout history. The Babylonians started this cycle believing to have made promises to pay back debts and return borrowed objects at the start of the new year. The Romans adapted this custom into their own culture renewing promises to their pagan god Janus in the new year. Medieval knights recited vows to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry after Christmastide, and Christians take a pledge to be nicer people, more charitable people in the new year.
Making a New Year’s resolution has become a type of epidemic that transcends nations and cultures. People are often compelled to rectify a flaw in their behavior, personality or treatment of others. Maybe it’s the intention to become a better person that matters more than actually being able to live up to the image of becoming that person. In this vane, it is appropriate that in the movie When Harry Met Sally, Billy Crystal’s character Harry Burns makes a transformation on New Year’s Eve revealing his love to Sally Albright played by Meg Ryan along with his intention to be the man that she deserves, though we all know Sally has to accept Harry’s flaws because he can’t change those.
What is your New Year’s resolution? Post your comment and enter to win one of the three great prizes in Carrie Ann’s New Year’s Blog Hop contest. Your comment will also enter you to win an ebook copy of The Magic of France by Susie Kelly from me.
Here are the grand prizes:
1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
2nd Grand Prize: A $300 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more
To move onto the next blogger on the hop, go to: http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=168190
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My romance novel The King Maker is available at Lendink.com to borrow for free. Go to: http://www.lendink.com/ebooks/B0064XDKLS/The-King-Maker
Print and ebook copies can be purchased from the publisher, Champagne Books here: http://champagnebooks.com/shop/index.php?route=product/manufacturer&manufacturer_id=117
Susan's Reads 