Resolutions For a New Year

Writing Prompt - Pendant, Tea, Rabbit [Perry] Magic Systems: The Hook

Resolutions For a New Year

It’s that time again, where we give last year a boot to the arse and tell ourselves next year will be different/brighter/better.

Goals VS Resolutions

“I will get published!”

AWFUL. Whether or not you get published is completely out of your hands. You can’t control the publishing machine any more than you can control the stock market. (One assumes that if YOU are capable of controlling the stock market, you might also have the connections necessary to get a book published).

“I want to be a better writer”

That’s terrible. Not because it’s an unworthy goal, but because it lacks specificity. HOW are you going to be a better writer? What aspects of writing will you work on? What will you do to improve those aspects? How will you measure your success? This is an example of a RESOLUTION. It says “I will become a better person.” without actually dedicating any effort to how you’re going to do it.

“I will write a book.”

Better, but still not quite there. Writing a book is a BIG goal, akin to saying you’re going to lose 20 pounds this year. It’s so big, in fact, that you absolutely need to break it down into smaller pieces so that you have milestones and a dedicated path. This is a GOAL … but it’s still not good enough to give you a solid path to success.

Plan

Take your year and break it into bits. PLAN.

“I will allow myself to worldbuild until the end of January.”

Okay, that’s not bad. It has a date on it, and that’s always important. On your calendar, on the last day of January, write down “Worldbuilding done TODAY!!”

“I will allow myself February to develop my plotline/story/outline.”

Great! Let’s do that. On the calendar, last day of February, write “Outline due TODAY!!”

Let’s say you’re writing something around 100k words long. (fantasy novel length. Ish.)

“I will be halfway done with my novel by the end of May!”

Great! In the calendar, on May 31st, write down “50k wordcount today!”

Now stop. We all know that there’s more to it than this. You have to do the end of the novel, then give yourself time for revising and editing and all that lovely stuff. Let’s not plan your WHOLE year just yet. Things change, dates move around, etc, etc. Let’s go back and do even more planning, because what you plan BEFORE this point will determine whether or not you even make it here.

First Milestone

Go back. From today till your first milestone — the end of worldbuilding in January — what do you need to do? Make a list.

Finish magic system rules.
Determine ALL Main character abilities
Finish societal worldbuilding
Develop teams of other ability sets
etc, etc

The more you think about it, the more questions you ask yourself, the more you realize that your January is going to be BUSY, innit? Break your list of questions up into four groups … one for each week of January. Assign those questions to each week. You just gave yourself homework, congratulations!

Next milestone! The outline.

Due by the end of February. To the listmobile!

Print out beat sheet.
Fill out the bits I know.

I know myself well enough to give myself like … one day for the above tasks.

Figure out the bits in between

I also know myself well enough to know that last task is going to take the rest of the month. More worldbuilding happens here as I examine motivations, ensure that my TRILOGY plotline is represented as well as the individual book plotline. I have to give my antagonists facetime and make sure everything is paced properly. I have to make sure that if something happens, I know WHY it happens and that nothing’s too convenient.

I always underestimate how long this will take, because it’s not till I start looking at the beat sheet elements that I realize where I’ve left gaping holes in my storyline.

Next milestone! 50k.

Count out the number of days in March, April, and May. 92.

For the moment, I’m going to keep this math simple and NOT take out any weekend days or holidays. Let’s say I have 92 writing days ahead of me.

That’s 544(ish) words per day.

STOP.

If you know you cannot maintain that pace, RESTRUCTURE NOW. Seriously. Just because you thought you’d make it by end of May, you’re not stuck to it.

Assuming you can keep that pace, take your calendar and your calculator and start writing.

544 words per day time 7 days per week = 3808 words per week.

On the Saturday of each week on your calendar, write yourself a happy little number. Week 1: 3808. Week 2: 7616. Week 3: 11424.

These numbers are where your wordcount should be, according to the schedule that you have set for yourself. Keep going till you hit that 50k milestone. (or 25k or whatever you’ve decided your milestone should be)

The Point

The point of breaking these down isn’t whether or not you use the same math or method as me. Some of you are pantsers and can’t imagine spending a whole month doing an outline. Nothing wrong with that.

What it DOES do is give you very visible weekly goals. Goals that you’ve set yourself ahead of time, and that you can use to measure your success.

The Most Important Bit

WRITE DOWN YOUR PROGRESS.

Seriously.

Every week, write down your current wordcount, whether it be more or less than your expected. Check off the questions you answer. If you delay the start of your writing phase, determine AT THAT TIME if your previous wordcount goals might still be valid or if you need to re-figure.

Each milestone is just that … a place to stop and take stock of the lay of the land. Do you need to recalculate or are you on course?

No calendar? No Problem!

EVERY SINGLE WEEK, even if you don’t do my calendar method, take time to ask yourself the following question:

“What did I do this week to reach my goals?”

It’s that simple.

What did you do?

Letter To Yourself

MY homework to you, aside from all that, is to sit down and write yourself a letter. On paper. With a pen. You will give yourself this letter when you feel like giving up.

Dear self, (you might write)

This is past me, talking to future me. I know you’re discouraged right now, because you’re me and I know how I’d feel. Tired. Wondering if it’s even worth it. Thinking you’re the worst writer ever and why would anyone even care if you finished this book?

Listen up, future me. I LOVE YOU. You are amazing and wonderful and I want to write this book so bad that i got mad when Tami told me I had to waste my time writing you this letter. I am so in love with this story and this world and these characters and I don’t care how they’ve changed over the time that you’ve gotten to know them, I KNOW that their story is worth telling, and that you’re a good enough writer to tell it.

Do your best. Nobody expects you to be perfect. I want to read the book we write, and I know that you do too. You’re just afraid. Afraid of failure, afraid of wasting your time, afraid of so many things.

Write, future me. Write. We can fix it if it’s written, but we cannot fix it if you don’t spend time on it.

Please.

Love,

Me.