Here's to a New Year of Writing!

There are two kinds of writers in the world. And no, I don't mean fiction writers and nonfiction writers, plotters and pantsers, or literary writers and commercial writers. I mean the writers who make New Year’s Resolutions and those who don't.

I fall in the first camp. With a vengeance. An inveterate list maker and planner, I view the new year as the Super Bowl of Goal Setting.

2017 is no exception. My calendar is already full of sales objectives (for my clients), events and conferences (for agency business), writing deadlines (for my publishers), and more. So many of the hard targets I aim for this year are related to these enterprises; hitting them is not an aspiration, it's an imperative.

But I know that freaking out about having too much to do in too little time will only sabotage any progress I hope to make—and kill the creativity I count on to keep me on track.

My New Year’s Resolutions are the ones critical to my creative process. They're the ones that I've proclaimed loudly and in technicolor in the one place I'm bound to visit more often than I should every day: my refrigerator.

That’s right. Last summer I painted the bottom half of my refrigerator with chalk paint, thinking it would prove an amusement for my grandchildren. But over time the space morphed into my own personal and professional planner.

This morning, in honor of the dawn of 2017, it reads: Breathe. Read. Write.

Breathe, because yoga is the fastest way for me to plug into my subconscious.

Read, because as Stephen King says, “If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write.”

Write, because real writers write. End of story.

Okay, so my kids will all tease me unmercifully when they see it, my non-writing friends will think it's weird, and my neighbors may view it as downright subversive, but I don’t care. It works, as least for me.

            So … what's on your refrigerator this year?

Note: If you're having trouble getting started, check out my new book, The Writer's Guide to Beginnings.

5 Writing Resolutions for the New Year

Every writer begins a new year with high expectations: Write more, publish more, reach more readers. As a writer, editor, teacher, and literary agent, I have a front row seat at the circus that is writers struggling to pound out pages, puzzle out plot problems, ponder the depths of character, revise and revise and revise again—all within deadline, be that deadline is contracted or self-imposed. So I know how quickly even the best intentions can be derailed—my own included.

My own (contracted) deadline is fast approaching, and after a holiday season filled with too much fudge and too little writing, I'm feeling sluggish at all levels. Time to get back on track—and I'm counting on these writing resolutions to help me do that:

1)      Set a daily word count goal. I usually set a writing time goal—two hours a day—but when I'm on deadline, I find a word count goal more useful and productive. For 2016, I'm abandoning the writing time goal and switching to this word count goal full-time, deadline or no deadline..

2)      Keep a writer’s log. I've never been good at keeping a journal, but this year I plan on keeping a Bridget Jones’s style daily writer’s log: # hours writing, # words written, # snacks, # cups of coffee, # interruptions (and taking names!), # distractions (including “research”).

3)      Read “for fun” an hour a day. As an agent, I have a lot to read--my clients’ work, prospective clients’ work, students’ work. I also need to keep up with what's selling, so I read blogs, articles, break-out novels, nonfiction best sellers, and more. Sometimes I suffer reader’s fatigue—and the cure is always reading something purely for the thrill of it. So this year I'm reading an hour a day just for fun—anything and everything I want, from HGTV magazine and Yoga Journal to Lee Child and Jane Austen and Alice Hoffman and on and on and on. On my “fun” stack right now: Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger;  The Lost Landscape, by Joyce Carol Oates; The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah; Circling the Sun, by Paula McClain; Marie Kondo’s new book Spark Joy and Elizabeth Strout’s new novel My Name Is Lucy Barton, both out this month.

4)      Move an hour a day. Nothing like an hour of  walking or yoga to clear my head and jumpstart my creativity. Not to mention the only way to keep “writer’s spread” at bay.

5)      Schedule 5,000-word rewards. I’m a sucker for a good reward. So I’ve made a list of good things—new film, lunch date with friends, Starbucks Coffee and Critique with a fellow writer, field trip to Staples, HBO and a bowl of popcorn, etc.—and every time I log another 5000 words, I’m gonna treat myself to one.

That's it for me. May you make—and keep—all your writing resolutions in 2016. Here's to a happy new year of writing for all of us!

Now I gotta go. I have a book to write—and I’m only 5000 words away from my next reward. Onward!

The Write Gifts for 2015 (And They’re All Free!)

The most common New Year’s resolution for writers: Write that novel.

But before you start (or finish), give yourself a break, and give yourself the three things you’ll need most to keep that resolution:

1)      TIME. Time is the writer’s most important—and neglected—asset. Use it wisely—and generously. No matter how busy you are, you can find the time to write most every day. Whether it’s thirty minutes at dawn or your lunchtime at work or 90 minutes at night after the kids go to bed, making the time to write is your first gift to your creative self.

2)      SPACE. For your inner writer, writing is a sacred act—and so you create a sacred space in which to do it. Dedicate a studio, a guest room, even a corner of your den to your work—and equip it with the tools and talismans that will inspire you to write every day.

3)   PERMISSION TO PLAY. Remember, the resolutions we keep are the ones we learn—sooner rather than later—to enjoy. So allow yourself to have fun.

Happy writing in 2015! May all your fictive dreams come true.