Nuts and Bolts: resolutions.

1. This year I shall make the effort to be as welcoming as possible to all new words*. 

2. I shall remember at all times that split infinitives do not matter in the slightest...

3. ...though I shall avoid them because stupid people so often matter rather a lot.

4. Ditto prepositions at the ends of sentences, though not as strictly as the split infinitive thing because, hey, how much of my life am I prepared to spend sucking up to idiots? 

5. I shall not despise people who don't know the difference between its and it's unless I am paying them money to be halfway literate. This category includes journalists, publishers, and lawyers.

6. I shall own up to my mistakes readily...

7. ...and try to avoid them in future.

8. I shall never under any circumstances post anything anonymously online.

9. I shall finish the blasted work in progress, even though the chances of anyone publishing it are approximately zero...

10. ...and I shall be as generous as possible about the undeserved success of others.

Phew.

It's not going to be an easy year, is it.

Perhaps I'll just try to cut down on the use of the word really instead.

Thing To Make Today: resolutions. This word comes from the Latin resolvere, to unfasten or reveal, which is a bit surprising. Before that it comes from solvere, which means to loosen. It's basically the same word as solve.

*Snippy was a new and brilliant one for me this year.