The Way of the Future

It's 16 days into the new year and everyone seems to be diving into 2012 with excitement and anticipation. I'm pretty excited for whatever's lurking out there, including giant spaceships and futuristic cities built on water.

New Year is a very important event. But why? Not because of what it is - after all, it's only a change of date (and that happens every day) - but because of what it symbolises. It symbolises the old departing, the new arriving. It symbolises change. This is why we make New Years Resolutions. We could choose to change at any time of the year, but we choose January 1 because of the symbol of change it carries.

Over the last year or so, this blog has been quite mish-mash. Just look through the archives and see for yourself. When I started blogging, I had no plan at all and no reason at all besides "Why not?" Result: mish-mash.

But the arrival of the new year I've decided to make some changes. I set a few goals using the BEDS Goalsetting Method, and worked out a list of things that would need to happen to reach my goals. Creating a new layout was one of those things. Here are a two more:

A Blogging Schedule. Yup, I'm gonna be working by one of these bad boys. On Mondays will be exclusively Writing Advice (unless the occasional blogfest or monthly vlog jumps in there). Thurdays will be Wildcard days, when I'll post about anything and everything I can possibly think of that relates to writing. I might even throw in a few Saturday posts from time to time.

Acknowledging New Followers. David Powers King does this over at his blog, and I think it's a fantastic idea. So I'm adopting it. It means that new followers get to feel welcome and invited and not like internet ghosts that go invisible through all time and space. So, with no further ado, may I welcome Writing Fire's fantastic 170th follower:

R. J. Ropsen

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the way of the future for Writing Fire. I hope you'll enjoy the changes!

The Poem of His Dreams

From black of night a spark ignites:

A hope, a dream, a shining light.

The dream burns in his heart as fire,

O'er time the dream does never tire.

He wakes, he dreams – then waking dreams;

The world is never what it seems.

Reality falls far behind

And fantasy consumes his mind.

With day he dreams, with night he dreams,

The world is never what it seems.

He wanders through a land unknown,

And writes his ventures all alone.

His future there, from dreams is clear,

From never-ending dreams of flare.

He writes, he dreams; he writes, he dreams,

The world is never what it seems.

Sunday Funday: Don't Drink Racist Coffee

When it comes to coffee, I'm pretty much a newb. I'm fifteen - what can I say?

As an example of my newb-ness, recently I went to the coffee shop with my dad, planning to get a moccachino. But when I got there, I found that was something like five different moccachinos. And so, because I didn't want to look like one of those kids on the old McDonalds ads who took forever to decide what they wanted, I just picked the first one I saw - even though it was late in the afternoon and this one had a double shot.

Me, later that night: Oh, that's OK. I didn't want to sleep tonight anyway.

But, anyway, I figure that coffee's somehow important to the creative process. I mean, I don't think I follow a single writer on twitter who doesn't have the words "coffee addict" somewhere on their profile.* Retailers sell coffee mugs with the word "writer" them - yet I have never seen one bearing words such as "accountant" or "real estate agent" or "President of the United States." Something tells me it's part of the writer stereotype. Plus, there's even a coffee on the NaNoWriMo logo. Need I say more?

I also figure that I like it.

And for these two reasons, I drink it.

Now, the reason for this post is because I became aware of something rather important in terms of coffee a while back, and I thought I should let you all know what it is. I was introduced, first, to the comedian Julian Smith's youtube channel, then to the video that I'm about to show you.

So sit back, relax, enjoy. And remember: don't drink that racist coffee.

* May or may not be strictly accurate.