New Year’s Writing Resolutions

As promised yesterday, we kick-start the New Year with a few writing resolutions. You might only want to pick one or two to follow, or come up with your own entirely different writing goals for the year, but hopefully the list below will give you some ideas and inspiration for the year ahead. And, as always, do share your own resolutions in the comments box.

Write every day, even if it’s just a few sentences.
Write the first draft of a novel by June, and get it edited and ready for publication by December.
Take a chance on independent publishing if you haven’t already.
Try a different writing style – preferably something you’ve never even considered trying before.
Take up a new hobby – ideally something completely different to your usual preferences – and see how it influences your writing.
Every week, take five minutes and write down five ideas for your writing.
Arrange a reading of your work – reading your writing out loud can be a good test of its strength, and of your bravery.
Enter a writing competition.
Set writing goals or challenges for each month, from the small (‘come up with a title’) to the big (‘write an entire first draft’).
Try different methods of editing to see which works best for you.
Be disciplined about editing – it can be easy to let it slip, but work always benefits from the effort in the end.
Learn a new publishing skill and put it into practice.
Seek out constructive criticism and try and learn from it.
Revisit old work and see how much you can improve it now some time has passed.
Remember to enjoy it. Sometimes we can lose the joy in writing, and that’s a shame. Making a concerted effort to enjoy every aspect of it should be something we all try and do this year.