New Year’s Resolutions for Writers

Resolve Now to Become a Better, More Consistent Writer

Dec 18, 2007 Jennifer Jensen

8 New Year's Resolutions to improve your writing and start the year off right!

The new year is a great time for writers to set goals, prioritize, and get an energetic boost. To become a successful writer, the standard advice is to write, write, and write some more. And to read widely. With that in mind, here are some New Year’s Resolutions to consider:

  1. First, make writing a priority in your life. Take a hard look at how you currently squeeze in writing time, and the specific things that shove it to the side. Children? Cooking and cleaning? Errands? Extra volunteer work? Television? Just not in the mood? Obviously, your family needs care no matter how much you want to write. But be honest, and then make a plan to counteract the little things that get in the way.
  2. Now that you have an overview, make a resolution of commitment and production. Resolve to write two (or five or ten) pages a day. Or to write 15 minutes (or 30 minutes or two hours) each day. The more you write, the easier it gets. The more you tell your brain, “the time is now,” and write with no excuses or procrastination, the better you will be able to write every time you sit down.
  3. Make a resolution to have weekly writing practice sessions. Work on description or dialogue. Play with different viewpoints. Explore settings in different moods. The point is to grow as a writer, not to focus on publishable stories.
  4. Resolve to make time to play with words. Assonance, dissonance, alliteration make writing sing. Metaphors and imagery create rich prose. Onomatopoeia adds joy and immediacy – try your hand at children’s poetry for some fun.
  5. Resolve to write in longhand every day or every week. Words flow differently when computer-literate writers have to slow down. Even ten minutes of freewriting or journaling can invite powerful words.
  6. Read ten books each in different genres. Read poetry. Read fantasy. Read biography. Read YA novels-in-verse. Read more (and different) short stories. Read to discover other ways of doing things, other ways of seeing a character’s world.
  7. Read 100 books within your genre. Linda Sue Park, Newbery winning author of A Single Shard, advises to read a thousand books in your genre before writing yours. The more you read, the better you’ll understand what works and what doesn’t.
  8. Resolve to connect with other writers. Join a critique group. Go to a conference. It helps to have someone to share plot problems or character frustrations with, as well as someone to read your writing with an educated eye. Spouses can only do so much!

If you want to become a better writer, these resolutions should get you well started.

For New Year's Resolutions to get published, or to publish more, also read Writer's Goals for Publication.

For even more ideas, read about New Year's Resolutions for non-fiction writers - most of them apply well to fiction writers, too.

The copyright of the article New Year’s Resolutions for Writers in Writing Fiction is owned by Jennifer Jensen. Permission to republish New Year’s Resolutions for Writers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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