A Writer’s New Year’s Resolution
How has this year gone by already? As I get older, they really seem to move much more quickly than when I was young.
I think the end of the year, and the beginning of a new one, are a great time to look back at missed opportunities and decide how the new year should change things. Sometimes this is on a personal level, and sometimes on a professional level. Because I’m a Gemini, and there are multiple facets to me, setting resolutions and goals can be problematic. Which facet needs the most work? Or do they all need it? And how do you balance that all out?
In the past, I would set resolutions like, I need to read four books a month. I have way less time to read than I’d like, and making a resolution forced me to make choices and choose reading instead of something else. Other years, it was health-related. Eat healthier, get rid of convenience foods, give up fast foods, work out more. Sometimes, it was even more personal. “Be nicer to people.”
Were they successful? To a degree, like anything else. It’s what you put into it. I don’t regret any, and there were some I did better than others. This year, I’m shifting a bit. I’m looking at it from a goal perspective. What is the one thing I want to accomplish this year, above all the other things? What one thing is it that will keep me driven, on track, and moving forward? And what about all the goals that aren’t quite as pressing? Do I include them too?
As a writer, I know to take it down to its base, it’s simplest form. And that’s what I have done. I have one goal. Just one. And I’m talking about it here to help keep my honest and focused on that goal.
I will finish my current WIP and get it submitted to my publisher in hopes of getting a contract. Before the end of the year. It has been over a year since I signed the contract for Fairest of the Faire. I had hoped I’d get book number two finished and submitted by the same time this year (September). It didn’t happen. Then I thought I would at least get through the first rough draft by the end of NaNoWriMo (November). It didn’t happen. I still have a beginning, and an end. I have no middle. None. I have piddled around hoping that inspiration would strike, that a middle would present itself. It hasn’t. And waiting for it is not going to help.
I have several tools at my ready disposal, including a book on conflict, goals, and motivation, a screen writing book that purports to help with saggy middles, a Deal a Story card deck that is supposed to help nail down plot fillers, and a big white board to plot on. I need to do this thing. I need to buckle down, use the tools, and get this thing written. It’s a great story. Or, it will be if I ever get it done!
To that end, I pledge to write every single day in 2016. Blog posts and Twitter jabs do not count. Neither do emails, or the writing I do with my day J.O.B. I can only write on my novel. I have the tools. I have the time. Inspiration or not, I need to do this thing.
What are your resolutions for the new year? What are your words of wisdom and encouragement as I head into 2016? Tell me in the comments!
Fairest of the Faire – available now!
Blurb:
Schoolteacher Connie Meyers is suddenly a young widow, her husband killed in a horrific car accident. Heartbroken to find out he had gambled away everything they had, she moves to her sister-in-law’s Midwest home to rebuild her life. A trip to the local Renaissance Faire with her nieces leads to a summer job as a costumed storyteller.
Avowed bad boy and fair performer Gage Youngblood is infatuated with Connie at first sight. Despite his deliberately commitment-free life, and Connie’s don’t-touch-me attitude, he soon has her in his arms, realizing quickly she is also in his heart.
When she is threatened by her late husband’s bookie, he steps into the role of protector, his fate forever sealed with hers.
Available NOW!
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