December 28, 2015

Your New Year's Writing Resolution - WN 032

28 minutes

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Let's take a look at New Year's resolutions specifically for writers in episode 032 of the Write Now podcast.

Make & keep your New Year's resolution.

Let's be honest -- we are not part of the 8% of the populace that actually sticks to a New Year's resolution. For most of us, a New Year's resolution is lucky to last through the third week of January. And many of us, I'm sure, see New Year's resolutions as dumb, hypocritical, or useless.

But maybe this year we can use the idea of a New Year's resolution to improve ourselves as writers.

8 tips for making and keeping your New Year's resolution:

Keep it positive.

Make it realistic and focus on just one thing.

Make sure it's something you actually want to do.

Establish a way to hold yourself accountable.

Set baby-step goals and celebrate every time you reach one. Remember, you're establishing a new habit and that is hard.

Set the stakes, if you need to.

Start before January 1! (Yes, you can do that!)

Remember to fail a lot.

My New Year's resolution for 2016 is to write 100 words per day, 7 days a week. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

And I'd love for you to keep me posted, too. Contact me or send me an email telling me about your New Year's resolution. We'll hold each other accountable and make 2016 a year of amazing writing.

Book of the week.

This week's book is the complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Because I'd been feeling down and cranky and maybe just a little bit cynical.

"Calvin and Hobbes" is a syndicated comic strip that ran in U.S. newspapers from 1985-1996 and, unlike "Cathy", "Family Circus", and "Rex Morgan MD", it wasn't terrible. In fact, it was delightful, and a source of constant and consistent inspiration for my young writer's mind.

This strip follows the adventures of an imaginative boy named Calvin and his best friend, a stuffed tiger named Hobbes. But it's anything but childish.

Bill Watterson has struck the perfect balance of sharp wit and scathing brilliance, raising the question over and over again of why we (whether child or adult) are constantly made to squash our creative impulses.

Through "Calvin and Hobbes", Bill Watterson challenges the reader time and time again to live freely and creatively, and to make the very most of the time we are given.

Keep up-to-date with my book-related adventures on Goodreads.

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What's your writing resolution?

I'd love to hear how you're challenging yourself in this upcoming year, and how you plan to stick to your goals. Let me know via my contact page, or simply email me at hello [at] sarahwerner [dot] com. I look forward to hearing from you!

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By Sarah Rhea Werner

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