I know, I know—an article in early January about New Year’s resolutions? How original is that? But I happen to be a list maker junkie and New Year’s resolutions are the mother of all lists, so I can’t help it. I look forward to setting new goals, charting my progress, marking off the accomplishments on the list (yes, I’m a geek). Lots of people despise resolutions and feel they set us up for failure, disappointment, and self-loathing (and who needs any more of those?), so if it’s not your thing, no worries. They work for me, and my only hard and fast motto for this crazy business of writing is “whatever works.” If making writing resolutions sounds like something that might galvanize you, too, then here are some tips that make your resolutions more likely to stick.
START WITH THE REVERSE OF RESOLUTIONS
While it is important to challenge ourselves, it’s just as important to acknowledge the things we already accomplished. I know, I know, we are taught not to “toot our own horn,” but really, it’s good to take a look at all you’ve done in the course of a year—good for the soul, good for the ego, just plain good any way you look at it. Take an indulgent, congratulatory look at all the cool stuff you did between this year and last. It will make you feel proud, it will make you feel kinder towards yourself, and it’s a nice affirmation.
Some years, your list might include more “biggies” than others, for example “I landed an agent,” or “I published my fifth novel,” or, for me, 2014 included “I finally started teaching online writing classes after people have been bugging me to for years” (I have brand new ones beginning January 15 if you’re interested…) and “finished a draft of a new novel.”
But be sure to include accomplishments no one else might recognize or know about, such as: “Never got lost a single time while renting a car on book tour” or “Stopped going to writing group with X because it was toxic and not giving me anything.”
You get the idea. Nothing that comes to mind is too small to include. Sometimes, on discouraging days, it helps to go back and read your list—especially on days you feel you aren’t living up to your resolutions. You’ll go over your list and think, “Look at me. Look at all I did. Okay, tomorrow is another day. I’m inspired to do better.”
Start making your list. Look at you! Look at how strong, kickass and interesting you are!
Don’t you feel better already?
MAKE SURE THE OUTCOME IS IN YOUR OWN HANDS
As you make a list of resolutions for your writing life in 2015, don’t allow anyone else to control your success or failure. It’s not a good idea to resolve “I will be published in 2015” or “I will become a bestseller in 2015” because that outcome is not something you can actually control. Publishing can be a capricious and crazy-making business. If you want to be published, list resolutions such as “I will create an excellent query letter for my novel” and “I will submit queries to agents beginning in March” or what have you. Those are things that will certainly set you on the path to publication, but more importantly, they are goals you control.
MAKE YOUR RESOLUTIONS CHALLENGING BUT DOABLE
Both parts of that sentence are important. Challenging is key. It’s one of the reasons people bother to make resolutions at all—you are trying to kick start your productivity, get yourself out of your comfort zone, push yourself in some way. But don’t set yourself up for failure by setting insane and impossible goals. In my Inspiration & Motivation class, I first coach students to carve out a writing schedule and keep it sacred. It’s a mistake for a relatively new writer to declare “I will write every day for four hours.” They’re not likely to sustain that kind of discipline, and then, after a week or so of failing to live up to that resolution, chances are they scrap the whole idea. Make your goal doable, and if you find you are accomplishing your goals with flying colors, celebrate it (more on that later) and then raise the bar for yourself.
KNOW THY ENEMIES
Chances are, there are reasons why you haven’t already met this particular goal you’re resolving to meet; that’s why you’re resolving to do it now. It’s crucial to assess and be aware of the enemy to meeting this goal. Another exercise we do in my Inspiration & Motivation class is to identify what has kept you from meeting your goal in the past. What do you foresee being an obstacle to meeting your goal in 2015? First, identify it. Then, decide what preemptive plan will prevent this same obstacle from foiling you again. You have to be brutally honest and defensive. I’ll admit it: Facebook was/is a huge enemy to my writing time and productivity. For me, it’s a rabbit hole, a giant time suck. So, for starters, my plan was to set a stopwatch when I logged in so I could track my time, kind of like punching a time card. Well, that didn’t work! I’m embarrassed to say that I’d tell myself “I’m just going to change my status and answer messages and I’ll be off in ten minutes,” but the reality was (revealed by my stopwatch) that an hour would go by! So, I began to use my timer instead, and set an alarm for ten minutes so the time couldn’t slip away. Which leads me to…
HAVE MONTHLY CHECK-INS TO SEE HOW YOU’RE PROGRESSING TOWARD YOUR GOALS
You need to set time to assess how you’re doing. I was able to see my little time card plan was a bust and figured out something else. Seems obvious, I know, but if you don’t actually set a time to take a good objective look at how you’re doing, you might end up spinning your wheels and reinforcing bad habits. Be willing to make changes. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Don’t be insane. But also…
CELEBRATE EVERY SINGLE SMALL SUCCESS
Don’t be stingy! Be good to yourself. Any time you can mark something off your list or you do a check-in and recognize you’re right on track, celebrate it. I firmly believe celebrating each small accomplishment keeps them happening, and all those small steps build up to big leaps. Reward your writer self however you see fit—ice cream? A new writing book? A trip to a book store? A weekend writing retreat? Just as only you will know what your obstacles will be and what is doable for you, only you will know what is a worthy celebration.
Dan Blank wrote beautifully about this here last month in his post “Do You Have the Clarity to Celebrate Success?” (https://writerunboxed.com/2014/12/16/do-you-have-the-clarity-to-celebrate-success/#more-34735). If you didn’t read it then, I highly recommend you return to it now.
I wish you all the best with your writing projects in the New Year. May the words and inspiration flow for you in 2015!
Will you track any of your writing goals this year? How? If you had goals for 2014, did you reach them?
About Katrina Kittle
Katrina Kittle is the author of four novels for adults—Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, The Kindness of Strangers, and The Blessings of the Animals— and one novel for tweens, Reasons to Be Happy. The Kindness of Strangers was the winner of the 2006 Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction. Katrina has an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University in Louisville and teaches creative writing workshops from the third grade to universities to retirement communities. She also teaches creative writing regularly for Word’s Worth Writing Connections (http://www.wordsworthdayton.com/ ) in the Dayton-Cincinnati area and to students across the country through OnLiten (http://onliten.com/workshops.htm#KKchar) Through Write Sisters Consulting (http://www.writesistersconsulting.com/, she offers manuscript consultations. Katrina has always loved the telling of stories in any medium, and because of her extensive background in dance and theatre, she is a firm believer in both honoring an apprenticeship and caring about craft. She lives in Dayton, OH with her odd cat Joey (he has anxiety issues, sucks on blankets, and is in love with a spatula) and her out-of-control garden; has a thing for goats, gardening, and going barefoot; and is totally addicted to coffee, dark chocolate, pedicures, and movies. If you’re on Facebook, she'd love for you to “like” her author page (https://www.facebook.com/KatrinaKittleAuthor). Learn more at www.katrinakittle.com
Also, don’t dismiss success as failure. I didn’t participate in Nano, but there was a lot of people who said things like “I failed Nano. I only wrote 30,000 words.” That’s not a failure! That’s 30,000 words that are now done. The real failure in Nano would have been to say that you were participating and then not writing at all.
I started the year saying I would finish my contemporary fantasy. But I was running into so many writing problems that I had to put it aside. I then said I would finish a cozy mystery, which also ran into the same problems. Several things I did over the year fixed those problems, and I started writing the contemporary fantasy in July. At the same time, I started working on a blog series on a historical event I was in. About October, my goal was to finish two books by the end of the year, with the intent of the contemporary fantasy and a mystery. The blog series was now going to be book, but I was following the event timeline, and that would wrap up in March of 2015, so I wasn’t paying any attention.
I wasn’t sure two novels was doable. But I would be happy with one because it had always taken me years to finish a book, and I’d have one done in five months. That would be a huge success. As I wrapped it up in December, I suddenly realized that the blog series that I’d been nibbling at here and there was two chapters from being done. Seven days after I finished the first book, I finished the second.
The most important thing is to show up and write.
Absolutely, right, Linda. I love your first sentence. That’s the idea behind the reverse of resolutions: to focus on what you HAVE accomplished. And yes yes yes–show up to write. Get the words on the page. By any means necessary. :-) Thanks and all best to you in your writing!
Katrina, what a great idea to list the accomplishments of last year before looking ahead to what I might want to accomplish this year. It’s easy to forget past triumphs. For me anyway.
My big accomplishment in 2014 was completing my first novel written after it was contracted, under deadline. I’ve had two novels published since 2013, another releasing this April, but they were all finished before the contract was signed. I’ve wondered for years (worried too, I admit) how I would fare, attempting to do in a year’s time what I’d always had much more time to accomplish before I was published. Well, I did it. It’s taken nearly every single day of that year to get it done, but I did it.
Huge congrats, Lori! Celebrate that for sure. I wish you an amazing 2015 and all best with your writing!
Nice post, Katrina. I going for simple this year. My writing direction: keep peddling, eyes straight ahead on craft and enthusiasm and outlast the doubts, detours, and setbacks.
Yes, Paula, great simplicity: eyes on the craft. That will always serve us well. All best to you and your writing!
Great advice, Trina. For me, the two suggestions that resonate most are knowing our enemies and doing those monthly check-ins. But I’m taking a slightly different approach. When I sat down yesterday to make my writing resolutions, I knew from past experience that I’d make too many and end up overwhelmed. So I made January resolutions and put down only the four that were most important. If I can get those habits firmly established, I’ll add to them in February.
Judy, that’s brilliant. My resolutions have gotten more streamlined as well. Someone once told me they should fit on a Post-It because anything longer would be overwhelming. And you can always add to it once you get stuff done. Have a fabulous 2015! Hope our paths cross in it.
Wonderful post, Katrina.
I’m not a resolution kinda girl. I prefer to think positive and set goals all year round, including time logged for celebrating the small stuff. I will, however, get a fresh start this January, reminding myself of who I am, what I’m here for, and how I will fulfill my personal goals. All good stuff!
HAVE AN AWESOME 2015, EVERYONE!
Denise (Dee) Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
Excellent! An awesome 2015 to you, as well!
I’ve never been one for resolutions either, but I do get energized at the beginning of a year with empty calendar pages and new days for accomplishments. Someone posted on Facebook a meme with a quote from Brad Paisley, “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” Good advice for living life, as well as for writers.
One of my big accomplishments from last year was the release of another mystery and the start of a brand new book. My goal for this year is to finish that brand new book, as well as another that I started the year before.
Maryann, I saw that meme, too, and loved it. I’m a geek for the possibilities of those blank pages of calendars and planners. I feel the same way at the end of the summer, too, though. I think it has to do with a new school year feeling like a new beginning. Congrats on the release of your mystery and all best wishes for the next.
A great post, Katrina. You’ve compelled me to examine where I was on January 1st last year. I had just finished my previous book (finished should really be in quotes), but I challenged myself to spend the rest of 2014 making it better. I’m truly glad I set that as my goal, rather than something like, “Now I’m going to get it published.” This little rabbit hole led me to discover that it needed a lot of work, which in turn led to the realization that I can write SO much better. The real encounter with the Queen of Hearts came in the middle of 2014 when I accept “I can write SO much better” actually meant I should start something new rather than getting stuck fixing the flaws of an old story.
Here I am now looking ahead at 2015, 100 pages into a new story, and one I love. I truly feel like I am growing. The older (naive) me would say, “let’s get this thing done this year.” But the newer (crocodile skin) me says instead, “Let’s keep writing with weekly goals and wait until the Jan 1st, 2016 WU post to compare notes.” Why not? There’s no rush. There’s only progress, and improvement, and waiting at one critical point of the journey, rich, wonderful stories to be shared with readers.
Happy New Year!
John, I love your lines: “There’s no rush. There’s only progress, and improvement, and waiting at one critical point of the journey, rich, wonderful stories to be shared with readers.” Amen to that. I get myself all stressed and have to remind myself: it’s not a race. All best wishes with this new project of yours…and may we ALL always strive to keep learning and growing in this craft. Happy New Year!
Thank you for this article, Katrina.
What stood out for me was…
set goals for what you can control
be accountable
One of my writing goals for 2014 pertained to submissions — and was something like, ‘I will send out as many as I can’
In previous years it was, ‘I will send out one a month’.
They say that the second statement is better. You can easily see if you reached your goal. This month I made one submission. Last month I didn’t.
Whereas, how you work with something as indefinite as ‘as many as possible’. There’s really no way you can look back and see if you reached your goal.
However…
In 2013 I sent 12 submissions
In 2014 I sent 68
So, in 2015 I will send out as many submissions as I can
Go, Leanne, go. Like I said “whatever works.” And sounds like this is working for you. All the best to you in 2015!
I am not normally big on resolutions, but I’m making an exception this year.
I must finish this manuscript in 2015. Finished, polished, and ready to submit. It’s a reasonable goal, and I announce it publicly in the hope that some of you will gently hound me about it from time to time. This easily distracted mom needs to focus!
Kim, you and I are in the same boat. Let us hound each other, shall we? Sometimes gently, sometimes fiercely–whatever we happen to need. I wish you the best! I will be checking in with you for sure!
Let’s do that! You know where to find me, Katrina!
I got tired of making empty promises to myself every new year, so I managed to refrain from making any New Years resolutions this year. Nearing the end of last year, I made a short list of all the things that I would want to accomplish in 2015–writing projects, etc and without waiting for January 1st to get here, I started working on them immediately.
I still like that feeling of starting afresh with a new year, so I made a weekend to-do list for getting my workspace organized, so that I can continue working on those goals unhindered. It’s strange how such a small thing can make such a huge difference already. I feel like I can do this–well, I’m already doing this. It’s a good feeling.
That’s great Tonya, and goes back to my motto “Whatever works.” You found what works for you. I did the same thing on New Year’s Day: organized my writing office. I love the feeling of starting afresh. All best to you, Tonya! Happy New Year!