With the turkey leftovers long gone and the return of a nip to the air, many of us will begin to contemplate a list of potential New Year’s resolutions. But New Year’s resolutions aren’t new. As far back as the Ancient Roman Empire, the Romans would resolve to make the best of the New Year by making amends with their enemies and extending good fortune with gifts of sacred tree branches.
This year, instead of defaulting to fitness and diet goals, consider incorporating your writing goals into a resolution that will keep you writing all year long. Jot down your writing goals for 2007, and create a list of regular activities designed for success. Instead of forming a short-term goal that may be unachievable, formulate a year-long plan for honing your writing skills, generating interesting content and finishing your next manuscript. With your confidence and commitment, you’ll be one step closer to achieving your goal in 2007.
Here is AuthorHouse’s Top 10 List of New Year’s Resolutions for Writers.
1. Write Every Day. Writing every day is the most common goal for writers because it works. When you practice every day, writing becomes a habit that will naturally develop over time. By setting aside a half hour or more in your day to write, you can boost your creativity, overcome writer’s block and develop plenty of ideas for new stories.
2. Read More. Reading forms the foundation of a good writer. A good rule of thumb is that a writer should read 100 books for every book they write. Read slowly and pay attention to word choice, character development, and dialogue. Recognize the techniques employed by your favorite writer and consider how you may be able to incorporate them into your own writing.
3. Experiment in a New Genre. If your writing progress has stalled, or you’d simply like to renew your creativity, consider writing in a genre you haven’t tried before. Take one of the characters from your novel and write a short story about an event in their childhood. You can also write a poem about a theme from a novel or short story to develop new imagery or metaphors.
4. Keep a Journal or Start a Blog. If you are struggling to write every day, begin putting your thoughts into a journal or a blog. They are a great way to record ideas from your day and provide a wealth of material to review and generate ideas. You’ll enjoy looking back a year from now and seeing how much your writing has progressed.
5. Revisit Old Works and Finish Projects. We all have an unfinished story or an idea for a poem we never got around to writing. Go through your files and dig out that story you haven’t worked on in years. You can revisit a style of writing you might have strayed from and finally wrap op the loose ends of a character who is begging for closure. Who knows, the story may blossom into a longer piece you’d like to continue working on.
6. Submit Work for Publication. There are hundreds of literary magazines and university journals that consider unsolicited writing for publication. Take a chapter from your latest manuscript or polish one of your short stories or poems and submit it for publication. Most established magazines and journals won’t charge for your submission and may even send feedback about the piece. Make sure to do some background research before submitting, as certain magazines and journals prefer specific genres, topics or formats.
7. Attend a Writers’ Conference. Throughout the year writers’ conferences are held in just about every corner of the country. Conferences are a great opportunity to get feedback on your work in small workshops, network with other writers, teachers and publishers, and provide inspiration from new surroundings and people. Find a conference that features one of your favorite authors and make it your goal to attend in 2007.
8. Subscribe to a New Magazine. Many biographies and other works of non-fiction are inspired by an enigmatic personality, an unbelievable sequence of events or a historically significant incident. Along with keeping up with current topics and reading a variety of writing styles, a magazine article may be the spark that inspires your next short story or novel.
9. Take a Trip. Some of the greatest writers of all time, from Cervantes to Hemmingway, have been inspired by great journeys and exquisite surroundings. In 2007, plan to take a trip specifically designed to nurture your writing, whether it is spending a week in a lakeside cottage or visiting a foreign country. Pay special attention to your fellow travelers, your physical surroundings and the languages and dialects you hear. You could spend the time writing, or generating an idea for a plotline or a new character.
10. Share Your Work with Others. After writing, reading and re-reading their work, many writers become so involved in their story it can be difficult to see the story from a reader’s perspective. A fresh set of eyes, whether from a family member, friend or writing partner, can generate productive feedback and new insight about your work. Readers can also identify any spots in your narrative where characters need more development or when a plot line becomes unclear. By sharing your work with others, you can gain valuable feedback and begin to learn how readers will respond to your writing style.
