Climbing Out of the Writing Doldrums

No matter how I try to avoid it, I get stalled sometime in January every year. The days are short, the holidays are over (thank God), the weather is generally miserable, and I’m stuck in the tedium of end-of-previous-year paperwork for my three businesses. It’s hard to get started again on any creative project. But here’s what I’ve learned over the years that helps.

I define achievable writing goals for the year. For me, these are finishing the YA adventure novel I have already begun, and writ...