If we resolve to make writing a habit in the coming year, the actual writing projects will take care of themselves.
I love New Year. All of those plans and goals and the untapped potential of that huge, neatly organized allotment of time. At the start of a new year, anything and everything is possible.
We make resolutions.
We say we’re going to finish this novel.
We say we’re going to post something every day.
We say we’re going to read this book and do this course.
And we really, really mean it. We want to do all this stuff. We want to mean it.
January starts out great! We’re brimming with potential and energetic enthusiasm. We write! It’s awesome!
And then something happens…
It usually happens around mid-February…
Our energy wavers. The New Year loses its shine and ordinary life habits creep back in.
One skipped writing session turns into two and then three and then suddenly it’s December and you have written little at all.
This doesn’t only happen to New Year’s Resolutions. Any time we set a goal to change, to make more and make more of our lives, we’re subject to this same ebb and flow of enthusiasm and resolve.
Don’t feel bad.
It’s a familiar, natural pattern, and it happens with most resolutions whether or not they’re writing related.
It happens because we’re not making the right resolutions. It happens because we’re not setting the right goals.
So what’s going wrong?
Consider the difference between “I’m going to write a novel this year,” to “I’m going to write regularly this year.”
To take another example, not from the writing life, consider the difference between “I’m going to get fit this year,” to “I’m going to try to make a healthy choice with breakfast every day.”
In the first examples, we’re looking at a HUGE and complex task.
In the second, it’s just a practice; something that we can do in small, easily digestible tasks.
In the second, it’s just a little thing we do every day, or twice a week.
In the second, come December, we’ve got a novel (and likely more) written (or we’re healthier, going with the getting fit analogy).
It’s all about creating smart and sustainable writing habits. And that starts with a small change.
If we resolve to make writing a habit in the coming year, the actual writing projects will take care of themselves.
If we resolve to make writing a habit in the coming year, there’ll be no regret for not finishing that novel come December because, as long as we’ve maintained that habit, we’ll have a whole year of writing behind us to look back on with pride. Whether or not it’s finished, you’ll know you’ve tried your best.
Once we take the specifics out of the equation, our creative selves have a little more breathing room. We could finish that novel, or we could work on that short story or novella. As long as the writing practice keeps you moving towards your ideal vision of writing success, then who cares what you’re writing?!
