Juiced On Writing

Happy New Year and a prosperous 2009 to all the writers and their families!

It’s that time of year again – the time of good hope, and even bigger intentions. Below I’ve wound up the best New Years resolutions for Writers I could find – sources of others are listed below. Many are slightly more specific goals than the Top Ten Christmas Wishes I wrote of previously. That’s the nature of New Years resolutions – they tend to make a little more specific those good feelings brought about by seasonal good will.

From a personal viewpoint, I don’t share some of the following goals – but then, there’s always room for the personal…mine are about to be actioned through the writing of a 2009 Writing Business Plan.

I am going to make some of my own News Years writings goals actually work by writing them out as a Business Plan and Strategy. My next entry will take you through the Components of a Writing Business Plan.

1. Write Every Day

What writer doesn’t promise themselves that they will write every day? Even if it’s only for ten minutes of free-writing, or in a journal? Writer’s Write – and all that. So, top of the hit list for writers is this one. Write Every Day. That’s 365 times in the year.

Some actionable components of this might be –

Make time to write, consistently.

• Set out a “writing space” – whether it be a desk, a time away from the family, or a comfy armchair.
• Source writing prompts to provide inspiration for the daily writing exercise – you can even get books with 365 of these, one for each day of the year.

2. Read More

I guess reading newspapers and gossip magazines might not count – but if going from no reading to some reading, then perhaps it should. This goal is a little non-specific, however. How much exactly is “more”? And what quality of reading is actually suggested here? But most writers will acknowledge that reading in the genre of one’s own work – then outside of it also – has a positive impact on our own understanding of the market, and on what makes “good writing” – for us, anyway.

3. Keep a Journal / Start a Blog / Keep a Diary…

I’m not sure if the world of social networking pertains here – but if we’re mentioning a blog, then we’ve got to think about what we’re trying to achieve with it. If it’s just to write down our daily activities (today I took the drycleaning to our normal drycleaners, and found that they were closed down…) then perhaps it’s not that beneficial.

I think perhaps the general aim here is to document our lives and writing activities, and to – like with No 1, Write Every Day. However if the goal is to promote an aspect of one’s writing life – as in creating a blog or writing website for marketing and communication purposes, then that’s an entirely different objective.

4. Finish a Project

An extremely popular writing goal. Which tells us that all of us have unfinished projects aplenty, and need a kick to get them done. This one feels to me, like the typical (or stereotypical) personal goal we all have at New Years – to lose weight. If the project stopped half-way through the year, there was probably a reason for it, and maybe it might be better to start afresh elsewhere. If we started it late this year, then maybe there’s room for some movement into the New Year.

5. Submit or Send Work Out

There must be a lot of us show-stopped by a certain shyness in risking our egos or the very core of our beings by submitting our work. There must be a lot of “closet” writers out there.

This is a legitimate writing goal for my own New Year, to face that hurdle of upcoming rejection, and get through it. And to try not to take it so personally. Good luck to all of us on that one. But I can’t get anywhere without sending my work somewhere.

6. Try Something New

Around about No. 6 on most Writer’s list is the thought that new = fresh = inspiration = hope.

Trying a new genre, subscribing to a new organisation, joining a new book club, or writer’s group, changing our writing median, maybe even signing up for an expensive new writing course to “learn something new”.

7. Conquer the Non-Performing Muse

Many writers have a goal of beating Writer’s Block or Procrastination. Many even blame their block on somebody else – their muse. This is, like many, an interesting non-specific little New Year’s goal. I’m not sure how the passing of the year will suddenly make us capable of beating a block that was there the day before, but perhaps it’s the alcohol or parties?

Maybe we’ll put some actions into effect, however. Maybe by choosing this resolution, we’ll decide to tell our muse off, and take responsibility for non-performance onto our own shoulders.

Maybe we should just rewrite this one to something more reasonable like –

Feed our Mind / Muses with Inspiration Consistently During the Year.

That way, I’ve got an excuse for a lovely holiday in the Yorkshire Dales or something.

8. Socialise with Other Writers (or Seek Support from Other Writers, or Connect with Other Writers)

Depending on your values, you may be all into socialising, or putting it into politically correct-speak, supporting other writers. This might be virtually – via online forums and groups, or in the real world if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere where there is a local writer’s group. Or the goal may be as simple as attending a Writing Conference and listening to some speakers. Maybe even something like this blog? Creating a blog on a subject draws in others interested in the same subject.

It’s an interesting situation, this one. Basically most human groups welcome the interaction and support found in like-minded people. Even if, sitting underground of that, is the fact that the same people are competing with you in the same business, and ultimately may be the cause of your own failure in it. Only so many wannabes can find success, afterall. But we all live off hope and a dream (or a wing and a prayer), and sharing those dreams is something worthy of a New Year’s goal. And if you looked at these people as “competition” you’d never raise your head above that initial underground cave. We can all learn from each other here.

Share Your Work With Others

This is a sub-goal in many respects to that of Submitting Your Work, or Socialising with Others Writers. Writing groups – both online and real-life often provide critiques of your work. As do editors for that matter. And many of us are those fabled “closet” writers unable to show their work (ie themselves) to the light of day, for fear of rejection or criticism.

This is a simple goal for me. I’ve not yet even got anything I’ve written into a state where I’m even letting my family read the stuff. But I have to acknowledge that another pair of eyes, at least, is actually a “good thing” and something I must work towards and quickly.

9. Improve Your Writing

There’s always room for improvement and all that. I sometimes wonder if authors like Stephen King (who couldn’t recreate his phenomenal success under the guise of Richard Bachman, afterall) ever thought to himself – why yes, if only I spent some money learning how to improve my writing, then I’d be ever so much more successful. Taking a look at some of the world’s bestselling novels, you sometimes also wonder how the heck the author got to be so successful, given the grammatical errors and style chosen, if chosen at all. Some (okay, quite a few) best-sellers aren’t relatively well-written books.

But that’s not the point, is it? Because we owe it to our own customers (or readers) to be the best kind of writer we can be, to make their own reading as easy as possible. To do that, there’s always room for improvement – for understanding language, or grammar, for choosing even better words to form the story. To Practice, and Learn, and read more.

10. Go Easy on Yourself

Reward yourself, inspire yourself. Don’t reject yourself because you don’t meet the goals. It seems that these days New Years resolutions always come with this final caveat – giving us the chance to acknowledge in writing that we probably won’t succeed at every resolution on the list, as much as we try to set achievable objectives, maybe even action plan them. Good intentions and all, No 10 on everyone’s list is a resolution acknowledging that it’s probably not all do-able. So there.

In a less negative manner, the goal to reward minor successes with an award, or to simply celebrate what goals are achieved over the next year seems a nice one to end with. I think mine might be a list of possible rewards – from small stashes of chocolate to giving myself a lovely holiday away with my family. Or maybe giving myself something from the Twelve Days of Christmas Gifts for the Writer which I posted a week ago.  Every resolution list should have an accompanying incentive plan, don’t you think?

Some Other Top Ten New Years Resolutions for Writers

• New Years Resolutions for Writers by Jennifer Jensen at Suite101.
• New Years Resolutions for Non-Fiction Writers by Sharon Hunt at Suite101.
• New Years Resolutions for Writers by AuthorHouse.
• Top 10 Resolutions for Writers by Ginny Wiedhardt at About.com

More on Setting Attainable Writing Goals

• Setting Effective Writing Goals by Moira Allen at writing-world.com
• Are You Achieving Your Writing Goals by Mridu Khullar

Other Complimentary Articles to This one

• Top Ten Christmas Wishes for the Writer
• Twelve Days of Christmas Gifts for the Writer
• Top Ten New Years Resolutions for Writers (this one)
• The Components of a Writing Business Plan (coming soon)

No related posts.